The palace attendant arrived at the mansion mid-morning.
Not the formal sealed-letter summons of the throne room — something more direct, the specific format of someone who wanted a response rather than a ceremony. A note. Two lines. Seravine's seal.
The northern border settlement of Beth is under attack. Opportunist faction — organized, not a raiding party. Please aid the local in haste; the best steeds are ready. You may bring your own party.
Lexel read it. Read it again. Looked at the seal.
"Beth," Lulu said, through the Anti-System. "Northern territory. One of the settlements the war council marked as a pressure point."
"Yes," Lexel said.
"Are you going?" Lulu asked.
Lexel looked at the note. At the two lines. At the queen's seal on a direct message rather than a formal summons, which was its own kind of statement about what this was and wasn't.
"Yes," he said.
---
He put the note on the table and gave them the relevant information — settlement under attack, northern border, he was going, they could come if they wanted.
Flinn looked at the note. At the direction of travel. At Lexel with the professional assessment of someone determining whether this was a detour worth taking.
"You're doing the queen's work," Flinn said.
"I'm doing a task that happens to align with the queen's interests," Lexel said. "Different thing."
"Is it?" Flinn said.
"Yes," Lexel said.
Flinn looked at him for a moment. Then — "I'll come. The northern territory has certain professional opportunities."
Nobody asked what professional opportunities.
Cresty looked at the note. At Lexel. The directive from the Eye running quietly underneath everything she was doing — watch him, everything, every decision. This counted. "I'm coming," she said.
Halveth looked at the seal. At the queen's mark rather than the king's, which told him what this was and wasn't. "My place is in the capital right now," he said. "The household. The Crestfall position needs managing." He looked at Lexel. "But I'll have the network running while you're gone. If anything comes through on the towers or your brothers—"
"Send it immediately," Lexel said.
Halveth nodded.
Anthierin was already standing. Hammer at her side. She hadn't said anything more about Mera. She wasn't going to say anything more about Mera, not today, not in front of everyone. There was a settlement under attack and that was a concrete problem with a concrete solution and right now concrete problems with concrete solutions were exactly what she needed.
"Let's go," she said.
Lexel looked at her. At the hammer. At the expression that had been carrying something since the smithing room, and had put it somewhere it could be carried rather than somewhere it needed to be resolved right now.
He said nothing about Mera.
"Let's go," he agreed.
---
The capital watched them leave through the northern gate.
Four people on horses moving with the directional certainty of a party that had somewhere to be. Lexel with his hands in his pockets. Anthierin with her hammer. Flinn in the margins. Cresty with the composed expression she was going to be wearing for the foreseeable future.
"That's Merciless for you, he didn't even bother to use his hands to rein in that horse!" said a passerby.
"Merciless or stupid," an elder said.
"Stupid or not, he is so charming. I've heard he killed Kain with the motive of love! So romantic," said a woman selling flowers.
---
Lulu, sitting behind Lexel, visible only to him, looking at the road north.
"Beth," she said. "First deployment as a war asset."
"Yes," Lexel said.
"How do you feel about that?" she asked.
Lexel thought about it. About the exchange with Seravine. About the note with its two direct lines. About the word Merciless still spreading through the capital's channels. About the east road that was not the road he was taking right now. About the towers. About the brothers somewhere past... probable the entire continent.
"Fine," he said. "It's on the way."
"It's not on the way," Lulu said. "It's north. The towers are east and south."
"Everything is on the way," Lexel said, "if you're going somewhere eventually."
Lulu looked at him with the expression of something ancient that had records on philosophical positions spanning civilizations and was finding this one adequately functional if not technically sound.
"Your father," she said, "would have just gone east."
"My father," Lexel said, "would have accidentally destroyed the settlement on the way to the towers without noticing."
"Fair," Lulu said.
---
The night that fell over Beth brought no relief, only the oppressive weight of a town under the heavy boot of the enemies. As a border settlement, it had always been a place of transition, but now it stood completely conquered. In the muddy center of the town square, the proud, torn banners of Jaar's Kingdom lay trampled into the filth, their fine embroidery scorched and blackened where the occupiers had cast them into a guttering bonfire.
