Chapter 100 (1 of 2) Interlude – The Brutal Rose of Chavaret County

The air was thick with the bitter, corruptive scent of monstrous blood, coating the tongues and nose of everyone in the distorted marshland. So much blood had been spilt from the mammoth beasts that stalked the aberrated land that a layer of putrid mud had formed underfoot removing the only solid ground for miles around. It soaked into boots and nourished the devilish trees that reached above them, as if to ensnare in branches like thorny cages.

Yet all the efforts to contain the Anomalous region of the Beast Realm had barely put a dent in the populations of monsters found within. Unfamiliar geography combined with perilous creatures made progress slow, and they needed guides to target the most important areas of the Soul Swallowing Swamp... yet they couldn’t risk awakening any of the Aberrations they had yet to encounter. It was infamously known that one Aberrant could wipe out an entire contingent of Rank-5s with merely a wave of a hand...

That didn’t apply to the ones who could be considered the elite of their Rank though. And while she had yet to achieve Rank-5, Chavaret’s strongest forces acknowledged the prowess of the County’s only daughter.

“Ha!” Trails of scarlet flame swirled around the halberd’s ends as it was spun above the wielder’s head, before flying to lodge itself between the eyes of the five-eyed wolf leading the ambush.

The woman’s pose hadn’t even relaxed before she took a swill from the tankard on her hip. Eyes closed, she held out her hand and the polearm flew back into her grasp when she lowered the tin bottle. Fire wrapped around the weapon to burn off the blood to give her a better grip. Then it was once again held upright.

Rosaline marched forward to haul the head of the beast upright, eyeing the split skull underneath ruined flesh. She reached in to nab the vile orb twice the size of her head inside the beast, and tsked when she saw the chip in its exterior.

“Legion Commander!” The voice of her frantic vice commander appeared next to her. The blond-haired man wheezed as he leant on his legs for a moment, catching his breath. “The... ha, alchemists keep complaining to me about the quality of the cores they’ve been receiving... I don’t think it’s worth handing this to them either...”

“Do they think we’re doing this for fun?” she retorted, putting the core away in her dimensional space with a flick of the wrist. “It’s not easy to bring them an undamaged monster core, nor is it safe for me to do so. A monster can resurrect at full strength if their core is unharmed.”

“They’re arguing that their precious time spent maintaining the cores and preventing them from dissolving could be spent doing more productive activities such as synthesising potions if they just had unharmed cores-”

“And my precious time has been spent listening to their complaints with nothing to show for all the accommodations I’ve made for them,” Rosaline stated with finality. “I told them that their fancy titles and graduation from the Academy held no sway in the Beast Realm unless they proved their worth.”

Her body stiffened on instinct, and she spun around to swing her halberd at the head of her subordinate. Johansen Montfort, the Vice Commander, froze in fear and closed his eyes as his life flashed before his eyes.

Then something with the scent of metal splashed across his face, and a lethal weapon was extracted from flesh with a sickening squelch. He cracked an eye open to see Rosaline yanking back her halberd from the bleeding eye socket of another monster hulking over his shoulder. She kicked it back with one foot and gazed straight at Johansen. “You’ve gotten rusty.”

“Rusty? I’ve done nothing but fight for the last few months in this fate-forsaken mire,” he muttered under his breath. “I’m tired!”

Rosaline considered this and nodded. “You lack stamina training. I must see to it that you can match the others, personally.”

As she looked over her shoulder to check the status of the rest of her men, Johansen sighed. “I’d do anything to not become like you muscle head barbarians. Regardless, I came here to call you back to camp.”

Rosaline raised an eyebrow. “Are the alchemists really that desperate?”

“No. The alchemists’ complaints was not why I’m here.” Johansen walked alongside her with a stern look. “She sent people over.”

Rosaline stopped to turn to her vice commander. “...what?”

“The Spirit Seer Fox Queen’s messenger arrived. She’s sending some of her people to us to ‘help’ with the expedition.”

“...I see.” Rosaline scanned the clearing, then made a decision. Reaching into the hazy white circle she had summoned, she pulled out a horn and put it to her lips. The sound blared through the marshland, calling to attention the men and woman under her command. “We’re returning to camp early! Finish these punks off quick or your pay today is forfeit!”

