"Mono/Dialogue"

'Inner thoughts'

Narration

[Message/communication apparatus]

Date: Late September 1088

Location: Kawelerielki Aliiance Grand Stadium, Kawalerielki, Kazimierz.

POV: Narrator

The 21^st Kazimierz Major, despite its apparent enthusiasm, is on the downturn in popularity. Reason? Predictability is the lifeblood of the Major has been monopolized by its sole consecutive Champion; Degenbrecher ‘The Black Knight’. To bet against her is like saying that crack is not addictive. The answer to that is false and it will ruin you.

Degenbrecher used to have sponsors in the dozens, but her win streak has made the tournament’s interest in supporting her dwindle periodically. The worst possible downturn was predicted to happen if she won her 4^th, shaking one of K.G.C.C.'s primary sources of income and influence that can be used to keep the Adeptus at bay.

The Black Knight has her own fanatical following both from audiences and companies. Still, the idea that she would keep winning also caused the Major to lose its appeal for interested investors, primarily from those who played with probability. Kazimierz Bank’s CEO, which is part of K.G.C.C. Board of Chairman had shown a staggering downturn of revenue of 40% after Degenbrecher’s second victory.

K.G.C.C. had tried to coax the Champion to forfeit since even before she gained her second victory, offering her a sum of money that was enough to build a small-scale landship. Naturally, The Black Knight refuses, and she doesn’t even respond. When inquired about the incident she only said that her business email probably treated it as spam and promptly discarded it.

Her response infuriates the council and they will try to get rid of her instead, because while she has her fame; it is relatively localized, and even average Leithanien doesn’t think much of her, those musical lunatics are not pleased with someone deemed a defect. Thus assassination could work, and that is why within a run-of-the-mill bar, inside a private room, there is a conversation going on between a Feline man and an Oni Woman.

“Got the update, The Black Knight is approaching her spot.” Said the man reclining on his seat while having his hand around her shoulders. The woman doesn’t shy away and seemingly enjoys it.

“Good, we’ll get our Leithanien collaborators ready.” Her hands reach out toward the beverages laid out before them. The Feline smirks recalling something.

“What about her opponent?”

“If it works out, we might not need to take her out personally…”

“You are too ambitious, Aoyuki…”

“And you’re too carefree, Roy.” Roy smiles and they savor the silence for a while. Aoyuki then said something quite interesting, but also dangerous.

“Isn’t it funny?”

“What is?”

“Hit piece on the Black Knight?” Roy furrows his eyebrows but decides to indulge her.

“I see nothing wrong with it, Marco used to say the same thing but he’s dead.”

“Hmph, that means he wasn’t all that good… unlike you.”

“Woah, easy there girl. I’m just a guy who knows how to use a bow, nothing more.” Roy drinks his share, one might think he will get tipsy but no assassin worth their salt can get drunk so easily.

“… I mean think about it, shouldn’t we get rid of Nyx instead?”

“…” His smile vanishes.

“What?”

“Listen here…” Roy’s grip on her shoulder tightened, making her wince. His confident smirk is nowhere to be found and he looks tired with just hearing that name.

“Any attempts for defaming and framing her fell flat on our face because of her already stained reputation. We try to make it look like she was a perpetrator of assaulting merchants and travelers near one of our relatively safe crossings, but that crazy bitch start nitpicking and getting angry at our forged pieces of evidence. She said that it was too clean, if it’s her she would just blow up the whole convoy and not bother with cleaning if all the body is eviscerated, the river would do the job just fine she says.” He takes another swig of his drink.

“…”

“Ironically enough when we try to spread this to damage her reputation, the problem is exacerbated because the society K.G.C.C. molded into has the attention span of a toddler who is watching a historical documentary; nonexistent. Then you know how those damn merchants are when being presented with an opportunity right?”

“… They used it to buy and exchange favors with her…” The nod before elaborating further.

“I kid you not, she has a criminal record in smuggling… and all she got when caught was a measly fine, a letter of complaint, and being jailed for 3 days on average. CM is not happy but she can play dumb and being their productive messengers complicates things.” Roy sighs, his expression is somewhat miserable but there is a hint of amusement in it.

“… She has those who hate her and those who want her in more than one way…”

“… You guys are always making her sound like this unstoppable wildcard and even a direct threat would-”

“Direct threat? K.G.C.C has no reason to do that anymore, not for now at least. Spending money to get rid of Nyx would not be beneficial when they could just pay her to fuck-off instead. They’re businessmen first and foremost and not ideological crusaders like Mitsumoto back in your homeland.”

