Chapter 10
Kyra was Right
Kyra's theory was correct.
Someone-Morpheus Familia-had tamed a small group of goblins and sent them in the direction of Noda Village-Bell's village. Not only there, but also five other villages as well. They controlled the creatures known as the weakest monster using magic meant for taming. Although, despite having quite a few skilled tamers (5 to be exact), they only used one of them to control the goblins.
Reese Shades's taming magic was truly the best of its kind. It allowed the caster to force their will onto the monster(s) they target and essentially connect them and therefore control them. Although, control may not be the right word. Shades's magic allowed him to force his will onto a monster's spirit and influence their actions, essentially controlling them like puppets. He can even control multiple monsters at once and control them remotely from a distance. Of course, there were limits, but as a Level Three, they weren't a big deal for him and his objectives. Even more than that, the magic links the caster's senses to the monster and allows him to see and hear what the monster sees and hears. He could also link the other three senses, but you did not want to taste what a monster tastes, smell how they smell, and, considering they'll eventually be killed by something, feel what they feel. So, naturally, sight and sound were enough for his purposes.
In the case of the attacks against the six villages, his- or rather Morpheus Familia's-purpose was to use the tamed goblins as scouts to see how the targeted villages would react to a monster attack. He had no doubt that each and every goblin sent out would one way or another be killed somehow. Either by another wild monster, or by a so-called "village hero" stepping up to take down the stray creatures that were terrorizing their peers. Perhaps a village had a powerful form of protection? Maybe a blessed fighter guarded them? Maybe they had somehow acquired some magic swords? Or maybe they had a bloke with enough bluster to stand up to a monster without a blessing or special tool?
Maybe. Maybe not. That was what they wanted to find out by sending a small squad of goblins to the six different villages that they had planned to raid to spy on their reactions.
You might be wondering how an individual can remotely control multiple monsters in multiple groups that are going to six different locations. It's really quite simple. When Shades uses his magic, it isn't as though he's tugging the affected monsters on a collar. He's influencing their minds. He has a thought and the affected monster obeys. Controlling multiple groups is just giving each group their own set of commands. After a command is given, all he really has to do is make sure to maintain his influence. If the gods knew the full details of his magic, they would say something like, "Ooh! The monsters are like his agents and he's mission control giving out commands from a comfortable position! That's so devious!"... or something like that.
That's a pretty accurate description.
Obviously, the act of controlling 6 groups of 5 goblins with the magic is taxing on a person, but because Shades is a Level 3 and the minds and spirit of goblins are as low as their strength, it was nothing for him. The limits of a Level 3 were far beyond an unblessed person, after all. Still, since he was using the little green creatures for reconnaissance, he needed to stay completely focused so that he could fully process all the sights and sounds of thirty pairs of eyes. And he did. Still, doing so left him vulnerable. Fortunately for him, he was safely protected at the hidden hideout of their group in the midst of the dense forest.
"All of the goblins have been eliminated," Shades announced after the last of his tamed goblins were killed by a beastman with an axe.
"Alright," Jarrod Insley, captain of Morpheus Familia, nodded, standing in front of Shades, who was sitting on a soft chair in the middle of a room in the hideout. The familia had sent the thirty goblins early in the morning and it was night now. The reconnaissance plan had taken a whole day and he was eager to move on to the next steps of their plot. "And?"
"I should start with Noda Village," Reese Shades said tiredly. He definitely worked the hardest for the recon plot. The other members of the familia gathered the goblins that were hidden in the forest, but he was the one who tamed them and controlled them and managed them for the sake of their plans. Goblins were easy. He could have done the same thing with a hundred of them, but he had been at work for over 12 hours. Plus, all thirty of his tamed creatures were ruthlessly killed. You may think that less monsters to control meant less strain for him-and that was the case-but at the same time it was like he was killed thirty times over. He only connected with their seeing and hearing, he didn't feel their pain, but that didn't prevent him from feeling anything. It was all taxing and he wanted to rest. "I made a mistake with that place."
"How so?" Insley demanded.