“Yes, Commander-”

“-Ma’am!”

Without missing a beat she threw her polearm at the last speaker, pinning the disorderly warrior’s collar to the tree behind him. “I told you not to call me that!”

...

I need to consult my letters... diplomacy is not a strong point of mine...

Rosaline Chavaret dwelled on how to deal with the fox beasts sent from the Spirit Seer Region by the Fox Queen for a whole day, yet a solution eluded her. It was obvious that they needed to be spoken to carefully, as they were Warborne of the royal vulpine bloodline of Kitsune, but they were also supposedly sent to help her...

Or they were sent to spy on me.

She narrowed her eyes... it was her responsibility as the Commander of the legion to consider all potential threats, especially in a foreign realm. It made for a stressful job sometimes... but she could always take her stress out on someone else.

Like Johansen, for example.

She lunged forward with the two-handed polearm crafted by her father for her coming of age, ruthlessly aiming for her second-in-command’s exposed side.

Johansen was prepared, raising his large shield to catch the halberd’s axe head. The impact of her strike cracked the ground he stood on, forming a crater where he stood, yet he was unphased. He was quick to retaliate with an underarm stab of his sword.

Rosaline gave him a feral grin and activated her Battle-Forged Red Flame aura, scarlet sparks spreading along her weapon like a snake poised to strike.

Her blond sparring partner let out a hiss through his teeth, wary of the fire hot enough to melt down the hardest ores in Chavaret’s famed smithery. He knocked back her halberd and she disengaged with a whirl, tongues of fire cascading from her head as if her hair itself was an elemental phenomenon.

“Did you lie when you said this would just be an exchange to purely see our technical improvement?” Johan accused, readying his shield for another sudden attack.

Rosaline scoffed and pointed her polearm at him. Her Battle-Aura was extinguished in an instant, only to be replaced by a blazing glow emanating from the polearm itself. Her most famous accomplishment, the manifestation of weapon aura on a weapon as unconventional as a halberd, was shown clearly for all to see. “Rules simply don’t apply to the one who made them.”

“Is that so?” Johansen didn’t seem to care about her response. Instead, he raised his shield and smiled. “How about we dissolve those rules then?”

The sound of fracturing glass sounded across the sparring ring as fractal-esque forms distorted and bent the light around him, providing him a nigh-on impenetrable defence through the use of the mid-level element of crystal.

“You may be the Commander, but I am still powerful enough to take you on!” He charged at her with a roar, forcing the earth around him to be pushed aside as if he was a heavily armoured beast of war.

Rosaline reignited her Battle Aura within a split second and let out a roar of her own as she charged at him. Putting as much strength as possible into her legs, she leapt of the ground and swung her halberd overhead, colliding with Johansen’s crystalline barrier from the front. The impact threatened to fling her weapon from her grip. A towering cloud of dust was forced into the air, obscuring the battle outcome from view. Only when a gentle breeze blew through the camp did it clear, revealing Rosaline brushing off the dust from her knees, and Johansen on the ground, groaning weakly. His shattered shield slowly dissolved.

“That’s 61 to 38, Montfort,” Rosaline announced, looking at her subordinate. She held out a hand to him. “I win again.”

“As you say...” Johansen took her hand and she hauled him up. “I’m not one to deny results when they’re clearly before me.” He sighed and looked around. “Not when I have a whole host of witnesses against m-”

“Victory to our Commander once again!”

A chorus of cheers rose from their large audience, the members of the legion treating their sparring match as if they were two gladiators locked in a deadly battle. Bottles of the drink were raised in toast among them, old and young alike. Rosaline even glimpsed the shine of coins being pocketed by some with very smug faces.

She accepted the drink of water one passed her, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand as Johansen recovered on the other side. She swung herself over the roughly set-up fence border of the ring and walked through the crowd, ignoring them. Rosaline walked up to a young apprentice warrior and crossed her arms. “Did you retrieve what I ordered you to?”

The young woman bowed and held out a bundle of envelopes tied with string, made of thick parchment. Rosaline nodded and took them away, pulling out the first envelope as she headed for a tree stump away from the ruckus of the mercenaries. Each envelope had a matching purple seal, all of them cracked from being opened before. Rosaline tossed the pile onto the grass near her and scanned the letter in her hand.

