Chapter 53 – Kobold society

  “My situation is not dire,” Zajowle continued. “I am a long way from home, and it is unlikely any of my kind will come here. Even if they did, they wouldn’t be looking for me, but I do have a confession to make. I have avoided mentioning my class before and have only ever mentioned that I was a Merchant.”

  “Is that not the case?” Teresa asked. “Or not only the case.”

  “I’m afraid I have been deceiving you,” Zajowle said. “It was not for any nefarious reason. I have only found that few are willing to trust me when they learn of my real class. I have the Assassin combat class and the Spy Profession. With them I can make myself appear as a Merchant or other things.”

  “That would explain how you know so much about poison,” Elaine said. “I suspected as much.”

  “Again, I apologize for my deception,” Zajowle said. “Everything I told otherwise has been true. I am looking for a way to change my classes. I always wanted to be a Merchant and even have some of the skills already. But I understand how that might be difficult to believe. Especially now.”

  “I don’t understand,” Teresa said. “No offense, but you are like the worse fighter of all of us. Was that just an act?”

  “I’m afraid that is my true skill,” Zajowle admitted. “I held nothing back. Assassins rarely have to fight. At least the kind of assassination I was trained in rarely involved direct confrontation. Poison, sleeping targets, sneak attacks, these are the preferred methods, but even then, I am not very talented. Never have been.”

  “Kobold society is different from the societies I have come to learn about in these lands,” Zajowle explained. “We are run by a queen and hatched from eggs. We do not have families, not as you do. Instead, we are born to fill certain roles. Some are born to be warriors, crafters, builders, or as in my case, assassins. We are kept separated and raised by our assigned groups. Upon reaching the age of maturity, we get to choose our class as everyone else does, but if we are unable to choose the one we were born to, or decide not to choose it, we are executed for going against the collective.”

  “I chose my classes as was designated for me,” Zajowle said. “But I never wanted it and was never one of the gifted. I was doomed to be a low-ranking member of the kobold’s dark hand for the rest of my life, but then an opportunity came up. Failed mission on the attempted assassination of a rising kobold clan queen. Everyone believed me to be dead. I took the opportunity and ran. New land, new chance, all I needed was to change my classes and I can finally be something I want to be.”

  “That sounds terrible,” Elizabeth said.

  “It is a life,” Zajowle said. “There are many things in life and many ways to live it. I make no excuses for my people, but just know I am one of the few. An outlier. Most are true zealots of the collective and will view the way the people live here as wasteful and pointless.”

  “Still,” Bryant said. “Execution just because they chose something else. Couldn’t they just use them somewhere else.”

  “If they did that,” Zajowle said. “Then it would only encourage others to. After years of investment and training, having someone walk away to join a different sect of the society is an insult few would tolerate. It would be considered an affront to the people who raised and trained you. Worst if they are unable to even select the class. You see your first execution, and you work harder to make sure that isn’t you when it is your time.”

  “Again, that sounds terrible,” Jack said.

  “That was then, and this is now,” Zajowle said. “But now that you know, if you decide you can’t trust me, I will leave.”

  “I think I speak for all of us in this,” Victor said. “You’re one of us and glad for it too.”

  “We all come from somewhere,” Sylvian agreed. “It is not who you are, we understand.”

  “I thank you,” Zajowle said.

  “What will you do if you can’t change your classes?” Teresa asked.

  “I don’t choose to look at it as what if,” Zajowle said. “I will change my path. It is only a matter of time.”

  “Nothing’s impossible,” Jack nodded.

  “Well, glad we had this talk,” Victor said starting to get up. “But It’s getting late, and we got a lot to plan come morning. We should all get some sleep.”

  “There is one more thing,” Elaine said. “Since we are coming clean about a few things, I have a secret I been keeping as well.”

  Everyone turned to look at Elaine. “It’s nothing terrible, but there are some implications that may come up in the future. As you said, everyone comes from somewhere.”

  “Something happened before we met you?” Victor asked.

  “We met in the small fishing village, Cyri,” Elaine said. “I think you all believe I spent most of my time there after coming to this world, but I actually appeared in the middle of Vess. It’s one of the hidden cities of the moon elves.”

  “So, you did meet them,” Sylvian said. “But you aren’t one of them? How did you survive? They don’t let people know about their hidden cities.”

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  “It’s complicated,” Elaine said. “When I first appeared, they were confused. They thought I was one of them originally. As Sylvian and Rayne have already noticed, I bear a striking resemblance to the moon elves, but we couldn’t understand each other. Eventually, with the help of a translation ability one of them had, we were able to communicate. They were nice at first, but once they saw my ears, they knew I wasn’t one of them.”

  “That was when their attitude changed. I thought they were going to kill me,” Elaine said. “It came up a lot. They claimed I was an infiltrator, a spy. They wanted to know how I found their city. There was talk of torturing the information out of me. I couldn’t convince them otherwise.”

  “How did you manage to escape them?” Jack asked.

  “I didn’t,” Elaine said. “But a moon elf named Jerza recognized me as a human. Humans were still very new and rare at that time, and most had only ever heard of us in passing. Where most of the moon elves saw a threat, she saw an opportunity. Jerza took me into her house and taught me how to be like a moon elf. For my room and board, I served as one of her servants and helped cook and clean the manor. I’m still not certain what rank she had among the moon elves, but she seemed to be very important to them.”

