Before infiltrating a city, there were a few things we had to do. First, a couple people snuck forward with some fancy binoculars. They were going to take pictures of what the local residents looked like- or at least the guards atop the walls. They were also set to figure out what direction we should enter the city from, spot potential patrols, and things like that.
Meanwhile, Midnight and I were working on a far more difficult task- cleaning. All of our wagons were covered in garbage symbols. It was probably Zuresh’s royal crest or something. Sadly, Clean didn’t really see it as garbage at first.
“Alright,” I said. “I think it’s scratched up enough.”
Part of Clean was personal perception. Scratching up the paint might change our own perception, and it might also just reduce the amount of stuff that seemed like it should be there. Complete manual control would be a bit much, especially when working with materials like wood.
Another attempt, and it did seem to work better. We were going to have to dirty it up, though. Otherwise, it might look like we removed the shadow of a crest. It was generally a traditional shield shape, so maybe it would be overlooked, but it was better to not have anyone think about it to begin with.
We did the same with various other pieces of gear, especially the horses. Then people, because some teens were not used to being unable to bathe for a week or more. People had cleaned up, but they were complaining about proper baths. This should get them to leave us alone. Maybe I could teach Meter to use Clean, even if he wasn’t great at componentless mana manipulation yet.
-----
“Demons,” Malaliel said as we looked at the pictures of the guards. “And normal horses.”
I shook my head. “Eh, those are tieflings at best. Do you know how few demons have nearly humanoid features?”
Malaliel shook her head. “I was merely uncertain about whether we would see others here. Unless something is particularly strange, these fellows should be this world’s version of demons. I imagine the demon king is similar.”
If weird colors and horns were enough to make someone a demon, I would have been pretty close. “Are they all the same?” I asked. It would have been best if they had orcs. The less I could disguise myself, the better. “How tall are they?”
Fortunately, we had answers to some of those things. A few people had been spotted going in and out, looking much the same. The binoculars could measure distance and height reasonably well. Too bad Extra had only prepared a small number of them, but I supposed they were probably expensive.
Inasyah and myself would be about the right size. We could also bring along a couple humans from Extra. Midnight would be hiding in one of the wagons, though they probably had cats here. It was a city, and nobody had regarded Midnight as weird in human lands. The sort of people who were humanoid and built walled cities would have cats, and in the worst case Midnight could teleport away.
One of our other wagons would be remaining further away, on the far side of a small rise that should also put them beyond the horizon. Nobody traveling along the road we identified or guards atop the city walls should see them or have any reason to go in that direction. There weren’t any farmlands around here, which was concerning, but this place did seem somewhat like a military fort.
But some civilians had gone in and out, and we didn’t see too many weird restrictions. Once again, Teleport was the play for leaving. I couldn’t bring horses or a wagon unless we lowered the number of Extra members with us, which would make us look suspiciously empty.
“Any other preparations?” I asked. “I’ll have Translation active with a bit of extra juice. The plan is to try to travel slowly and let another group pass us up. We might get some conversation there, and they can give us more time for the translations to kick in. Midnight and I will disguise everyone but Inasyah.”
Malaliel had one final thing to say. “We’re going no conflict. Make sure to keep in contact if you can.”
We weren’t sure if the city walls or any magical enchantments would interfere with our comms. If the enchantments were extreme enough that I thought Sending wouldn’t work, we simply wouldn’t enter the city- because something that significant might also block Teleportation. So if I couldn’t determine the majority of what any wards did, we’d assume the worst case.
None of the teens were entering the city with the first group. If our infiltration was successful, we would get Midnight back to them to pass along working Translation, and to cast Disguise on the rest. Then we would be trying to secure funds. Unfortunately, the currency the knights had would probably just give us away. We were considering selling some of their armor. It was debatable whether that would make sense, but we could truly say we got it from knights crossing the border of Zuresh. Or we could purge it of markings and sell it that way if it made sense. Either way, Midnight and I each had a single set that was taking up a large portion of our Storage.
