Valkyrie's Shadow

The Tiger and the Dragon: Act 1, Chapter 1

The Tiger and the Dragon: Act 1, Chapter 1

True ability is a mystery to those without; beware attempts to cross the void between.

– Baghrani pur Jstorr, Maharani of Gond

Senapati of the Beastman Confederacy

Chapter 1

15th Day, Lower Water Month, 0CE

“Glasir, come play!”

“What are you playing?”

“We’re–”

A gaggle of immature Human males ran up to Glasir as classes came to an end. The students made their way out of the schoolhouse, filling the air with their excited chatter. The one who had called out to her was named Raul, one of the Lord-class students who controlled a tribe that made up roughly half of the class.

Human lord-types were different from Lord-class Demihumans, however: he wasn’t the biggest kid in the class: just one of the noisiest. The students who commanded the most attention attracted the most followers and became the lords.

The Warden was also a lord who presided over the entire territory and attracted plenty of attention when she wanted to, but she was the opposite of noisy. Maybe the abilities that the Warden had were something that they got as they grew up.

Glasir looked around at the expectant expressions of the Human children. She didn’t know why they called out for her to join them every day but the Human adults seemed to think nothing of it. In fact, they seemed to encourage them to do so. Glasir had a few hours before her Druid lessons with the Lizardmen, so it wasn’t as if she had anything better to do…

“Glasir, come with us – the boys just want to stare at your boobs.”

A bunch of the boys became flustered as the second of the Lord-class students showed up. This one was an immature Human female named Olga and her tribe consisted of most of the females in the class. The girl tribe levelled looks in a group attack that set the boy tribe back two steps.

“Th-th-that’s not true!” Raul protested.

“Then why are you all turning red?” Olga leaned forward as she peered at him, “I know that you keep trying to peek through her leaves.”

“That’s…that’s your fault!”

Glasir didn’t get it. She wasn’t even Human, so why did they show signs of Human interest toward her? Raul had clearly been defeated, however, so she went over to join the winner.

“What are we doing?”

“Let’s go to your mother’s place and get some Elder Liches,” Olga said.

“Ehhh?” Raul whined, “But Death Knights are better!”

Ah, so they’re coming too.

What was the point of the battle just now? They were all going to do the same thing anyway.

“Death Knights are too fast! We won’t be able to see anything! Elder Liches are better.”

The boys always wanted Death Knights. They were big and ‘awesome’ and powerful and, after watching them train once, all that Raul and the rest of the boys wanted was to watch them beat each other up. Dryads didn’t have the same violent instincts that Humans did, so Glasir couldn’t empathise with them when it came to that kind of stuff.

They made their way across the village square, where Glasir entered the Warden’s manor. She set aside her school bag before going up to the war room on the second floor. Several Elder Liches looked up from the table in the centre, while a Half-Elf with teal hair looked up from the couch where she was nursing her offspring.

“Welcome home, Glasir,” Wiluvien Linum smiled. “How was school?”

“Fine. Um, the other kids want some Elder Liches.”

“Playing war again?”

Glasir nodded. The Half-Elf Maid looked towards the Elder Liches at the table.

“I’ll send some to meet you at the usual place."

“Thanks.”

Glasir went back outside, holding up her woody thumb to the kids waiting out on the street. They all grinned in response and scattered towards their respective homes.

Everyone met again at one of the makeshift battlefields that had appeared over the winter. Since there was no development slated in the northern part of the island for the near future, Lord Mare had turned the area into a temporary exercise area for the Royal Army stationed at the base on the southern end of the island. Playing war was so popular that they went there every day after classes, picking a different field to battle on each day.

While they were gathering, two dozen Elder Liches arrived from the south, riding a pair of wagons drawn by Soul Eaters. They divided themselves into two groups on opposite ends of the chosen field. The two student tribes split up, hiding behind their respective hills as they prepared their forces.