‘The Queen needs a group of warriors with the skills to help, not a weak aristocrat vying for her favour with vile intentions’. I see. Count Goldcroft has explained clearly what must be done.

This solution suits me just fine. Goldcroft warned me that reigning in the tricksters of the fox race would be hard... but I’ve had my fair share of difficulties controlling the Legion given to me by my father. I know my own human tricks that’ll work on those wily beasts.

Although... ‘The Fox Queen knows everything in and around her Region. That’s why her Region is called Spirit Seer’. It seems I should demonstrate my authority for the unseen eyes of Her Majesty, then.

Rosaline had met the Fox Queen, once before. Lucille Goldcroft had advised her to formally ask for permission to explore the Soul Swallowing Swamp Region prior to the campaign to show respect for the former ruler of the zone. While the fox beasts may have withdrawn their influence in fear of the Aberrants inside, they fully intended to recover the Region one day.

With a small group of people, she had entered the Supreme Enclave of the Spirit Seer Region. The influence of the Heavenly Realm’s soul beasts was apparent, and multiple many-tailed fox-kin strolled through the streets and markets of the enclave at the time. But the inhuman eyes of them all had followed them, making it evermore obvious that they were the intruders in the closeted and secretive abode of the fox-kind.

But those details of the enclave could barely be recalled in comparison to the meeting with the Fox Queen. It wasn’t that the meeting itself had been eventful, nor did Rosaline experience some impossible choice but...

The mere presence of the race ruler was deeply unsettling to her human nature. The most powerful vulpine leader to date, Sevenfold Seer of Bestial Veils, Queen Regent Hisako, was the physical embodiment of all fox spirit myths. An honorary title gifted to her by the soul beasts of the Heavenly Realm, her very self enchanted men, women, mortal and beast alike. Pure white hair entwined in a complex knot had cascaded down her back, while a jade pin kept her hair in place behind the fan-shaped hairpiece.

They had been kept waiting for half an hour as the kitsune’s dark, violent gaze observed them, until Hisako had finally addressed them, lounging sideways on her daybed, before they even asked anything of her: “Do as you wish with the Soul Swallowing Swamp. I see fit to let the children of mortals dance in the ravaged groves of our past. I do doubt you’ll find anything of value, however.”

Rosaline sighed as she recalled the aftermath of that visit. That was the last memory they had before they found themselves once again in the Soul Swallowing Swamp, mere metres from the outskirts of their camp. It was only after further communications with the Faction Head that they discovered nobody knew how to actually enter the Supreme Enclave of the master illusionists, merely knew rumours of its general location, and merely a day had passed since they left. Yet even the Grand Sevenfold Seer of the royal fox lineage was incapable of teleporting them across a region of the Beast Realm.

Not that what they experienced was any less miraculous. With Count Goldcroft’s help, they could only surmise that the Queen of the Kitsune had conjured a mirage that left them imagining a month-long journey into the Spirit Seer Region and entering the Supreme Enclave, to only meet with an illusory version of the vulpine matriarch. That meant her illusions were capable of maintaining their bodily states and distorting their perception of time – all for them to ultimately have been wandering in circles for hours.

Rosaline shuddered when she imagined how powerful the Queen must’ve been in person.

If she is that powerful, then why doesn’t she cleanse the Soul Swallowing Swamp herself?

Perhaps she dealt with issues beyond a mere mercenary like Rosaline’s understanding. The red-haired warrior shook her head and stood up, stowing away Lucille Goldcroft’s letters for safekeeping. With her worries resolved, she could dedicate her efforts to strengthening the defences of the camp and arranging exploration squads for future-

Her heightened hearing picked up on the loud murmurs coming from the centre of the camp, and soon she located the source of the commotion itself. She pushed past the crowds of warriors to enter the central area and looked around with irritation.

“What is this uproar for? Back to your stations, warriors. This is a command. Disperse, and don’t disobey me again.”

There were a few muttered complaints, but those who had tasks to do left without difficulty. Rosaline had a suspicion what they had gathered for though, and turned to address the four newcomers who had suddenly appeared in the camp. She slowly walked around the inside of the ring formed by the wary mercenaries still remaining, on guard against the beasts in human forms.

“Now...” She stopped and crossed her arms. “What brought you four into the middle of our encampment without even the slightest respect for the defences we set up to ensure our own peace of mind?”

