Chapter 2059: One Stable Morning

For most of the morning, the Darklight Host was actually running smoothly.

But only for half.

Because just after lunch, a Blue Elven convoy arrived at the docks, and were ushered into the Guild House by the guards to wait for Karl, so they could complete their deal.

The request was the same as the last ones, a shipment of cargo, and a secret hold space.

That was not the problem.

The issue was that there were still hundreds of Clan Leaders in town hanging around waiting for the perfect item to come across the store shelves, or for custom orders to be finished. And they all paid attention to who got to enter the back room and speak with the Guild Leader.

Today, it wasn’t Karl who entered with the Elves, but Rue.

She was the one who needed to do the space modification anyhow, and Karl was busy with some Peerless Grade custom orders that Tian had finished making that morning, so she decided to do the negotiation.

Not that it was difficult.

The Elves had an agreed pricing scheme with Karl, giving wholesale prices on everything that came from the sea without additional haggling. So, all she had to do was get the calculation, and then finish the transaction.

Easy.

Then, when they came back out and headed straight for the docks, both Rue and the Captain noticed that they were being followed.

And in Rue’s mind, being followed meant being attacked.

So, both were on high guard, and the entire fighting force of the trade fleet was waiting at the docks, in case there was a robbery attempt. Naturally, that made everyone else think that there was something going on, as they were just following them to see what was sold, and a panic began to spread through the town.

Within thirty minutes, everyone was on edge, speculating about who was brave enough to openly plan an attack on the Darklight Host, and nobody was leaving the building that they were in so that they weren’t mistaken for the attackers.

When Karl went to restock, and found the store full of nervous people just lingering, he wasn’t sure what to make of it.

"Did I miss an announcement? I would think that I know what is coming up on the shelves," he joked as he made a show of doing the restocking.

"It’s not that," a Rogue class Immortal explained.

"There is a rumour going around that someone tried to lay an ambush for the Lady Rue and a Blue Elven Captain. Everyone is waiting for the fight to break out, and we don’t want to go anywhere."

Karl sent Rue a message, and she sent him an update.

That was when he realized what had happened, while Rue still tracked no fewer than twenty Peak Immortals in the vicinity of the docks.

"I think that everyone got curious about the Elves, but too many of them went to look. Rue counts twenty Peak Immortals at the dock, but they’re all hiding inside buildings.

If I’m right, it’s not an ambush, but nosy Clan Elders.

But if Rue is right, they’re going to try to attack the Elves the moment that she leaves, since twenty Peak Immortals aren’t enough to take down Rue Gathuzan."

That made the Rogue laugh. "You have a point, there is usually strength in numbers, but against her? Twenty Peak Immortals isn’t nearly enough. Do you think that we should go talk to them?"

Karl frowned. "I will have the security demons go explain the situation. If there really is a plot, they’ll be overjoyed."

The room went silent for a second, then everyone realized that Karl meant all the security guards were Wrath Demons, and they would be more than a little bit happy if someone was actually dumb enough to attack them.

Of course, a good portion of them were Supreme Ranked constructs, while the rest were made by Karl, and now buffed by all of the Dana Mage’s passive skills.

Karl activated them through the Runic Arrays, but they still counted as nominally under his control, and that was enough for Dana’s passive skills to work, So, they had better armour and weapons, higher durability, and more agility.

The only thing they didn’t get was duplication because they were activated through a magical item and not directly through Karl’s skills.

Near the docks, a relatively young Clan Leader was interrupted from her scrying of the situation in the ship by a knock at the office door.

"Miss, Blackwoods City Security force. We must ask you to move along. Your scrying has caused security concerns," the squad leader announced.

The Clan Leader frowned. She was sure that she had hidden herself well, so how had they found her so quickly? But before she answered, she checked the area, and realized that there had to be a hundred guards within ten blocks of her, and she hadn’t noticed any of them coming.

That was just uncanny.

"Of course. I was just curious about what the Elves were bringing to market, I’m not planning anything nefarious," she replied.

"Of course, Ma’am. Please follow us, and we will treat you to a beverage at one of our local shops."

Giving the removed Clan Leaders drinks was Karl’s idea because the shops were packed with people. That should spread the gossip quickly enough to get the city back to normal.

Or so he hoped.

That hope was shattered mere minutes later, when the security forces really did find a group of ambushers in the city, though they were not placed to ambush Rue and the Elves.

They had been aiming for someone else, and Karl had no idea who.

Only that they immediately began to fight when the security forces arrived.

That set off the alarms, and the Gargoyles were activated to assist the security demons, flooding the streets with stone skinned Supreme Ranked constructs all spreading out in formation to encircle the area where the fight was happening.