The rules of the game were complicated but the Humans seemed to have no problems understanding them. Each side had twelve Elder Liches, who would use Second-tier summoning spells to provide ‘soldiers’ for each army. This meant that each Elder Lich could summon four First-tier summons or a single Second-tier summon.

One might think to always summon the strongest beings possible, but there were additional conditions. Foremost amongst them was that each team had a set ‘war budget’ that they used to equip their armies. Most of the students in the class were children from artisan families and the budget that they received came from the ‘education budget’ meant to pay for vocational training in the demesne.

The weapons, armour and other equipment that had been carted over by the children were all made by them. Their parents helped where it was required, but they were instructed to only provide guidance and let their apprentices do the work. Glasir pulled out a weapon from one of the carts, frowning at it dubiously.

“What’s this?” She asked.

“A morning star,” the girl across the cart answered.

“Why is it shaped like a heart?”

“Because they’re cute.”

“Then why does the heart have spikes?”

“Because it’s a morning star.”

Glasir shook her head as she placed the weapon into the hand of a Zombie before helping put some chainmail over the gambeson of the next. The slow, clumsy Undead had become the mainstay of their ‘army’ over the past month. They were resistant to bludgeoning attacks but weak to slashing. Chainmail armour, however, was good against slashing attacks and the gambesons were difficult to puncture. Zombies were already tough without equipment and its addition made them super tough.

The other summons who could be equipped were subject to similar attempts to make them better. Different types of arrows were added to the quivers of the Skeleton Archers. Even the Skeleton Mages were adorned in protective robes and helmets.

“We’re short a robe!” One of the girls said.

“Hah?” Olga furrowed her brow, “How can we be short a whole robe?”

“I-I don’t know? I’m pretty sure I put it in with the other one this morning…”

There were problems like that, too. It was a good thing that their soldiers didn’t need to eat.

After thirty minutes of fuss, their soldiers were marched over to the battlefield on the other side of the hill. Their two Medium Fire Elementals were the only summons without equipment. The rest of their army consisted of sixteen Zombies, eight Skeleton Archers, two Skeleton Mages and eight Skeleton Riders.

Their group spread out tarps over the slope, settling down to watch the battle. Light snow started to fall from the overcast skies, but the students were bundled in layered garments and paid it no mind. They gathered in groups of threes and fours, enjoying the snacks and beverages that had been prepared for them. Sighs of admiration rose from the girls as Olga appeared on the command tower on top of the hill, striking a gallant pose.

“Olga’s gotten taller again...she kinda looks kind of like your mother, doesn’t she?”

Glasir’s ‘mother’ was the Warden, Ludmila Zahradnik. For some reason, the Humans all preferred to refer to her that way when Glasir was around. She supposed that they weren’t entirely wrong about their relationship: it was because of the Warden and Lord Mare that she was born. Still, the association meant more than just that to the Humans – it represented everything that went into the relationship between mother and child, which Glasir did not particularly care either way about.

“I think she’s doing that on purpose,” Glasir said.

“I don’t think she can grow on purpose…”

“I mean she’s wearing her hair the same. And her plumage…”

“Plumage?”

“Erm, dress.”

In short, Olga idolised Baroness Zahradnik, imitating her appearance as best as she could. She had the same, long chestnut hair tied up into a ponytail and she wore a forest green coat over her dress. Olga was a very lively and expressive Human, so she worked very hard at looking serious and frowning as much as possible.

Being born to a family of carpenters was no obstacle: she was inspired to command armies just like the woman she looked up to. This inspiration also came with hard work and what the Linum sisters recognised as genuine talent, so no one questioned whether she would be able to succeed or not.

“Geh, they’re doing it again…”

“What’s with all of those accessories?”

Sour looks and commentary from the Olga tribe rose as the opposing ‘army’ took to the field. The summons on the other side were armed and armoured as well, but their equipment had notable differences. Personally, Glasir thought that they looked better. For things that were supposed to fight, at least.

