Godslayer Lysette: Chapter 179

Chapter 179: Deliberations at the Palace

Lysette was stunned when she, alongside Mirae and Serrena, touched down on the outer perimeter of the floating island.  In contrast to the relative laxity of security and surveillance over the previous two months, there were numerous soldiers and paramilitary personnel stationed throughout the town in full uniform.  The two nearest to their landing were nothing special— no stronger than Kiarra or Danitha and considerably weaker than Mirae.  But their open presence was the starkest reminder yet of how the onset of war was changing Domarian society.

In addition to soldiers patrolling the streets, there were further airborne individuals scanning the skies and providing additional aerial surveillance.  None of them seemed to stay up for more than a few minutes at a time, suggesting that whatever power or artifice they were using to fly was quite limited in duration.  There was nothing out of the ordinary that Lysette could see, even with her left eye, so it seemed these were more precautionary than in response to a known threat.

Although the prospect of a morning filled with her heavenly custard delights was a grave temptation, Lysette knew that the mission before her took precedence.  And so, with no joy in her heart, she led her companions westward, away from the Academy and toward the capital.

The walk itself was mostly uneventful.  A couple of soldiers on patrol trailed the trio as they made their way into the center of town.  No doubt they were trying to be stealthy, wearing camouflage that helped them blend in to their surroundings.  But their techniques and artifacts only prevented optical detection, doing nothing to obscure the trailing soldiers from detection by aurasight or Lysette’s left eye.  Even Serrena mentioned she could sense their presence through their body heat.

By the time they reached the castle outskirts, the soldiers stalking them had made their way back to their post, but a contingent of six soldiers approached, weapons drawn.

“I must ask the three of you to leave.  By order of His Majesty, audiences and palace tours are being suspended for the duration of the conflict, and all non-essential business will be postponed to a later date.”

Lysette channeled a bit of Essence into her left hand, revealing the outline of Saffron’s insigne still faintly visible upon it and showing it to the guard.  “My apologies.  My partner and I have been summoned to the palace at the behest of Lady Ateni.  We’ve likewise requested that our friend join us.  Word of our arrival should have already made its way to the palace by way of the Hunter’s Guild.”

The guard looked at two of the others and blinked several times before speaking.  “My apologies, Ma’am, but until we can confirm you have an appointment, we’ll have to ask you to remain here.”

Before Lysette could respond, another soldier, this one wearing some sort of officer uniform, approached.

“Let them pass, Corporal.  I’ve seen that sigil three times before today.  And every time, it was carried by someone of special importance.  Twice it was the head of a prominent noble family, and the other time, it was an extremely high-ranking foreign dignitary.  I don’t know which these three belong to, but it would be unwise for us to leave them waiting.”

“Y–  Yes, Captain, Sir!”

“Love, can you let Saffron know we’ll be there momentarily?”

“Already on it.”

Four of the guards, as well as the captain, all dispersed in short order, leaving only the guard who had initially stopped them and one other.  He offered a slight bow as he turned around.

“Please forgive me, Ma’am.  However, as the palace is under extremely high security, I will have to insist on escorting you, until such time as one of the palace staff can vouch for you in person.”

Lysette nodded, and they made their way inside the palace gates and through the courtyard.  Surprisingly, the palace had somewhat fewer guards patrolling the grounds than the last time.  She assumed that a detachment of those soldiers normally assigned to the palace had been moved to citywide patrols, or perhaps were already being moved near the border with Elithria.

A worry made its way into Lysette’s mind.  If the soldiers serving Elithria and Asterion’s Inquisition both could teleport soldiers into the heartland of Domaria on a whim, then how could anyone ensure the kingdom’s defenses?  Even if that ability was limited to the night of the Blood Moon, that meant the entire nation— nay, the entire world— would need to be on the highest alert.  And even if there were no fighting on those nights, the strategic possibility of warping hundreds of soldiers to remote locations across Aimarion was endless.

