"What do you an... Baltimore may be compromised?"
Asmodeus’ voice dropped.
The playful warmth from monts ago disappeared so cleanly that Nerim’s fingers loosened from his robe. Yumiko set her cup down and glanced his way. Even Alice, who usually treated these kinds of things with her natural cold composure, looked troubled as she held Paul’s report between her fingers.
"I am not completely sure, but from Paul’s own words, it seems that he’s lost control of small districts near the lower harbour," Alice said. "Not completely, but there seems to be a strange cult with a growing motion..."
Asmodeus stepped out from the alcove, Nerim following close behind him.
Alice placed the report on the desk and tapped several marked areas near Baltimore’s coast.
The places she tapped brought back mories of the past, before he beca an emperor and fought as an adventurer, destroying a strange cult that worshipped death.
’It cannot be them...’
Because he destroyed their god and usurped his power.
"Three storehouses burned two nights ago. Officially, it was blad on drunken dockworkers. But Paul’s n found traces of oil and the imperial presence among the ashes. These traces include cloth, coins, and various other items in the abandoned hut."
"And the people of Baltimore didn’t notice humans with strange accents?"
Asmoodeus knew that people noticed the little details more than you realised, and if you stood out, it wouldn’t take long for soone to co forward for a little bit of coin.
"It appears the n weren’t human, but from other, small races conquered by the empire, Your Majesty."
"So agents from the human empire?"
"Possibly," Alice replied. "Or mainland sympathisers already living inside Grigor. Paul also reports that several water channels near the refugee quarter have beco contaminated. The symptoms resemble the black plague caused by Leviathan’s stirring, but the spread is too selective."
"So they’re using so kind of illness that appears similar?" Yumiko mumbled.
Nerim’s face paled as she exclaid, "They’re poisoning specific areas?! But these people have done nothing wrong...!"
"That is Paul’s suspicion."
Asmodeus stared at the map in silence.
Baltimore was supposed to beco the shield of the western coast.
A place to gather soldiers, evacuate civilians, stockpile food, and prepare for the coming tide. But if the city was already rotting from within, then Leviathan did not need to breach the walls.
It seed the Empire planned well; with this, they only needed to wait.
Once Asmodeus sailed to attack the world-ending beast, then he could attack the mont things reached the most dangerous point, taking Baltimore with ease.
Yumiko folded her sleeves neatly.
"Then the human empire may not attack imdiately."
Alice nodded.
"They may let panic, sickness, and hunger weaken Baltimore first."
It was only Nerim who appeared shocked, despite her suffering under the Empire on the mainland; she was born there. She struggled to read and accept the facts, her tearful eyes lifting to et Asmodeus’s.
"Don’t worry, I do not judge all people because of these acts."
"Mhm..."
She nestled in his arms, the current situation a shock to her.
Asmodeus on the other hand scanned the faces of his won, before settling on Alice.
"Send a ssage to Paul. Seal the lower harbour. No ships leave without inspection. No supplies enter without my crest, even if they show one of my wives’ emblems... It is only mine that should take effect."
Alice nodded imdiately.
"Nerim, mark every waterway connected to the infected districts."
"Understood."
"Yumiko."
"Yes, darling?"
His silver eyes remained fixed on Baltimore.
"Find out which nobles, rchants and other groups would benefit from Baltimore weakening, from those who are gaining now, to those who look to profit should the city fall."
Yumiko grasped the edges of her dress and curtsied. "With pleasure."
If the Empire’s tricks weren’t enough, Alice suddenly ca closer and whispered in his ear.
"There’s one more thing, Darling."
"What?"
Her red eyes lifted from the paper slowly, "There have been strange reports of people hearing sothing beneath the water... not the usual sound of the tide, but a strange cry, like the sound of monsters."
Yumiko’s fluffy ears swayed as she jumped in.
"That’s impossible... the monsters have long since been eradicated near the port and coastal areas! Everyone knows that..."
’This is a little strange.’
Asmodeus rubbed his chin, trying to make sense of the situation, but he couldn’t think of anything, before he noticed Nerim’s eyes flash.
"Did you think of sothing?"
"What if the strange substance that causes humans and other races to die... is actually helping stimulate the growth and birth of monsters in the ocean?"
"Stimulate... birth?"
