Chapter 119: Capturing scouts.

The northern border of the Jaun Land was not a line drawn on a map. It was a stretch of dense forest that rose sharply into rocky hills, where the trees grew tall enough to block the sun and the ground was soft enough to swallow footprints within hours.

It was the kind of terrain that made surveillance difficult and infiltration easy.

Or at least, it should have been.

Sanovere stood at the edge of a shallow ravine, his butler uniform somehow still pristine despite the hour-long walk through mud and underbrush.

His red eyes were fixed on the scene below with the patient satisfaction of a man watching a trap close exactly as he had designed it.

Three humans knelt in the dirt at the bottom of the ravine, their wrists bound behind their backs with chains of dark mana that pulsed faintly in the moonlight.

Their armor had been stripped. Their weapons lay in a pile several meters away, already being cataloged by a pair of Skeleton Knights.

Surrounding them in a loose half-circle were six of Sanovere’s undead vampire scouts, their pale faces expressionless, their hollow eyes glowing a dull crimson in the dark.

“Three units,” Sanovere murmured to himself, tilting his head slightly. “Forty-five soldiers total. We captured nine. The remaining thirty-six retreated across the border the moment they realized they were surrounded.”

He paused, his thin smile widening just a fraction.

“Well. Most of them retreated. A few required encouragement.”

He descended the slope with the casual ease of a man walking down a staircase and stopped in front of the three kneeling captives.

They were not ordinary soldiers. Their gear, before it had been confiscated, was high-quality. Reinforced leather with runic stitching, lightweight but durable. The kind of equipment issued to reconnaissance specialists, not frontline grunts.

The one in the middle, a broad-shouldered man with a shaved head and a scar running diagonally across his nose, glared up at Sanovere with the defiance of someone who had already accepted he was going to die.

“You are wasting your time, monster,” the man spat. “We will not speak.”

Sanovere regarded him the way a scholar might regard a particularly uninteresting footnote.

“That is what they all say. And yet, by the end, they always do.”

He crouched down to eye level, his red gaze meeting the man’s without blinking.

“I am going to ask you three questions. You will answer all of them. The order in which you answer them will determine how much of your body remains intact when we are finished.”

The scout on the left, a younger man with sandy hair and wide, terrified eyes, immediately started trembling. The one on the right, a woman with cropped black hair and a jaw set tight enough to crack teeth, said nothing.

Sanovere began with the scared one.

“You. What is your designation?”

The sandy-haired scout looked at his companions. The scarred man gave him a sharp look that clearly said keep your mouth shut.

Sanovere snapped his fingers.

One of the vampire scouts stepped forward and placed a single, cold hand on the scarred man’s shoulder. The man’s body seized. His eyes went wide. His mouth opened in a silent scream as the vampire’s mana invaded his nervous system, flooding every nerve ending with a sensation that was not quite pain but something far worse.

It was the feeling of being completely, utterly seen. Every thought, every memory, every secret he had buried in the back of his mind was suddenly exposed, laid bare like organs on a surgeon’s table.

The vampire released him after three seconds.

The scarred man collapsed forward, gasping, his forehead pressing into the dirt.

Sanovere looked back at the sandy-haired scout.

“Your designation.”

“F-Fourth Reconnaissance Division,” the young man stammered. “Imperial Forward Intelligence. We report directly to the Northern Command.”

“Northern Command. And who leads that division?”

The woman spoke before the young man could. Her voice was flat, controlled, the voice of someone trained to give away nothing.

“You already know the answer, or you would not be asking.”

Sanovere’s smile did not falter.

“Indulge me.”

A pause. Then the woman exhaled through her nose.

“General Harken. Commander of the Nexus Empire’s Northern Expeditionary Force. He was assigned to the border region six weeks ago.”

“Six weeks,” Sanovere repeated softly. “That predates the sovereignty agreement. Which means the Empire began mobilizing before Traona made its decision. Interesting.”

He straightened up, brushing a speck of invisible dust from his sleeve.

“Second question. What were your orders?”

The scarred man had recovered enough to lift his head. Blood trickled from his nose, and his eyes were red-rimmed, but the defiance was still there, dimmer now but not extinguished.

“Go to hell.”

Sanovere did not look at him. He kept his gaze on the woman, who seemed to understand that the vampire’s patience had a shelf life.

“We were ordered to map the terrain surrounding the dungeon known as the Nameless Dungeon,” she said. “Defensive positions, patrol routes, construction progress, estimated troop numbers. Everything.”

“And the purpose of this intelligence?”

“Assessment. General Harken wants to know whether the dungeon is a regional nuisance or a strategic threat before he commits resources.”

Sanovere tilted his head.