She worried how she would protect the people of Ciricu.  Even her godly powers, formidable and growing though they were, were not infinite.  She still needed time to mentally rest, regenerate her wounds, recover her stamina, and maintain her Essence reserves for those techniques which directly drained her limited supply.  And her human followers who would soon be tasked with taking up arms alongside her would need even more time to sleep, to eat, and other such things needed by those still mortal.

A few minutes passed before the five arrived at the palace gates.  Just outside the main gate, hundreds of soldiers were standing about, waiting to be fitted for armor, uniforms and other such provisions. Inside the castle, there was no longer a furious uproar the way it had been the last time Lysette was there, but an air of tension and urgency still filled the grounds.  Dozens of soldiers were on patrol inside, with nine thrown-together stations processing hundreds more enlistees, conscripts, and other new military personnel.

Notably, Lysette noticed that most of the fighters had little talent for Cultivation.  At the very least, most of them had almost no experience with the subject, and correspondingly meager Essence within them.  Little more than the few traces that naturally accumulate in a person throughout their daily lives, and with none of the abilities or physical parameters that came with developing the talent.

It was a hard sight to bear, knowing that so many of them would be placed in circumstances where they’d be forced into fights with trained Cultivators.  Just like the one Lysette had been in, one she survived only thanks to literal deific intervention.  Necessary it might have been in order to have sufficient logistical and support staff to run a nationwide military, but it sat poorly by her nonetheless.

Her musing was cut short by the call of a familiar face.

“Well, hello there, Lyse.  Good to see you again.”

Lysette bowed slightly.  “Good to see you too, Saffron.  Although it’s been what… thirty hours since we last saw each other.”

Saffron chuckled.  “I wish I didn’t need to summon the three of you here on such short notice, but with everything accelerating yet further, I couldn’t risk delaying this further.  I’d like the four of us to sit down and discuss some joint military strategy.  Please, follow me.”

The four of them made their way up the staircase and headed toward the king’s audience chamber.

“Is that going to be okay with His Majesty and the senior commanders?” Mirae asked.  “I can’t imagine they’re going to take kindly to a bunch of random students sitting in on national military strategy.”

“I agree, Mirae.  However, we’ll be discussing matters away from their discussion.”

“Wait,” Serrena said.  “Shouldn’t you be in attendance at those meetings?  I know you’re not one for being the public face of the kingdom, but I’d find it hard to believe that you aren’t the nation’s single greatest military asset.”

“What makes you think I’m not in those meetings right now?”  Saffron smirked a bit as she motioned toward a smaller conference room a few rooms before the audience chamber.  Once the four were inside and Saffron had closed and secured the door behind her, she continued.  “We are all deities here, and it’s not impossible for us to be in two or more places at the same time.”

Lysette looked around the room. Most of the space was taken by the central conference table, with one long dresser along the wall left of the entrance and a couple of bookshelves against the far right corner of the room.  The room was far from plain, but was significantly less ornate than the handful of other rooms she’d peered into.  It was probably a room specifically for Saffron to meet with other deities, for whom the pomp and ceremony of state functions were less important.

 “I see,” Lysette said as she took a seat on the far side of the room.  “So you have an avatar listening in while your real body is meeting with us here and now.”

“That’s correct.”  Saffron sat down on the slightly larger and more lavishly decorated chair nearest the entrance to the room.

“An avatar?” Serrena asked, taking the seat to Lysette’s left.

“Zarielle mentioned such a thing to me one time.  I don’t know the specifics, but you take one strand of your consciousness and offload it into a secondary body somehow.  After that, you will, in effect, control a separate body that can act independently of your main body.”

“At some point when we’re less busy, I would like to teach the three of you.  I’m sure having that ability will be of great benefit for all involved.

“However, now’s not the time.  Rather, I want to get a feel for what you three are going to do.  I imagine that you’ll all be heading back to Ciricu shortly.”

