Devourer

Chapter 29: The Game Begins

Lord Averlon grit his teeth as he looked down at the report in front of him. The population was growing restless, the merchants were in uproar and the guards grew more restless with each passing day. 

His knights have been petitioning for him to allow them to search the forests to speed up the process. He turned them down naturally, he couldn’t risk his best soldiers without knowing what the hell this beast was. Furthermore, what if the knights found Cecilia?

Their oath was clear, they pledged themselves to the rightful ruler of Averlon and the sovereign who defended the welfare of the people. If their speculation is correct and Cecilia has found an ally in the beast then things got really complicated. Legally, Cecilia has a claim to the throne, which is also a stronger claim than the claims of his younger children. 

If Cecilia could promise a better future for Averlon and bring to light his unlawful imprisonment his knights might become divided. Cecilia was always intelligent, smarter than anyone in his family by far, himself included. Lord Averlon knew in his heart that his daughter would be a better ruler than him. She just outclassed him in all aspects except experience. She was more powerful as an individual, she was able to weave powerful spells almost instinctively. She was also more intelligent, able to see problems and identify solutions rapidly. Most of all she had the most important talent of a ruler. She was able to make sense and order from the chaos. So often when one finds themselves wearing a crown you will be bombarded on all sides with conflicting opinions. 

The peasants are growing hungry so they are obviously unhappy but the merchants need the grain to be exported to generate funds to fulfill orders for other necessities. Afterall Averlon had to import all their metals, how is a city state to survive without iron for tools and wagons? 

When finances are low, who do you draw the currency from? The nobles need it the least but they are also in the position to do the most harm. The knights are usually forgiving, but the guards aren’t. If he docks their pay some may leave and turn to banditry. This means there are less patrols and more bandits. The common peasant then ends up footing the human cost. If he taxes the peasants more heavily then they might revolt, if they start to starve they may choose to take up arms. Afterall to them what difference was there? You either die by the sword or through an empty belly. The sword is arguably better, at least that was a quick death…

So this is the predicament Lord Averlon was in. He needed to open the roads, because the merchants were about to riot. The common peasants couldn’t sell their produce and said produce was about to rot so they were about to riot too. The guards didn't want to be sent into the forest anymore considering how many of them never came out, so they were about to riot as well. Now that he thinks about it, it seems everyone wants the same thing… except for him...

The only person who had a different agenda was himself…

Lord Averlon then heard a knock on the door.

“Lord Averlon, are you there?” He heard Sarana’s voice say.

“Yes come in…” Lord Averlon replied. In times like these he is increasingly finding himself more reliant on her expertise. Her talent for subterfuge and her information network is the only thing that is keeping him informed…

“Good afternoon, your grace.” Sarana said cordially. Lord Averlon looked up to see a slightly uneasy look in her eyes.

“What is it?” he asked.

“I have dire tidings, your grace. Do you recall how the attack on Hearthstead was executed?” Sarana said.

“... Remind me.” Lord Averlon replied after he examined his hazy memories.

“Yes, I hired the best agents in my network. The plan was agreed upon by myself and your esteemed self. I trust you recall that we buried the bodies on site instead of risking moving them. We obscured the burial site with Nature Magic. There has been a complication however…” Sarana said gingerly.

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“What? What happened?” Lord Averlon said as he felt a lump in his throat.

“There was a group of scavengers from Averlon. They probably exited the city through the sewers, I trust you are aware of how large they are. They left for Hearthstead in the hopes of finding some scraps.

From what I gathered they did so because they were in financial troubles due to the lock down. I suppose desperation is a strong motivator.” Sarana said hesitantly.

“What happened?” Lord Averlon asked softly.

“Normally a band of scavengers would not be able to find the burial site. However, they were not the only ones to come looking. I am sure you are aware the Mages are ever thirsty for knowledge. Well a particularly foolish and idealistic Mage decided to journey to Hearthstead to see if it was truly bandits that destroyed Hearthstead.

The Mage… after some investigation I found she was quite powerful for her level of study. Nothing like the princess but a mage of decent talent. She came across the scavengers and at first she was… disapproving... of their actions. 