“This is starting to sound stupid and I dare wager she won’t last a year joining war back in Higashi.”

“… Hah…”

“If we cannot hurt her then just target those close to her.”

“Already did.”

“Eh?”

“She murdered their way to get them back, and even then she never hesitated to injure the hostage… Strangely enough, everyone that knew her personally never got mad when being injured… if anything they look ashamed of causing her problem… the more normal people are suffering trauma.”

“What about using-”

“Our predecessors tried using children, and we better pray to god that said children live through whatever dumbfuck stupid, moronically insane, and irreparably incompetent shit our predecessors had done to those children. She tried her best to save them, and if she failed it caused her to be distraught deeply, that’s good, right? She has a weakness, right? Correct for all the wrong reasons. She will go complete apeshit witch hunt.” Roy pours another one into his glass.

“There was a whole month she went dark and each week streams in horrifying news of bodies being hanged using their intestine in forests all over Kazimierz. Rumors of screaming and begging deep into the night. No one dared to say they survive her, smart move, since that will get you on her shit list.”

“… I thought those were exaggerations.”

“Those were not. She doesn’t do it nowadays because CM would not like that. It’s strange that she only started taking the hostage situation seriously with a pretext… Either that’s her preferable method or she just doesn’t give a shit with life.”

“Then…”

“No, listen. We cannot target Wladirosa because Silverlance has stationed an actual garrison there, and we cannot target Interior Secretary Ramona since it will infuriate The Grey Serpent, the Adeptus, The Grandmaster who commanded 70% of Kazimierz frontier military, and a part of Knights Association which is under Mr. Janos’ influence.”

“…”

“Then what about the Nearl Family? We can, but Kiril’s youngest son had escaped K.G.C.C.’s trap and is now very unwelcoming with any more politicking. The man is at least impartial with what is happening and there is no reason to make an enemy of Tenebrous Hero any further. Which might or might not work since Margaret Nearl has been garnering a reputation on the frontier, further complicating the matter…”

“Uhhh…”

“You’re not bright so don’t worry. I know that we have our pros and cons.”

“Hey!”

“Another is in how to handle these monsters. Nyx is an obedient monster, but Degenbrecher is a pure monster. Nyx can be reasoned with, and she understands the point-of-view of K.G.C.C., our employer, and is aboard with the idea of mercantilism while Degenbrecher is more interested in what she could achieve personally and if spitting at K.G.C.C. mean as much, then you bet she will spit at them.”

“…What happened to that ’just a guy who is good with using bow’ part?”

“Still there but I prefer jobs that pay. Do you want to hit the hotel next? No one said anything about us Lazurites can’t have fun with each other.”

“No, I’m not in the mood anymore. Screw you, asshole…”

“Story of my life…” He watched the woman leave the room, her whole demeanor had yet to change. The Lazurite shrugs before contacting someone, she is not all that different from his colleagues who had an early retirement. He waits for it dial-up while looking at the news; or more like useless gossip. Then his line connects.

[I was surprised that you did not mention me going on a sniping duel with the Grey Serpent. I’d see no problem if you did.] The voice that came through sounded unnatural with distortion and inconsistent pitch. Rather than being unsettled with such an unusual sound, Roy stifled a laugh coming out of his mouth since he heard something funny.

“Pfft, a sniping duel? Do you mean a sector-wide artillery battle? Still surreal how you both were shooting a ballista-sized arrow at one another”

‘They were exchanging javelin throws that just happen to use a medium…’ Roy quietly tells himself. He was there when his Boss and The Grey Serpent went into a brief duel, black arrow smashed against Nyx’s metallic one. He can still hear the ringing even…

“… Man, I don’t wanna mess with either of you, that’s for sure.”

[Hmph, our work is moving on smoothly; keep doing it the way it is.]

“Easy for you to say, Boss…”

[Just do your job, I already got a candidate for the actual Lazurite. We can cross that one out, it was truly a shame that your colleagues are capable but not all that smart.] Roy held his tongue from retorting, it would be unwise to offend the person he is talking with.

“Yes, yes… Lazurite Roy is rolling out to keep his payroll rolling.” Roy takes one last look at the Television, Degenbrecher and her opponent, the usual bunch nothing too crazy.

