Chapter 117: A new homage.

The gates of Valdris had seen many things since their construction.

Armies marching through in formation. Supply wagons loaded with Black Magic Crystals and forged weapons. Skeleton patrols rotating in disciplined shifts.

Even the occasional confused wild boar that wandered too close and was immediately obliterated by Fhera for looking suspicious.

But they had never seen this.

Kai stood on the balcony of the First Floor command tower, looking down at the main gate through the enhanced vision his dungeon authority granted him.

The image was clear, magnified as though he were standing right at the entrance.

A group of roughly forty people stood outside the walls.

They were not soldiers. They were not merchants. They were not scouts.

They were civilians.

Ragged, dirty, carrying bundles of cloth and leather satchels on their backs. Children clung to the legs of adults who looked like they had not slept in days.

A few elderly figures leaned on walking sticks, their bodies bent from what Kai assumed was weeks of hard travel.

And the most notable detail of all.

None of them were human.

He could see pointed ears, fur-covered arms, tails of various lengths and colors, and at least three individuals with scales running along their necks and forearms.

Beastkin, demi-humans, and what appeared to be a handful of Reptilians huddled near the back.

They stood at the gate in complete silence, staring up at the walls of Valdris with expressions that ranged from exhaustion to terror.

The skeleton guards stationed at the gate had not moved.

They simply stood there, spears raised, their hollow eye sockets staring down at the newcomers with the enthusiastic hospitality of a cemetery fence.

’What the hell is this?’

Kai’s internal alarm went off before any system notification did.

’Those are not merchants. Those are not enemies. Those are refugees. Displaced people. And they are standing at my front door like I put out a welcome mat.’

He turned from the balcony and headed for the stairs.

…

By the time he reached the main gate, Sanovere and Lyra were already there.

Sanovere had arrived first, as was his habit whenever something unexpected occurred at the city’s perimeter.

The vampire stood just inside the gate with his arms folded behind his back, studying the crowd outside with the detached interest of a scholar examining a particularly unusual insect.

Lyra stood a step behind him, her arms crossed, her expression locked into the same cold mask she wore whenever she encountered anything she had not personally approved of in advance.

Fhera had also shown up, though she was crouched on top of the wall itself, her tail swaying behind her as she peered down at the group with her head tilted sideways.

“Boss, there are a bunch of weird-looking people outside.”

“I can see that, Fhera.”

Kai stepped forward, his shadow cloak settling around his frame.

The skeleton guards at the gate immediately straightened and saluted, their bones clicking in unison.

He looked through the gate at the group beyond.

Up close, the details were worse than they had appeared from the balcony. Several of the beastkin had visible wounds, some bandaged poorly, others not bandaged at all.

The children were thin. The adults were thinner.

One of the Reptilians near the back was missing an arm below the elbow, the stump wrapped in a cloth that was more red than white.

A single figure stood at the front of the group, slightly ahead of the rest.

She was a wolf beastkin. Tall, lean, with silver-grey fur covering her arms and the sides of her neck. Her ears were pressed flat against her head, and her amber eyes were locked on Kai with the kind of intensity that came not from confidence, but from having nothing left to lose.

She dropped to her knees the moment Kai’s gaze met hers.

“Please.”

The word came out cracked and dry, like a voice that had been used for begging too many times and had started to wear thin.

“We heard rumors. In the cities. In the roads between towns. That there was a place in the Jaun Land where monsters built a kingdom. A place where non-humans were not hunted.”

She pressed her forehead to the dirt.

“We have nowhere else to go.”

The silence that followed was deafening.

Kai stared at her. Then at the group behind her. Then at the children clutching their parents’ legs.

’This is not part of the plan. None of this is part of the plan. I built Valdris for monsters. For my armys. I did not build it for civilians..’

He turned to Sanovere, who had already read the situation and was waiting for orders with the patience of a man who had lived long enough to know that silence was often more useful than speech.

