Chapter 92. Challenge
The full moon was already out by the time they arrived at the city of Durlistle. They entered without much incident. The guards at the entrance gates were so awed by Anastasia’s presence that they barely even glanced at Levi and Selene. A good thing; while Levi had forged some papers for Selene, he didn’t know how well they’d hold up under close inspection. Qorbin had taught him the basics back during their journey to Lancaster, but Levi wasn’t the best at it yet, and besides, there was always the off chance that Qorbin had deliberately taught him incorrectly just to mess with him.
As they strode through the city, Levi cast a glance around. Durlistle was well-developed, with proper cobbled roads and magical lamps illuminating the streets. The buildings were made of stone, and some were even constructed of sleek metal. People streamed around them in the streets as merchants peddled their wares and street carts sold aromatic foods.
However, despite the active nightlife, there was a sense of weariness permeating the city. The people looked tired. Worn down. Clearly, a decade of living in a trade city with no trade had taken its toll. Once, Durlistle must’ve enjoyed immense economic prosperity, but after Yukihasa had closed its borders, the city had plunged into recession.
Anastasia led them to the central church. She seemed to have an uncanny knack for sensing where the holy institutions were in a city without once needing to ask for directions. Kind of like Qorbin’s ability to sniff out dirty, rundown bars. Impressive, really.
Outside the church, Anastasia and Selene had a brief barbed exchange – Anastasia asserted that Selene was forbidden from entering and Selene insisted that she refused to enter such a sickening place in the first place. Then, with Selene waiting outside, Levi and Anastasia went into the church.
Not for the first time, Levi wished that Liliya was with them. Perhaps having another member would smooth over tensions. At the very least, it’d make things less awkward for him.
Unfortunately, Liliya was currently preoccupied. She refused to tell him what was going on, but it had to be both time-sensitive and important for her to refuse his invitation to join the quest. Levi suspected it was related to what her brother, Dmitri Volkov, had told her during their private conversation back during the Guild Trial. He would’ve offered to help, but he needed to take care of this first. Figuring out the issue with the System took priority.
Despite the late hour, the Head Priest greeted them warmly, having recognized Anastasia on sight. He seemed confused as to why Anastasia had come to the city with an unknown adventurer in tow. The confusion morphed into trepidation when Anastasia inquired about the odds of Yukihasa accepting a diplomatic Church envoy into their lands.
“A Church envoy? None. There’s no way,” the Head Priest said. “The borders are shut to everyone regardless of rank or status – and you know that Yukihasa isn’t overly fond of the Goddess to begin with. They’ve slaughtered countless of our missionaries in the past, and while the proportion of their population who believes in the Goddess has risen over the years, the vast majority of them still regard their imperial emperor as God-King.”
Oh? That was interesting. In Luminarche, most citizens believed in and worshipped the Goddess. Some, like Qorbin, weren’t the most devout, of course, but generally, the Goddess was well-accepted as the ultimate holy being and ingrained in the citizens’ everyday lives. It appeared that things were different in Yukihasa.
Anastasia nodded, looking as though she’d expected the answer. “I see. What about our people placed within Yukihasa? Have we managed to establish a line of communication with them?”
The Head Priest shook his head. “Yukihasa employs numerous tactics to maintain a total information blackout. We had more contact with the churches in Yukihasa in the beginning, but as time went on, it became more and more risky to communicate. Messenger birds are shot down, seasoned smugglers are caught and tortured to death, magical communication devices get intercepted and blocked… They’ve even developed a whole barrier that envelops the entire country. I don’t know exactly what the barrier does, but rumor has it that it detects whenever someone enters or leaves the borders. Huntsmen are immediately dispatched to the area to investigate and kill all intruders – or escapees – on sight.”
He sighed. “It’s a tragedy, but these days, we know very little about what goes on within the country. Last I heard, most of Western Yukihasa is still under the control of the imperial government and under absolute martial law, but the rebel forces had managed to conquer and hold vast swathes of the eastern islands. The specifics are lost to me, unfortunately. I apologize, I wish there was more I could tell you.”
“There’s no need to apologize,” Anastasia said, looking pensive. “Thank you for the information. May the Goddess smile upon you.”
Anastasia and Levi left, rejoining Selene outside. The entire time, Selene had been glowering at the church as its very construction offended her. To be fair, it probably did. Holy and consecrated places tended to affect demons on a metaphysical level. Selene looked glad when they finally left.
“A diplomatic Church envoy was our only potential legal option for entry into Yukihasa,” Anastasia said. “Unfortunately, it seems that’s cut off from us.”
“Which leaves only the illegal options,” Levi said. He grinned. “Time to go border hopping.”
Anastasia sighed.
As they approached the border, the bustling markets and residential buildings around them gave way to grand streets and imposing architecture. The border wall came into view. It was ten meters tall and three meters thick, made of stone and reinforced with numerous enchantments, running along the entire sixty kilometers or so of the Luminarche-Yukihasa border.
The main gate was manned by a dozen soldiers. In the past, this gate would’ve undoubtedly been used to welcome massive caravans of traders, merchants, and tourists. Now, it remained shut tight.
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“So how are we doing this?” Anastasia asked. “Can you teleport us directly into Yukihasa?”
Levi hesitated. “Theoretically, yes. However, I don’t want to risk setting off the detection barrier; I don’t know if it can sense teleportation. It’d be best if we held off on alerting Yukihasa to our presence for as long as possible.” He didn’t want to have an entire country on high alert searching for them. It would get tedious having to constantly deal with the soldiers and Huntsmen sent after them. “Ideally, we’ll be in and out of the country without them knowing we were ever there?”
