Chapter 24: Trust“Lady Rutina, I apologize for issuing commands to your guard outside of the byrinth. I was simply shocked to see Brunhild threaten a small, helpless child. These honest, hard-working vilgers have probably never even seen a noble so wouldn’t understand proper etiquette. It was really my fault so I hope that the child can be spared harsh punishment.”

  “Lord Moreau, your apologies are harsher than most attacks.”

  Rutina really can be kind when she wants to be. The smile on my face probably looked a bit evil — well, looks aren’t always deceptive.

  “If you’ll excuse me, My Lady.” Brunhild walked off to the bushes to presumably do her business. People here do seem to have remarkably strong bdders. I’ve generally preferred to use the byrinths to do my business since everything gets absorbed. Marcus and Theo do the same. Is that because they’re guys or did they just copy my crude behavior? Somehow, this didn’t seem like an appropriate topic of conversation with Rutina so I decided to ask Alina ter. Hm, I think she used the byrinth too.

  Interrupting my deep thoughts, Brunhild returned from her pee-break so we could re-enter the byrinth. Theo took us to the third floor to fight the rabbits, trees and goats. Thankfully, Rutina saw the rabbits as targets, not cuddly creatures.

  Not completely convinced that Rutina could feel how these monsters were tougher than usual, but she didn’t refute my cims. After a couple hours of this, it really felt that we’d been here long enough. Not sure if I should bring her back here for the st day or go to a different byrinth. Regardless, everyone seemed happy to stop for today and I asked Theo to bring us back downstairs.

  Brunhild stepped forward, “Please wait here a moment, My Lady. I’ll make sure it’s safe outside.”

  A bit unusual for Brunhild to actually sound polite. No, this is wrong. Brunhild just left Rutina alone with us… she left Rutina in the byrinth with four guys. This is very wrong.

  “Brunhild is taking too long. She should have returned immediately. Rolf, take Rutina to the next room. If we’re not back in a few minutes, retreat further inside. Rutina, conserve your mana and heed Rolf’s advice — he’s an experienced Adventurer, after all.”

  “Yes, Teacher.”

  Once they’re out of sight, “Guys, I’m going to take a quick look. If I’m not back in five minutes, come save my ass at the expense of anyone else. Kill anyone who appears to be a threat.”

  I opened a warp portal to the vilge. No vilgers in sight so they probably noticed some trouble. Further ahead, I could see Brunhild standing with a group of five outws: a high-level Pirate and several mid-level Bandits. Brunhild doesn’t appear to be hurt or restrained so maybe she’s gone back to her old ways. Well, maybe she’s just acting cool to trick them or has been tricked herself.

  I don’t see anyone else in the area so I warp back to the guys.

  “Looks like an ambush. Brunhild may have switched sides so use caution. I’ll warp out behind them and create a distraction. On the count of ten, walk out and strike down anyone who acts like an enemy. Guard the entrance and retreat if needed.”

  With a quick nod, I warp out to the spot I picked earlier. It looks like a Field Walker portal has just opened up on a tree 10 meters ahead. An adventurer just brought more bad guys. With Brunhild, there are now 12 potential opponents.

  The first priority is to cut the supply line and escape route. I create a firewall about 10 meters in front of the byrinth entrance and make their Adventurer go Poof with Equivalent Exchange. That should be enough of a distraction.

  Anyone in or close to the firewall was caught completely by surprise. I jump out of cover and quickly strike down the nearest two bad guys. A third is polite enough to practically run into my sword in his attempt to flee. OK, at least four down.

  A few of the higher-level (non-panicking) bad guys move towards me. With my Hero job, none of them would be a match one-on-one, but they don’t seem quite that foolish. I mumble and open a portal against the tree just a meter away. One makes a brave attempt to intercept, but fails to see that I stepped away. He tried to correct his trajectory, but he too met my sword.

  Now it’s just three bad guys remaining on my side of the firewall. A Pirate, apparently named Simon, has animal ears, a Bandit, Heinz, is an elf, and a Thief, Bruno, is human — nice that they’ve embraced racial diversity in their viliny. It would be absolutely hirious if this Bruno had gotten kicked out of Vale for supposedly making a secret deal with me. [1]

  Regardless of their backgrounds, I’m not feeling confident about taking all three at once. Noting the pause in action, Heinz tries to make an appeal, “Please, just wait a moment. We came here to offer you a deal. Let’s all just calm down and talk this out.”

  “I’m not making any deals with Selmer’s knights. I already know that Brunhild is working undercover.”

  While talking, I create another warp portal behind me, hopefully obscured by my body and by the fact that I didn’t chant.

  A bit confused, Heinz responds, “Do we look like Knights to you?”

  Backing slowly, “Fine, then drop your weapons.”

  When the talkative guy turns to transte, I recklessly jump backwards into my warp portal leading to a spot just inside the byrinth and nd ft on my back. My party radar shows that Rolf and Rutina are still inside and alive so I step out to join Marcus and Theo. They’re still guarding the entrance as ordered. Two enemies are down and Theo is fending off another while protecting the injured Marcus. Marcus is great against monsters, but he’s a bit slow.

  Not above cheap tricks, I call out, “Finally, the reinforcements are here.” In the momentary distraction, I use Overwhelming to cut down the nearby thug. Theo stands guard so I can help Marcus. The wounds weren’t too deep, but enough to limit his mobility. A few heal spells sufficed to stabilize him.

  Party radar shows that Brunhild alive and in the direction of the vilge — I’ll deal with her ter. My firewall had already expired and the three remaining enemies I had avoided earlier look surprised to see me. This time, they started backing up.

