Waiting for Muti and Benedict to return was an exercise in patience that Astrid hadn't expected to go well for her, but ended up being even harder than she'd expected. The first day was easy, because, of course, they weren't coming straight back. There were people that needed to be escorted back here, whether the fight was won or not. Muti and Benedict would have to slow their own journeys to protect them, and the journey wasn't a short one. With a full squad of Steel tiers, there would be people whose Alacrity was around 100, at most. They wouldn't be able to make that journey quickly at all.
Then came the second day. And the third also passed with no news since Muti and Benedict's departure.
Astrid's thoughts couldn't help being consumed with the reality that, if she wanted, Muti would have returned in just a few hours. If she didn't come back, was that because she wasn't able to? Or was it because she was taking care of people? Had she somehow lost the fight?
Was she dead?
Astrid found that nearly impossible to believe, but the longer she went without any news, the easier it was to begin to lose faith in Muti. Or rather, start to catastrophize.
If there was a squad of Mithril tiers that were sent, they could potentially kill or capture Muti and Benedict. It would be hard, even life-threatening for everybody involved, and probably ill-advised, but it could absolutely happen. Yes, there were very few people of a level that could threaten the Wanderers on either side of the battlefield, especially considering the quality of their Classes guaranteed that they could fight up at least a watershed, if not two.
Numbers still couldn't be discounted. Sure, Muti could take on probably any single Mithril tier under level 100. In fact, Astrid would take that bet any day of the year. But the more of them there were, the weaker those chances became.
Astrid forced herself to stop rehashing the same thoughts over and over again. Instead, she thought about the many reasons why they could have been delayed. If they were helping that settlement to evacuate, then it could take a week or more to get back. Then, there was the squad that they had gone to assist. If they needed to help them retreat, they would be going slower. Yes, that was more likely than the overwhelmingly powerful Barbarian, along with a good supporter, being killed or captured.
"You came here to try to stop worrying," Ruth chuckled on the fifth day. "It doesn't seem like that's worked very well."
Astrid growled just a bit, just as much about the game she was losing as about Ruth being correct. Astrid let out a long breath, then moved one of her two Steel tier parties along the western side of the board.
"You'd think that was a good move," the Duchess said, casually, the words not intended to but still perfectly serving to piss Astrid off. "It's what's known as the Bronze's blunder."
"I've never played Dungeons and Delvers, of course I'm not very good at the game," Astrid grumbled.
"And I never would expect you to be able to play it well. I'm simply explaining," she replied as she fiddled with her mana counter to begin a surge on the opposite side of the kingdom. That used most of her mana as the Dungeon player, but that didn't matter. Now, because the surge was high Steel tier, Astrid would need both of her Steel tier parties to weather the entire surge without taking casualties. Or, she could pull her Mithril or Adamantium tier parties out of what they were doing, but that would be even worse. By the time they arrived, the surge would have done too much damage, and their own objectives would remain incomplete.
"I give up," Astrid grumbled, settling back in her chair.
"Even if you see the end of the battle, there is no reason to cease fighting for the outcome you desire," Ruth shrugged, gesturing for Astrid to take her own turn. "Besides, there's no guarantee that I've won the game."
"I guess I could hire some mercenaries from the Dominion, send them flying over our lands to deal with the surge," Astrid joked, trying to not be the kind of sore loser nobody liked to play games with. She'd like to think she did an all right job at that, though she somewhat doubted it.
"So far as I know, there is no existing rule set for Dungeons and Delvers that grants anyone the capacity to hire mercenaries."
Astrid glared at Ruth, whose smirk somehow made things both better and worse. It was remarkably fetching, that even a small twist of her lips like that—
"Hey, you're using your Skill! There's no Skills at the game table!"
"I'd like to say that it was your own lack of skill that got you into this problem, or perhaps my own long-studied acquisition of skill after this game."
"You know what I'm talking about," Astrid shook her head as the supernatural allure drained away from the woman sitting across the table. She was still beautiful, gorgeous, really, but now Astrid could think of things more than just the feel of—
"Stop it!" Astrid picked up a for a spare party token she hadn't qualified to draw before flicking it at her opponent as she activated Heroic Aura and regained complete control over her emotions and attentions. Ruth flicked a shield into existence between herself and the projectile, the stone piece not striking a solid surface, but instead quickly slowing as if it had fallen onto a luxurious mattress.
