Progenitor City
Nerphyl walked with a casual air across the remnants of the city. Though the smoke of the fires had long since dissipated, the tallic tang of blood and the acrid scent of char still clung to the air. Only the military facilities and the city walls had been intentionally preserved. The houses, towers, and various other structures had been leveled to create the illusion of a city shattered by a violent earthquake.
However, this was rely a camouflage crafted by Wilwatikta to hide the horrors beneath. The cobblestone streets had been hollowed out from below. The ruins of towers and hos served as blind spots. If an enemy force were to march into the remains of Heles, they would actually be treading upon a biological minefield and thin roofs prid to collapse—dropping them directly into subterranean slaughterhouses.
Nedira and the Departnt of Construction had done an exceptional job of transmuting this city into a gargantuan death trap.
Nerphyl entered one of the roofless houses. She brushed aside a dusty mat on the floor and stared at the wooden planks beneath her feet. By channeling dragon prana through her legs, a secret hatch swung open. Nerphyl descended the stairs and was imdiately greeted by the sight of the vast underpasses built beneath the city.
Truthfully, Nerphyl could have reached this place via the main underpass from the command room, but she was loath to rack her brain rembering which labyrinthine corridor to take. The underpasses in this city were narrower and designed as lethal mazes. Every hallway was equipped with automatic shutters powered by the muscles of giant monsters. If an enemy broke through, the defense forces could isolate them in a single corridor, lock those "flesh doors," and flood the area with acid or toxic gas.
Because of this—and to avoid getting lost and triggering unnecessary panic—Nerphyl preferred the surface route before entering through a secret door. This location was the final section Nedira was working on, so her sister was bound to be nearby.
Sure enough, after questioning a passing Hobgoblin, Nerphyl obtained Nedira’s location. She found her busy scrutinizing the city’s construction blueprints. Hearing approaching footsteps, Nedira looked up.
"What is it? It’s rare to see you here," Nedira asked without preamble. Their closeness made formal pleasantries feel redundant.
"Boku has commissioned a mission to investigate the ambush on Kuja’s unit. I need your help because this matter is quite sensitive," Nerphyl replied, cutting straight to the heart of it.
"Oh?" Nedira straightened her back, her expression shifting to one of gravity. "Is there a suspicion that the culprits are Hobgoblins?" she asked, imdiately intuiting why Nerphyl had sought her out.
After Ez sucessed his stint as a diplomat, he had been stationed at Aquanorin permanently. As hub of Wilwatikta and elf species, his duties were overwhelming, especially now. With Moku in closed-door cultivation, the entire connection of two species falls under Ez’s shoulders. Consequently, only Nedira had any free ti in Progenitor City. In terms of subterranean construction, no one could best the Hobgoblin race, and as their Queen, Nedira served as the bridge between the kingdom and her kin.
However, with the rising casualties among the Hobgoblins in the war, Nedira’s burden had grown heavy. If it were true that a Hobgoblin had turned traitor and nearly caused Kuja’s death, there was a chance the kingdom would accelerate the purge of their race—sooner than originally planned.
Nedira understood why Moku wanted the Asura to be the sole race in Wilwatikta. Yet, as a Valkyrie who had evolved from a Hobgoblin, she did not wish for the kingdom to turn its blade upon her origins. She preferred to wait for the Goblins and Hobgoblins to go extinct naturally. The trend of marrying Asuras was now unstoppable; the number of single Hobgoblins was rising, and with the persistent Great War, the extinction of races other than the Asura was rely a matter of ti.
"More precisely, suspicion falls on both Asura and Hobgoblin," Nerphyl clarified. "Two Asuras survived the encirclent: Kuja and Diru. According to Diru’s account, there should have been one more Asura who broke through, but in reality, that Asura is also dead. Therefore, the primary suspects remain within the Hobgoblin faction."
"But weren’t all the Hobgoblins in that unit killed as well?" Nedira asked skeptically.
"That’s the anomaly. There is soone close to us who is likely willing to sacrifice their own race just to ensure Kuja’s death," Nerphyl analyzed.
"Is that your hypothesis?"
"That, or our information network has been compromised by the enemy. If that’s the case, it’s only a matter of ti before they slaughter us all," Nerphyl answered with a grim smile.
Nedira exhaled a long breath. "We can’t talk here. Follow ," she said, leading the way to a private chamber.
Nerphyl followed close behind. Once the door was securely locked, Nedira’s face appeared darker than before. "I’ve heard rumors spreading since the siege of Heles began. Rumors that Wilwatikta intends to exterminate every monster race except for the Asura."
Nerphyl’s eyes narrowed. "Where did this rumor originate?" As part of the royal intelligence agency, she should have known this. However, her focus had been too consud by the war, causing her to miss the brewing unrest within the kingdom’s own body.
"It started as market chatter in Capital. But now, the whispers have reached this city."
"Soone is spreading this intentionally," Nerphyl concluded sharply.
Nedira nodded. "At first, I didn’t care; conspiracy theories are natural for sentient beings. But when a Hobgoblin ca directly to to ask about it, I knew this wasn’t just common gossip."
"The wildly disproportionate casualty rate for the Hobgoblin race is starting to show its side effects," Nerphyl added.
"Exactly. Even though the church’s teachings still bind them, losing loved ones is still painful. Especially when they see that the death toll on the battlefield is dominated by their own kind. Add to that the population of single Hobgoblins struggling to find mates, and their resentnt and suspicion toward the kingdom is reaching a breaking point."
"If soone lights the match, this fire will spread and consu the entire kingdom," Nerphyl’s face clouded over. She felt a pang of guilt for letting this fester without extinguishing the sparks earlier. The ambush on Kuja’s troops was likely just the beginning of a much larger catastrophe.
"Do you have a list of suspects?" Nerphyl asked.
"A few. You know I’ve recently given birth, so during my pregnancy, aside from training, I overheard plenty of gossip from the other Valkyries in my faction. I heard that several young Hobgoblins have started eting in secret."
"I’ll check their gathering places."
"No need. I’ve already had my subordinates do it. They’ve compiled several nas that might give us the answers we need," Nedira said, pulling a slip of paper from her desk drawer.
The paper contained a list of twelve Hobgoblin nas, and among them was written: "Leon."
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