“And what was his preliminary assessment?”

The woman hesitated for the first time. It was brief, barely a flicker, but Sanovere caught it.

“He called it the monster problem,” she said quietly. “That is the official designation in Northern Command’s reports. The Shadow of Victims and his territory are classified under the same operational heading as rogue dungeon outbreaks and monster migrations. Standard threat neutralization protocol.”

“Standard,” Sanovere echoed, tasting the word like a wine he found disappointing. “How charming.”

He turned to face all three of them.

“Third question. And I suggest you answer carefully, because this one determines whether you spend the rest of your very short lives in a cell or in a coffin.”

He leaned forward, his red eyes burning brighter.

“What does the Empire know about this city? About Valdris?”

The silence that followed was heavy. The two men looked at the woman, who seemed to be the ranking officer among them despite her lack of visible insignia.

She met Sanovere’s gaze without flinching.

“They know it exists. They know it was built in less than a week. They know the dungeon lord commands monsters above Level 300. And they know the Kingdom of Traona signed a sovereignty agreement recognizing the territory as independent.”

She paused.

“General Harken does not consider the sovereignty agreement relevant. As far as Northern Command is concerned, the Jaun Land is unclaimed territory occupied by hostile entities. Traona’s opinion on the matter does not factor into the Empire’s strategic planning.”

Sanovere straightened up slowly.

“I see.”

He stood there for a moment, his eyes half-closed, processing everything he had just heard. Then he turned on his heel and began walking up the slope.

“Take them to the holding cells on the Fourth Floor,” he called over his shoulder. “Feed them. Do not harm them further. They have been surprisingly cooperative, and I see no reason to waste useful assets.”

He paused at the top of the ravine and looked back down at the three scouts.

“Oh, and one more thing. If any of you attempt to escape, my servants will not chase you. They will simply inform Lyra. And I assure you, whatever you imagine she would do to Imperial spies caught inside her Lord’s territory is significantly less creative than what she would actually do.”

The sandy-haired scout went pale. Even the woman’s composure cracked, just slightly.

Sanovere adjusted his cuffs and disappeared into the treeline.

…

The Throne Room was quiet when Sanovere arrived.

Kai sat on his obsidian throne, his chin resting on his fist, his glowing eyes fixed on the vampire butler as he entered and bowed at the waist.

“Report.”

Sanovere did not waste time with pleasantries.

“We captured nine scouts from the Nexus Empire’s Fourth Reconnaissance Division. They were operating near our northern border, mapping our defenses and estimating our military strength. They report to a General Harken, who commands the Empire’s Northern Expeditionary Force.”

Kai’s expression did not change.

“Harken.”

“A new appointment, my Lord. He was assigned to the border region approximately six weeks ago, before the sovereignty agreement with Traona was finalized. This suggests the Empire had already identified the Jaun Land as a point of interest independent of Traona’s political decisions.”

’Six weeks. That means the Nexus Empire was watching me before Traona even knew what to do about me. While Desmond was still debating with his Dukes about whether to fight or negotiate, the Empire had already deployed a general to deal with the situation. These people do not waste time.’

Kai leaned back into his throne.

“What else?”

“The scouts confirmed that Northern Command has classified our territory under what they call the monster problem. Standard threat neutralization protocol, the same operational framework they use for rogue dungeon outbreaks. They do not view us as a nation, my Lord. They view us as an infestation to be cleared.”

A beat of silence.

’Standard threat neutralization. They are treating Valdris the same way an exterminator treats a termite mound. Efficient. Impersonal. And completely underestimating what is actually inside.’

“And this General Harken,” Kai said, his voice low. “What do we know about him?”

“Very little as of now. The scouts were reluctant to discuss their commanding officer in detail, which tells me he inspires either loyalty or fear, likely both. What I can confirm is that he has been given operational authority over the entire northern border region. That is not a defensive posting, my Lord. That is the kind of assignment you give a man who is expected to move forward.”

Kai closed his eyes.

’War is coming. I knew it was inevitable, but I assumed I had months. If Harken has been in position for six weeks and is already sending scouts this deep into the Jaun Land, his timeline is shorter than mine. He is gathering intelligence for an offensive, not monitoring a border.’

He opened his eyes.

“Sanovere.”

“My Lord.”

“Accelerate the city’s defenses. I want the outer wall completed within the week. Pull workers from non-essential construction if you have to. The merchant quarter, the housing district, those can wait. The walls cannot.”

“Understood.”

“And inform Fhera. I want her running combat drills with every monster capable of holding a weapon. No exceptions. If the Goblin King complains, remind him that dead goblins do not need housing.”

Sanovere’s lips curved into a thin smile.

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