Their armour was bulkier and had spikes and such, making them a far more intimidating sight. Raul’s front line consisted of eight Undead Beasts in the form of goats. They had clearly received the majority of the army budget and were draped from shoulder to flank in something like coat-of-plates. Helms adorned their heads and iron reinforcements were fitted to their horns.

Behind them were eight Skeleton Archers and two Skeleton Mages. Even the Skeleton Mages had robes that were designed to make them look more imposing.

As the lines formed, the Elder Liches lined up under the command towers on either side so they could hear Olga and Raul’s instructions. Olga raised a green flag. Raul raised a green flag on the other side and the battle began.

“Charge!”

Raul’s voice echoed from across the field and his forces started running forward. For some reason, someone blew a horn on the other side.

“Charge again?” A girl nearby said, “Is that all they can do?”

Not that they needed to do anything else. The Undead Beasts were big and heavy and their equipment made them even heavier. Undead were tireless, so even if they couldn’t manoeuvre as quickly with all the stuff on them, they had plenty of distance to build up speed. Since low-tier summons didn’t have much in the way of Skills or Abilities that could deal with strong attacks, charging with Undead Beasts was a simple and effective tactic.

From her platform, Olga frowned out at the enemy advancing over the field.

“Cavalry go around! Throw javelins at those goats when you go by, but keep going!”

The clatter of hooves on stone sounded in the air as the Skeleton Riders on their skeletal horses moved accordingly, charging out from the wings to either side.

“Zombies, stay in your ranks! Stop those goats! Fire Elementals, stay behind! Archers attack when the enemy gets in range!”

“What about the Skeleton Mages?” An Elder Lich asked.

“Uh…hold for now.”

The students from both sides leaned forward as the battle took shape. The two cavalry wings did as instructed, hurling javelins into the Undead Beasts as they passed one another. The long iron projectiles stuck fast but didn’t destroy any of their targets.

“Uwah, double kill?” The girl beside her said.

Glasir nodded. It seemed like it. The Skeleton Riders and the Undead Beasts did not divert to fight one another, instead heading straight towards each others’ infantry lines. Arrows from the Skeleton Archers landed amidst the Undead Beasts, but their armour prevented much of the damage.

“Splat ‘em!” Raul raised his fists into the air.

The Undead Beasts lowered their heads, smashing into the Zombie ranks. Weapons flew into the air as many were knocked over. A few were pushed back and low Zombie moans filled the air. The well-equipped Zombies managed to absorb the assault and the enemy’s charge was quickly bogged down as the Undead heavy infantry latched onto them, biting and clawing at their targets. The Undead Beasts struggled and stomped, lashing their horns and hooves in an attempt to dislodge and destroy their opponents.

Olga leaned over the railing of her platform, a finger stabbing out at the battle as she shouted her orders.

“Fire Elementals, start getting rid of those Undead Beasts! Skeleton Mages, focus on the same targets! Cavalry, run down the enemy mages and archers!”

Far afield, the Skeleton Riders made contact with the enemy army’s rear line. Two had been destroyed on the way in by Skeleton Mages, but the cavalry that got through wreaked havoc. The Skeleton Riders had been equipped with armour that mostly negated enemy arrows. Like the Undead Beasts, their skeletal horses had been equipped with thick caparisons and crude sections of plate armour that not only deflected physical attacks but added weight to their tireless charge. Most of the damage that the Skeleton Riders inflicted was not with their weapons, but through smashing into their targets and trampling them.

Cheers rose from the girls as the cavalry charge flattened the enemy’s Skeletons, scattering fragments of bone about.

“Good job!” Olga shouted over the field, “Come back and help out here!”

While Olga had successfully dispatched the enemy’s ranged forces, her front line wasn’t doing so well. All but four of her Zombies were destroyed while six Undead Beasts remained. The Zombies had held up well but they were mostly unable to damage the Undead Beasts and were slowly destroyed instead. Two of the Undead Beasts were now rampaging around the rear lines while two faced off against each of the Fire Elementals. Above, in the command tower, Olga silently bit her lip and stared as if silently willing her cavalry to move faster.