"I unintentionally led the goblins to the village from a different way than decided for that place. They entered from a cemetery. There were about 10 or so people there including children. When the goblins saw them they got excited and went wild."
"You lost control of them?" The captain asked, sounding displeased.
"I've told you before that when I tame monsters with my magic that the goblins' cowardly nature gets suppressed, but their monster nature, the nature that compels them to attack people. I didn't realize my mistake until I saw the people at the cemetery, so I lost control of them for a moment and they charged for the attack, I could've stopped them, but I didn't see a need to. Even if it was a bit of a diversion from the plan, it was the same thing in the end. We wanted to see how the village people would react to a sudden monster attack and that was what was happening."
"Hm… alright. What happened."
"Something unexpected. One of the goblins were going to attack a little girl that had tripped, but some little boy stepped in and took the hit for her. He was saying some childish nonsense about being her hero or some garbage like that." Shades said that with unhidden disgust. He was rather sick of hearing things like heroes saving the day. "Read too many story books, I wager. Didn't realize that sort of nonsense belongs in books. He annoyed me, so I ordered the goblins to be brutal with him. I wanted to show him what a "real life hero" really gets for his heroics."
"Ooooh, how petty," Morpheus, the patron deity, laughed happily while Insley merely nodded. Neither one of them had a problem with their follower and comrade's brutal thoughts or action. Insley actually understood Shades's thoughts and would have done the same thing in his position. Morpheus was perfectly entertained by his followers' malice.
"And? What else happened?" Insley insisted.
"The goblin that was beating up the kid was about to deal the finishing blow… then it died. Or rather it was killed."
"Killed? By what?"
"A woman," Shades said looking up at his captain with serious eyes. "She descended from the sky like a bolt of lightning and lopped off the goblin that was the boy's head. She had dark hair and dual wielded knives. After she saw to the brat, she instantly dealt with the other four monsters. Oh, before that, a couple of girls, an animal girl and elf, showed up-probably through magic."
"Were they adventurers?" They did not want Orario finding out about their plans before they even began.
"Probably, but I didn't recognize them," he said, before thinking. "Except, the women-the one who killed the goblins-she looked familiar."
"Familiar?"
"It all ended so quickly, I didn't really get the best look at her face, but she just seemed familiar."
"...Was she someone from Orario?"
"I don't know, but it just seemed like I saw her before."
"...That isn't really much, you know?" The captain sighed, knowing that his fellow familia member wasn't going to be able to give him anything more than this. He was already running on fumes as it were due to just completing his mission, so even if he forced Shades to say more, he couldn't. "Should we avoid her?"
"Yes," he said with certainty. "Being able to dispose of a few goblins doesn't really say much, but she had the same kinda look in her eyes as the hotshots in Orario. I'm sure she wasn't a Loki or Freya member, but I'm just saying she's intense."
"Orario…" Captain Jarrod growled with obvious malice towards the city known as "The Center of the World". Shades knew how Insley felt about the city and he felt the same way. The entirety of Morpheus Familia felt the same way.
Suddenly, the door to the room slammed open, revealing Lark Barood, captain of the Aristaeus Familia, a familia of thieves and bandits that they enlisted for their plans. They operated outside of Orario. The crimes they've committed had made them notorious enough that they were actively pursued by several regions' law enforcement forces, including the Empire and Orario.
"Is that lazy tamer up yet or what?!" Barood shouted as if he owned the place. Insley and Shades frowned in annoyance, while the deity Morpheus smiled amused. When Barood noticed Insley was conscious and looking (glaring) at him, he barked. "Are you finally done with your spying?"
"I prefer you call it reconnaissance," Shades said, irritated. He didn't like the word spy. It made what he did sound cheap to him. "And, yes, I have completed my objective."
Barood turned to Insley. "I should've been notified the moment he was done."
"He just finished," Insley said. "Besides, I didn't think it was necessary to bore you with the details of his scouting. It wouldn't change your role in all this."
"I don't like your tone. I'm the captain of my familia. I should be privy to all important information regarding this heist."
