Everyone looked shocked after hearing such words, especially since it was a few moments after dawn. Who among them would have expected that a horde of undead would march under the sunlight to attack them and not behave like normal monsters and use the cover of the night? From her point of view, Meridiana could enjoy the plethora of emotions painted on the faces of the humans in front of her. Diverse nuances of fear and panic, some even had terror visible in their eyes, and only a few were still relatively calm.

For the men belonging to the latter group, it was easy to spot them. Neither the Mayor nor the captain of the guards or the Guild Master showed any surprise like they already knew that it will happen. Tilting her head a bit while thinking, she guessed that maybe the adventurers were not the quickest at transmitting the information. But if they were not, who would be?

"Gentlemen, gentlemen. Please, behave yourselves. Can a mere group of undead truly make you act like a headless chicken?" The firm voice of the head of this small kingdom resonated across the room, making the rest remember both their status and the location they were in. If some were slightly angered by such a crude choice of words, most were embarrassed.

"That's better. They only said that they saw an army, but we haven't heard a single thing about their numbers. Do I have to remind you that our strong city was built on the premise of resisting anything that could descend from those mountains? Or something even worst, breach the southern frontiers and come from the Fallen Kingdom? That's also without counting the adventurers inside our walls, all more experienced at dealing with monsters and capable of unleashing the best of the abilities of our mighty garrison. I am asking you this question, do we really have to fear this?"

Even if he was getting older and older as time passed, it was no wonder why it had been so many years without a change of leadership. The Mayor was constantly smiling as he talked, not a kind one, but the type that one could see on the face of a general winning the war. Confident, sure of his abilities and without a single trace of fear. The murmurs of acknowledgment and the relative calm that followed his declaration proved his great capability at handling the wealthy and the powerful.

"That's true, my family paid a huge price following the end of the Age of Darkness, to help build this city. There is no way that it will crumble in front of mere undead."

"Mine too. Everyone doubting those walls would be doubting the honor of the Elritch."

"And the honor of my family too."

Nearly half of the board was composed of aristocratic families, and all of them looked down at their neighbours that weren't part of them. Those loud taunting both appeased them and displeased the numerous merchants and commoners that didn't necessarily relied on their families to achieve their goals. At the same time, looking at so many of those old men getting more and more confident after remembering that their families played a part at constructing Archet, they could only think the same.

By the time the room was once calmer, a few minutes had passed. The only people that didn't move or even looked pleased was both Meridiana and Davion, and the servant that barged inside the room. The more smiles the unfortunate human saw, the more he was sweating. Realizing his condition, the eyes of the Mayor flashed of incertitude. He already received all he had to know about the army, and while it seemed that 20 000 undead was a lot, they were almost entirely just skeletons and zombies, presenting barely any threat to the huge walls of Archet.

"Helmut, do you have anything else to say? The adventurers probably reported a huge number of skeletons and zombies, but fear not. Even if it something as high as 25 000 of undead, what can they truly do against our mighty walls? Our reinforced gates? And even if they are more, only something as high as 50 000 skeletons could inflict significant damages to our city. And there is no way such a high number of undead could stay unnoticed, isn't it, Guild Master?"

Trying to both calm the servant and reduce the impact of hearing such a large force outside the walls of Archet, the Mayor gained the nod of the Guild Master and the captain of the guards. Even if it would be very complicated to defend against such a horde, it was still possible to contain the threat beyond the walls. But unfortunately for him, the sweating man wasn't really looking any better.

"My lord .. the adventurers, they .. they talked about sixty .. gulp .. thousands of undead!"

The smiles of everyone froze in an unnatural way. Inside their minds, only that terrifying number was resonating, again and again. 60 000. "WHAT?!! HOW!??" The previously calm and confident leader leaped from his chair and began to walk toward the servant. Disregarding any customs and procedures, he grabbed the other party and began to shake him violently. "TELL ME HOW?"

"I-I-I DON-DON-DON-T-T-T KN-KN-KN-OW-OW-OW!!!" After hearing this, he let go, leading the unfortunate servant to fell brutally on his back. Not even letting out a single sound of pain, he could only see the rock that was supposed to protect them look extremely vulnerable.

"Those bastards, Mayor, let me hunt those rats before the undead arrive. Lying like that after we uphold our part of the deal is just courting death. I am certain that I can catch them in les.."

He didn't finish his sentence, seeing the raised hand of the Mayor. Looking at the Guild Master, he saw him with a pale complexion, pondering about the current situation. Just a few minutes before entering the room, the three of them received an envoy of the White Hand. Because it was in their interest that Archet survived and was not damaged, the envoy of the criminal organization proceeded to sell all the information about the group of undead at an extremely low price.