Once the plan was set, it was time to put it into action.
-----
I was surprised at how well things went. We approximated some of the clothing and physical features we needed, got word of a merchant wagon approaching the city, and scrambled onto the road ahead of them. We were moving slowly, and they soon overtook us.
I waved as they passed, and the woman driving the cart said something I assumed was a pleasantry. She didn’t sound particularly upset, though maybe she was the sort that could cuss at someone without feeling anything.
“Plans don’t usually work this well,” I said to Inasyah as the group in front of us was talking with the guards.
She glared at me, but it was true. And I wasn’t worried about jinxes unless there was actual magic involved.
“You next!” the guards called. We pulled the wagon up to the guard who was running things. “What is your business in Quest’s Beginning and End?” she asked.
They fit a lot of meaning into the words that also meant something like fort/castle/outpost Seire. It was a good thing the guards had said it a couple times before with the previous group or I wouldn’t have known what she meant at all. Though I could have guessed.
“We have journeyed long to reach here, and intend to offer our services as mercenaries.”
I hadn’t heard those particular words, but Translation didn’t need that. Just a bunch of people who understood the language attempting to communicate for a time. I may not have gotten all of the words quite right, but the gist of the message should have come across. And grammar should have mostly solved itself if I formed full sentences in my head.
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Acting as mercenaries was a risk, but we didn’t exactly have a lot of goods for trade. The area seemed dangerous so we could explain our arms a different way- Disguise was doing some heavy lifting with rifles looking like crossbows that I hoped this world had- but since we did plan to offer to kill monsters or whatever it was the best we had. And none of us knew anything about being merchants.
“Can we check your storage?” she asked.
“Go ahead,” I gestured. Midnight would figure himself out. I focused on looking disinterested and casually scanning the city in front of me, not even really looking at the walls and the gatehouse.
It looked very human. I couldn’t say what construction style it actually was, or if it even matched any countries I should know, or any historical place on Earth. It wasn’t quite like Graotan, but I wouldn’t have been that surprised if I saw a city like it when I was younger. Except maybe by the size of the walls. The gates looked pretty thick, too.
The enchantments mostly seemed to tend towards stability. And preventing other magic from affecting the walls and enchantments. I didn’t have the highest certainty, but I did secretly deliver a rock to the side of the street, passing the gates. Weak teleportation worked, so stronger one should be fine.
“Meow,” Midnight said. He had a good cattish accent. “You think that will convince them?” Midnight asked me, obviously speaking in Celmothian.
I didn’t respond, because however I answered would have been weird. But I did turn my head to look at our meowing ‘cat’.
Nobody cared at all. The guards looked bored as they opened the various supply crates. We’d done a good enough job of scrubbing them clean of identifiers, though we couldn’t be certain the food choices wouldn’t give us away.
“Alright, move along,” the lead guard said. “The Center of Peace and Violence is a left turn at the central square.”
I was pretty sure that whole phrase also meant something like ‘city hall’. “Thanks,” I said.
Soon enough, we were moving along. It was a good thing the horses knew how to work, because I barely understood their controls. Inasyah seemed to handle it just fine, though.
“They’re not demons,” Inasyah reported. “I don’t even know if they’re demon blooded. If so, it’s extremely weak.”
I pondered that for a moment. “They felt about as magical as the knights. I didn’t feel anything else of interest.”
I’d met some celestials and they always felt magical, but I’d only really felt they were special when I met some in their native environment. That made me remember one man-snake had promised to come to my aid against a fiendish foe. Tabris was his name, and I carried it only in my heart and not on my tongue. Because I wasn’t sure if he was saying he’d summon himself or I had to do it. If I needed to fight this Demon King, maybe I’d try it then. He was promising to go to another dimension anyway, so why not this one?
This fort was way too big to take down with Meteor Swarm. Well, a single one. The castle had been more compact, because it was inside a city. Which had also been walled. Walls were good because most things couldn’t fly. I could, though. If Midnight put in the effort we could get everything but the wagons to fly, probably.
