Kingdom of the Weak 25 Downfall and Rise

Cruel Rose was enjoying herself at the time. Her closest enemies were destroyed. The north side was hers, at last. Madam Sara, the leader of the Ravens, was bound to a pillar in the middle of the dining hall, gagged with both legs broken. Wrapped around her broken legs was the dead body of the Ravens' Slayer, Donny. Unable to fight, unable to flee, unable even to curse, taunted by Rose and her lieutenants on every side, all Madam Sara could do was glare at them through reddened eyes.

But all of a sudden, shouts interrupted the revelry. "Fire! We're on fire!!"

Who dared disturb the festivities?! The boss and her top lackeys were in the middle of celebrating the destruction of the Circling Ravens and the complete domination of the north side!

A man burst in. "Boss! We're on fire!"

"Did someone mess around with the book again?!" Rose demanded crossly, irked at being disturbed in her moment of gloat-worthy triumph. "Where is it?"

"Everywhere!" he said, eyes wild. "It came from the sky! There was a strong wind, and then there was fire everywhere!"

"Everywhere?" Rose leapt to her feet. This was not the doing of some prankster playing around with that rubbish basic fire book.

"Everywhere! Half the north side is burning, and it's too strong! We can't put it out!"

More screams erupted. "Stop him! Stop- aargh!!"

"It's Kage. It has to be." Ye'Tuo licked his lips. "He is already injured. This won't take long."

Sure enough, a glint of silver struck at his neck. Ye'Tuo caught it with his dinner fork before it could slice his neck; a small throwing star dropped to the floor. He turned his cold gaze to the doorway; there, with three companions, was the black garbed figure they expected to see.

The three behind him, though, were not figures they expected.

Madam Sara's eyes lit up. Her gaze gloried in this unexpected vengeance.

"Remian… and Markus?" Rose stared in disbelief. "And who is that?!"

Instead of Kage, Remian answered. "I'm not sure if you've noticed, Rose… but the airship just arrived."

"When? And what does that have to do with anything?" Rose demanded.

"About two minutes ago." Remian figured. "And its arrival spells your doom."

"T-two minutes?" Rose stared. "What did you do?! How did all this…?!"

"I just talked to a few of my friends and they agreed you had to be removed." Remian paused. "Come on, Rose, you had to know this was going to happen. The Legion doesn't tolerate slavery, and there are a lot of mages concerned about magic books falling into the wrong hands."

"But that was YOUR doing! You sold me the Fire Book!" Rose screamed.

"I traded it to save Mandy's life. It was a hostage situation. All I had to do was explain that." Remian said, sounding very patient. "And thank you for taking the time to talk to me."

"W-what do you mean?" Rose stammered.

"You've just given Charlie the time he needed to draw his Sigils." Remian explained. Then, he tapped his wrist and said, "Light!"

There was a burst of power, and white light flooded the room.

"Slicing Wind!" An unfamiliar voice said.

There was the sound of whistling. As the blinding light faded, sprays of blood fountained all across the room.

"As promised." The unfamiliar man said shortly. "The fat one is yours."

"Thanks." Kage stepped forward, drawing his dagger.

"Ye'Tuo…" Rose began, then froze.

Ye'Tuo's body slumped down in his seat, eyes wide, blood dripping from his slashed throat. There were three slashes on it, all of them lethal. On the throats of the other dead people around her, there were five. In a single move, within mere seconds, everyone was dead.

"A Wind Mage…?" Rose remembered the voice had commanded 'wind'. Sudden understanding flooded her. "The airship!"

"How many times must I tell you guys? Don't compare me to those weak little wind mages!" The unfamiliar man grouched. "I am a Storm Mage! See those cuts? That's made by sharp, solid blades, not moving air! Wind can't do that! But ice can! They just need wind to move them around some…"

But Cruel Rose wasn't listening any more. She was jerking and twitching uncontrollably in her seat with Kage's knife driven right through her back. The sharp point of it stuck out from the middle of her chest. He stabbed a couple more times on both the left and right sides of her chest just to make sure, then decided to take her head off completely just in case.

By that time, Markus already had the gag off Madam Sara and was cutting her loose.

"Thank you." She whispered. "You will always be welcome in the north side."

Remian cleared his throat. "About that… actually… it's more like the other way around."

"What do you mean?" Sara asked, unsteadily.

"The Ravens are gone, and the Rose Gang is done for. Everything is burning down. Afterwards, the Iron Legion will be moving their camp to the north side and building a new airport here." Remian explained.

"But… but…!" Sara turned. "Kage?"

"I'm with them." Kage answered shortly.

Madam Sara fainted.

***

They looted the buildings and set them on fire. Twenty Legionnaire Trainees and a Storm Mage burned a fire-break in between the town center and the north side, a border of ash thirty feet wide preventing the fire from spreading to the rest of town. Charlie easily made sure it wouldn't.

