52 Weapons for the Imperial Guard

I stepped forward and took the emperor's long sword out of my bag, and unwrapped it from its protective cloth wrapping. Delimira did the same with the weapons we had made for the Imperial Guards. We had made fifty swords, one for each of the Imperial Guard, and each of them was runed and magiced out the wazoo with powerful magic. "Your majesty, I present this sword, the product of my collaboration with my father and Elder Thrikrondrom. It bears the runes of fire, strength, and war. May it serve you well in the coming battle. For your guardsmen, we only had time to add one rune to each weapon, but it is the Rune of Fire. It should provide enough light to your guards to light their way in the dark of our caverns."

The emperor didn't take his weapon directly, it could've been poisoned or a trap after all, but his fingers were clearly twitching in anticipation of holding it, and he was sitting on the edge of his seat like a toddler on Christmas five minutes before the parents woke up. His attendant inspected the weapon, and after ensuring it was safe, he handed it to the Emperor. The squires did the same thing for the weapons meant for the Imperial Guards.

Eventually everyone had their weapons in hand, and looked to the emperor to test it. He gripped the weapon and ran a little bit of magic through it, causing the blade to be wreathed in flame.

"Excellent work, Kvalinn!" The emperor's bearded face was creased by a joyous grin that threatened to split his face in two. "You will be paid when we return to Altenweil. If this weapon serves me well, then there will be wealth and fame beyond imagining waiting for you."

"Thank you, your majesty." I stood up to leave, but an Imperial Guard blocked my path.

"Sit down, Kvalinn. The Yankee party will be taking a crucial position in this battle, so you need to stay for this meeting." The emperor gestured with his hand for me to stand beside Bekhi, who was still keeping Takamori under control.

My plans to get some sleep crushed before I could even close my eyes, I heaved a heavy internal sigh and joined Bekhi's side, pretending to listen as the emperor began assigning positions for each of the nobility. I noticed that there was a dwarven king taking part in the meeting, but he was mostly just agreeing with the emperor's positioning of the troops.

I woke up from my mostly asleep stupor when the emperor's aura and tone switched to deadly serious. "Lords of the Empire. The goblins will arrive tomorrow morning. Their numbers are in the hundreds of thousands, and they are accompanied by dozens of other monster races, some known by the scholars, others are completely new. I will not honey my words, this fight will not be easy. Our chances of survival are low, the chances of victory are even less. But, should we fail here, the goblins will overrun the mountains within a decade, and after that they will pour out of the mountains in overwhelming numbers. If we do not wish to see our homes and lands ravaged by monsters, then we must hold these dwarven walls!" Drawing his sword and holding it aloft, he let the flames dance along the blade dramatically. "For the Empire!"

Every noble in the tent followed his example and drew their swords. "For the Empire!"

The Emperor nodded, satisfied by their fervent battlecry. "Nobles of the Empire. Prepare your men. Tomorrow, when the horns of war blow, dwarves will guide you to your portion of the wall. Follow them, and then fight for the glory of the empire! Imperial Guards, summoned heroes, and Yankee party, stay for a moment."

With dreams of battle glory, the Counts left the tent and made their way into the eternal darkness of the caverns. A few cast disparaging looks at us, and grumbled about demi-humans getting an audience with their emperor, but I was too tired to care.

When it was just the leaders of the Imperial guard, all three summoned heroes, and every member of the Yankee party, the emperor began speaking. "Kvalinn. Your adventuring party will fight alongside the Imperial Guard tomorrow."

This simple statement caused one or two Guardsman to half stand in indignation. "Your majesty! Do you not trust your royal guard with your safety?"

"Demi-humans fighting with the Imperial Guard? Your majesty, I implore you to reconsider! This humiliation would be too much for my family to bear."

The emperor silenced them with a glare. Forcing them to sit back down by the weight of his will. "Knights of the Imperial Guard. This is no punishment, nor is it meant to cast doubts on your martial abilities. I have trained among you all my life, and know that without a doubt that you are the best fighters in the entire Empire. But, the Yankee party has too much potential to let fight on any random portion of the walls. Bekhi has the ability to keep Takamori under control, in addition to being an expert fighter. The two elves have access to the powerful magic of their race. Gerde is a beastkin out of legend. Finally, there is Kvalinn. There is much about him that Bekhi has not told us, but he is a runesmith at an age where most dwarves have not even begun their apprenticeships. Bekhi also vouches for his fighting abilities, so he will not bring dishonor to our ranks."

There were still some dissenters, but the emperor silenced them with a gauntlet pound on his chair. "There will be no discussion on this. The Yankee's will be fighting with us tomorrow." Once he was sure that no one else would try to speak up, he turned to me. "Any objections to your contract, Kvalinn?" This was clearly a rhetorical question, any answer of refusal would have me flung as ammo for the grudge throwers.

"No, your majesty. But I must warn you, my party will need plenty of space. We tend to get destructive in pitched battles." I thought back on our past battles. Bekhi usually turned into a tornado of blades. Gerde followed her example, but she had also learned magic from the elves and dryads, and her fire and nature spells were destructive and deadly. Delimira and Jenise both had multiple Apprentice Level spells at their disposal, and they were equipped with dwarven weapons as well. As for me, I had several experimental weapons that were definitely dangerous, although the question of whether they were more dangerous to me or the enemy was still open for debate.

The emperor grinned fiercely at my response, nodding in assent before moving on to the next topic. "Tatsuki. Miyata. Takamori. You were summoned to this world to fight the goblin horde, if you need anything for whatever battle traditions your people have, it will be provided to you. If you find your arms or armor are insufficient, different ones will be provided."

"I want new armor!" Takamori burst out with a petulant shout. "How come the weaklings get new stuff, but I get hand me downs from the last hero? I should get better arms and armor than them, since I'm the hero who was sent to your capital."

Tatsuki sighed in annoyance, and Miyata sidled further away from Takamori while clutching her bow. The emperor gave Takamori a glare that bordered on murderous, only staying on the side of not killing him by sheer will. What the heck had Takamori done while I was working on the weapons to make the emperor this angry?

"Takamori. You wear the legendary armor of the first emperor of our empire. There is no better armor in the entire world. If you do not wish to fight in this armor, then you will fight in your undergarments. Is that clear?"

Clearly cowed by the emperor's attitude, Takamori backed down. His shifty eyes indicated that this was a fight that he didn't consider over though. I made a mental note to watch him for backstabs.

"Tatsuki. Miyata. Is there anything you require before the start of the battle?."

Speaking for both of them, Tatsuki stood forward. "No, your majesty. Just rest. We've been up all night and could use some sleep."

"Very well. Imperial Guards, get sleep rolls for the Yankees and the summoned heroes, and do not let any harm come to them. For the glory of the Empire." The emperor gave the imperial salute of pounding his left pec with his fist, and holding his fist out vertically. The Imperial Guards returned the salute, and exited the tent with us.

Finally, after barely staying awake through the meeting, I was provided a crude sleeping bag, and I was fast asleep before my head reached the pillow.