by John Nest
Once inside, Smoke observed the new Flora Sentinels planted in a labyrinthian fashion. Honey locust thorns, osage oranges and bougainvillea grew alternately, creating a six-meter-tall hedge for the maze.
SCREECH SCREECH SCREECH SCREECH
Numerous thorns grazed the sides of the broad carriages. Not only were these thorns poisonous, they were hard and sturdy as well. He tested one of his fire arrows against the hedge.
PLUK
His arrow stuck itself into the hedge, but its flames quickly faded as these plants had high fire resistance. Smoke smiled at the impressive natural defenses Sierra put up in front of Verbrannt.
'She must have used the extensive knowledge of the Farmers from the saved villages to create this hedge.' he thought.
They zig-zagged their way through five hundred meters of poisonous plants before they reached the exit.
After the maze, Smoke noticed that there was at least a kilometer of open plain with nothing on it. Gandiva explained that there were concealed trenches in this area and that you needed to use the small white stones scattered throughout the plain as your guide on order to travel across safely.
As soon as they passed through the plain, Smoke saw vast rice paddies, corn fields and various other crops planted in Verbrannt's nutrient-rich soil.
'Looking at this, I think Verbrannt can now feed more than twenty thousand people.'
They rode on for almost twenty minutes before Smoke saw buildings made of stone and wood. He then immediately noticed the numerous werewolves roaming the streets. Surprisingly, they interacted amiably with the other residents.
The refugees from the saved villages all willingly became citizens of Verbrannt. Smoke noticed the diversified stalls in the market district. He watched Bakers and Cooks haggle with Farmers while Thatchers, Carpenters and Blacksmiths were making deals with Merchants for parts to use. Tailors and Tanners had the most pleasant conversations of them all, as they were happily trading goods with each other.
In this district, Smoke especially enjoyed the canal that Jinggu, Sharur, Rasant, Stark and Weise had dug out. Medium-sized gondolas could be seen sailing along it, transporting passengers and goods. Smoke liked how the children in Verbrannt would chase after them, laughing while running along the banks.
Slowly, most of the members of his personal army began to break away from the caravan. The Bowed Fishermen and Condortlian Warriors stayed behind in the market to find presents for their families.
Only Smoke, his core private army members, Mamelon and the Elemental Knights continued on towards the building in the center of the village, Rauch Castle.
The moment he saw the new castle name, Smoke instantly asked Gandiva about it. "When did the castle's name change?"
"Sierra officially changed it about a month ago." she replied quickly, "You were still in the Simiavulg village back then." she said, "How was it there, by the way?" asked Gandiva in an intrigued voice.
"That place is really closed off. Luckily, it was spared from the Witches. They had turned Veneficatl valley into their playground, using the villages of Pferde, Opferntl and Banal as testing grounds for their armies. " he said out loud while remembering his time in the valley.
After five minutes, they passed through the residential area. Smoke saw the happy faces of kids of different races playing with each other. There were Human, Lioumerean, Elf and Centaur children laughing in the streets of Verbrannt. He felt a sense of accomplishment as he watched them live a worry-free life.
Finally, they arrived at the main gates of Rauch Castle. The castle walls looked even more intimidating than before, as they now reached a height of twenty-one meters.
Once inside, Smoke observed that the grounds themselves went through almost no changes. Temporary tents were placed in one section. Adder sat beside Smoke as he explained the situation. "Those tents were formerly used to house the incoming refugees, but now they're being used by the Avendre Mercenaries." said Adder as he pointed to a vast training field of archery and swordsmanship. Apparently, the Mercenaries were using melee weapons while the Bowed Fishermen honed their skills with the ranged equipment.
"If you look to your far right, you can see the stables. It's where we keep our dirus wolves." explained Adder.
Smoke remembered that most of his core army members had gotten dirus wolves as mounts of their own. He peeked inside the expansive stables and saw ten dirus wolves and three war elephants.
"When did you guys get war elephants?" Smoke asked Adder.
"Sierra brought them when she returned with her werewolf pack. They're already trained, but their owners still need a little more practice to use them effectively." Adder answered with a small laugh.
'Who could possibly ride those behemoths.' wondered Smoke.
His attention returned to the castle itself, as it remained mostly unchanged. The same could have been said for Sierra, who was standing in front of the main steps, still in her cursed werebear form. Thyrsus, Sharanga, Sharur and two unusually large werewolves were standing behind her.
Igniz flew straight to Sierra and rapidly orbited around her. Smoke chuckled at the scene; his dark ember sprite had really taken a liking to her.
Slowly, Smoke got off Gandiva's carriage. Usually, when meeting someone close to him, he would quickly approach the person in question and hug them without hesitation. However, his body refused to act normally around Sierra. Igniz floated above them curiously.
Shortly afterwards, Adder, Espion, Jinggu, Laernea, Gandiva, Stark, Rasant and Weise, along with Ledur and his Tikbalangs, all got off as well. They stayed behind Smoke and waited for Sierra and him to hug.
