Chapter 110: The Silent Order
Chapter 110: The Silent Order
SENA
“What is it you do here, Sena?”
The question wasn’t as simple and innocent as the ones Kenta usually asked. Sena had never been able to get a good read on him… and now she knew why. All the subtle cues and body language, the verbal cadences she’d been trained to follow… all of them were not quite right. Most were very close, and his ability to lie was just abysmal, but she’d never been able to tell when he was serious about something.
Now, it was different. The intent look in his eyes was clearer, the interest plain. It was a question that was dangerous for anyone in the city – the Domain, even – to ask, if they weren’t expecting one of her various cover stories over the years.
She knew none of her cover stories would work, now. She also knew that for once, it didn’t matter. If Kenta wanted to destroy the entire city, she was certain that his knowledge of her role in its defense wouldn’t matter one way or the other.
Sena leaned back and curled her tail around one leg, taking on a thinking position. “That is a long story. Are you in a hurry?”
Kenta’s chuckle was a little dry. “Yes, I am in a hurry… but a hurry for me means I only have a few hundred years to finish setting up the dungeons and other defenses. I think I have time to listen to your story, but I doubt I could appreciate it all. Maybe the simplified version, for now?”
Another tail flick, and Sena crossed her arm. “The simplified version…” She let out a breath. “When Lord Chall, our founder, decreed the caste system, his wife Elema disagreed with it. She claimed it would inevitably lead to discontent and the destruction of all he had built. Chall was a stubborn man, but respected his wife. He refused to change his plans, but he arranged for her to create a means of keeping the Domain stable, without the knowledge of the Council.”
To her mild surprise, Kenta leaned back on her desk and frowned. “That sounds… farfetched, but wise if true. I’m not fond of the caste system myself, but I try not to let my own beliefs interfere with how your nation comes together. I’m not sure I have a better solution anyway.”
Rather than probe about his own thoughts, Sena sighed. “So that is how the Silent Order was born. We are sworn to keep ourselves detached from our own politics, and only act to keep the city safe. And the Domain, as an extension. This usually requires me to keep track of strangers who act out of the ordinary – like yourself. If they are a danger, they are eliminated. If someone threatens the stability of the city, they are eliminated.”
Sena straightened up and leveled her stare directly at her uninvited guest, daring him to say she’s wrong. Her tail’s tip quivered, but she suppressed it. “We exist and do what we do so that the Domain can live in comfort.”
“Hm.” Kenta’s reaction was thoughtful, not horrified. If anything, his expression softened, with a mild and sad frown. “That sounds awful. Does it ever bother you, deciding who lives and dies? Have you ever doubted your decision?”
The question brought a tilt to Sena’s head, her eyes blinking slowly. “You don’t think it cruel?” She huffs, “Doubt? No. I admit that I could make a mistake, but I make the choice I can with the information I can. There is no point in dwelling on mistakes.”
She drew in a breath. “Does it bother me, though? Not exactly. I feel sorry for some of the ones who mean well, but I know that this is necessary. For the next generation.”
In reply, Kenta just raised an eyebrow. “Cruel? Not the word I would use. A lot of words come to mind, and not all of them flattering, but cruel isn’t the one I’d choose. Callous, maybe, but I am in a poor position to judge you. I’ve made my own decisions that have led to death and strife. The only difference is you chose to be in this position, and I did not.”
Sena opened her mouth, but Kenta wagged a finger at her. She shut her mouth. “That’s right… I only got five questions. Fine. I’m sure you didn’t come here to ask me about what I did for Chall, anyway.”
He chuckled and pushed himself up away from the desk. “No, I did not, but it has given me something to think about. Related to my original question, though. If you are in charge of stability, then why does it seem like there’s some kind of governmental change?”
That got a shrug. “It was preferable to the continued manipulation by one of the Council members. Things would have collapsed much more horribly later on. Better the pain now than worse pain later.”
Kenta raised an eyebrow, but didn’t argue. “Fine, but my original question was about the dungeon nearby. The Dungeon of Mystic Blight. What are the settlements around it doing?”
Sena drummed her claws on the floor with a scattering of clicks. “That is a good question. From what we’ve been able to determine, they have managed to find a way to quickly go in, clear the dungeon, and collect the monster cores. They charge for access to the dungeon by others for use as a way to increase levels quickly, and use the monster cores they collect to form their Totems, and export some of them to nearby nations.”
“Hmm.” The nightsleek crossed his arms and looked down in thought. “Dangerous? Any idea if Chall has designs on the dungeon? I know the Dungeon of Warning became a focal point of the war.”