A few local citizens knelt nearby in the dirt, forced to their knees under the watchful eyes of crossbowmen stationed atop hastily built timber towers.
They kept their heads downcast, their ears tuned to the heavy, rhythmic thud of armored patrols moving through the dark.
High above the defaced valley, the old watch-keep—once a beacon of safety for frontier merchants—flew the charcoal-and-crimson banners of the enemies. Thick, greasy smoke from improvised, coal-fired smithies choked the crisp mountain air, turning the once-pristine border sky a bruised grey as the occupiers relentlessly melted down local heirlooms and frontier tools to feed their war machine.
Under the strict dusk-to-dawn curfew, the rest of Beth fell utterly silent, frozen in a bleak facade of compliance. Yet beneath the terror of the blades, the air remained thick with a quiet, burning resentment; in the shadows beyond the firelight, the spirit of the border town was merely biding its time.
A man as tall as twice the average human sat on the settlement's square, drinks of liquor upon liquor rained down from his open jaw to his hairy chest. He was build like tank, arms able to reach for those the average person couldn't. A Warrior Class.
"Captain Brunks," a guard wearing the jaar's symbol arrived. "Everyone is outside, sir."
"Y-You shit," said one of the locals, "It was you, you opened the gate for them! CAROL!"
Carol, a staunch guard, dared not to face the locals that's kneeling and aged twice as seconds passed. He faced Captain Brunks with his jaw tightened.
"Hahahaha!" Brunks laughed so hard that the flames near him fanned. Then his followers of more than twenty rogues laughed as well.
Brunks reached into the back of his pocket and threw it at Carol. The heavy pouch caught him off-guard, and coins spilled outside. Drowning him in greed and the local citizen's in horror. They were sold, the settlement was sold, their beloved Beth was sold.
"Go," said Brunks, "Every one of you bastards, stand down, let the kid leave with his golds. Perhaps he could buy a nice wife for himself later on hahaha! Don't forget to invite me on your weddings, right boy?!" he put his massive hand on Carol's shoulder.
Carol's shoulder sagged to one side, "Y-Yes."
Carol turned around and ran; his clanking armors echoed out clearly despite the crackling fire and laughter of evil around him. He gritted his teeth with tears running down his cheeks. He turned tail on his own people.
Captain Brunks stood up and straightened his back, his lean physique almost likely he could catch Carol in one single leap. "Now, let's see, all that's left for the next morning is free labour, got that? The beauties may comfort the men, though, hahahaha!"
The rogues, all men, laughed.
"The champions will come, I'm sure of it!" said one of the locals.
"Hahahaha! You mean the clown king of Jaar will send someone? Not after the Carnage of Yunjaar! Hahahaha, the era for Jaar is over! They won't send anyone, especially not the borders! Hahahhaa! They have forsaken you! But no worries, after the war is over, you will be under a new kingdom soon. HAHAHHAHAA!"
The laughter echoes throughout the settlement. Carol clutched the pouch he was hugging the entire time.
Please forgive me, everyone! I have no choice, the capital won't send a single speck of dust to this remote place. My partner was killed during watchours, and they offered me a deal, life plus coins of gold, how can I refuse that?!
"Hey, Lexel, wait!" Cresty's voice cut through.
"Huh?" Carol looked up, and through his helmet, he saw a man riding a horse with a smirk on his face and fire in his eyes. The target was the settlement kilometers behind him.
The horse brushed past him and forced his ass on the ground.
"W-What in the?!"
"Wait for me, Lexel!" Flinn kept a close follow behind him.
"Crap, I need to give you something, Lexel!" said Anthierin, following after Flinn.
"Tsk, damn those three," said Cresty before she cantered near Carol. "Hey, are you alright?"
"I... yes," said Carol before he stood by himself. "W-who are you?"
"We are here under the order of the queen, well, not we, but the guy that nudged you over with his horse," Cresty sighed.
Carol's lips trembling, "S-So, they sent a Champion after all."
"Champion? Oh no, he's not," said Cresty. "Maybe not, I think."
"W-What? Then what is he?" asked Carol.
Cresty, looking at Lexel's horse entering the settlement gate, "Worse."