"But if you knew it was going to happen, does it really count?" Ruth insisted, an infuriatingly innocent smile on her face now that she blatantly used the Skill again.
"Yes, it does," Astrid said, her mirth draining away. "What you're doing doesn't make me want to do anything that I hate, but the thought of having even a little bit of my mind compromised is, put gently, a bad thought. I understand you're trying to make a joke, but it's not funny, just like me hurting you then immediately healing you with Regeneration wouldn't be."
The game forgotten, Ruth squared her shoulders. Her eyebrows narrowed for a moment, and she thought for maybe a second before she nodded.
"I was going to argue against what you said. After all, what I do leaves no visible trace of damage. However, that makes it all the more insidious. My sincerest apologies. I promise to you, I will never again use my Duchess's Presence Skill on you without your permission and without giving you a warning. I can only justify myself by saying that, ever since I received my Class, I have never had any true opportunity to, as you might call it, play around, especially with one of my Skills. Again, I'm sorry."
Despite knowing that Ruth was something like twenty years her senior, in so many ways, it was almost like she was a child. Astrid frequently found herself wondering over that. Ever since she had received her Class, Ruth, the person, had basically died. She didn't have opportunities to do whatever she wanted, because her days were filled with training, as well as trying to stay out of the grasp of people who would do her harm while ruling a country. Though she hadn't shared any of her specific Skills with Astrid, she had explained that one of the first Skills she'd gotten in Bronze was then called Duchess's Grace.
It was a Skill that helped her to endear herself to whoever she saw, and it was a passive aura. At least, that was how Ruth described it, that it was something that she had taken to preserve her life. Once, when she was a low Iron, an Assassin with very low Self Mastery had attempted to kill her while she slept. The then Iron tier Skill had managed to charm the man even while she slept. The Skill was a good one, and Ruth explained that it had continued to grow as she herself did. Now, somewhere in the ranks of mid Mithril, it was similar to Astrid's regeneration Skill, with multiple aspects to it, and also being her primary Skill that she used in battle.
"Apology accepted," Astrid said, nodding. "I realize that it must be hard to be in your position."
"That's putting it lightly," Ruth said, raising her eyebrows. Then, her face twisted for a second. She seemed to consider something, and then, she shook her head. "I'm scared of you."
With that coming out of nowhere, Astrid blinked several times, cocking her head to the side and then squinting. "I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be offended or flattered."
"I'm scared of most people," Ruth continued, her heartbeat accelerating so much that Astrid could hear it. This conversation terrified the Duchess, for some reason. Even so, she didn't stop speaking. "I mean, I spent most of my life being in charge of a country, but I wasn't raised to be a noble. I was just a girl! I was Ruth Harrietdotter, raised on a farm in the middle of nowhere, to the north. I had to travel to a larger town to be Bestowed a Class! Then, when my Class came out, everybody bowed to me. My parents fell down in front of me, and never called me my name again. They worshipped at my feet! I'd been engaged to a boy my age. He was a Farmer, and we were going to have our own farm. Then, I get told that I'm in charge of the country? Because some stupid Status popped up saying that I was? I didn't know how to lead anything! I didn't even know how to budget, to say nothing of ruling.
"Then, I get taken to a massive city, full of people that either worship or hate me, all of them able to kill me in a single hit! I get told that I'm in charge of the country, that there are thousands of things that I need to do today, that my approval is needed for different laws, and that, probably, there are nobles who killed my predecessor and will be looking to kill or enslave me. So, I take what Skills I'm told to, then I'm thrown into the Dungeon, making sure I can get levels fast enough to hopefully be able to put up a fight at the first Assassin who comes my way!
"I can't even do that uninterrupted, so I can't be like you," she said, her face going red as she stood and started pacing back and forth. Astrid had no idea how to react as Ruth continued her rant. "I wanted to make sure I live, so I want to get back in the Dungeon. I get told no, there are things that I need to do up on the surface instead of make sure I can live. There are people I need to talk to, others I need to impress, others I need to determine if they're worthy of the death penalty! The damn Barbarians in the south are starting a war every other decade, and it's probably about that time, so how could you think of going to the Dungeon right now! Then, there are Assassins, there are Advisors who want to see me fail, and I can't trust anybody.