The dark-haired man in the front smiled and politely bowed with his hands together. Black ears and two ebony tails twitched and swayed as he pretended to show deference.

“I am Isao. We come on the biddings of our master, Hisako.”

Judging by the arrogant gaze of the two vixen and man behind him, this would not be an easy battle to win.

...

“-therefore, to show your sincerity to our Queen, I command you to arrange better living arrangements for us,” the black-haired girl stated haughtily.

Rosaline glanced between her and the silver-haired girl silently agreeing beside her. This was the third day of such complaints and it was wearing thin. Both had the appearance of girls just before they bloomed into the height of their beauty, late teens, yet were bound to be centuries older than Rosaline. Not that you could guess from their attitudes.

“We’re not an exotic travelling troupe, a form of entertainment for you beasts,” Rosaline replied with a sigh. “Did you really not pack your own tents to sleep in... if beasts such as yourselves wanted to sleep in tents in the first place?’

The dark-haired girl smirked, looking like she had just confirmed something. “Ha. So the rumours of Mystical Realm humans believing us to be like common creatures is true. They won’t even afford us the same quality of life as their own ki-”

“On the contrary, I have treated you exactly the same as any other human. To the extremes, in fact.” Rosaline studied her nails and ignored the disgruntled look on the ignored kitsune. “We’ve offered you the same food, the same bedrolls and sleeping quarters, as well as the same chores in our daily tasks around the encampment, at least until a date for our scouts has been set. At every turn, you guys have been turning up your noses at taking any form of responsibility but demanding royal treatment nonetheless.”

“As bloodline royalty it should be law that you treat us with utmost respect. If you don’t, we shall report to our Queen of your foul attitudes and get her to kick you out of our territory-”

“Then do so.” Rosaline smiled, relishing the faltering look on their faces. She stalked closer, using her above-average height to full use as she leaned over them, towering over their diminutive statures. “Tell your Queen that I’ve been mistreating you. That clearly you’re deserving of more. Should I lower myself to become your footstool, a stone for you to cross in this defiled swamp?”

Her confidence wavering, the antagonistic fox tried to recover her composure by putting on more airs. “Yes, that would suit me quite fine. In fact, I quite fancy that vibrant hue and unusual length of the strange fur on your head. Cut it off and make an ornament for me, mortal-”

“Jun, Mei, there you are. Have you come to chat with our Commander?”

‘Our’ Commander?

Rosaline shot the owner of the voice an irritated glare. Isao, the leader of the fox guides sent by the Queen, always interfered just before his subordinates would go too far, keeping an unstable and uneasy peace but preventing her from putting the vulpine in their places. She ignored the suspicious glare of the male fox behind Isao, not planning to let things continue for another day.

“Kitsune Isao, reign in your underlings.” Rosaline turned her back on the two girls in the tent to address Isao out the front with a steely gaze. “With the way they act, I’m beginning to doubt the qualifications of those your ruler sent. Through what method did they become Warborne? A distant blood relation to a beast elder, maybe? Or did they bribe the trial overseers with some rare treasure, I wonder-”

“That’s it!” A feral scream escaped the mouth of the dark-haired girl behind Rosaline and she sidestepped to avoid the sharp-clawed lunge from the attacker.

“Jun!” Isao shouted, eyes wide with shock.

“No! Instructor Isao, I’ll listen to this wretched woman no longer!” ‘Jun’ hissed as her fangs elongated, three large tails waving threateningly behind her. She yowled as she leapt forward to plunge her claws into Rosaline’s eyes. “I’ll kill this vile human so she can insult our kind no more-”

A gasp interrupted her enraged outburst as Rosaline took one step forward to grab the inhuman girl’s neck in a one-handed chokehold. Summoning the full force of her STR, she slammed the small body of the girl against the hardened floor, trusting in the resilient physique of a magical beast to keep her from permanent harm. Jun let out a cry of pain as her back arched against the ground, lightning-like torment shooting through her spine.

“You witch!” The male kitsune always following behind their leader finally spoke out and let a threatening growl escape his lips. He charged at Rosaline but had the brains to change to his stronger form – that of a giant, black fox.