POV: Zofia Narleka

‘Keep your eyes on the game, don’t falter or relent… deep breaths… deep breaths… just stay calm, it will work out… scratch that, I must not downplay the problem here! I was wrong, I got way too cocky on the last match… to think that Emerblade almost shot me down way too early… Arrrrghhh! Don’t think about inconsequential stuff and focus on the present, Zofia!’ Instead of calming down, I ended up way too worked up?! What’s wrong with me?

Regardless, I can see Competition Knights reacting differently all within this waiting room. Some are nervous, some are doing whatever, and some are so sure of themselves that they start causing trouble. They have their match, like capture the flag, team-based tournament, and even some battle royale between them. Only a 1-on-1 duel can grant someone with a Grand Knight’s title. I still wonder why such a format exists if only one can win anyway, especially when the winner could form their own Knight Club.

I must say that some had been glancing at me, multiple times …

I mean, yeah… I did perform well scoring 45 points on a battle royal during preliminary. So yeah, I did great for my debut but I’m still far below The Black Knight's latest score of 135, or total annihilation, because they all ganged up on her. My jaw dropped watching the footage, I thought I was fast, turns out that I might have been taking a leisurely morning walk compared to her.

A curious thing to note, some of her moves are reminiscent of Big Sis’ moves, but much more pronounced in its raw power department. That’s… weird. Those sorts of moves, even when Big Sis held her usual combat seminar which now I know to not be cheap, were never used publically…

‘Wait… don’t tell me that they know each other? Or perhaps that even The Black Knight just has a really good information source?’ Hmm… does that mean they are almost at peer level with each other? Sounds plausible, and I’m sure that Big Sis can win the Major if she so inclined… which she doesn’t… Ugh, she loves money but she hates being watched doing it? Wait, that sounds wrong… whatever.

‘Huh… guess I learn something new.’ Honestly, that level of power, much to my chagrin, is simply beyond me. I know that I would never be the best, but Big Sis said to just do things your way and it will work out. Which does sound great in theory… but it sounds less great if she was the one who was telling it… am I jealous?

‘Champions and Heroes are just something else… How long can I last against her, I wonder? Hmm… speaking about attention…’

The last few months were truly challenging the very limit of my patience and propriety. Media I can understand, but overzealous spectators and insolent, not to mention shamelessly fanatical, fans are on a steady uptake in numbers. I used to make fun of headlines for celebrities getting annoyed with fans, but now I’m on the receiving end… and it will only get worse.

“That’s her?” From the corner of my eyes, I can spot a pair of knights armed with spears and swords conversing with a hushed tone. They might be hiding their face with that helmet of theirs, but Big Sis had helped me train my senses to know when someone was looking at me.

“Yeah, that’s the Nearl’s handmaiden. Poor girl, being used by a declining family like that. She is good at least, so she can free herself from their control.” … Excuse me?!

“I know right? Their Knight Primus is about to kick the bucket, his second son ends up being nothing more than a spineless wage slave, and his last choice of succeeding him goes prancing in the sticks.” … My lips are tight shut but I can feel how my teeth are gritting so hard.

“Should I try to nab her instead? Come on, a girl like her is easy to persuade. If anything, just show her a little kindness and she will follow like a puppy.” Puppy is it?

“… Isn’t she also rumored to be the Grey Serpent’s student?”

“Pfft, the Grey Serpent had been doing combat seminars everywhere back then, people had been claiming that shit daily.”

“Yeah but…”

[Competition Knight Zofia Narleka please head to your designated position.] I almost dashed outside the room, I can’t stand people who give me such condescending compassion. Which is why I’ll show them all…

I look back on my schedule, the next match would decide whether I would get to the quarter-finals or not… Then I now have a nickname! This is great, since with this it would be even easier to get sponsorships. To think that choosing a sword whip would speed up my notoriety which meant better cover-

“Hold on…” The nickname Whislash made chill and annoyance creep up my spine and reward my brain with headaches respectively, it reminds me of something… Big Sis will make fun of me! That’s also not the end of my problem…

“I just remember something…” I trace back the current placement in the match … and if I won this one my opponent in the quarterfinal would be…

‘Degenbrecher…’

“… I’m so screwed…” A listless and dispirited laugh left my mouth, I mean… how couldn’t you? Try placing yourself right in front of a moving landship, but the only way forward is to stop it. Side-stepping and even pulling yourself back are an option… but… ugh…

When I was nursing that headache-inducing topic, I felt a gaze on me. I might be used to it, but this feels a lot, and I mean A LOT, more intense compared to the rest of them. I was about to panic, but Big Sis said to not show alarm when someone is looking at you with blazing intent lest you end up alerting them.

