The ice. The snow. The wonderful buildings made of various shades of crystal and ice, stretching out into a bustling city encircled by a massive wall.
I took a deep breath in, relishing the tingle of icy cold that swept into my lungs. I hadn't even noticed it until then, but the alternate Earth I'd been spending my time on recently was a lot… muggier. I didn't horribly mind it, but the air's moisture content was admittedly enough to make mortals uncomfortable.
In fact, thinking back, a few of the mortal recruits had complained about the local weather.
Not that mortals were much more likely to appreciate Breskwor. A light snowfall swirled perpetually through the air. The wind howled as it snuck past the wall, past the buildings, and the over the crowds that milled through the city.
The only refuge to be found was near the walls themselves, where buildings were finally starting to encroach on the last bit of available space. Most of these buildings were made out of ice. Only a scant few featured other materials like wood or stone, all of which had been imported and were, therefore, expensive. This made for a funny contrast between the ice-bound buildings, which were verging on forming a slum, and the ridiculously expensive lodgings of merchants looking to show off.
I was still taking in the wonderful tranquility, admiring the way light sparkled through the walls of buildings I'd helped build, when a sneeze tore me right out of my reminiscence.
"W-What?" Revilla demanded, looking supremely embarrassed as I glared at her.
"Mia, get your uppity apprentice warmed up before she freezes into a statue."
"She'd at least make for a pretty statue," Mia quipped, refusing to move from where she had draped herself over my back and forced me to carry her through the portal.
Ian, who'd already given up and shifted into his rather shaggy wolf form, whined and cuddled right up to the shivering elf. The elf who 'totally knew herself well enough' to tell me before we left that she wouldn't need thicker clothes, because 'her connection to nature would protect her' from inconveniences like temperature fluctuations.
On her homeworld? Probably. I'd gotten curious and looked through the info Mia had eventually received on her apprentice, and her world of origin was rather temperate. In fact, it had been transformed into something of a resort by the conquering force that had taken it over.
That force was under the leadership of Cassillyn, whom I admittedly knew very little about. All I could say was that Vallinach and Crewe were unlikely to 'waste' their time on such an endeavor, but that Cassillyn was known for being more commercially minded than the other lieutenant generals under Naberius.
Comparatively, at least. She also had a rather gung-ho attitude when it came to burning worlds down, enslaving their populaces, and generally committing war crimes. She just occasionally wondered if she could profit off of her conquests, too.
"Just… follow us, for now." I sighed and started walking away. "And next time, when we give you advice, listen."
The idiot duo was getting much too comfortable around us, really. An apprentice ignoring the advice of their master? That could have been grounds for execution right there.
I expected them to test our boundaries. They were recruits in a demonic army, after all. But when the hustle came at their own expense? Well, I had to get my amusement somewhere.
I glanced at Mia, whose head was still lying on my shoulder. "You know you could totally cast a single spell and help her with the cold problem, right?"
She could, too. Basic fire spells for warming yourself were well within her abilities, to say nothing about advanced dream mana applications. My kitty cat could use those to convince the elf, if not even reality itself, that our surroundings were warm and cozy.
"Mmmm, but then how would she learn?" Mia smirked, ignoring both the outraged squawk of her apprentice and the lupine sigh of mine. "Besides, you could, too."
"True."
"Don't just leave us here!" Revilla shouted.
I finally spared the elf a glance to see that she had begun to lag behind us. The ice, snow, and her own rapidly failing body made it impossible for her to advance as quickly as we did.
"Awwws, do the little apprentices need us to rescue them? Maybe organize nap time and a quick snackie break?" I drawled, grinning even wider as Revilla glared at me. "This time, you'll totter after us or freeze in the snow. Don't worry, death builds character! That way, next time, you'll listen."
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Mia was right. They needed to learn. Besides, we both found it absolutely hilarious how worried Revilla was quickly becoming. Ian too, for that matter. His doggy eyes flitted between us and the elf before he gripped the edge of her robe in his teeth and started tugging, his tail working furiously behind him in his urgency.
We couldn't help it. Mia and I both broke into malicious cackles.
"Those two… are they going to be alright?" Imthala asked hesitantly, settling into her chair in her office.
"Trust me, they're fine," I chuckled.
Our apprentices had collapsed in the foyer as soon as we stepped inside, out of the punishing cold. Imthala was a wielder of ice magic, so her home wasn't particularly warm, but it was better than Breskwor's harsh climate. We had left the duo huddled on the floor together, Revilla trying desperately to cast a fire spell.
Looking around, I was impressed by how ornate all the decorations had become. It was a far cry from the empty ice structure Imthala had erected just to have a roof over her head. Not only had she increased the size of the building, but she had smoothed out its design to make it much more ostentatious.
