Bog Standard Isekai-Chapter 49Book 4.

"I'll need to take those remains into custody," Deinol told Cid. Deinol had sagging bags under his eyes that made him look like he was exhausted, but Brin thought that was from aging and wrinkles rather than him being especially tired today, because his eyes were still sharp.

Cid held Zintiun's head up and stared into the dead eyes. "I think I'll hang onto it. I will be most happy to display it to whoever asks. Especially at that meeting of Canibri's leadership, which I will of course be attending."

"Of course," said Deinol. His face was completely flat, giving nothing away.

"Who governs Canibri in Lord Mordelet's absence?"

"Same people who run things when he's in," Deinol said with a shrug. "I'll send someone when we have the time and place for the meeting. I assume you'll be going straight back to your inn?"

"That is my intention," said Cid.

"There's safety in carrying out your intentions," said Deinol.

"I suppose there is," said Cid. "I'll see you soon."

Cid and Brin made their way out of the ring of guards. The Lance circled around them as they walked toward the inn.

"I brought your armor, sir. Would you like me to help you put it on?" asked Cowl.

"Thank you, no. Not here in public. A [Knight] should have some dignity," said Cid.

"You fought a vampire? I was stuck in the inn while you were off fighting vampires?" Govannon asked.

"It wasn't exactly our idea," said Brin.

Cid said, "It's as you've all seen. Lord Mordelet was not in residence and a vampire was directing the household in his place. Now, report. What did you find?"

Hedreck stepped up first. "The soldiers are from Gonwy and work for High Lord Prima."

"We'd gathered that much," said Cid. "What else?"

"None of them have seen any goblins. They won't say so, but they don't think the goblins are really out there."

"And Lothar? Any news on him?"

Hedreck scratched his beard. "We didn't hear anything for sure."

Aeron jumped forward. "Yes we did, Hedrek, remember? They were all complaining that the High Lords who are against the war have been siphoning soldiers off and sending them west, as far away from the front as possible. They're mustering a huge army in Gynll. That's got to be where Lothar is!"

"We have heard the same," said Rhun. "The people talk of sir Lothar riding through the town and villages, recruiting all able-bodied men who will come. He warns that the real threat will come from the east, not the west."

"It's true," said Cowl.

"No one would believe this from anyone but Lothar. But since it's him... frankly, I would've ridden out to join him myself if I hadn't lucked into a Lance," said Meredydd.

"Brych and Anwir, anything to add?" asked Cid.

"Uptown is empty. The rich people are already gone. Someone warned them in advance," said Brych.

Cid nodded. "Alright. I'm starting to get a picture. First, we'll head back to the inn to regroup. Then–"

There was a crack in the air and Brin looked back to the source of the noise and saw Rhun with one fist in the air.

“I just… on reflex…” Rhun looked dazed.

“You just what on reflex?” Brin demanded.

Rhun blurred.

Something slammed into Brin's side, knocking him to the side and cracking his armor. Stunned, he drew his spear and looked for the threat while using glass magic to repair the cracks.

Aeron and Brych had also been pushed away from the rest and Rhun was on top of Cid on the ground. Rhun rolled off of Cid and got to his feet, breathing heavily. Had he used [Squire's Charge] to bowl through the entire Lance?

"I got it!" said Cowl. He plucked a black arrow out of the ground where it had penetrated straight into the cobblestones.

Still catching up, Brin realized Rhun must’ve charged through them all to push Cid out of the path of that arrow. But how had he seen it coming? And where had it come from?

"Get off the street!" Cid shouted. He jumped to his feet, now cradling Marksi in his arms, and guided the Lance towards an alley.

They ran into a backstreet, sprinting away from... whatever had just happened.

"Talk to me. What's going on?" asked Brin.

"Assassin," said Rhun. "Aiming for Cid."

"Your armor–" started Cowl.

"No time!" said Cid. "Brin?"

Looking ahead, the alleyways in this town were short and the roads were wide. In fifty feet they'd hit another road and be exposed again.

"On it," said Brin.

Main: Run GlassLance_v1.exe

Task Manager: Summoning

This battle program would summon ten directed threads; they would use Mirror Image to create a glass copy of each of the men. Then once summoned, they'd transition to piloting the copies. The amount of tasks they could pull off would be severely limited, but they didn't need to do more than keep walking.

Brin used Silent Voice to tell the men to stop, letting the glass copies run into the street in their place.

He spun up another ten threads to coat each member of the Lance in invisibility. He also sent a half dozen Invisible Eyes to scour the area, trying to find the assassin. This was pushing the limit. He'd split his mind so much that he was barely sentient, and his time was moving more than twice as fast as normal.

The Glass Lance reached the road and dashed out. Even with an Invisible Eye in the sky, he didn't see any trace of the assassin, and didn't see the arrow until it flew straight through glass Hedrek to strike glass Anwir. It exploded, a burst of flame and a shockwave that eviscerated the copies and flung broken glass onto screaming townsfolk.