In the end, Olga barely eked out a victory, losing all but two of her Skeleton Cavalry. One of the Royal Army’s Elder Liches, who had been observing from above, floated down to her platform.

“Out of a total of forty-eight points,” it said in a dry and raspy voice, “two points remain. While technically a victory, losing over ninety-five per cent of one’s forces is unacceptable by our army’s standards for conventional field battles.”

Glasir didn’t get why the result was a problem. Both teams used forty-eight points worth of summons and the same equipment budget, after all. How could the Royal Army expect more when both sides were equal?

Olga, however, only nodded and crossed her arms, frowning down at the aftermath of the battle.

“I’ll try and figure something out,” she said. “Let’s clean everything up and get ready for the next round.”

The students rose from their seats on the hillside, making their way over to collect the equipment. Since destroyed and dismissed summons simply dematerialised, all of their equipment just fell to the ground. Elder Liches came over from both sides, taking notes as the students inspected the battle’s effects on their work.

Though it was something that the children played, the game was also a part of their training. The Warden had come up with the rules and arranged for everything while she was working somewhere in the Baharuth Empire. She had been inspired to create the game by the Sorcerer King during a trip to the Katze Plains – some sort of Undead place in the east over the mountains.

Every participant got ‘vocational experience’ out of it. The children apprenticing as smiths, tailors, carpenters and other similar jobs produced equipment for the armies, striving to come up with new and better things. The children of Merchants handled inventory and logistics. There were a few cooks who provided catering to the rest of the participants while the student lords were training to become Commanders.

In the city, no kids were apprenticing in rural vocations, so almost every Human child in the harbour participated in the game. The only ones that didn’t were apprentice mages. They still came and watched, however, and would eventually participate when the battles weren’t mostly mundane.

As they collected the equipment and brought it back behind the hill, the students reported their findings to their chief.

“Olga, it’s like Miss Wiluvien said, right? The Zombies can fight for longer when we equip them but they can barely do any damage. Everything is too heavily-armoured now. They stink with weapons, too.”

“Un.”

“Olga, the Skeleton Archers are too weak. Even when we make good arrows for them, they can’t get through all the armour.”

“Un.”

Even if they said so, the feedback was not so easily adopted. The composition of each team’s forces and the equipment used were not decided on in a day. What saw battle at present was the product of weeks of planning and work.

When the game first started, both teams were the same. They had an equal number of Zombies, Skeletons, Skeleton Archers and Skeleton Riders. No one had any idea what they were doing at first: they were just told to have fun fighting with their soldiers and seeing what they could do to improve things.

After a week, the first pieces of crude equipment started to appear. Compositions and formations started to change and everyone got into the spirit of things, contributing their skills to the ‘war effort’. Even the adults marvelled as their apprentices laid the groundwork for a makeshift war industry, creating a miniature economy that revolved around their game. As the battles continued to evolve and become more complex, so too did the industries that supported them.

According to the Linum sisters, the Warden had purposely intended for this to happen. The game was a foundational piece of one of the institutions that she was raising in Warden’s Vale: the Military Academy’s Institute of War. It was also intended to be a pastime for the subjects of Warden’s Vale, combining training, entertainment and innovation.

Three battles were held each day and each day was part of a greater ‘season’. Seasonal assessments would be made and the teams eventually sorted out into leagues. They were all currently in the Copper League, which used 48-point armies limited to Second-tier summoning spells.

The Iron league had 96-point armies but the same tier restrictions. Silver League matches used 192-point armies with Third-tier restrictions, while Gold League matches were restricted to Third-tier but had 384-point armies. Team equipment budgets, of course, also increased relative to each League. The budgets were a lump sum meant to last the entire season, so teams had to be mindful of their expenditures and endeavoured to make the most efficient use of their resources.