I was about to comment on Imthala's efforts when Mia cut in.
"Why did you request we visit?"
I smiled. My kitty cat wasn't one to beat around the bush.
"Well… I was, ah, well… I need some help with keeping everyone in line. And… the pressure's starting to get to me, you know?"
Imthala cleared her throat, looking anywhere but at us. She had also conjured a small lump of ice and was fidgeting with it, warping it like clay.
Guilt and worry snapped through me at the sight of this new tic she had developed. I hadn't realized just how much responsibility we had shifted onto her.
"I'm sorry. I mean, uh, we're here to help," I assured her. "I'm not sure how much we can do, though. I mean, I can make a bigger wall. But they could just bypass that. And with the amount of territory we'd have to cover, it would take months of work to get it up. Can you think of something, Mia?"
"What about an enchantment that tags everyone entering Breskwor using dream mana?" she suggested. "Though you would need someone with dream mana to track them."
I shook my head. "So, a no for now. Maybe —"
"I have an idea already!" Imthala squeaked out. I blinked as her fidgeting increased. "I mean…"
I exchanged a glance with Mia. "Imthala, is everything okay? You don't look very comfortable, and if it's our fault…"
"No! Trust me, it's not you. It's just… I was planning to… Never mind. I decided to try and draw out at least some of the spies and malcontents, and so far, it looks like the plan's working."
"Really?" I perked up and leaned forward. "What plan? What's going on so far?"
"You see, I realized I wouldn't be able to keep them all contained. And if they kept wondering aimlessly, they'd find something we don't want them to eventually, right? So, I thought of setting a trap."
"Go on," Mia purred, as engaged as I was at the thought of catching and potentially tormenting one of our frustrating enemies.
"I set up a large yeti tribe just beyond the area foreign demons are allowed to roam, then posted heavy defenses and patrols around it. Any spies snooping around would be able to locate it, despite our 'best efforts' to conceal it. The problem is…" She snarled, a vicious expression sliding over her face. "My plan's proving to be a little too successful."
"Hm? What do you mean?" Mia prompted again.
"I mean we've already lost fifteen demons to ambushes. The spies can't outright assault the place, so they're picking off our people. Probably trying to torture them for information, too. Information they can't give, I made sure of that, but still. No one's resurrected yet, so they haven't killed anyone. I'll bet the bastards did their best to weaken our people as much as possible, though."
I sucked in a frustrated breath. Killing a demon outside of the Abyss? Practically impossible. Weakening them to the point they would take months if not years to climb back up to their former strength? Easy.
That was why the highest echelons of nobility were extremely careful and reluctant to engage in direct combat. For them, a 'serious' wound would take decades or centuries to fully recover from, if not millennia.
Our people weren't on that level, obviously. Still, it would be annoying to have to waste Divinity or whatever else on their healing.
"You want us to back up the defenders, then? Can do. Easily," I promised, not bothering to ask why Imthala couldn't do that herself.
Sure, she was as capable as we were. She had advanced to Baron thanks to the Merits we shared with her. But it was her job to hold down the fort. If she took an excursion outside the city for too long, then the infiltrators might be tempted into causing all sorts of chaos.
She couldn't give them that chance.
I grinned at Mia. "This will even be an interesting opportunity to test out our apprentices."
"Speaking of, I have to say I'm shocked you brought them here." Imthala glanced nervously at the door. "Won't the lieutenant generals cause trouble over that? Or their stooges, at least?"
"Only if we're stupid enough to advertise it, I guess."
I laughed a little awkwardly, but honestly? Yes, yes they could be an issue.
Technically, the fact that we had claimed them as our apprentices at all was enough of a problem. No legion element was supposed to poach recruits before their first invasion was over. While we were still on the world we were invading, we could hand-wave the apprenticeship away as 'providing promising recruits with a little extra help.'
Taking them away from the invasion and into Breskwor, though? Yeah, Imthala's question was valid. Our current 'plan', if it could be called that, was to be so brazen and open about what we were doing that people would question if we were breaking rules at all.
After all, who was to say the two mortals weren't from an earlier batch?
It was a piss-poor excuse if someone did confront us about it, but we were hoping the general disregard for mortals would only help us here. And it wasn't like we were going to let our apprentices languish while we were away!
"Anyway, can you give us directions to this tribe?" I asked. "We'll do our best to protect it and catch as many spies as we can. We'll also keep thinking about other ways to help. There must be something."
"Thanks." Imthala gave us a tired smile. She hesitated briefly, then swallowed whatever she was about to say in favor of giving us the info I asked for.
I made note of that, though. As we left her home office and roused our shivering apprentices, I promised myself that we would get to the bottom of whatever was bothering her.
And then we would help her overcome it.