"...You and your familia only need to know what I tell you."
Both captains glared at each other. They were allies, but clearly they were not friends. Insley had partnered with Barood and his familia to assist with their plan to raid the six villages. Barood had agreed because he wanted his share of the rewards that would come from raiding six villages. It wasn't always a simple matter pillaging simple villages. Maybe it was over a thousand years ago before the gods descended onto the mortal plaine and started blessing people with the falna and introducing a rise in magical abilities and tools. Somebody, somewhere, always had something they could use to protect themselves from bandits and monsters. Barood was a Level Three, but the rest of his familia was only Level One with a couple of Twos. They always needed to be careful of people possessing magic swords or having a group of skilled and high leveled guards.
For that reason, he agreed to ally his familia with Morpheus Familia. For the extra firepower and muscle.
"Okay, okay, enough!" Shades demanded, stepping in between the two captains. He faced Barood. "I will explain everything. Should we call for your vice captain and god?"
Barood nodded and they waited for the vice captain of Aristaeus Familia, Roark Holler, and their patron deity to arrive. With all captains, vice captains, and deities present, Shades began reporting the things he saw on his recon. He started with his encounter with the woman at Noda Village.
"So we won't attack that village just because some bitch went and killed the goblins before you could do anything?" Barood scoffed. "Seems like an awfully petty reason, if you ask me."
"Well, we didn't ask you," Insley said. "It's too big of a risk to attack Noda Village now. That woman could possibly be a part of a familia. Since our initial plan was to divide our combined forces six ways to simultaneously raid the six villages, if we follow the initial plan now, we'd basically be sending a sixth of our power to fight a potentially full sized familia. If the supposed enemy defeated that force, an information leak could happen and Orario will likely be the first to know about us. I don't know about you, Barood, but I'm pretty sure my men would talk if interrogated. What say you?"
Barood grimaced, deciding not to say anything. He knew the kind of men he had. Any one of them would squeal if threatened. There was no honor among thieves, after all.
"This woman you're referring to," Holler spoke up. "Could she be the unknown hero of Noda Village?"
Both Insley and Shades were surprised that the Aristaeus vice captain knew about the unknown hero. "Where did you hear about that?"
"It's a simple matter of asking around about the six villages we are targeting and listening for any kind of worthy information. From what I understand, it is because of this unknown protector that a small mountain village lacking in proper protection from the wild monsters living in the forest and other dangers has survived this long."
Insley nodded. He didn't show it, but he was pleasantly surprised at how intelligent Holler was. If he wasn't only a Level Two, he would likely be captain of Aristaeus Familia instead of the Level 3 Barood. "It isn't only because of her. I know the village in question has been around for about fifty years, and the unknown hero hasn't been around that long. Noda Village is protected by tricky mountain terrain. It would be difficult for a large force to operate there, so a smaller team is actually better, but as I've said, if we send our people to a battle we could lose and our identities are leaked then it will definitely spell the end for us all."
"Also, Noda Village is definitely the poorest and smallest of the six targets, so we'd be putting ourselves in a high risk, low reward situation," Shades added.
"...There's something I wanna know," Barood sighed, addressing Shades. He was getting tired of all this excessive planning. He preferred to attack head on instead of dancing around obstacles. It's something that worked for him. Considering he became a Level Three having never stepped into the Dungeon, he proved himself a capable warrior. Still, even someone as brutish as himself knew where he stood in the grand scheme of things. "Why only send goblins? If you can do what you do with goblins, then why don't you send out something more powerful? Surely you can, right? You've got those hordes of monsters stashed underground."
Shades exchanged a look with Insley. He was reluctant to share the limits of his magic to Barood. They were only allies for now, the bandit familia captain could very well take advantage of the limits of his magic and use it against them later. Note even the majority of Morpheus Familia were privy to the specifics of his magic, although they likely had ideas about it after being with them for so long. The only other people that knew everything about his taming magic were Insley, their other Level Three member, and, of course, their patron deity Morpheus. He wanted to lie, but since the Aristaeus Familia deity was here, that was pointless. Deities could see through their lies after all.