There was no set age for each league. Instead, promotions were based on the proven skills of individual team members. Lady Zahradnik’s tentative expectations, however, were that Silver would start somewhere around the age of fourteen while Gold would be around the age of adulthood for Humans, which was twenty.

Higher leagues would exist as well, but they were considered the ‘big leagues’ – a realm where masters at their craft plied their skills, fielding far larger armies. The battles held in those Leagues, however, would be a weekly affair rather than a daily one and held on much more expansive and varied battlefields.

“Let’s trade the Skeleton Archers for Skeleton Mages,” Olga told the Elder Liches.

“What about the Zombies?” Someone asked.

“They still stopped the charge,” Olga answered. “They just couldn’t kill those stupid Undead Beasts fast enough. Since the Skeleton Archers didn’t do anything last time, it should be better now.”

“Why not more Fire Elementals?”

“Because it’s too crowded at the start of the fight. They’ll be hitting our stuff as well as theirs. The Skeleton Mages can hurt them from range.”

Olga put a lot of time and effort into studying for the game outside of school. After fighting battles every day all winter, she was building up a lot of knowledge and experience.

They prepared their forces once again, bringing them out to the front of the hill for another battle. On the other side of the field, the other army appeared to be unchanged. Olga climbed up into her command tower again. Her frown kept slipping up into a smile upon seeing the advantage brought about by her changes. She raised her green flag. Raul signalled his readiness to begin as well.

“Charge!” He repeated his command from the previous battle.

In response, Olga repeated her orders as well. Her cavalry swept out around the advancing Undead Beasts, hurling javelins into them as they passed.

“Splat ‘em!”

“Huh?”

The confused voice of Olga rose into a strangled squawk. In response to Raul’s call, the Undead Beasts wheeled around and went after Olga’s Skeleton Riders. The female student lord pointed a finger out at her cavalry, shouting in panic.

“Everyone get up there and help!”

Olga’s Zombies shuffled forward. Her Fire Elementals and ranged support overtook them in her desperate bid to have the rest of her forces join the fight.

While they did so, Raul’s Skeleton Archers and Skeleton Mages scattered and the massed charge of Olga’s cavalry caught less than a handful. With the Skeleton Riders’ charge spent, the Undead Beasts caught up from behind and destroyed them with help from the surviving ranged troops.

Raul issued another command to charge and his Undead Beasts turned around to attack the attempted relief from Olga’s main force. As the Undead Beasts crashed into the Fire Elementals, stone arrows rained down and broke apart all but one of her Undead Mages. It wasn’t long until all that was left of Olga’s army was the line of Zombies still shuffling their way to the battle.

“Wahahahahaha!” Raul’s voice rolled from the far side of the field, “On your knees!”

Olga clicked her tongue.

“Lady Zahradnik would never say anything like that,” she muttered.

Despite her griping, the female student lord raised a white flag. The battle had become hopeless.

Wild cheering rose from the boys’ side. The Elder Lich observers came down with their results.

“Out of forty-eight points,” one said, “sixteen remain. While this result is numerically superior to the previous battle, defeat is hardly an acceptable method to achieve it.”

That sounded mean. Olga saved some of her troops and their equipment. That should count for something, shouldn’t it?

“What about the other team?” Olga asked.

“The other team ended the battle with thirty-two points remaining. While not ideal, it is tolerable by Royal Army standards.”

Glasir sighed. Why did it turn out like that? Was it because Raul did a weird trick? Maybe warfare was about tricking people.

After the artisan students analysed their results and recovered the team’s equipment, they gathered behind Olga behind the hill again.

“W-we can still win!” One of the girls said, “It’s just a tie now.”

“Are we going to change the Zombies out?” Another girl asked. “Or maybe we can just keep the army together?”

“We’ll change the Zombies out,” Olga said. “But Raul might change something now, too. Mmh…”

The student lord stared at the ground for a long while before looking up again.

“How about we try something new?”

“New?” Someone said, “But we haven’t had time to prepare!”