“The Dungeon of Warning was, at the time, the only dungeon anyone knew about.” Sena frowned as she remembered that time, so many years ago. “Now that we know they can appear elsewhere, the Dungeon of Mystic Blight is… an asset, but one that would be costly to acquire, even if Chall were not in the midst of a minor revolution.”
She walked over to the board, once again gazing over it. “And this revolution has given me quite a lot of information. At times like this, there are always charismatic leaders who seek to gain power. Sometimes to better everyone’s lives, but often to enrich themselves at the cost of the common good. Identifying them now lets me either keep an eye on them, or if they are particularly dangerous, remove them.”
“Not what I asked about, though interesting,” Kenta reminded.
Sena glanced at him again, and had to pause, seeing him smiling as if amused. How odd. “Right. To answer your question, the Mystics – as we call them – would be problematic to fight on their home ground. Also, there are enough rising powers that enjoy their trade that it would put undue pressure on the military. I don’t know our current commander as well as the last one, but I’m sure he would not want that.”
Kenta’s smile faded at that, and he nodded seriously. One finger rose to rub the bridge of his nose, and finally Sena could get a read on him, at least briefly. He was thinking, and worrying. Something about their conversation had given him reason to be concerned, despite her assurances.
“Is something wrong?”
The man’s eyes drifted back to Sena. He sighed, “Ah, something that’s been bothering me for a while. You’re mortal, you have a different way of looking at things. Maybe you’ll get it.”
He gestured toward the wall, and Sena jerked aside as a bird’s eye view of the nearby Dungeon of Warning came into being, just hovering in the air in a translucent image.
“Initially, I designed the dungeons to contain a problem, like I said.” He circled the dungeon’s location in the air with his finger. “But if people are wanting dungeons to appear, I worry that will make the problems crop up more often. I’m not sure about it, but it does make me nervous. If everyone wants a dungeon in their city or something, that might actually be a bad thing.”
Sena tilted her head, still looking in fascination at the magical map. “Interesting…” She looked back at Kenta. “So you need people to appreciate the dungeons, but not so much that they want them nearby. They already get more dangerous the longer they are left unresolved, though.”
He shrugged, “Yes, but once resolved they’re just training grounds. I do plan on having them decay eventually, but I haven’t decided how long that should take. Maybe I should have made it rapid… I think making them something useful once they were beaten was a mistake.”
These words made Sena’s tail sway again, but this time it was a lashing of annoyance. “You speak of changing the rules of my world, and you want my help in doing so? This is too great a responsibility. And also unnecessary.”
Kenta frowned. “Unnecessary?”
Sena sighed, opened her mouth… and then closed it, considering. “You want them to not want dungeons? I will give you a solution and help you implement it.” Then she held up a finger. “But… I am solving a problem for you. I want something in return. Two things, actually. You owe me for solving your Spirits problem for you.”
The image of the dungeon vanished as Kenta chuckled. “Negotiating with me again? Despite knowing I’m much more than I seem? You’re a bold woman, Sena. Fortunately, I did ask you, so I don’t have a problem with that. What do you want? More questions?”
She shook her head in reply. “No… I will take a reward of some kind, but we can discuss that later.” She smiled, a rare and genuine one now. “That’s one. But the first is that I want you to visit me for a few hours every year from now on. I’d like to hear things about the rest of the world. Things that I can’t possibly see in my lifetime. It can’t hurt if I’ll never see them, can it?”
Kenta stared at her, but after several moments he sighed.
“Two conditions. You can’t tell anyone of the stories, at least not in a way that could identify them.” He then gestured at the sky. “And the other is… I will try to make it here every year, but time works differently for me, and I have responsibilities. There may be times when I cannot make it. But I can promise I will try.”
Sena blinked, but then her smile returned. She’d expected him to debate it and argue, or at least think it over for longer. That quick agreement – even with caveats – was better than she’d hoped. It also wasn’t unreasonable, in her mind.
“I’ll hold you to that,” she chuckled. “Now… would they be so eager for dungeons to appear, or to use them, if they knew a dungeon could erupt in the city and destroy everything around it? What if one should fail when they were exploring, wiping out everyone within?”
The frown Kenta gave her was disappointed, this time. “I suppose that might work, but I would rather not wipe out a city just to make my point. That’s far too Old Testament for me.”
While Sena didn’t understand the reference, she got the idea. She was already shaking her head, though.
“That’s the beauty of it,” she insisted. “You don’t have to do those things…”
She tapped her temple. “You just have to make them think they happened.”