Inasyah slowed the wagon slightly as we neared the square. “We should check out this… Center, should we not?”
“Absolutely,” I said.
They had a convenient place for a wagon to pull up, at least that was what Inasyah thought it was. There were also individual hitches for horses. We’d seen a few people riding around, but most people walked. Not too many other wagons. The population here didn’t seem that high. Maybe a couple thousand people condensed into a tight area. The only reason we couldn’t see the central square from the gates was because the streets curved- quite intentionally, I imagined.
Inasyah and I prepared to go inside. The others from Extra would be watching the wagon. A lime green woman with horns that curled around the side of her head was waiting at the top of the steps.
She said something and extended a hand. I returned the gesture and the word. Then she tried to punch me in the face. Instead, her armored fist clipped my temple as I dove at her. Instead of tackling her to the ground I only managed to shove her back a step. She grabbed at me, and I was pretty sure that her hand passed through one of my ‘horns’. Fortunately she didn’t seem to notice.
We were already wrestling, but neither of us could gain the upper hand at first. I was tempted to use magic, but if she could detect it I would be revealing things I would rather not. Force Armor was still protecting me and she hadn’t gone for the metal studded club she had leaning against the front of the building.
Also Inasyah would probably save me if I was in trouble.
Unless she couldn’t. I thought I was doing pretty well for the most part, but the battle ended with me being tossed onto my back, knocking the wind out of me. A heavy boot came down on the stone tiles next to my head with a resounding ring.
“Velsolis!” someone shouted. “Again?” I slightly turned my head but I was having trouble at the moment. “I sent you out to greet them, not attack them!”
“What?” my attacker said. “It’s traditional! And he accepted.”
“Just because someone returns the gestures of old does not mean they’re accepting a battle!” said the other voice. It was deeper. A pea soup green face came into view. His horns went straight up. “Are you alright, newcomer?”
“He’s fine,” the woman said. “Right?” she held out her hand. “I’m Velsolis.”
I took her hand from where I was on the ground. “Turlough.”
She pulled me onto my feet. I wasn’t ready for that. A hand up, sure… but it was more than that. It didn’t really involve as much force on my arm or shoulder as it should have. A little bit of magic, though I had no idea what category of practice that fell under.
The man nudged Velsolis out of the way. “She did not force you into a First Meeting Duel, did she?” He used that word again. So that was what it meant. That was a good word. “I hope she did not. Most people don’t actually do that anymore. Velsolis.”
“He returned the gesture!” she complained. “Tell Xarrin. You were ready, right?”
“I was,” I commented.
“Hmph.” He crossed his arms. “Even so, you are in full armor and this man is only wearing his daily clothes!”
“Nu-uh! He’s fortified.”
Xarrin glared at Velsolis. “And did you know that before you struck a blow?”
“... obviously,” she said. I wasn’t sure she could convince anyone with the way she said that. “And he’s bigger than me!”
She looked about average height for a human… though I hadn’t seen enough of the locals here to say how that compared. But even if she was shorter, she wasn’t small. I was quite certain she could swing that heavy club without issue, and she walked around in metal armor.
Xarrin clicked his tongue. “Regardless, we are here to welcome you and your people to the city. I hear you are looking for work of Battle to Make Peace?” he looked over to Inasyah, who was just smiling. “Which one of you is the leader? Did you even check, Velsolis?”
“Turlough is,” Inasyah declared. It was true, as far as the operations here went. Mainly because I had more combat experience on Earth, could Teleport us all out if necessary, and someone had to be in charge. Though outside of urgent situations, everyone worked together to decide the course of action.
“At least you got the formalities correct. Welcome. We can talk about what missions you can undertake inside.”
I was still pretty sure the word meant city hall and the Center of Peace and Violence. Inside there were… not that many other people. I don’t know what I expected, though.