"So yes, I'm scared of you, Astrid. I'm scared of anybody who I can't immediately control. Because if I can't, they're going to want something from me or they're going to kill me. Some of the only people I have ever been able to trust is because they've always been so much stronger than me, but have never done anything but protect me and the people of this country. The Golden Fist say I should trust you. That they need to go, and you should fill their place.
"Turns out, they offended you by being mean, so I need to go and work uphill to try to gain your trust, or respect, because obviously I can't get your allegiance. That's not who you are, and I wish I had that freedom. But I don't. I never will. Because I'm the Duchess, and I'm in charge of this country. And if I could trust that any other noble in the entire damn nation would do anything other than twist this entire country into slaves that fed every ounce of their power to them, I would abdicate this position without a second thought. Let me be literally anything else, please.
"Please."
Ruth's hands were shaking from the intensity of her emotion, and she took a shuddering breath before she squared her shoulders, laced her fingers, and sat primly back in her chair.
"I'm sorry for my outburst. I don't know if I've ever allowed myself to say any of those things, and once I started, I found I couldn't stop."
"No, that was awesome," Astrid said, the words coming naturally out of her mouth. When Ruth frowned in response, Astrid found herself scratching her cheek, wondering what exactly she meant by that. As she found the words, she allowed a small smile to crack her face.
"I don't blame you for being angry. And the fact that you said that you've never blown up like that? That's insane to me. I wouldn't have been able to keep my mind for even a day like that. I'm sorry that so many people have mistreated you. You don't have to be scared of me, and I'd appreciate it if you don't try to make me like you with a Skill. If we just, you know, build up a friendship without all that, then I think we'll probably actually be able to be friends, instead of Duchess and subject."
Ruth, once again back into her much more composed state sitting behind the table, nodded once then took a breath and seemed to think more deeply.
"This friendship. It's frightening."
"I've never thought of it that way, but I can see how it would be."
They sat in silence for a short while, with Astrid, not really sure how she was supposed to react to all of this. Eventually, she shook her head, turned, and stood up. Walking over to Ruth, Astrid wasn't sure if the barely hidden nerves in the other woman's body language were something she should continue to concern herself over, but instead just simply spread her arms and offered a hug. Though neither of them said anything, after maybe two seconds to consider how to react to the foundation, Ruth stood up and wrapped her arms around Astrid's waist.
As she'd already noticed, the ruler of the nation was small, only, at most, a bit over a meter and a half tall. Astrid, even now, wearing regular clothes and not her armor, was over sixty centimeters taller than Ruth. She stroked the Duchess's back for a short moment, nearly having to bend over to do it. The hug wasn't long enough to become awkward, though, as Ruth stepped back and smiled up at Astrid.
"Thank you."
"No problem."
"Do you still want to finish the game?" Ruth asked, grinning. Astrid groaned, but didn't say anything back. Instead, she wandered over to her side of the table and looked down.
"These parties move so fast," she said, instead of taking her move as she looked at a token. "We have a bunch of Steel tiers out there who have been gone for a week at this point, and we have no idea where they are."
"Today's the day when the Ranger I dispatched should return," Ruth said, seeming to recognize that, probably, the game was over. "Though they won't have the survivors of the fight with them, they'll at least be able to tell us some form of news."
"When are they getting here?" Astrid asked, setting up.
"Relatively soon, so far as I know, but nothing more specific than that, I'm afraid."
Before Astrid could do more than scowl, a knocking sounded at the door.
"A messenger to see you, Duchess," the guard called out. "Named Gaius Ranger."
"Send them in in ten seconds," the Duchess said as she stood and gathered the entire table into a spatial pouch with a gesture. Then, she basically teleported she hustled so fast onto the throne, gesturing for Astrid to step up behind her.
With a little smile, Astrid equipped her armor with a thought as she stepped into the protective position behind the Duchess and the door started to creak open.
"News from the north," the man said, trying and failing to make sure he wasn't panting. "I've just arrived in town."
"Very well, please, let us know, what is it?"
"A large company approaches! At least five hundred strong!"