Smoke delicately stretched out both his hands and Sierra did the same with her paws. To their friends watching them, they looked like foreign dignitaries who were meeting for the first time. The two of them shared a brief moment of wordless exchange as they held each other's hands.
Unbeknownst to everyone else, this simple gesture sent electrical impulses that triggered a myriad of emotions in both of them. Smoke had been afraid that Sierra would act coldly towards him, but she did none of that.
"I'm glad you're finally here." said Sierra. Her face clearly lit up.
"Thanks. It's good to be back. I love what you've done with the village." said Smoke as he smiled gently.
"I can't take credit for that. The progress you see here is mostly attributed to Thyrsus, Sharur and Sharanga's dedication to the village."
The three of them stepped forward and shook his hand. Smoke thought about hugging them but decided not to. He didn't want Sierra to get the impression that he cares more about them than her.
Vijaya ran up to Thyrsus and hugged him tightly. Ichaival tried to mimic her and ran towards Sharanga, but she just threw one of her five-trap systems onto him, immobilizing him.
Smoke tried not to mind Ichaival's crazy antics and looked at Mamelon and her regiment. She and her Elemental Knights and Shamans were standing in formation behind him. He called for her to join them, and Mamelon stepped forward and shook Sierra's hand. "I'm happy to be back here as well." she said.
Sierra smiled sincerely and pointed to Smoke before saying, "Thank you for saving him and everyone else."
"No problem. You're the one who told us to rush to their location." replied Mamelon. "By the way, Smoke said that I missed Ilad only by a couple of days back in Banal, but I don't see him here?" she stated in an inquiring tone.
For a brief moment, Sierra's eyes gave Smoke a knowing stare before she answered, "Oh, he told me he wanted to check up on the work being done at Mount Engrais."
"Oh. Well, I guess I'll just wait here, then." said Mamelon, showing a forced smile. She took a moment before asking both Smoke and Sierra, "If you don't mind, I think I'll have the rest of my men tour around the village. Virer and Courant said something about doing personal side quests with two Betulite girls."
Smoke and Sierra raised their eyebrows at the same time. Mamelon noticed this and tried to explain, "Yeah...they're t
rying to court them. Apparently, they read somewhere that you could marry a Zectian."
"Really? That's some deadly information right there." said Sierra ardently, "Okay, just go see Ehrlich first. I told him to prepare your zecs in advance."
Mamelon smiled, gave them a small nod and turned to her regiment. She led them towards the treasury room. Smoke observed how the regiment broke out of their formation and walked towards in a more laid-back manner. Elemental Knights of the same element formed smaller groups and started discussing where they were going to go next.
"Sierra, they're getting paid?" asked Smoke with a hint of alarm in his voice.
"Of course. You can't expect them to join our guild and get nothing out of it, right?" she explained.
Smoke formed a face of slight disapproval. "Who is Ehrlich? And where are you getting the zecs used to pay them?"
Sierra shook her head and gave a small laugh. "From themselves, of course! I pay them from the taxes we collect. All of them spend their money in the market district, so our money is just circulating within the walls of Verbrannt."
She continued, "Ehrlich Buchhalter is our Comptroller. Under my orders, Laernea went to Centza city and hired him. And before you say anything else: yes, I've had Baldaquin test him and yes, he has his own contract."
"What about their loot? Where do they sell it?" asked Smoke.
"They sell their items in the other villages. The original amount of zecs you've left us is no longer enough for everyone in the community, considering we now have a total population of nine thousand seven hundred thirty-five." she explained, "In a way, Mamelon and her regiment are a godsend; they bring in more zecs and enrich our economy."
"As expected of an economist. You're really fit to run your own country." said Smoke with a grin.
"I'm still pursuing that degree, I haven't graduated yet." she chided.
"You did great. By the way, could I talk to you alone?" he asked.
Sierra gave a small nod. Smoke then turned to his core private army members, who were still lingering around them. "Guys, Sierra and I have some private matters to discuss."
At a leisurely pace, his core members started to head in different directions. Smoke watched Laernea, Gandiva and the Maneators head towards the stables. Adder, Ledur and the Tikbalangs headed for the infirmary. Thyrsus, Vijaya, Sharanga and Ichaival headed towards the market district, and Jinggu had to forcibly drag Sharur away, as he refused to leave their leaders' side.
Smoke remained quiet and patiently waited for all of them to leave. Once they were gone, Sierra led him upstairs towards the King's chamber.
* * * * * *
On the massive marble balcony outside the King's chamber of Rauch castle, emphatic voices filled the air as Smoke and Sierra were having a heated discussion about the Magietrois. The two of them were completely alone, as Smoke asked Igniz to join the other core members for the time being.
"I don't care what they were once called or if they are supposedly cursed saviors! The only thing that's clear to me right now is that they are the Witches of Wysteria." she said fiercely. "They've tormented numerous villages just to build their armies." she continued as she tried to describe the horrific events the werewolves had to go through.