Coaching my expression, I play it cool and head towards my entrance. The gaze lingered on me, but it then vanished, guess that’s that for now...

POV: ???

“… What a wonderful resolve, but you’re still chained by such commendable ideas; emotions, and responsibilities… I wager that you would illuminate like the finest starlight if you bet it all… to live by your ideal…” Human emotions are always so fascinating, it is truly a shame that I’m unable to fully immerse myself in it any longer.

‘Yet I cannot avert my eyes from seeing them light up so brightly… to see their full potential blossomed… My heart used to ache, these eyes were brimming with tears, and pains grew within me; those meant something but freedom must not be chained…’

I turn my head around, I wonder, will she finally decide to see me? It is not the preferable method, but I suppose I can lend the up-and-coming Whislash Knight a hand when she does manage to phase her current bout. Her next opponent is what my peers called ‘filth’, ‘false’, ‘subhuman’, and… defect…

This is quite the misjudgment, verily so. The so-called defect is no defect in my eyes, Degenbrecher is beautiful since she is the closest being to be free, unchained, and follows her designs… yet there is only another such a person I ever so adore above my brother…

She sings she liberates, she encourages, and she shows control again and again… to push that amorously bewitching self of hers I had caught a glimpse of, to see a vivid crack so blindingly bright.

“Our ideals are worth it merely because it is ours to begin with…”

Location: Unnamed region, the Northern Border of Kjerag.

Nyx is hiking up a hill that has become her usual activity for the last few months. She is not at all perturbed by it, even enjoying going up and down the chilly and hilly terrain of the Snow Realm. The place was truly free of any catastrophe, making it even easier for her to do her job or just laze around but not this time though, she is being invited by a person of interest.

Traversing the terrain, climbing up the cliff, using the trees to make a shortcut, ropes, and stuff to speed her up, and so much more. She feels like a child in an amusement park, and no beasts tried to cross her path after she has shown a pack of stray Dire Fangbeasts what she could do in 10 seconds flat. They also choose to leave her alone since she is unlike others of her ilk, she only snoops around to see the land. At least that’s what it looks like from their perspective and she is also making a conscious effort to not encroach on their nests.

There was once an incident when a pup of Fangbeast was straying too close to her. They are all ready to fight to the death for their young, but the Pythia instead gives the cute little critter some cuddles and feeds it meat until it sleeps from overeating. They still circled her and snarled when she finally picked up the pup, demanding her to release it. She does so, but not before approaching them and releasing it between their feet. She gives it one last head pat before going on her way, terribly confusing them about why she shows no fear whatsoever.

Now they decide to just let her be and watch from afar.

She then spotted a lonely cabin just after she climbed another level, the one-way path was truly treacherous and it impressed her that the person she was about to meet didn’t shy away from a little hardship. She reached the cabin and started taking off her goggles and hiking gear. After shedding that extra, and bothersome, layer of clothing she just opened the door to head inside.

The interior is your generic hunting lodge with a fireplace, a sizable and well-insulated living room that is connected with storage, and so on. She let her eyes wander for a while, inspecting the trophies that are being hung on the wall. Tuskbeast, Dire Fangbeasts, and astonishingly enough a large finbeast that looks like a mix of shark and barracuda also present.

Nyx thinks that she has enough and keeps moving towards the second floor. There she reached another door and just when she was about to stop, the door opened and revealed a Feline man.

He is even taller than her, a good 6-8 inches taller, with silver hair and eyes that seem to be appraising her worth. His frame looks muscular despite his overcoat and what’s more? He is, at most, in the prime of his 20s. The man motioned her inside and she obliged.

“So what can I do for you, Sir Silverash?” Enciodes Silverash one of Kjerag’s ruling family Patriarch. Nyx still has little information about the country due to its isolated nature, not to mention that she has no intention of forcing her way into Terra’s haven.

Who knows what she would find within this land of eternal, but gentler, winter if she wasn’t so cautious? Especially after Kjarr’s most gracious visit. Nyx is naturally suspicious about why a ruling patriarch is out of his territory in the first place… but she will never say no to potential networking. Balancing curiosity plus its cautionary measures is always so tiring…

“Please, just call me Enciodes. It was well worth its weight of fortune to be talking with someone as resourceful as yourself.” The man settled himself across the table and motioned her to do so as well.

“I was sufficiently surprised myself, it is not every day for me to meet a Patriarch from Kjerag’s ruling family. Still, I find it strange that you can be so confident to meet me alone. Despite my smaller stature, killing you would be as easy as flicking my wrist.”