“Our equipment only fits Zombies and Skeletons,” Olga said, “There aren’t any we can stick our stuff on that’ll work well against those Undead Beasts.”

“How about Imps?” Glasir said, “They can use the smaller weapons. Plus they can fly.”

“They’re tough,” Olga replied, “but their attacks are weak. They have poison but everything on the boys’ team is immune. They’ll get tired, too. Maybe at Silver League things will change, but Undead and Elementals are too good at Copper.”

Since she studied Druidic magic, Glasir knew a bit about summons. Olga was right – since most low tier summons were weak, it was better to pick them for their racial traits. Undead had many advantages over ‘living’ summons and they could use all sorts of equipment. The alternative was to use Elementals, which were tough, tireless and had special traits of their own.

“You want to summon different Elementals, then?” Glasir asked.

“Yeah,” Olga answered with a nod. “Four more Medium Fire Elementals since their Undead are weak against fire damage. Also, four Medium Air Elementals to replace the Zombies. They have a special attack that I want to try out.”

“What are you replacing with the Fire Elementals?”

“The Skeleton Mages,” Olga replied. “I still think the Skeleton Riders will be useful. They just died in a dumb way last time.”

Olga studied for the battles a lot so there wasn’t much anyone could say about her changes. They summoned their third army, which was much faster to equip.

“Can these Air Elementals use anything?” One of the smith girls asked.

“Um, they should be able to hold a light weapon?”

The smith girl grabbed a dagger from a cart. She walked up to the nearly-transparent, swirling bundle of wind and stopped.

“Uh…how does it hold it?” She frowned.

“I-I don’t know!” Olga said, “Just try giving it to the thing.”

Flipping the dagger in her hand, the smith girl held it out to the Medium Air Elemental. After a moment, she let it go. The weapon remained suspended in front of her.

“That’s kinda weird…”

“Back up a bit,” Olga told everyone, “I want to see how it attacks.”

Once everyone was safely away, Olga issued a command. The dagger started making a circuit in midair. It whirled faster and faster around the Medium Air Elemental until a whistling noise followed the weapon through the air.

“It looks scary,” someone said, “but isn’t that a slashing attack? That’s not going to get through their armour.”

“They can stab too,” Olga said. “Probably. We need to set up a way to test this stuff someday.”

The whistling blade stopped. It started moving back and forth in the air as if it was poking something. Since it just looked like a dagger moving back and forth, they couldn’t tell how good it was. Once they equipped the rest of the Medium Air Elementals with light weapons, they returned to the battlefield to organise their ranks and see what Raul’s team had been up to.

Not surprisingly, he kept the Undead Beasts that had done so well in the previous battle. He also kept the Skeleton Mages, but, like Olga, the other team realised that the Skeleton Archers hadn’t been very useful. In their place were two Medium Water Elementals.

“Those Elementals are bad, aren’t they?” A girl in Glasir’s group said, “They’re going to hurt ours lots!”

The boys across the field appeared to be discussing the changes to Olga’s team in return. Raul cupped his hands around his mouth.

“Hey, aren’t you missing some?”

“Hehe…” Olga replied, “I guess you’ll have to wait and see.”

They couldn’t see the Air Elementals from where they were? Glasir supposed it made sense – they were air, after all.

Olga signalled her readiness. Raul did the same. The enemy army advanced.

“No charge this time?” Glasir frowned.

“Maybe he’s scared because he can’t figure out what Olga is using.”

Raul’s forces came within fifty metres before Olga started issuing her orders.

“Air Elementals, fly up to ten metres! Cavalry, advance outwards.”

“Charge!” Raul called out.

The entire enemy force surged forward, straight towards the line of six Fire Elementals. Glasir eyed the Water Elementals worriedly – as mentioned, they would be doing a lot of damage to Olga’s Fire Elementals. The two sides closed on one another and Glasir crossed her arms, shivering at the impending clash.

“Cavalry, come back in and hit them from behind,” Olga shouted. “Air Elementals, Whirlwind…NOW!”

