Chapter 4.27 - Twilight Walkers

"What do you mean 'gone'?" Markus, Grand General of the Northern Kingdoms, held a knife to the throat of Lazar. "I sent you to watch the caravan. You should at least be able to report their fate."

Lazar had watched as the Desert Sons had entered the unnamed town, and had never returned. He had waited three hours for them to open the gate and report back to him, but they had never done so. Lazar would have continued waiting, but eventually when the gate did open, it was several scouts from the town and he knew from his past experience that they were proficient in tracking. So instead of waiting to be captured and suffer the same fate that befell Atta and his company, Lazar had left, using another priceless return stone.

Markus was less than pleased. He had expected to receive a report in a few weeks of another upstart nation's demise, not of the complete loss of Atta's company.

Markus then smiled. The Desert Sons was not the only group he knew of capable of the task. "Lazar, I have a different task for you." Markus removed the knife, pressed it into a sheath, and handed it to him. "You are to take this knife as a present to Queen Narissa. Ask her the price for taking care of our problem, and offer the knife as a down payment."

Lazar paled. Most common folk did not know, but leaders of nations knew. Dragons were not only real, but also sentient and capable of reason. And by this request, it seemed that they could be couried with. Markus handed him a map and a wooden rod wrapped in a golden cloth. "Twenty of my strongest men will escort you to her domain. Ensure you have this rod on you at all times. It marks you as an envoy and ensures that her minions will not attack first. Kobolds can be a rowdy bunch."

Lazar gulped. He may have survived another day, but he felt he only delayed the inevitable.

***

"To be honest, that was a lot easier than I was expecting." Serin sat with Ephraim, Sute, Bilol, and Shurik. The entire town was celebrating. But celebrating the most was the changelings. Other than the younglings, every single changeling had now feasted on a powerful human personally felled in combat.

"We only won because we knew they were coming and they were caught off guard. Had they had the element of surprise and our strongest fighters were in the dungeon, we would have been completely overrun." commented Ephraim.

Bilol smiled, "I can agree that the outcome would have been much worse."

Serin smiled. He was worried at this point. "If we had one attack, we could have more. We will have to develop a plan to have a few members of the protectorate activated to long periods of time."

Sute smiled, "We incentivize it, we will get it. Most of our youngest planetouched jumped on the chance for lasting youthful looks."

Serin knew that they had been lucky. "Had the element of surprise been in their favor and not ours, we surely would have suffered widespread casualties. However it seems that there is celebration due to our success." Then Serin looked around. Most of the town was enjoying an impromptu party.

Serin looked at Bilol, "You said you wanted the left over corpses. What is your plan for them?"

Bilol spoke, "we have dropped off their weapons and equipment for study with Ephraim's crafters. The wagons have been added to the City for use with the dungeon."

Serin then narrowed his eyes and smirked, "and the bodies?"

Bilol winked, "Its a secret."

Serin shook his head. As he looked around at the abundance of food and smiling faces, he thought, then paled and checked his kingdom status. Almost as soon as he looked at his kingdom status being overwhelmingly in the positive, he saw that another refugee request had come in.

Serin looked at Bilol, "Bilol, gather the representatives. We have will have refugees coming in soon."

***

Serin greeted each of the representatives. He looked and smiled, seeing Shurik and the other Gole were present as well.

Shurik looked at Serin, "I am honored to be a representative for my people, but honestly I do not know what our duties are."

Serin smiled, "It is fairly simple. Representatives act as the voice for their people. They listen to their concerns and ensure that their race is adequately represented and the needs of their people are being met." Serin then looked at Ephraim and Bilol. "I know that the Gole came from a very sterile environment so that is a physical difference we must always account for in how we move forward with our cities. Just as we must account for cultural differences, such as the Demis conservative values, or the Changeling's reproductive needs. Which at times clash."

Shurik cocked his head. Serin then flustered, "There are a few texts written on the subjects. I suggest that you read them."

Bilol grinned, "It is probably best that you do that sooner rather than later. Otherwise you may run afoul of one group. Or accidentally get Bonded like our fearless leader."

Bilol shot Serin a wink and Serin blushed.

Shurik then asked, "And what happens if two groups get into conflict?"

The representatives laughed, and Lady Eris answered. "Shurik. You might not realize it, but all of us share the same goal. Survival. As long as any conflict does not impose on that shared goal, we will be able to overcome any difference."

Serin looked over towards the tables setup for the banquet. When there were much fewer members in their nation, The banquet was two or three tables setup with food and that fed the entire town. However now it was two or three dozen tables. Serin knew that had every member of their town shown up to eat their fill, they would not have enough food. Thankfully, most townsfolk were busy in other areas. With the state of emergency ended and normal operations resumed, there was a queue for the dungeon.

Also, Serin had informed Seamus that they were prepared to receive traders again. Every member of the protectorate being required to stay armed and armored, Serin wasn't worried about another incursion, however Seamus was made aware of the changes, and the merchants and crafters of the town had created small displays for their shops. This ensured that the majority of the town and its goods were not exposed to outsiders.

Serin had heard from Ephraim that there was pushback from Rupert. Spring was here and he was expecting to open his resort to the public soon. Serin would have to figure out a way to solve this issue.

For now though it was time. It had been almost 6 months since the Gole had joined their town. Serin was excited for what came through the gate. Serin watched as in the dim light of the setting sun, a gate opened in the middle of the town square.

***