Rosaline stood up and rolled a shoulder, a slight smirk on her lips as she cracked her neck. “A demonic fox? Quite the variety here. But...”

She ran at him at full speed, igniting her battle aura with the passion of battle. “I’ve fought worse demons than you before!” She raised her fist to smash the snout of the beast but had her momentum fade instantly as her fist flew through empty air. The hollow shell of an illusion warped and faded as she spun around to see five giant red-eyed foxes snarling at her from the sides.

Rosaline barked a harsh laugh and ploughed her fist into the ground. Arcs of fire stretched across the ground to incinerate the clones in a mere instant, their dying cries fading with the fire of her mana art. Before anyone else could react, she sprung up from the ground and backflipped... onto the back of the true body of the demonic fox, stalking her from behind. The shame of having a human ride him seemed to have him stunned for a moment, before he bucked and leapt, trying to shake her. Rosaline rolled off his back, but not before gripping his two ears in her fists, gaining a strong hold on him. He yelped with pain and then she swung him off the ground, to toss him against a tree in the far off distance. He collapsed, unconscious.

That wasn’t the end of it, though. Something flew at her and she snatched it up on instinct, looking at her hand to see the remains of a paper talisman burning away. Her arm frozen by the foreign seal, she looked at the perpetrator.

‘Mei’, the silver-haired fox with Jun earlier, huffed as she exerted her strength, keeping the charm’s effect in place. Rosaline tilted her head. “A soul beast from the Heavenly Realm? What are you doing here?”

She shattered the weak seal with a single flare of her red battle aura and bolted toward her final target. Mei panicked and quickly threw out more talismans, a few shields barely making it in place, but then-

“Hasn’t anyone told you...” Rosaline raised her fists and slammed down on the thin dome, cracking it open in one shot. “...that you’re at the disadvantage in a realm of magic!?”

Her hard fists landed squarely on the head of the poor girl, sending her eyes rolling up into her head. She slumped onto ground, a pitiful image.

Rosaline scanned the scene of carnage, looking for survivors, and spotted the perpetrator for the whole debacle, rubbing her back as she sat up.

The warrior didn’t miss this and stretched her hands, ready to throw fists again. “You’re up again? Then it’s time for another round-”

Her steps slowed as a new person stepped in front of Jun. Isao frowned as he held his arms up, shielding the fox from view.

Rosaline narrowed her eyes. “What’s this?”

“Stop here, Commander Chavaret,” Isao said through gritted teeth.

“I take orders from none, especially not beasts without the civility to follow my orders,” Rosaline tried to walk past but was blocked by his shoulder. She glared at him. “Move.”

“I cannot.” He closed his eyes. “What needs to be done for you to forgive them?”

Rosaline gazed at him, then pointed at the ground. “A pledge of service from each of you, and swearing on your loyalty to your Queen. You will follow my commands without complaint while acting as our guides.”

Isao let out a quite sigh. “...I cannot.”

Rosaline let out a mocking laugh. “Then I’ll have to gain your service by force.”

“Fine.” Isao wasted no time to enter his fox form, a new tail sprouting to reveal three tails swaying dangerously behind him. Eyes the size of her head gazed at her. “But do me the honour of using your weapon this time, at least.”

Rosaline smiled and summoned the two-handed polearm with barely a though, the bronze halberd gleaming orange in the light of the dying sun. “I thought you’d never ask.”

...

...suffice to say, Isao wasn’t a combatant. He actually lasted shorter than the other three. It made Rosaline wonder why the others looked up to him so much that they called him ‘Instructor’.

She shrugged and raised the halberd, prepared to deal the finishing blow with the bottom end. If they woke up with the same attitude, she was prepared to do it all over again.

“W-Wait! I yield, I yield!”

“...yield?” Rosaline tilted her head and lifted it up again, not satisfied.

“S-Surrender! I surrender!”

“Hmm....”

Isao sighed. “And yes, on behalf of all of us, I swear that we will follow your commands as every member of your army would. I swear on my loyalty to our Queen, Hisako.”

“Instructor Isao!” Jun shouted, looking mournful.

“Silence.” Isao glared at her. “You have done enough, child.”

He coughed as he stumbled to his feet, clutching his side with a wince as Rosaline stepped back. “Truth be known... this was always going to happen.”

“Oh really?” Rosaline pointed her halberd at him. “Do tell me more.”