Anastasia looked skeptical. “With your luck, are you sure we can manage that?”
Levi deflated. “Not really. But we can try. Our best bet is probably to fly over – this way, once we reach the barrier, I can examine it close-up and determine a way to either bypass or hack it.”
Anastasia nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”
Ethereal wings of golden light sprouted from her back, but before they could take flight, alarm bells suddenly began ringing in the distance. They tensed up, glancing over at the wall. The soldiers at the gate, who had been lazing about chatting and playing cards, were now in a frenzy of motion.
“An attack?” Levi asked.
“I don’t know,” Anastasia said. “Let’s see what’s going on.”
They rushed over to the gate. Upon seeing them, the soldiers tried to stop them at first before realizing that Anastasia was a High Priestess. The news quickly spread, and in a few seconds the commander of the soldiers was talking to them.
“Evening, High Priestess,” the commander greeted, his voice tense. “What brings you to the border wall?”
“I was in town and happened to hear the alarm bells,” Anastasia said. “My companions and I came over to see if everything was alright. Is it an enemy attack?”
The commander held her gaze for a long moment. Judging her to be sincere, he sagged slightly, but caught himself a moment later and stood up straight.
“Not an attack,” he said quietly. His face was grave. “Worse.” Then, as if forgetting them entirely, he whirled back around to bark orders to his soldiers. “Open the gates!” he thundered. “Open the gates! Turn on the lights! Send up the flares!”
Open the gates? Levi frowned. What?
What could be worse than an enemy attack?
Slowly, the gates to the border wall opened with a mighty groan to reveal a wide field of rocky earth that extended into a forest beyond. The soldiers wheeled out two large spotlights hoisted on carts, which turned on with a flicker of magic. At the same time, other soldiers released flares into the air above. Instantly, the rocky field was bathed in unbelievably bright light. Levi could feel the heat from ten feet away.
He squinted, and – there! Off in the distance, he spied a single wooden cart pulled by a horse rumbling over the rocky ground. But… That was it. There was nothing else: no reinforcements, no cavalry, nothing.
What in the…
Ah.
Fuck.
“Oh,” Anastasia whispered. Her face looked pained. Tormented. She seemed to have arrived at the same conclusion Levi did. “Oh no…”
“What is it?” Selene asked, confused. She peered into the darkness as well, her nocturnal vision allowing her to see everything perfectly. “There are… people in the cart?”
Levi didn’t answer. He could feel his heart beginning to race.
The wooden cart was the sort of cart that normally carried grain or hay. Here, though, it carried people. Levi made out a dozen or so people sitting inside. He recalled what he knew about Yukihasa.
Refugees. Civilians, adventurers, perhaps even soldier deserters trying to escape the war.
“Come on,” the commander muttered under his breath. He had stepped up to the opened gate. There was a bright red line painted on the rocky earth just a few feet beyond the gates, encircling a rectangular zone twenty feet wide and five feet long. Behind him, soldiers scrambled to get into position, along with a medic team. “Come on, come on, come on!”
“What are you just standing here for?” Levi asked. “Aren’t you going to go out and help?”
“We can’t!” the commander snapped. He gestured at the red line. “That line denotes the separation between Luminarche and Yukihasa territory. If anyone on our side crosses the line, then it’ll mean war. None of us can interfere. We can help all we want once they step over the line and enter Luminarche territory, but…”
Then, they appeared.
The Huntsmen of Yukihasa.
The detection barrier must’ve alerted them about the refugees. Perhaps the lights and flares had also drawn their attention, but Levi doubted it would’ve made much of a difference. From what he knew about the Huntsmen – the elite assassination unit tasked with population suppression and hunting down dissidents, outsiders, rebels, and escapees – they would’ve been able to easily track down the refugees, one way or another.
Three shadowy blurs streaked across the rocky field, faster than falcons. Cries of panic sounded from the wooden cart as the people within realized. A second later, they all abandoned ship, leaping off the cart and hitting the ground sprinting as fast as they could. There were fourteen of them in total, all of different ages. The oldest was in his sixties and the youngest only seven or eight.
Levi made to step forward, his magic thrumming beneath his skin, but Anastasia grabbed his arm.
“We can’t,” she hissed. “It will be war if you do anything. Do you understand? Yukihasa does not take foreign interference lightly. It is a very proud, battle-forged nation. Especially since you’re a noble and I’m a High Priestess. They will declare war on Luminarche if we step in here. Thousands of more lives will be lost if we do anything.”
“So we’re supposed to sit back and do nothing?” Levi snapped. The Huntsmen were getting closer and closer.
“Yes!” Anastasia screamed back, and the sheer raw hopelessness in her voice took Levi aback. She was tearing up. The thought of not doing anything here probably affected her even more than it did him. But she stayed in place, not moving a single inch, even as her entire form trembled. “There’s nothing we can do here, Levi! This is beyond us. The ramifications, the sheer consequences that’d follow if we interfere…”
Suddenly, Levi realized that the commander and the soldiers were all watching him warily. They weren’t just there to prevent external invasions, he realized. They were also there to prevent anyone from crossing the border line and causing a war. If Levi attempted to interfere, he had no doubt the soldiers would attack not the Huntsmen but him instead.
He hesitated. He didn’t know the full story of the geopolitical situation in this world. Was stepping over the line truly that serious? There was no way, right?
But… If Anastasia was telling the truth, then could he really risk causing an entire war just to save fourteen people?