The ten threads returned, letting Brin retrieve enough of his mind to make a plan. The assassin was watching the streets and Brin had to assume they had [Rogue] senses–mere invisibility wouldn't cut it.

"Up!" he commanded the Lance with Silent Voice, and then started climbing the stone wall of the nearby building. The bricks didn't have any ledges or handholds, just parts that were a little uneven, but it was only two stories so with his Dexterity it was good enough.

He climbed to the top and looked down, worried that not everyone could keep up, but the rest of the Lance managed just fine, even Cowl with his oversized backpack.

Brin put a large bubble of invisibility over them and let the individual invisibility spells drop, recovering more of his consciousness.

"Cowl, Cid's armor, now," he ordered, and Cowl immediately opened his backpack and started flinging the pieces at the Prime. Meredydd and Brych caught the pieces midair and then went about assisting Cid in putting them on as quickly as they could. With all the drilling they'd been doing, that was pretty quick. The rest of the men formed a ring around them, making a human barrier in case the assassin found a way to target them up here.

"Brych, I need your eyes," said Brin.

"You mean you still haven't found him?" asked Brych.

"Why are we running and hiding? We should go after him. If we need a direction, we can simply follow the arrows!" said Rhun.

"Standing out in the open will only put bystanders in danger," said Cid.

Brin saw people running and screaming, saw shattered glass and blood in the streets, though thankfully none dead, but he didn't see any trace of the assassin.

Try as he might, Brych didn't sense anything that could give them clues, either. "There are thousands of people in this city. I don’t have any way to narrow it down."

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"You were watching for the last arrow. How did you miss him?" Cid asked Brin. To some ears, it might've sounded like an accusation, but Brin knew him well enough by now that he just wanted a guess as to their opponents capabilities.

"I can't rule out the idea that they're just really sneaky, but I don't think that's it. I didn’t see anything, which makes me think they were fully invisible. I think the assassin has some kind of access to illusions. It might be an actual [Illusionist], but I’ve also seen Arcaena’s people use Wisps and Phasmids," said Brin. Actually, he had a way to check for that. [Know What's Real] would let him spot someone who was using illusion magic to make themselves invisible, but only if he was looking right at them. He hadn’t noticed anything in the moment, but maybe he could comb through his memories? He made a conscious thread for that and gave it ten percent of his time.

Once Cid was ready, Brin opted to switch his glass armor for his real stuff as well. He replaced the coating on the armor with chandelier glass, but there was still plenty left over so he made a shield with the rest of it.

"Rhun, how did you see that arrow coming?" Brin thought to ask.

"The first one was luck, but then… Here, I'll change my [Hide Status]. [Inspect] me," Rhun answered.

Brin did, and there was a new Achievement listed.

Fight Me Like a Man

You have consistently fought honorably, declaring your intentions even when a sneak attack would have led to victory. You have assumed a role centered around defending your Lance rather than seeking glory for yourself. You have prevented the assassination of your Prime.

You are alerted to assassination attempts against yourself or members of your party.

That was an incredible Achievement, and exactly what they needed. At least they had that going for them, because they still had no idea where the assassin was. In the end, none of them could think of anything better than what Rhun had suggested. The street was completely empty now, since the people had all long since fled, so there was no one to endanger but themselves.

Brin let the invisibility drop, and the Lance dropped down from the roof and onto the street.

Brin kept his new glass shield pumped full of Mana, waiting for the arrow. He kept his head on a swivel, always turning and moving so that his unarmored parts wouldn't be easy to target.

Nothing happened.

They waited for several minutes, then slowly walked down the street. Still, no one attacked them.

Eventually, Cid came to the conclusion that the assassin must've retreated, opting to wait for another opening rather than trying to take down a Lance on full alert. That idea put exactly no one at ease, but it made sense.

They didn't want to head back to the inn, so Brin cloaked them in invisibility and they walked to the rich part of town. Brych found them a nice, empty townhouse for them to camp out inside.

They found an empty room in the center of the house, not near any windows or any walls connected to the outside. Brin put a bubble of silence around the entire group, and made sure to use Hogg’s complex spell, the one that let outside sounds travel through instead of leaving an unnatural void of silence.

“We’re as invisible as I can make us,” Brin announced.

“Cowl, can I see my things?” Brych asked, and Cowl dug in his backpack until he found a satchel, which he handed to Brych. Brych withdrew a candle and lit it. “This will kill our scent. I don’t think we’ll need to worry about anything else, not unless he gets inside the building.”

“Good. Take a rest, everyone. Drink some water,” said Cid.

It was probably good that Cid was Prime, because all Brin wanted to do was start making a plan to trick the assassin, lure them out, and take them down. But what the men needed, Brin included, was to calm down and assess the situation. Even more, they needed to get Marksi out of danger; he still hadn’t woken up after being hurt.