However, under her rudimentary interrogation she realised that their talents could be put to use to find the truth of what happened there. Everything seemed fine at first and both parties concluded that the attack was indeed conducted by humanoids. Most likely bandits.

Unfortunately the Mage decided to do an Ether sweep just to be sure and she managed to pick up the trace amounts of Ether left over from the Nature magic that was used to hide the burial site. They have unearthed the bodies, your grace. 

Although they do not have any concrete proof, what is concerning is that they realised how professionally the attack was done.” Sarana said.

“How do you know all of this…” Lord Averlon asked softly.

“The scavengers, they started talking when they returned. Rumors started flying in the Peeler's Pit. I tried to silence them and even plant a false narrative but I wasn’t successful. The attack was simply too well executed and a testimony of a mage is not easily dismissed.

I trust you are aware that some of the Rogues in the adventurer’s guild have contacts within Peeler’s Pit. News reached the adventurers guild and some of the adventurers decided to investigate, seeing as some of them knew some of the lost adventurers that most likely released the beast.” Sarana said.

“Where are the adventurers now?” Lord Averlon asked.

“They are about to leave or have already left. They are joined by the Mage mentioned earlier and a pair of your Knights who overheard about the incident…” Sarana said.

Lord Averlon sat silently and felt a cold chill in his body. A bunch of scavengers would be unlikely to put the full story together. The attack was just professional enough to draw attention. That was always the risk of these types of operations. If you did it sloppily then you run the risk of discovery through nothing but random chance. If you do it professionally and it is discovered anyway, the sheer professionalism of the deed would start to raise eyebrows…

“Do you have a solution?” Lord Averlon asked, a hint of desperation in his voice.

“Yes… I have a team available that could silence them all. I could also have them remove the bodies to remove the evidence. I suggest I send out one team to remove the bodies and another near the site on standby. The second team will listen in on the investigative party. If they feel the investigation is getting too close to the truth, the team will silence them.

The adventurer team is of Gold Rank. I can provide Platinum Rank equivalent operatives to do the deed. It will be quite expensive however, about fifty platinum coins for the mission. I will need a requisition order from yourself, to withdraw such funds from the treasury.” Sarana said calmly.

“Very well, the funds are yours. Keep me updated, what we did cannot be leaked to the general population…” Lord Averlon said as he hastily wrote a writ of withdrawal and handed it to Sarana.

“Thank you, your grace, with any luck. This will be the end of this matter.” Sarana said with a bow.

“Hopefully, thank you for your work Sarana. I will come to rely on you more and more in the days ahead…” Lord Averlon said as he pinched the bridge of his nose. 

“Of course your grace. I am your loyal servant.” Sarana said with another bow as she exited the room.

The moment Sarana was clear of the guards outside of the room she took out the magical device in her pocket. With a press of a button the device stopped recording the sound around it. Normally she would burn the writ of requisition after using it as that would be evidence. But she wouldn’t be doing that this time…

Privately Sarana marveled at the small device in her hand. It was a one of a kind of device made by Princess Cecilia. Sarana supposed when you are as talented as she was in magic and when you had nothing to do for four years… well you had to pass the time somehow…

This little apple sized orb was a dangerous tool in the right hands. A simple device like this… could topple empires…

Sarana could only wonder how many more toys Cecilia had up her sleeve…

Well, regardless she had a job to do. She needs to get this recording and the writ of requisition to Cecilia. She will need proof to persuade the knights…

In the meantime, she will continue to antagonise the population. Naturally all that she described to the king wasn’t a coincidence. The scavengers were tipped off by her agents, the mage was none other than Cecilia herself. The bodies were exhumed and Cecilia put the so-called pieces together. Now the rumor has spread into the peeler's pit and Sarana through her agents made sure that those rumors reached the adventurer’s guild and the knight orders.

That left that companion of hers to seduce the prince. Luckily for that Lily girl, she’s drop dead beautiful and the oldest prince is an idiot…

Well mostly because he’s an idiot…

A weak minded man is just a toy for a smart woman after all. The weak of mind usually think with their balls instead of their heads. So with a body and face like that? Lily will have the prince around her finger soon enough. That is provided she knows what to do, but Sarana doubts the princess would send her companion into a task she would most likely fail. All Sarana could hope was that all her effort to get that girl to the presence of the prince would pay off. It was almost a week of work after all. The security she needed to get around alone took four days. Luckily for her she was very intimately aware of the security in the castle. The Lord Commander of the Royal Guard is not as in control as he thinks...