  “Every so often she would take me aside and train me. Sometimes she would adjust the way I walk or have me spar. There were times I was told to remain completely still for hours on end, and once I got my classes, the training became much more intense. It wasn’t really that bad. Jerza treated me well and even talked about adopting me. I believe that might have been a translation issue though.”

  “I was there for maybe a year,” Elaine said. “Then one day Jerza started asking me all kinds of questions about humans, our cultures, and specifically our species quest. She was delighted when I told her what we needed to do, even more so that no one had managed to accomplish any of it yet.”

  “You told her about our quest?” Teresa asked.

  Elaine nodded. “I didn’t think there was any reason not to share it. Species quests aren’t that much of a secret, and they had guessed several of the requirements already. And as I said, I wasn’t mistreated, punished, or threatened. Jerza was a friend, kind of. My first coming to this place.”

  “What are the requirements for your species quest?” Savgar asked. “I know about the city thing, but is that it?”

  “It’s a combination of requirements,” Daniel explained. “And either one person has to be involved in completing all of them, or each requirement just needs to be met by someone. Reach level fifty, bring one skill into the Master rank. Create and maintain one settlement of city rank or higher, establish at least one alliance with another sentient species, and pass the mortal limit in at least one cultivation path.”

  “And you only have ten years to do all that?” Savgar exclaimed. “The Master rank alone could take decades.”

  “Seven years left now,” Victor said.

  “I think it’s six now,” Bryant said. “I can’t remember when the last Apocalypse Day was.”

  “My quest says six years,” Jack confirmed.

  “It will be alright,” Teresa said. “Or it won’t. We’re working on it.”

  “What happened after you told her?” Jack asked.

  “Nothing,” Elaine said. “At least not at first. Not for a while. We went back to our normal routine. But then one day she did it again, but this time she asked me more questions about human societies and our culture, mannerism, and speech. I taught her English and afterwards she told me what she wanted.”

  “They want to establish an alliance,” Rayne spoke up.

  “Yeah,” Elaine said.

  Rayne nodded. “They been wanting an alliance for a long time. No one will ally with them though. Not even the other elves.”

  “Why?” Bryant asked. “Are they that bad?”

  “Yes and no. It’s more about what they are involved in,” Sylvian said.

  “It is similar to how Zajowle was hesitant to admit he was an Assassin,” Rayne said. “The moon elves are some of the most talented and deadliest assassins in the world. People are happy to hire them, but few want them any closer than they have to be. I heard that many now won’t even meet them in person to hire them.”

  “But why?” Jack asked. “If they are that good, then wouldn’t it be better to have them as allies than risk having them come after you?”

  “They have built a reputation that has made them difficult to trust,” Sylvian said. “They are willing to do almost anything to complete their contracts. Several times they have made arrangement to meet for a contract hiring and killed the person trying to hire them. Supposedly, they used it as an excuse to get close to the one they are actually trying to kill.”

  “Dishonorable,” Savgar spat.

  “That is the issue,” Rayne said. “The fact is you can never know what their true intentions are.”

  “Alright,” Jack shrugged. “Then why are they looking for allies? They sound like they are doing fine with whatever they have going on.”

  “I heard they are currently in a difficult situation,” Sylvian said. “They have always been a small community, but recently they loss many their best assassins. No one is clear on what happened or if it is true, but for the last thirty years they have been taking on less contracts, keeping to their hidden cities, and trying to establish an alliance with many of the different elven sects and kingdoms.”

  “Of course, everyone has refused them,” Rayne said. “Too great of a risk. Even if you did trust them, you will only be making an enemy of whatever can threaten the moon elves. There aren’t many that can do that.”

  “And that is what they are asking of us?” Victor asked.

  “It is what they want,” Elaine said. “I think it is due to our similarities. Or my similarities.”

  “You think they will try to use you as a convenient group to hide among?” Zajowle asked. “Possibly operate a shadow organization out of our city and hide within it. It is a common enough tactic. If the similarities are that pronounced, then it could even work.”

  “The thought only occurred to me after I left them,” Elaine said.

  “How did you leave,” Reuf asked.

  Elaine shrugged. “One day I was handed a small package and placed on a ship. They only told me that it was time for me to leave. I showed up at Cyri and stayed there as I tried to figure out what I was going to do. About a month later, you two showed up. All I know is that should I come across anyone that had any say in the matter, I was to bring up the moon elves’ interest in an alliance.”

  “Suppose that obligation is made and kept now,” Savgar said. “You’ll soon be in exactly that situation.”

  “We do need to make an alliance with some established group,” Teresa said.

  “But do we need to make an alliance with them?” Bryant asked. “What happens if we say no? Will they come and find us?”

  “I don’t know,” Elaine said. “I don’t have any way of contacting them.”

  “I’m with the elves on this,” Savgar said. “No point in dealing with the moon elves if you don’t have to. They made their own situation and now they have to live with it. If you need an alliance with a different race, you have plenty to choose from among the people here.”

  “I’m afraid that won’t work,” Reynard said interrupting the conversation. Jack had almost forgotten the Beast Lord was there. Its presence seemed to disappear into the background whenever he wasn’t drawing attention to himself. “An alliance would have to come from outside. If all of you choose to work together on this city, then the alliance would have to be a different race or group not associated with your city. And as far as the moon elves are concerned. They have been here for a while now.”