After all those years in charge of the city, it was not the first time that one of them had to talk or discuss with either the White Hand or the Black Gauntlet. And because the price was really low and the information seemed really accurate, they let the envoy leave with what he asked. It was the complete information of all the movements and actions of the two new adventurers. As for why the Organization sought this, none of them dared to ask. Because there was nothing that was directly hurting the two strangers, the transaction happened without any incident.

But now, everything changed. From the mouth of the envoy, an army composed of two liches, twenty ghouls and nearly 19 000 skeletons and 1 000 zombies would arrive at the last hour of the day, right before dusk. However, the number of monsters was already not the right amount, so what about the rest. What could have been an entire day of preparations could maybe be even less, there could be even more liches, more ghouls. And they were certain that no adventurers could match the efficiency at gathering information of the White Hand.

"No. We are dealing with something far more dangerous than expected. Not a single man will be wasted at chasing phantoms. Prepare the troops, without any additional news, the army will arrive at noon. We barely have six hours and I prefer to be pessimistic this time. Guild Master, we will have to increase the incentive. Double every reward but do not talk about the number of monsters present. That rule is applied to everyone here. Because so many people had to transmit the information, it is impossible to prevent it from spreading. But do your utmost at reducing the threat. For most, the difference between 60 000 and 40 000 isn't easy to see."

The two men bowed and left without a word the room. They will both have a lot to do before the siege happened. Before leaving, the Guild Master couldn't help but look at Meridiana, not really knowing if he should bring the two out or not. But since the Mayor didn't say so, he didn't make any move.

"Now gentlemen, I know you are afraid. I know that you never thought that something like that will ever happen in your life. I know that all of you are probably thinking about two different things. However, I have to remind you that those two wishful thoughts will have all of us killed, you included."

The Mayor was walking around the room, his speech only broken by the sounds of his steps. He could see what everyone was thinking, their faces already behaved like an open book. To be truthful, he felt the same as them. However, because he was far less free than anyone would think he was, he couldn't leave. He was bound to this city, and if the city was destroyed, he had no hope of ever surviving. Even if it was a Republic, no one would keep a failure like him afterward. Like the captain of a ship, he will have to sink with it.

"First of all, you think about leaving Archet, run as far as possible. The moment you step outside this room, you contact your servants, tell them to prepare all the wealth and artifacts you kept well hidden inside your manors. While the population is unaware of the threat, you use this opportunity to silently slip up and leave unnoticed. Even if I am certain that you would do such a thing reluctantly, leaving the city that let you grew, married, prospered, with your family around you, it would be better than death."

Some couldn't help but nod at this idea. Even if they will end up as outsiders in another city, it was better to be alive and scorned than completely dead.

"But of course, that is if you survive. Not like the many citizens that tried to escape, only to vanish without a sound. And if previously, the merchants and adventurers were spared, I don't think that's necessarily the case anymore. As for last, the gates are already closed by now. Before the council even began, the orders were passed. No one leaves Archet anymore."

The Mayor remained unperturbed by the bunch of elders that were screaming at him. They could curse him to die a thousand times, he wouldn't care either. Because they still had the other option.

"Next, you would behave like a turtle outside water. Hiding inside your shell, not daring to even let a single batch of skin outside of your fortress. With all those years, I know that a large amount of adventurers is secretly under your orders. Greed is inside the heart of every human. And in this dark time, instead of letting those experienced warriors fight side by side with the guards, you will ask them to protect you. There are still quite a few teams of grade N and M around here, easily capable of handling a few hundreds of undead with the protection of your manors."

He still insisted on the word, hundreds, making those that were still silent shudder. It was at that time that they realized, they were facing an extremely important army. It was even more than half of the regular army of the Republic of Avenio. But the latter was currently spread around the three Gates of the desolate mountains and in the West. None were close enough to reinforce them before at least 2 days or so. Seeing that he had managed to convince everyone of how perilous the situation was, he dismissed the old bunch.

He had done everything he could, not even looking back, he grabbed a bottle of wine. It came from Genablum, and even if they were technically enemies, he managed to put his hand on it. Since it could be the last time he enjoyed such a thing, why not drink it. Remembering that the servant still hadn't left, he released him, without even looking at him.

"You can go now, Helmut."

"Yes, my lord." The latter couldn't help but look at the two strangers still in the room, but it was not up to him to know what someone else was thinking. Closing the doors behind him, only three beings still remained. Because they were completely silent while immobile, even with such strange armors, they could appreciate the little song the human in front of them was humming while pouring the expensive liquor in his glass. They couldn't recognize it without the lyrics, but it looked very solemn and sad. Maybe because he was drinking alone, but he raised a bit his voice, allowing the two strangers to barely hear it.

".. have come to kill me and my kin, to set this blessed lands to blaze.

Is it my fault? Am I this weak? Why no one can stand against them, even your pope?

Blessed Aria, what are our sins? For you to let your virtuous believers ...

Hum? What are you two still doing here?"