Nerim nodded slowly, though her face remained pale. "The sea is different from land. So creatures don’t simply reproduce like humans or beastkin. There are eggs, dormant larvae, sleeping spores buried in reefs, mud, shipwrecks..." Her fingers tightened around Asmodeus’ sleeve. "If Leviathan’s plague is spreading through the water, it might not only kill people. It could awaken things that were never ant to grow."
Yumiko’s expression darkened as she mumbled what Nerim said back to herself. She then rushed to the shelves searching for a book.
"Alice, we need to research this more. Our knowledge of underwater monsters and how they grow or appear isn’t detailed enough."
Asmodeus found the idea novel and quite terrifying to think of. He knew that normal monsters could appear naturally, created by mana on land.
Then couldn’t the sa happen underwater?
After all, Abyssal energy was just corrupted mana amplified to the limit.
The office fell into silence.
Thanks to developnts in magical science, a projection machine was running outside the black tower’s windows.
Asmodeus tapped the interface and then injected his mana into the device.
It clicked, then with a buzz the engine began whirring.
"Show Baltimore, right now."
Outside the open window, the distant city moved as normal. Hooves struck stone roads, servants called over laundry lines, gulls cried above the palace towers. Such ordinary sounds felt obscene beside the map spread across Alice’s desk.
Asmodeus stared at Baltimore’s lower harbour.
A city he thought would help defend against the Empire’s fleets.
A city he thought could endure the high waves brought by Leviathan’s hunt.
But if monsters began crawling from the ocean mid-battle, along with the Empire priming itself for an attack... its own docks, wells, canals, and drainage tunnels would turn into a slaughterhouse before the army even understood what was happening.
Yumiko stepped closer to the map, her single golden tail swaying with controlled unease.
"Could this be natural? A side effect of Leviathan waking?"
"It could," Alice replied. "But we also must consider every possible reason, and the selective nature of this contamination feels far too artificial and makes it unlikely."
"They chose the refugee quarter because it is crowded, desperate, and easy to bla on poor sanitation."
Alice nodded before adding. "And if monsters appear there first, panic spreads faster."
Nerim’s eyes trembled as she stroked across the image flickering in the air, "We need priests, mages skilled in water and earth magic... fishern... Anyone who knows the currents and flow of water around the city."
Asmodeus glanced at Nerim with a smile.
For the first ti since entering the office, Nerim no longer looked like a neglected wife searching for affection. She looked like a woman born from the sea. Thanks to her inheritance, she gained a deeper rmaid bloodline, with the rest becoming part Siren, allowing her to see and understand water much better.
"Alright, Nerim. I will leave that to you." He took a small platinum coin with the emblem of Luria etched into it. "Here, take my token and prepare a small force of knights to support you. If you need anything, take it. Don’t let down, okay?"
Yumiko glanced toward him. "And you?"
Asmodeus’ silver eyes remained fixed on the harbour.
"I leave for Baltimore before the day ends. We must make preparations and split our movents into different groups."
The mont he said it, all three won understood.
The morning they wanted from him had just beco even shorter, and the leisurely travel in a carriage almost seed to have vanished.
The office remained quiet for several monts.
Alice lowered her gaze to the map and compared various parts of Paul’s report to the differences in her data. Yumiko pulled away from Asmodeus, her calm restored, and yet, she seed as strange as her tail swayed slowly.
Nerim clutched the platinum token against her chest as if it were the most precious item in the world, as she smiled brightly. Maybe to her, it was a symbol that showed she’d won his trust along with his affection.
"I won’t fail you," she said.
"I know."
Asmodeus turned from the projection, but before he could speak again, the machine gave a sharp crackle.
The image of Baltimore distorted.
The harbour lights flickered in the projection, then stretched unnaturally, as though sothing beneath the water was pulling at the reflection itself.
It was only then that monsters began to peek from the waves, small... miniature versions of the huge creature they would hunt in a few months.
Small Leviathans.
Then a red ergency flare burst above the lower harbour.
Asmodeus imdiately stepped towards the balcony, his massive black and grey wings unfurling with a snap as he glanced back at his wives.
"Prepare without , I am going to Baltimore!"
"Asmodeus!?"
"Husband....!"
"Darling.... tsk, be careful out there!"
He glanced back with a wry smirk, "I will. Take care, I love you all."
Fwoosh!
With a bang, his body shot from the tower, shooting into the sky with a small flicker of light.
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