So he decided to just tell them his reasonings.
"I could have sent something more powerful than goblins, but if they got defeated despite that, then that'd be a problem. Goblins are goblins. No one is going to request assistance for a few goblins, even if the same number of goblins attacked six villages at roughly the same time. However, if you replace goblins with something else, then it'd be a problem if several of the villages survived. Orario has smart people in its employ. If they find out our connection to all this, then they'll devote their resources to destroying the both of us. Of course, they'll likely find out once we've executed the final phase, but by that point, we will all be long gone and out of their reach. Orario will have to live with the shame of failing to save, or even avenge, six villages that were within their reach." He said that final line with an unrestricted, savage grin. A feeling shared with all those around.
They really were risking a lot with this plot. Even if they successfully raid all the targeted villages and kill all of the villagers without leaving a trace, the likes of Finn Deime or someone else could possibly discover that they had done it and hunt them down like the monsters they really were. If that happened, there was a slim chance of any of them surviving. Even with the combined might of the Morpheus and Aristaeus Familias, they'd fall swifty before the incomprehensible might of Orario's finest. Such was the Age of the Gods. The age of quality over quantity.
If you asked any sane person, they would say that it wasn't worth the risk of being hunted by Orario, just to pillage a few small towns and villages. It was essentially a high risk low reward situation. It was foolish. They would gain just as much targeting someplace far away from Oriario.
However, these men weren't doing this solely for greed. They were well aware of the risks. They perfectly understood that this could end badly for them. They simply didn't care. They were wrathfully motivated to follow through with their plans for more than just the plunder. It was a petty desire to undermine Orario in a way that couldn't be ignored.
Their gods knew this. Both deity Morpheus and deity Aristaeus understood their childrens' motives, and like parents with dysfunctional affection, they allowed them to follow that dark path. And, of course, as run of the mill, entertainment seeking gods, they enjoyed the show of watching their followers go further and further down the path of depravity.
Shades and Insley looked out the window that faced out to the direction of Orario. They both remembered things from the past. Until a year ago, the Morpheus Familia operated within the city as a dungeon crawling familia. They weren't anything special compared to the powerhouse familias, but they existed for over fifty years, meaning they began before even the Loki and Freya Familias were around, and were active before it was even conceivable that the great and monstrous Zeus and Hera Familias could fall.
Back then, Insley and Shades, along with their compatriots, started the familia with the ambition of becoming as great as the two legendary familias and the heroes they produced. They moved forward with that kind of wide-eyed idealism. They never thought about how they would struggle. Before coming to Orario, they trained themselves up by fighting the monsters on the surface, but when they went to take on the Dungeon born monsters, they were in for a rude awakening. The surface monsters they had fought were nothing compared to the ones that lived underground. Monsters they had easily killed on the surface, gave them a much harder time down there. Monsters they struggled against up above, nearly killed them down below. And the monsters they needed everything they had to fight… it was obvious how fighting their Dungeon counterparts would end for them. Before they knew it, Shades and Insley were the only surviving members of the original familia.
A common story in the Labyrinth City.
At the same time, Freya Familia, then Loki Familia, were rising rapidly in status and power. They powered through the walls that so many others failed to climb. The two future top two familia's success earned the envy of their peers and they were repeatedly ambushed by jealous adventurers, but every time they fought them back. Morpheus Familia gave up any idea of lynching the two rising stars after they were completely outsmarted by the Braver's strategies and nearly died in the Dungeon.
By that point, the Morpheus Familia had completely given up any ambitions of becoming great adventurers, but they remained in Orario. After all, they could never become top class, but they had leveled up and the city was the best place to take advantage of their skills. So long as they didn't try to take on more than they could handle, they could live comfortably as a low level familia.
Then the two legends fell.
It seemed to all happen after Zeus and Hera failed to complete the Three Great Quests and were forced out of Orario by Freya and Loki. In response to the despair that was born from their failure, Evilus rose up and spread fear and chaos throughout the city. Of course, the Loki Familia and the other powerful and heroic familias that were around fought to defend the city.