"I know how this sounds, but try looking at it objectively. Don't you think that they might be just extremely Machiavellian?" debated Smoke, "If the Reptilian race is really becoming a threat again, then shouldn't we have an army equally devastating as theirs to protect us?"
"But not at this cost! What good would it do to stand against the supposed return of the Reptilians if everyone ends up in a cursed form beforehand?" Sierra said in an angry tone, "And what about Ledur? Did you think he'd be fine with this?"
"I haven't told him yet. In fact, you and Darius are the only ones I've spoke to about this. I wanted to hear your opinion first." said Smoke as he instinctively held both her werebear paws to calm her down, "I never said we would allow Horrabelle to continue her evil ways. I'm just saying that we could use someone like her on our side."
Sierra was silent. He went on to explain his idea further, "What I'm thinking is, we convince her to stop what she's doing and try to undo the damage she's done. If all she really wants is an army, then we've already got one for her."
"But do you really think you could persuade Horrabelle? Not to mention that you killed both her sisters." she said in serene tone.
"Well, there is that. Honestly, I don't know if talking to her will work at all, but I have to try, right?" Smoke asked Sierra as they stared into each other's eyes, "Besides, Mima always said that the best way to defeat an enemy is to turn him into a friend."
"Heh, I don't think Mima had the Witches of Wysteria in mind when she told you that." Sierra giggled as her werebear paws clasped his hands.
She moved closer to him and placed her paws on his shoulders, when she noticed a black scar on his chest, barely sticking out from beneath his armor.
"What's that?" asked Sierra.
"This? Crucibelle gave me a scar with her dying breath." said Smoke as he opened up his armor to give Sierra a better look, "I'm sure that it's meant to be harmful, but I haven't noticed any negative effects."
"See, this is exactly what I'm talking about." said Sierra as she carefully traced the scar with her claws, "This looks really deep. Have you had someone treat it?"
"Aida and Crisa tried healing it, but they said it's beyond their ability." explained Smoke. "We should really look into recruiting some Arch Bishops." he chuckled at the idea of trusting another Sonstwelter.
"Aida and Crisa, huh?" said Sierra with a raised eyebrow.
"They're Shamans from Mamelon's regiment. I think you've already met them once or twice?" he said passively.
"I think I'd like to meet them again." she said with malice in her voice.
* * * * * *
The reunited couple planned to spend the entire day in each other's company. Smoke could feel Sierra's sincerity in understanding his intention behind staying away for so long, and this only made him fall for her even more.
Sharur asked if he could join them, but Sierra told the OrkElf to inspect mount Engrais. Sharur grumbled as he left the two of them alone.
Sierra first took Smoke to meet Ehrlich Buchhalter. On the way to the treasury, they came across a Gnome and a Dwarf standing next to two open crates outside the stables.
The lean Gnome with red hair looked familiar to Smoke. It took him a few seconds before he realized that it was Billig Verkäufer, the salesman from Bestride Stables in Coatl.
The stout Dwarf had long, unruly white hair and a beard to match. They started to raise their voices as their conversation took a sour turn.
"I told you this a thousand times, Billig! You cannot have the pups for a lower price, even if you give me zecs off the books." said the Dwarf, "Aardwolf pups are five hundred thousand zecs each and dirus wolf pups are a million. According to my calculations, that'll be twenty million zecs."
"Eh-Ehrlich, what are you talking about? I just said I'd buy them at that price." said Billig nervously as his and Sierra's eyes met, "Oh, Lady Sierra. How lovely to see you."
Sierra greeted him with a reproachful look. "Good day, Billig."
"Well, I better be off. Mustn't keep the customers waiting." said Billig hurriedly as he loaded both crates into his cart.
After the troublesome Merchant rode off, Sierra waved to the Dwarf in front of her and introduced him to Smoke.
"Smoke, this is Ehrlich Buchhalter. Ehrlich, meet Smoke." said Sierra.
The two of them shook hands. "Ah, it's nice to finally put a face to a name, Master Smoke." said Ehrlich.
"A pleasure to meet you as well. I like the way you handled Billig; I can tell that you're a force to be reckoned with." Smoke said with a smile as they continued to shake hands.
"It's the least I could do. You two are doing a very commendable thing here." said Ehrlich.
"Were those pups inside the crates?" asked Smoke.
"Yes, they were. Five dirus wolf and thirty aardwolf pups." answered the Dwarf.
"Wouldn't we have earned more if we grew them into full-grown mounts before selling them?" Smoke thought out loud.
"Oh, this is under Thyrsus' advisement." answered Sierra, "Taking care of pups is really hard. They would most likely die without a Caretaker. The Lioumereans are already aware of this and are looking for one, but apparently, someone with that Job isn't that common in Wysteria."
"According to my calculations, even though we lose 60% of the potential income this way, that is still within acceptable limits. There's nothing to worry about." Ehrich reassured him. "Oh shoot, I forgot to prepare the zecs for Avendre Mercenaries. Well, I'll get out of your way, as I'm sure you two are very busy." Ehrlich gave a small bow and left for the treasury.