A gust of wind rose over the front line, sending dust and debris into the air. Half of the charging Undead Beasts were swept up and hurled back towards the centre of the battlefield, where the Skeleton Riders were poised to pounce on them. Raul gaped at the sudden turn of events.

“Air Elementals,” Olga ordered, “tie up those Water Elementals! Fire Elementals, get rid of those Undead Beasts in the front! Cavalry, keep your Undead Beasts mucked up for as long as you can!”

The Fire Elementals howled as they set into the Undead Beasts. After they burned their way through, they went to help the Air Elementals finish off the Water Elementals and the Skeleton Mages casting spells from the back. Olga’s Skeleton Riders didn’t last more than a minute against their Undead Beasts, but it was enough time to buy an insurmountable advantage.

“Hmm…it’s snowing and the kids here are still out and about,” an unfamiliar voice said from behind them. “Humans sure are raised differently.”

“Reports, I have seen. But. More…intense than described.”

Glasir turned around. Beside Olga’s command tower, a towering ice-blue Insectoid stood beside a big black-scaled Lizardman with all sorts of scars over his body. Several more Insectoids were coming out of Glasir’s tree along with a half dozen additional Lizardmen. Glasir frowned as they sorted themselves out – she didn’t think she could ever get used to the fact that she was used as a transport corridor. Unexpectedly, Lord Mare did not come out of the tree behind them.

When the dust of the battle settled, the Undead servitors came from around the field, ordering themselves into tidy ranks before offering a crisp salute. Glasir and her team watched from the sides. In the distance, Raul and the boys came running towards them.

“Lord Cocytus,” one of the Elder Lich Sergeants said, “you honour us with your presence.”

“Mm.”

“So,” the black-scaled Lizardman said, “who won?”

As one, the Elder Liches turned their heads. Olga stepped forward, looking up with wide eyes before dipping into a curtsey.

“Olga Lysenko,” she said. “Um…are you Grand Marshal Cocytus?”

“I am,” the big blue bug nodded. “Your victory…congratulations.”

Olga looked back up again, mouth working silently for a second before her hand came up in a salute.

“S-sir! Thank you, sir!”

Glasir jumped at Olga’s sudden shout, but he couldn’t blame her for doing so. Grand Marshal Cocytus was one of the great lords of the Sorcerous Kingdom, in charge of all the armies. Even the Warden deferred to him for some reason.

Next to the Grand Marshal, the big Lizardman rubbed his jaw as he gave Olga an appraising look.

“Hmm…she doesn’t look like a Human Lord,” the Lizardman said. “Or does she? I guess she’s a bit tall…how old are you, kiddo?”

“I turned thirteen last month, Mister Lizardman.”

“Hoh…that means you become an adult next year, yeah? Do you have a nice boy lined up already?”

Despite all the different species living in the Sorcerous Kingdom, sex appeared to be a topic appreciated by most. It didn’t even work the same way for everyone but each came away with associations and connotations that meant something to them. The kids around the hillside all gave the Lizardman a weird look – sometimes those associations didn’t work out so well.

“We’re not adults until we’re twenty, Mister Lizardman.”

“I-Is that so? But I thought, hm…does a different species of Human live here? Hobhumans? Wood Humans?”

“Shasuryu. They are…just Humans. Religious customs. Different.”

“Oh.”

The Lizardman looked up at the snow coming down from the overcast skies. After a moment, he shivered from head to tail.

“Anyhow…which way to the Lizardman villages? I’m about to freeze my scales off.”

“I’m going there soon,” Glasir raised a hand. “I can show you the way.”

Grand Marshal Cocytus regarded her with his multi-eyed gaze.

“You are…Glasir?”

Glasir nodded.

“I see. So, this is…Mare’s…”

His grumbly voice trailed off into broken-up murmurs. Glasir wasn’t sure what any of it meant.

“Well, thank you for your kind offer, Miss Glasir,” Shasuryu said. “Just lead the way when you’re ready.”