“My Lord,” Sanovere began, his voice low enough that only Kai and Lyra could hear. “A word, if I may.”

Kai gave a slight nod.

Sanovere stepped closer, his red eyes flickering toward the group outside before returning to his lord.

“These people are displaced non-humans. Beastkin, demi-humans, and Reptilians. Based on their condition and the direction they traveled from, I would estimate they came from the eastern territories of Traona, possibly from the border towns near Duke Aldric’s region. Those areas have seen a sharp increase in anti-non-human sentiment since the sovereignty agreement was signed.”

“Get to the point.”

“The point, my Lord, is that these are the people the human kingdoms threw away. They have no value to Traona, no protection from the Adventurer Guilds, and no recourse under human law. They are, in the most literal sense, unwanted.”

He paused, letting that word settle.

“Which makes them extraordinarily useful.”

Lyra cut in before Sanovere could continue.

“My Lord, I advise caution.”

Her voice was steady, but her eyes were sharp.

“We know nothing about these people. Their backgrounds, their loyalties, their intentions. Valdris is still under construction. Our defenses are incomplete. The Nexus Empire already has scouts observing us from the northern border. Allowing an unknown group of outsiders into the city at this stage is a security risk I cannot endorse.”

Sanovere tilted his head, his thin smile never wavering.

“A valid concern, as always. However, I would argue that the risk of turning them away is greater.”

Lyra’s eyes narrowed. “Explain.”

“Gladly. If we refuse them, they will scatter. Some will die in the wilderness. Others will find their way to human settlements where they will be mistreated, enslaved, or killed. And a few, perhaps the most desperate among them, will talk. They will tell anyone who listens that the monster kingdom in the Jaun Land turned away refugees. That the Shadow of Victims, for all his power, could not be bothered to shelter the weak.”

He let that sink in.

“Reputation, Lady Lyra, is a currency that cannot be minted twice. Right now, the world knows Valdris as a military power. A force to be feared. But fear alone does not build nations. It builds prisons. If we want allies, trade partners, and future citizens who contribute willingly rather than out of obligation, we need to be known as something more.”

Lyra’s jaw tightened. She clearly wanted to argue, but the logic was sound and she knew it.

Kai had been listening to both of them without interrupting. His golden eyes moved from Sanovere to Lyra and then back to the group outside the gate.

’Sanovere is right. Turning them away gains me nothing and costs me everything. Lyra is also right. I cannot just open the gates to every stranger who shows up with a sob story. If I do that, the next group that arrives might be Nexus Empire agents disguised as refugees.’

He closed his eyes for a moment.

’But these people are not spies. Spies do not bring children. Spies do not carry wounds that have gone untreated for days. Spies do not kneel in the dirt and beg.’

He opened his eyes.

“Sanovere.”

“My Lord.”

“Prepare a processing area near the eastern courtyard. Every individual in this group will be identified, registered, and assigned a temporary residence within the outer district. No one enters the inner city or the dungeon floors without my explicit authorization.”

Sanovere’s smile widened. “At once, my Lord.”

“Lyra.”

“Yes, my Lord.”

“Assign a security detail to the group. Two Skeleton Knight squads and one of Fhera’s beastkin scouts. I want eyes on them at all times for the first week. If anyone in that group so much as breathes in a direction I do not like, I want to know about it before they exhale.”

Lyra’s posture relaxed by a fraction. The compromise had addressed her concerns without dismissing them, and that was enough.

“Understood, my Lord.”

“Fhera.”

The beastkin’s head popped up from behind the wall.

“Yeah, Boss?”

“Come down here.”

She leaped off the wall and landed beside him in a single motion, her tail swishing.

Kai looked at her for a moment, then back at the group outside.

“You are a beastkin. They are beastkin. Go out there and tell them they are being allowed inside. Use small words. They look like they are about to collapse.”

Fhera blinked. Then a wide grin spread across her face.

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