Instead of being offended, the man smiled and nodded. He agrees with her assessment but frankly, that’s a minor concern when there is something more important to discuss.

“While your advice and curiosity are affably welcomed, it would be much more prolific for us to proceed, especially around this part of civilization, won’t you agree?”

“Suits me fine… so where do we start?”

“My confidant had duly noted your expertise in regards of… advising unorthodox methods of problem-solving. That is what I wish to inquire.”

“Of course, juggling between duties requires me to find the most effective method for a specific problem. If I set aside a good chunk of my ethics, you can expect a quicker result.”

“Wonderful, then we can be frank to expedite the process.” Enciodes leans back on his chair before scrolling through something from his terminal. Finding what he needed, he showed it to Nyx who whistled seeing that.

She can see a project that connects Columbia, Victoria, and Kazimierz into a sort of trading upheaval with Kjerag at the center. She had already expected it, but what she didn’t expect was that the trade route would also include Minos and Siesta.

“That’s an ambitious project. Setting aside the big players, why Minos and Siesta? Not to mention that the latter is much weaker than the former. You understand right?”

They now entered a back-and-forth regarding the feasibility of this matter. On one hand, developing Kjerag into a major trading hub is an insanely lucrative venture and she will lie to say that doesn’t interest her. On the other hand, it will put Kjerag in the crosshairs of all major players way too early and despite Kjarr being here, she is certain that each nation has its trump card.

Nyx put it inside her memo to contact Conrad later to move Cordelia by proxy regardless of this current back and forth.

Nyx raised a point where Minos, especially Corinia, might feel threatened with losing one of their primary income. Enciodes countered by saying that by aligning the smaller states into an economic alliance, they could prosper together while keeping Minos' dissatisfaction in check. Nyx had never been to Corinia, but several of her Marchant contacts who had been there said that the trade alliance monopoly on the city would put K.G.C.C. to shame at how meticulous it is.

She decides to caution him with a potential war of interest which would leave Kjerag open to intervention. Enciodes listened and noted down several points in his mind such as a potential surge of Columbian interest, Victorian ego and objection, Kazimierz’s desire to promote social mobility, and so on.

“Your advice was bereft of flaws, but you might have misinterpreted what I wish. That desire was still based on ensuring harmony.”

“… and said harmony would be marred when the one sponsoring it was one of the three, isn’t it?”

“So what say you?”

“… I’m not in any position to take care of a company really… but, I could forward it to Catastrophe Messengers or companies if I’m acquainted with that might have interest in developing these routes.” Nyx lied through her teeth, she just shrugged while Enciodes just nodded understandingly… He doesn’t buy it, but he is not out yet.

“That is acceptable and I sincerely hope for positive news. With our small problems solved, let’s discuss the main topic.”

Nyx just got blindsided, she thought that she was being led around to drop the usual pretense already. Too often people talk about contracting this, negotiating that, only to end up asking her service to train armies and or equivalent human resources assets. To think that even her mental synapse doesn’t detect any hint of treachery from him overwhelms her.

She was 90% certain Enciodes wanted her to train Silverash’s private army, but he never really tried to inject the idea into their conversation. Even when she indirectly mentioned potential armed conflicts, Enciodes replied normally that such a thing was within expectation and moved on. She thanked her blank face for not reacting to that and motioned him to continue.

“I had requisitioned an excavation for a special sort of artifact from Cordelia. I would suffice by my lonesome upon fending unsavory actors, the point still stands that I might require an excess force of manpower.” She got blindsided again, she found morbid amusement from the fact that she almost chuckled incredulously, potentially forcing her position in Cordelia Inc. onto the surface.

‘Either he knows or he’s just that lucky…’

“… I mean sure, but my jobs regarding resource prospecting will be put on a halt. Are you ok with that?”

“Inconsequential, a mere trite that could be ameliorated by my trusted confidants. My eyes are set upon a prosperous future, but my feet will always remind me of home.”

“All right, this will be another set of contracts though… guess I’ll be guarding you for a bit huh?”

[END OF CHAPTER]

Author’s Note:

Sup there, this is me, myself, and I, the author who is malding that he has 3 original works that are not progressing much.

Zofia has no family name, so I made one up. Her name was based on Nearl and Aleka (Loyalty).

Who was that one above? Well, if you know; then you know.

I might or might not be taking a break in the foreseeable future, just check my profile or that announcement chapter when something happens. I will keep using it because that sounds funny.

Ciao