Chapter 176: Luring the Tiger Away from the Mountain
Meanwhile, in the far-northern city of Weiburg, Rhodes, in the middle of a dream, suddenly opened his eyes. He sat up and looked to the southwest, in the direction of the Kingdom of Ersten, a sense of unease stirring within him. He had just felt a faint, yet distinct, dark fluctuation of mana.
But it was too far away. Across half a continent, and behind the kingdom's own defensive barrier, the feeling was a faint and blurry thing, like looking through a thick, frosted glass. He couldn't even make out the nature of the malevolent energy.
A deep frown creased his forehead. This was a feeling far more unsettling than the faint sense of being watched he had felt on the battlefield.
"The West... the Kingdom of Ersten," he murmured, Ela's message now at the forefront of his mind. A new kingdom and Ersten, now at odds with each other, a conflict that she suspected had been orchestrated by the demons. But from all the intelligence they had gathered, it was just minor skirmishes, nothing close to a full-scale war, nothing as dire as the near-disaster that had befallen Weiburg.
But since their own intervention, since they had helped the dwarves to rout the demon army, everything had fallen into an eerie quiet. Too quiet. It was as if the demons had simply vanished. They had not been able to find a single trace of a great demon's magical residue. The scattered, fleeing monsters... they had all been wiped out, as if by an unseen hand. The dwarves had searched the entire area, and had found nothing. It was as if the great siege had just been a bad dream.
And this... this quiet... it was more unsettling to him than a constant threat.
The demons were not the type to just give up, especially not if their commander was that stubborn and tenacious Shurahat. After two hundred years of hiding, he wouldn't have just sent a disposable army to be their sparring partners.
"Lure the tiger away from the mountain."
An ancient strategy came to his mind. If that was the case, then the dwarves had never been their real target. The massive attack on Weiburg, the sacrifice of such a large army... it had all been to pin her, the greatest threat to them, in this remote and desolate place. And the "friction" that Ela had mentioned... that, too, was likely not a coincidence. It probably had the hand of the demons behind it. And if that were the case, then that malicious fluctuation he had just felt... was it aimed at the kingdom itself? Or something else?
The kingdom itself was unlikely. For the demons, there were still the Elven Kingdom and the Dwarven Kingdom, two far more significant powers. It made no sense to focus all their energy on a nation whose only real value was its name.
And then, he remembered.
The holy sword, the 'Light of Ersten'.
The sword he had left behind, the sword that now held a thousand years of human faith, the greatest weapon of the Kingdom of Ersten. He had once hoped that it would be used to once again save the world, but if the demons were to get their hands on it...
His heart sank. If that was their plan, then he had to get to Ersten, and fast.
The heavy wooden door of the stone house opened without a sound, and a slender elven figure, bathed in the moonlight, stepped inside. "Can't sleep?" her cool, calm voice broke the silence.
He was not surprised.
She stood in the doorway, her golden hair shimmering in the moonlight. "I sensed something," he said, not bothering to hide the truth. "From the west. In the direction of Ersten."
She walked over to the window and also looked to the southwest. She was silent for a few moments, as if trying to sense something herself. "It's too far," she said. Her own senses, though acute, could not reach across thousands of miles. "Was it a passive activation of the holy sword? Or something else?" It had to be the sword he had left there; it was the only thing that could have reached him from so far away.
"I'm not sure," he shook his head. "But with this strange quiet here... I think we've been tricked. Serie, I don't think Shurahat was ever really after this place. He used his army to trap us here."
Her eyes narrowed, a cold light in their depths. She hated being played, especially by the demons. "They've gotten a little smarter," she said, her voice filled with a quiet, but deadly, rage. "So? We're going to Ersten now?"
Her mind was a direct and simple thing. If this was a feint, then the only logical course of action was to go to the real target.
He was silent, his fingers tapping against the edge of the bed. His own reason was telling him the same thing. They had to go, now. They couldn't let the sword fall into their hands. But it was still just a guess. And the demons... they still had a remnant of their army here. If he and Serie were to leave, and they were to attack the city again... the dwarves wouldn't be able to hold them off. And the situation in Ersten was still unclear. To just rush in... there was no telling what the consequences would be.
"We'll leave in the morning," he finally said.
They had stayed long enough. And if the demons were not going to show themselves, then he would go to them. This time, he would not let them hide for another two hundred years.
"And Flamme? If we're going to travel fast, she won't be able to keep up." They could fly, of course. It wouldn't take them long to reach the kingdom. But she couldn't. It was a little too late to teach her now.
"She'll... come with us."
To leave her here, in the relative safety of the dwarven city? No. The city had just been attacked, and its defenses were not yet fully restored. If the demons were to circle back... it would be too dangerous for her to be here alone. To take her with them... it was a risk. But at least she would be under their own protection.
Serie had no objection to his decision. After a moment of silence, she just said, "Alright." To her, since she had made the decision to take the human child as a special case, to teach her, to guide her... then to let her face a little danger... that was also a part of her growth. A troublesome part, but a necessary one.
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