It was epic battle after epic battle. Evilus was evil and ruthless, but Orario had the brains of Braver and the might of the Warlord. Their combined might pushed back Evilus for years and kept them at bay.
Then, about eight years after the Zeus and Hera Familias fell, two of their most powerful members had resurfaced. "Gluttony " Zard of Zeus Familia and "Silence" Alfia of Hera Familia. The two that landed the final blows onto two of the Great Beasts, Behemoth and the Leviathan. When it was revealed that they had allied with Evilus, it was like a whirlwind had hit the city. When they attacked, they even dispatched the Warlord, Nine Hell, and Elgarm with ease. They brought on the end of Orario. At least, that's how it appeared.
Orario was in despair. It wasn't just the two legends that were a threat, but the whole of Evilus and all of their heinous schemes were enough to drive the city's best into a corner. Not to the memory of any of the Morpheus Familia members' memories was there a more darker or hopeless disaster as the ones that occurred during the midst of the Great Conflict.
Yet the greatest familias of the city had refused to give up. Loki and Freya Familias, Ganesha and Hermès Familia, Astrea Familia… all of them licked their wounds and raised their weapons at the legendary duo and the evil they fought against. And won.
Not without cost, though. Like in all conflicts, there were casualties consisting of civilians and adventurers alike. That included almost the whole generation of older adventurers. In order to exterminate the large hordes of monsters that the Evilus commander, Valletta Grede, had brought up to the city, the older adventurers sacrificed themselves by taking on the monsters without any regard for their own lives. They fought and died, taking as many monsters down with them.
It was the ultimate, most grand accomplishment for the old adventurers who had failed to become legends. That was how those who survived saw them. Morpheus Familia, however, saw it differently. They, who were also a part of the old generation, wondered why all of the veterans had to die for the brats of this generation. Haven't they fought and struggled longer and harder than anybody from the newer generations? Did they not deserve to live the most? Did the fall of the strongest and oldest familias mean that slowly all of those not a part of the new age needed to be culled out to make room for newer and younger heroes?
They were finally pushed over the edge when the Gale Wind rampaged.
Her whole familia, the Astrea Familia, was wiped out by a trap set by Rudra Familia, one of Evilus's factions, leading her to go on a vengeful rampage to destroy the whole force of Evilus. Not just those directly a part of Evilus, but even its affiliates. Weapons dealers and other aides were also a target of her revenge. That included them, who had secretly done jobs for the Evilus to make a profit. They never openly fought with them or even supported their ideals. All of their interactions were purely for business. Unfortunately for them, the Gale Wind did not view it like that. All it took was the slightest notion that someone had helped Evilus and you were a target. Your reasons and opinions did not matter. In her eyes, you were already guilty.
The Gale Wind was only one person, Level Four or not, but she had also destroyed several other dark familias that were far stronger than her or them. If she targeted them, then they would die. They made a choice. Escape Orario and avoid Gale's wrath. So, using the secret escape routes that led outside of Orario, they made it outside the city, successfully avoiding the Gale Wind's vendetta. Later, they had heard from several sources that she had disappeared after she had wiped out all of Evilus. Some said she had died. Some said she could be in hiding due to the bounty the guild put on her due to destruction she had caused due to her rampage. None of that mattered to them at that point. If they returned to Orario, and Gale Wind was still around and heard about their return, then she could renew her vengeful quest to destroy them. And even if she was really dead, the guild would figure out their involvement with Evilus and have them arrested.
They could not return to Orario. They were effectively exiled. No longer were they adventurers. They were only an old and washed up familia that fell into banditry. Of course they would grow bitter. Of course they would hate the city that turned its back on them. Of course they would want to take revenge against Orario. Of course they would come up with such a heinous plan that would get hundreds killed just to get under the skin of the Heroes City.
Of course, their simple plot would be seen through by one of the world's sharpest minds and effectively cause them to march to their own destruction.
Of course Kyra was right.