  Looking a bit worried, Heinz called out, “How the hell are you doing this? You were just supposed to be a Mage.”

  With all of us with swords at the ready, I fire off an invisible breeze-ball at Bruno. It was enough of a distraction for me to nd a clean hit — not lethal but he’s no longer an immediate threat.

  That little speed burst has made the remaining vilins focus on me. As I started to circle around, Marcus and Theo eliminate the distracted Heinz.

  Simon is focused on me and careful to avoid getting surrounded. He wisely makes a move to flee but bumps into the breeze-wall I created a moment ago. As skilled as Simon may be, I manage to get a solid hit on his leg.

  In defeat, he drops his weapon and says, ?■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■■.?, before I make the final strike. It honestly wouldn’t have mattered what he said since I certainly wouldn’t let such a high-level criminal walk away.

  Only the heavily injured Bruno remains… till Marcus casually finishes him off.

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  A quick count of the bodies and no extras seen with Identify suggests that we got them all.

  “Let’s plunder what we can before anyone else shows up. Gather the weapons and undamaged armor so I can store them in my inventory. They all have criminal jobs so make sure to take left hands before we toss them into the byrinth.”

  “You seem quite experienced with this sort of thing, Boss.”

  “Yep, I hunted quite a few brigands back in Vale. That’s why they were so desperate to find me.”

  The guys quietly continued to work on the collections till it was time to start feeding the byrinth.

  “I’ll go get Brunhild now. Let’s assume she’s innocent for now… or at least pretend that she is.”

  I jogged off towards the vilge and quickly found her about 500 meters beyond it. Not sure if she simply forgot that she’s still in our party or if she stayed in intentionally.

  “Good to find you alive, Brunhild. Are you hurt?”

  “They caught me when I walked out, but I managed to get away. Just now, I, I was trying to lead them away from Lady Rutina.”

  Didn’t want to point out how polite the murderous fiends were to let her keep her sword and armor so I just smiled, “Well, it certainly worked, because we’re all safe now.”

  Hard to imagine that she expected me to believe her story, but I doubt she cares anyway. We walked back to the guys who had finished with the main clean-up.

  I quickly switched Theo back to Explorer and asked him to take us about half-way through the first floor. It didn’t take much back-tracking to find the both of them with only minor injuries. Brunhild quickly rushed to Rutina’s side and drew her sword in our direction.

  “My Lady, thank goodness you’re unhurt. Moreau has betrayed us! When I went outside, I saw group of brigands waiting to ambush us. I managed to kill a few and scare off the rest. I patrolled the area to see if any others were hiding. After Moreau and his men came out, I hid to see what they would do. I heard them call out for their friends and curse that their pn had failed. When they went back inside, I silently followed. I am so relieved that I reached you in time.”

  Wow, that was a much better story than expected. It was probably prepared in advance since Brunhild doesn’t seem that clever. Of course, it suffers from the simple fact that we could have overwhelmed the lone Brunhild at literally any time. No, that fw may in fact be a trap. Staging a bandit raid would look better than attacking directly. I might even try to collect ransom and ‘rescue’ Rutina ter. Actually, that’s… um, terrible.

  Rutina didn’t seem to immediately accept or reject Brunhild’s story. Unfortunately, even if Rutina sides with me, it’s still my word against a Knight. Well, maybe Brunhild’s old job should be restored to match her current actions.

  “Lady Rutina, your guard, Brunhild, has provided false testimony and wrongfully accused me of a crime.”

  “No, Lord Moreau, you can’t do this to me again. How could you possibly suggest that my Brunhild is disloyal?”

  “I have no evidence to support such an accusation, Lady Rutina. I can only respond to Brunhild’s cims against me.”

  “Are you demanding a duel?”

  “No, Lady Rutina, I wouldn’t want to unnecessarily inconvenience you. But, I would like to have this resolved quickly on neutral ground.”

  “Expin.”

  “I request that we go directly to Bode’s Castle, Lady Rutina.”

  Going to Bode means exposure to more nobles but Brunhild can’t be allowed to return to Selmer. No telling who else is involved and what they might do and then have it all bmed on me.

  “No! My Lady, it’s a trick. He’s trying to prevent you from returning to the safety of home.”

  “Brunhild, are you suggesting that Lord Moreau set up another ambush at Bode’s Castle? That’s ridiculous.”

  “But, My Lady, I must insist that Moreau and his men be disarmed and left here. Now that he’s been discovered, he’ll attack at the first opportunity.”

  “Thank you for your concern, Brunhild, but I’ve made my decision. There will be no more discussion.”

  Again, Rutina shows herself to be a strong and wise leader by not immediately picking a side without evidence. I certainly hope she can inherit the title from her useless father. I could even imagine some degree of cooperation in the future — never as a vassal, of course.

  Rolf didn’t say a word during the entire exchange. He’s a taxi driver who knows not to get involved with his customer’s internal squabbles. I doubt that he’d want to openly take my side, but there’s little chance he couldn’t see through Brunhild’s feeble lies.

  The status cards I’d collected popped out before we reached the exits so, as the current rear-guard, I subtly discarded the emptied hands behind me.

  This time, we all exit the byrinth together — all clear. Another ambush would’ve made Brunhild’s position clear, but it would have been difficult to defend Rutina without exposing my special skills.

  Rolf opened a portal to Bode’s Castle and we all stepped through without incident.

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  [1] Heinz and Simon are from the LN (vol 6, ch 5). Bruno could be the unnamed Thief from the same event.