◦◦,`°.✽✦✽.♚.✽✦✽.°`,◦◦

As Lily walked towards the door, holding a tray of tea, she ran her princess’s lessons through her mind. She is infinitely wise, she knows it isn’t possible to give a noble bearing to her in just a few weeks. So Cecilia trained her in a different approach. She was trained in half truths. She was a peasant so there was no way so she could learn the specifics and execute them flawlessly. 

Her lessons pertained to everything that would make her desirable, not elegant. Lily was taught to look like a klutzy and air headed woman with just enough tricks to make her seem like a desirable lady. It was subtle and Lily doubts any other woman could master it like Cecilia did. The best part of it was that it was incredibly easy to execute. She just had to… act like she didn’t really know what to do. Which will be exactly what will happen... 

So it all began with her in her common servants attire walking past the prince at an arranged time. A well placed bump from one of Sarana’s agents ensured she would stumble into the prince. Then she would squeak an apology and bow. As she did so she would press the tray she was holding against her chest. Lily would then break etiquette and raise her head without raising her body. 

With the tray pushing her breasts up and the low cut of the dress this would reveal her cleavage. Lily, following the script, froze for a moment as everyone paused. She saw the prince’s eyes wander down to her chest and her eyes locked onto his. Eventually the prince would notice and lock eyes with her. The moment he did so she would stand up and look away in mock embarrassment. Another breach of protocol, for she did not apologise but now that the prince saw something he wanted and the fact that this event was highly irregular would mean his interest would be piqued. 

As Cecilia said, show him what he wants then take it away. Tempt him, just let him see enough to let his imagination go wild. Lily then snuck a glance at the prince before quickly looking away as she demurely played with her hair. This sent the message that she was interested in the prince. Then before the silence dragged on too long the nearby servant would quickly apologise and Lily would apologise as well. 

The prince as expected waved their apologies away and as Lily walked away she could feel the prince’s gaze boring into the back of her head…

Now sure enough Lily was summoned to the prince’s bed chamber. She wore a servants dress that was a size too small and a simple corset. Most peasants didn’t wear corsets but as a servant of the royal palace a basic dress code was required. 

When she reached the door she saw a pair of royal guards. The guards gave her a look and one of them opened the door.

“His Royal Highness is expecting you.” the guard said curtly.

Lily nodded mutely as she entered the room. She knew what she had to do and she didn’t mind. The only thing that mattered to her now was her dearest princess. She would give anything she asks, no request is too demanding. She would offer her body, her soul and her life. If laying with the prince helped to get Princess Cecilia her rightful throne then so be it. Anything for her dearest Princess…

When Lily walked in she saw a pair of servant women standing behind the Prince who was calmly sitting at a table. 

“Hello my dear.” the Prince said with a smile.

“Greetings your highness.” Lily replied with a slight bow, giving him another peek at her ample bosom.

“Please put the supper down and have a seat.” the Prince said.

Lily nodded as she put the tray down but she hesitated before taking a seat.

“What’s wrong?” the Prince asked.

“I am but a peasant, your highness. Surely I am unworthy of being seated at the same table as your august self.” Lily stammered in reply as she stroked his ego.

“Hahaha, such honeyed words. But if you feel out of place… perhaps a change of attire.” the Prince said.

“A change of attire? Should I get changed first?” Lily asked in mock confusion.

“No, no…” the Prince said as he rose to his feet and walked in front of Lily.

“I have a set of attire prepared… you see my lady…” the Prince said as he reached up and gently ran the back of his fingers across her cheek.

“I wanted to dine with you tonight. If you would be willing.” the Prince said as his hand ran down her face and onto her shoulder. His hand traced down her collar and touched the soft flesh of her breast.

“Yes of course my lord.” Lily said with a blush as she felt his hand touch the top of her breast. Lily batted her eyelids as she looked demurely at the Prince and she saw his eyes alight with desire.

Then let’s get you dressed for a meal with a prince shall we?