Cowl passed around water and fruit, and Brin busied himself by checking on Marksi, who really was healing at a remarkable rate, and searching his [Memories In Glass] for some sign of the assassin, even though he already had a thread working on that.

The men talked about the things they’d learned on their information-gathering mission, and about the vampire, theorizing about what it could all mean. Cid spent the time resting against a wall, eyes closed. Brin didn’t know if he was thinking deeply about all the things they’d learned today and connecting the dots, or if he was just trying to avoid a breakdown after almost dying back there.

After a half-hour, Brin’s conscious thread returned. It had found something. For a brief moment, one of his Invisible Eyes had let its vision pan over something that pinged [Know What’s Real], something invisible. It was much, much farther back than Brin thought possible, on a rooftop nearly a mile away.

“We’re definitely working against an archer cloaked in invisibility,” Brin announced. “They’ve got a stupidly long range, too.”

“How do you know?” asked Brych.

“I’ve got memory Skills, and a pretty good illusion detector Skill,” said Brin.

Cid opened his eyes and stood. “I have an Eveladis. We’ll rely on that and Anwir.”

“I might be able to do something even without it. If I fly one of my illusions into them, they’ll cancel each other out,” said Brin.

“Will you be able to spot them in time?” asked Cid.

“I have some ideas. I’ll work on it,” said Brin.

“Do so. In the meantime, let’s go over what we know. Could you project a map of Prinnash on the wall for me?”

Well, that was a pretty big ask, wasn’t it? Brin had seen a map of Prinnash before, but he still hadn’t cracked the spell for reproducing something from his memories. Instead, he had a directed thread look at the map in his memory and use it to trace the borders on the wall. When that was finished, he added the cities, and then rivers and mountain ranges. Overall, he was pretty proud of the result.

“Close enough,” said Cid.

Brin choked. “Hey! Close enough? This is–”

“Let’s begin.” Cid circled the western border of Prinnash with his finger. “This area here… actually Brin, do you mind?”

Brin sighed and assigned a directed thread to draw black lines wherever Cid pointed. “Try again.”

Again, Cid circled the area where Prinnash touched Arcaena, and the map drew a black circle. “This area is where the bulk of Prinnash’s fighting men are located, as well as those of three other nations. Let’s assume that if Arcaena really does want to do damage, they wouldn’t try it here.”

He crossed to the other side of the map. “And here, Lothar is building another army to repel some threat either real or imagined.”

“Real,” said Brin. “Lothar wouldn’t be wrong about something like that.”

“Either way, there’s an army there now. So if you were Arcaena and you wanted to damage Prinnash enough that they abandoned the war, where would you strike? You’d strike somewhere completely undefended. The heartland.” Cid stepped over to draw a big ‘X’ that crossed right over Canibri.

Rhun shook his head. “Only an Ollander would say this. No place in Prinnash is completely undefended, not while any true man still draws breath.”

Brin shook his head ruefully and said, “I hate to admit it, but he’s not actually wrong. The Rare Classes have mostly been pulled away, but Prinnash has a ludicrous amount of combat Common Classes. If you actually wanted to destroy Canibri by force, using goblins I assume, you’d need a massive army.”

Cid nodded. “Or you just need the threat of them. What if Canibri were simply… removed for a month or two? What if the city were evacuated, and then all the people were allowed to return in a month or two once it was determined that the threat wasn’t as large as feared? It would send a shockwave throughout the entire kingdom. Do any of you know what Canibri’s main industry is?”

Hedrek stage-whispered to Brin. “Hey, what’s your family do again?”

“They’re [Stoneworkers],” Brin whispered back.

“Is it stone?” Hedrek asked Cid.

Cid grinned. “It isn’t. It was a trick question, because they don’t have one. The only important thing about Canibri is that it's on the way to everything else. Thirty percent of Prinnash’s ores move through this town at some point. Forty percent of grains. If this town were to disappear, the [Merchants] could go a different way, sure. But that takes time, and it causes trouble. If Canibri were to disappear, even temporarily, then there isn’t a single person in Prinnash who won’t be affected. This would be more than enough to convince everyone that Prinnash needs her army at home.”

“No, wait, hold on,” Aeron started. “You’re saying that High Lord Prima evacuated the town to stop the war against Arcaena, but she can’t have gotten to him. Lords have to be checked regularly by [Witch Hunters] to ensure they aren’t being interfered with. Arcaena can’t corrupt a member of the High Council without someone noticing.”

“She need not have hexed him. He may not be working with her at all. High Lord Prima may simply disfavor the war for his own reasons,” said Cid.

“Except we saw a vampire,” said Brin.

“We saw a vampire, and slew it,” Cid agreed. “But not every vampire works for Arcaena.”

Brin thought for a moment, and then shook his head. “It wouldn’t work. Anyone who hears about what happens here will just hear about a greedy noble trying to consolidate power. No one will believe the story about a goblin army.”

“Unless the goblin army is real,” said Cid. “I believe they’re here, hiding under illusion. I believe that very soon, Canibri will come under attack.”