He coughed in slight embarrassment and held his hands behind his back. “I say this with no small amount of bias, yet the truth remains – the three fox-kin I brought with me are the most promising ones of their generation in the clan. They’re even under consideration for become Her Royal Highness the 3rd Princess’s guards.” He hesitated when he saw her blank face. “The 3rd Princess is the favoured heir of Her Majesty, Commander. She has a perfect hybrid bloodline of magical and demonic beast.” He looked at the three miserable-looking foxes. “As you can see, their temperament leaves much to be desired...”

Ah. They’re exactly as young as they look. They’re all teenagers. I almost feel sorry for the rude brats as I think back... but not enough to regret all of this.

“So... Her Majesty decided that our attempts to recover the Soul Swallowing Swamp Region would be best aided by sending a bunch of rebellious youths with prejudiced views of humans...” She tilted her head at their leader, unamused. “Led by their scheming, but admittedly pathetically weak Instructor.”

He winced. “Pathetically weak? That’s a bit...” He cleared his throat. “I may not be able to fight, but I am a distant cousin of Her Majesty and share some of her bloodline abilities. Please don’t think she has slighted you by sending the young ones and me.” Isao bowed his head. “I deeply apologise. I never expected their attitudes to be this bad. They are not sheltered, but it seems they need to live among humans more. We were eventually going to swear subservience to you.”

Rosaline took one last look at them all, then turned around and walked away. “Fine. I’ll hear more of this tomorrow. But first...” Eyes full of fury, the glared at the crowd of warriors who had been attracted by the spectacle of their fight. Close to half the camp was there, remaining silent under her wrathful gaze.

“Get back to work, laggards!”

“Wait, Commander Chavaret!”

Rosaline turned around to give Isao a sceptical look. He looked around and tapped on his head, notifying her that he was going to send a mental message.

“Now that I’ve sworn obedience, I should tell you something. Initially, another kitsune was arranged to be in charge, but I was swapped in at the last moment. An emergency situation arose... a new Monster King has been born in the Anomalous Region, and they used to be a member of our clan.”

Rosaline frowned, gazing at him. “Who?”

He hesitated, and she caught on quickly. “It’s confidential. Fine. My job is only to fight anyway, so I don’t need to know those details. But there are many Monster Kings in the region, all ruled by the Aberrants here. Why does this one change anything?”

“Because he hasn’t been a monster for very long... and will recognise humans as intruders on his territory. I found one of his tracks dangerously close to the camp on the way here. I have no idea how long he’s been watching us.”

Rosaline rubbed her temples, feeling a headache forming. “...I’m going to retire to my tent. Don’t interrupt me for the evening.”

She walked off, keenly aware that this new Monster King... would be the most hostile threat yet.

And if they were a kitsune that turned into a Monster King straight away... then they would’ve had to had Beast King strength before they were corrupted. Who could that even be? I thought only the clan matriarch or patriarchs could be Beast Kings...

The only thing Rosaline knew was this was something she had to report to Count Lucille Goldcroft. If they didn’t resolve this issue, then open trade with the royal fox bloodline would be next to impossible.

“Instructor Isao...” The formerly unconscious demonic fox beast clutched his numb arm as he walked closer. “Why did you refer to Her Royal Highness as Her Majesty’s favoured heir? She’s not...”

Isao hesitated, waiting for Rosaline to be out of earshot. “Yes, I know the 3rd Princess is... controversial. But you can’t deny the favour Her Majesty has for her daughter.”

“Maybe we should’ve invited Her Royal Highness to come with us to this encampment,” Jun spoke up, resting against a tree. “She’s fascinated by all things foreign to the enclave.”

“That’s impossible,” Isao said with conviction. “Her Majesty wouldn’t ever let her daughter outside the Region. It’s an impossible notion. Her Royal Highness has been simply too coddled.”

There was silence. Isao coughed when he realised what he said. “I never said that. Understood?”

“...yes instructor,” was the quite chorus of the teenagers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yes! A chapter! Impossiblé!

Suffice to say I hope to post more, but my track record has been terrible lately. Pray for my motivation. I'll need it.

I have a sketch of Rosaline and the Kitsune Queen I did, but I'll post them another day.

As always, sorry for the unfortunately long delay.