Chapter 179: Risky Descisions

*Regular ID's within Siratha will now be called Guild Cards*

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Early Afternoon - Mid Summer : Spiall, Siratha

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- Liv Sigmond ~

Standing just outside of the duke's office, I took a deep breath and mentally prepared myself. "Hooh..." -I got this...-

Quickly triple checking I had all the correct medical reports, I finally reached up and knocked. 

*knock-knock* "Commander Liv Sigmond here to report on the mission assigned by the guild master."

There was a short pause before a deep and mature voice responded. "Please come in."

"Hooh." *Click* Opening up the door, I was met with the gazes of both the Duke and the Guild Master. -He's already here?-

Trying to keep my calm and not look too stressed out, I walked over to the couch and sat down with the stack of reports on my lap.

"Welcome Commander Sigmond." The Duke's voice was sultry and smooth, which helped ease my nerves just slightly.

"Thank you for your hospitality, Duke Spiall." Quickly reading the atmosphere, I noticed I should probably begin. "Shall I start with my report?"

"If you could." The Duke's posture looked relaxed but felt incredibly intimidating.

It made me a bit uncomfortable, but I tried my best to ignore it. "In that case, I'll jump right into it. Commander Dolph and the 5 squadrons he brought with him on his most recent expedition were all killed without a single survivor, with only 20 people's deaths going unconfirmed."

The Guild Master seemed fairly shocked by the news, but the Duke looked relatively unphased. "Do you know who those 20 are?"

"Yes." Quickly flipping through the casualty report, I found the right page and handed it to him. "All 5 squadron leaders were all missing without as much of a trace left, but I do feel it is necessary to say that not a single body was recognizable. Almost every corpse looked closer to a pile of random organs and flesh than a person."

The Duke casually took the report and scanned it before looking at me with a raised eyebrow. "If they were all mutilated to such an extent, how did you identify so many? Quite a few of the names on this report even have condition reports..." (stating the condition of said person's body)

He was clearly a bit skeptical, but I couldn't blame him since it was normal for close to a third of the bodies to go without identification on most battlefields. -Yet somehow in this fight, almost everyone's fairly-fragile guild card was perfectly intact…- "Most of the bodies still had their medallions or guild cards intact."

"Hm... How odd."

There was a short moment of silence as the Duke handed the report to the Guild Master for him to look at. 

Once he received the report, it only took a moment for him to reveal his skepticism. "So what was the condition of Commander Dolph's body? How does he not have a corpse condition report but those of the lowest rank do?"

"We aren't totally sure. His medallion was the only one that we didn't find alongside some sort of corpse. Although it may sound odd, right towards the end of the day, I was at the bottom edge of the mountain and his medallion simply fell from the sky."

Quickly raising his eyebrow in concern, the Duke gave me a somewhat stern look. "Do you happen to have that medallion with you?"

"Ah, yes. Here." Pulling it out of my pouch, I set it in front of him.

He immediately went wide-eyed. "It.. broke?"

"Yes, sir. That is how I found it." I was a bit unsure why he seemed so shocked, but he was quick to elaborate.

"This was a medallion made from a dragon's scale. The smiths who made it said it was nearly indestructible." He paused for a moment to take a good look at the break. "I'm guessing you didn't confirm the identity of what killed everyone?"

"That is correct. As to not jeopardize the safety of squadron 1, I did not go up the mountain."

The Duke pinched the bridge of his nose as he leaned back in his chair. "Haah... Do I really need to ask for assistance from the capital again?"

There was another moment of silence before I felt the need to speak up. "May I suggest something?"

The Guild Master looked at me wide-eyed before the Duke leaned forward in his chair. "You may."

With his change in posture, I felt as if his aura got slightly heavier, and broke into a cold sweat. "I have reason to believe that the creature in the mountains isn't a threat to Spiall."

"And why is that?"

"The creature blew off the mountain top there a couple months ago now, and it hasn't moved at all in that time. I believe that creature has made a home there and will leave us alone as long as we don't antagonize it further." I wore a serious expression and spoke with confidence even though my thoughts had become fuzzy.

"Hm... Not a bad suggestion. How are squadrons 1 and 2 looking?"

"Squadron 1 still has 249 and Squadron 2 has 435. Between both squadrons, we lost 8 members on the expedition prior to the last one."

"The expedition to investigate the mountain in the first place, right?" Setting his hand on his chin, he seemed to fall into deep thought. "Is it safe for me to assume squadrons 8 through 10 are in good condition?"

Quickly thinking back to the paperwork I memorized during the last expedition, I was able to respond with confidence. "That is correct sir."

"Hm... Alright then, now that I have a general idea of the situation, let's discuss the plan going forward."

Giving a quick nod, I felt a knot of nervousness grow in my stomach. -Just a little further...-

We continued to talk for a couple hours after that, discussing the plans going forward before settling on a decent plan of attack.

The main idea was to cover up the incident and loss of the squadrons until the pilgrimage, where everyone would travel to the capital and all cities and towns would enter a one-year ceasefire.

Waiting for that moment would not only give us a chance to repair our numbers but also strengthen existing troops and lower the amount of panic the incident would normally incite. -If all goes well, we should be able to brush past this incident... somehow.-

"So is there anything else either of you wish to add?" The Duke seemed quite satisfied with the plan and seemed to like me, but his eyes still carried a bit of scrutiny.

-I'm sure it's just him gauging my ability...- "Nothing here, sir!" I spoke with a considerable amount of confidence.

"In that case, I have nothing more to discuss. Thank you for your time, Commander Sigmond."

Excited to finally get some rest, I felt a smile creep onto my face. "Thank you for letting me partake in this meeting, Duke Spiall!"

Seeing my deep bow, a small smile came to his face. "Congratulations on your promotion."

"T-Thank you very much! Please have a good day, Guild Master and Duke Spiall!" Giving a short and formal farewell, I made my way outside and carefully closed the door behind me.

*Click* The instant I heard the click of the door, the exhaustion I had been suppressing during the entire meeting hit me like a wave.

"Hooh..." I nearly fell to the ground on the spot but held myself up with sheer willpower. -I can't pass out right outside of the Duke's office!-

Suppressing my exhaustion once more, I made my way out of the estate and somehow all the way back to my room.

*Click* Closing the door behind me, I used my last remaining energy to stumble over to the bed.

*Pouf* Falling onto the feathery cushion, I almost immediately fell asleep, but as I looked to the side, I noticed a bronze-colored liquid in a fancy glass vial on the bedside table.

-Huh? W..what is.. an elixir.. doing.. h..ere...- *Pouf*