“That was my original plan, as we previously agreed upon,” Lysette said.  “I needed to stop by the Hunter’s Guild to pick up my payment for your assignment, and then I wanted to visit the Academy and see some of my friends.”

Serrena gave Lysette a side-eye.

“Okay, and yes, I was hoping to grab lunch and have one of my favorite custard desserts from the dining hall.”

Saffron laughed.  “It seems you’re a poor negotiator.  I know just how to bribe you the next time I need a favor from you.  Far cheaper than what I paid you for your assistance with the Karchek matter.”

“You have no idea,” Serrena said.  “I’ve got quite the story for you.  She really has her work cut out for her on that front.”

“How are you doing?” Lysette asked.  “I know it can’t have been easy for you.”

“I’m managing as well as I can.  There will be time for me to mourn and process what happened later.  For now, I need to concentrate on making sure my people are kept as safe as possible.  I want to end this war and see Stability returned to Aimarion posthaste.”

Mirae scooted closer to Lysette and grabbed her hand from beneath the large table.  “In any event, I was under the impression that we would serve as the primary line of defense from Terean forces who might try to invade from the north.  Do you mean to recall us from Ciricu and ask us to fight on the front?”

“No.  At least, not right now.  I’d like the three of you to continue with the original plan.  And, although I can’t exactly order you three now that you’re emissaries of an allied nation, I would like the three of you to serve from time to time as a strike force and special operatives.  Right now, Elithria probably is aware of your existence, though probably not the full extent of your capabilities.

“Counterintuitively, I’d like to keep you three off the battlefield and in reserve as much as possible.  In addition to defending our northern border, if the three of you stay off the battlefield, they’ll have to devote a portion of their resources to anticipating a surprise attack against their interior.”

“So, no different from how you will have to worry about the same.”

Saffron’s eyes dropped for a second.  “There were some devices in the Chancellor’s office which were facilitating the mass teleportation that Elithria was using to transport soldiers en masse into the heart of Domark.  I’d known for a while that he was a loyal adherent of Asterion and likely harbored some sympathies toward Elithria.  But I didn’t think he would take overtly treasonous actions like that.”

“I think–”  Lysette paused.  “No, I know that I felt both sides of his beliefs when we spoke.  I felt his consideration for the students of the Academy and his desire to protect and nurture their growth as people and as Cultivators.  But I also felt his loyalty to Asterion and his equally firm belief that Asterion’s way is the correct one, and how he could best support the development of what he saw as an ideal world.  I don’t agree with it, and I plan to stop it.  But I could see both the sincerity of his belief and the extent to which he was willing to go to fight for it.”

“If you saw both sides of him, then you’re far more mature than I was at your age,” Saffron said.

“If that’s the case, then I have you to thank, Saffron.  All three of you, really.  For challenging my beliefs, forcing me to consider other points of view, and really making me consider what impact my words and deeds will have on other people.”

“I’m glad to hear it.  So, when will you be taking off?”

Lysette clutched Mirae’s hand.  “Tomorrow morning, if that’s okay with you.”  She paused for a moment.  “I’d like to bring a handful of the students along with me to Ciricu.  Five to ten of them or so.”

“Five to ten students?” Saffron asked.  “I have no objections.  I will give you an official letter from the castle authorizing you to act on that request.”

“Thank you.  Oh, and, on an unrelated related note,” Lysette said.  “I’d like to reshape Aimarion a bit and take some of the snowpack from the Spire Mountains to build a waterway for Ciricu to help the community there grow.  Though, I wanted to make sure there wasn’t going to be any negative repercussions that would fall on northern Domaria and damage this alliance.”

“If there are any down the line, we can renegotiate at that time.  For now, please, do what is in the best interest of your people and act with my blessings.”

“Thank you, Saffron.”

Chapter 178: https://www.patreon.com/posts/110306765

Table of Contents: https://www.patreon.com/posts/table-of-101896170

Chapter 180: https://www.patreon.com/posts/110306772