Oh, right. The Iron Legion had twenty trainees there now, not just ten. The airship had brought ten more trainees and a couple more veterans this week. With the Cruel Rose gang severely weakened after their fight with the Circling Ravens, and then distracted and burned by a wind-assisted fire spread, twenty trainees taking them by surprise were more than enough to finish them off.

Along with the Legion trainees, the airship had also brought a couple more priests and most importantly, the Storm Mage Charlie. He was NOT happy with Remian using the book to buy Mandy, but he agreed that before he poured out his wrath on Remian, they first needed to deal with Rose.

Now Rose was dealt with and there was not much to do other than watch the fire burn everything to a crisp, Charlie had a great many things to say in a very loud, wind-assisted voice that resembled thunder, and Remain was not spared any of it…

They probably heard him scold Remian all the way back at the Adventurers Guild. Carrie and Buff were there with Joshu and Xia and the children. It was best they did not get involved with all this.

As for the other denizens of the north side, namely the surviving members of the Cruel Rose Gang, well… frankly speaking, the only survivors were the employees of the brothel. They and Madam Sara were staring at the flames with all sorts of changing expressions on their faces. Nobody, not even they, were entirely sure whether they were happy or sad about the whole deal.

It didn't matter. This area was Legion territory now, except for the airport. According to their deal, Charlie would own 24% of it. Also, in return for help in building the airport, the Adventurers Guild would own another 24%.

The fires burned all night and long into the next morning.

***

The next day, the Job board was swamped with missions related to building the airport. There were gathering material missions ranked at Tier 2 and Tier 3; there were delivery missions that involved moving materials from the Guild to the north side, ranked Tier 1 in difficulty, but offering rewards to match Tier 2 missions; there were escort missions for the material gatherers…

But first, there were classes. Remian and Mandy divided the children into five groups following each of the older kids, and the older kids became leaders of their own little squads. Tim Squad and George Squad learned swords and spears with Max at the Iron Legion; Jane Squad and Kavitha Squad took up archery training with Joshu and Xia; Mindy Squad stayed with Mandy and Remian and trained to use magic scrolls.

Afterwards, all five Squads went to the riverside and loaded up cart after cart of clay under the protection of a giant wolfcat and a bear. Joshu, Xia and the two new hunters went hunting some Tier 3 Wild farther out; Max was busy with Legion business; Mandy was going about setting up bedding in the cave and piling straw around for warmth. Remian stayed with the children, keeping an eye on them and jotting down notes in a scroll.

They had lunch by the river side. Mandy brought the smoked Tier 2 meat all the way from the Guild, and noticed Remian's writing. "Are you inscribing a new kind of scroll?"

"No, I'm just taking notes." Remian explained.

"On what?"

"On them." Remian nodded to the kids. "I think we might want to let them switch squads sometimes."

"Why? We arranged them according to how well they got along with the leaders." Mandy reminded.

"That's the thing. One of Jane's friends kept trying to swing her bow around like a sword. And one of Tim's friends kept drawing in the sand instead of paying attention to combat class."

"Which means…?"

"I think we can move Jane's friend to Tim's squad and Tim's friend to Mindy's. Things like that."

"But their behavior might change tomorrow depending on their mood. I think it's still better for them just to be with those they're closer to." Mandy went on.

Remian considered it, balancing relations against activities. "Why don't we let them choose for themselves, next time?"

"Does that mean you're disbanding the squads? Everyone on their own?"

"No way. This is a great chance for Mindy and the older ones to learn leadership for real. It's a priceless opportunity. We should let them make as much of it as they can." Remian eyed the children playing and eating. "Although we might want to give them some advice. Like… every day."

"What do you mean?" Mandy asked.

Remian cleared his throat. "Mindy! Hey, Mindy, can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure. What's up?" Mindy came over.

"You might want to be a bit more patient with Amy." Remian said then. "I think she has things she wants to tell you, but you need to give her time to say it. Try not to interrupt her so much? At least let her finish what she wants to say."

"Uh… okay…" Mindy went off.

Mandy exchanged glances with Remian. "I get it."

"You do?" Remian gestured. "Your turn."

Mandy glanced about. "George? Come over here for a sec."

George arrived. "Hmm?"

"Can you talk to Brian a bit more? He seems really quiet."

"I think he's just shy." George said.

"I know. But everyone needs someone to talk to. Just… try and be good friends with him, okay?"

"Okay." George left.

Mandy turned back to Remian expectantly. "Something like that?"

"Uh… something like that." Remian left it at that. "I guess social skills would help too."

"Isn't that what you were talking about?" Mandy asked.

"Um… something like that." Remian said evasively.

Mandy scowled. "Now you're making fun of me."

"No, I'm not. Really! I'm… uwaah!" Remian jumped up, with Mandy's finger dug into his lower ribs.

***

Watching them, Amy whispered to Mindy. "Is she really his slave?"

"Uh… yeah?" Mindy whispered back.

"She doesn't act like it." Amy observed seriously.

Mindy nodded. "Neither does he."

Chapter end