The End of an Era.

[The Sick One]

AUTHORS NOTE: Hello, this is my first USB story. This is also the first part to a bigger story I plan to write.

The story is played out in a Dieselpunk/Victorian-Edwardian/WW1-2 setting, with a small bit of fantasy in it (cheesy as hell, I know, but I couldn't come up with a better explanation for the setting).

I should also warn you that this "novel" does not revolve around uniform/clothes stealing. While I will try to put in a lot of FUS-scenes in the chapters, there will be more of a overarching story where clothes-stealing isn't central to it. So I suggest you to just skip it if you only care about the steals, and not the plot.

Foul language, sexual and physical violence and mentions of it, and blood will also be present throughout some chapters, so be warned if you do not enjoy or can't stand any of it.

Well, enough of me babbling, here's the story. Hope you'll enjoy it!

**************


Epilogue.

Krendlebrach Cemetery, three hundred miles south of Färnwechler, a small town two days away from Olmdark, capital of the Olmdark Empire. Middle of Autumn of 1862 IB.


It's cold. Hügor Grimler, captain and second-in-command of the fifth Jäger-division, thought as he watched over the almost ancient cemetery in the brightly moonlit night, with it's graves, mausoleums and crypts. And the gigantic barrow the Kommendant had just sent eight of his best men into, to recover some kind of artefact. The squad had waited for almost three hours by now. He tightened his fur collar around his face with his hands as he looked around.

The cemetery was a strange place, since it was both huge and well used as it would seem, but so far from any civilized settlement and placed in an old forest. Strange was also the fact that while it was so secluded, it still had its own small road to it, big enough for at least one truck to travel on it without any qualms. The people in the closest town and villages had also warned the division not to go there, frantically telling them that it was cursed and haunted by ghosts and ice-demons. Hügor by now almost believed them, due to the bone-chilling cold and the unpleasant atmosphere.

It's cold. So bloody cold. Hügor repeated in his mind as he watched the eight soldiers return, dragging out a massive coffin out of the enormous barrow with thick beige ropes. The wind blew as if a massive snowstorm had just hit them, except it was even colder than that.

Hügor had experienced hard winters and cold climates before. During his youth in the Wultbart-mountains, his posting in Drolmfort in the northern parts of the Istland-regions, and his later relocation to Stramleberg, commonly called "Castle Cold" by the members of the Empire's military staff. He had survived horrible storms of snow and ice, bone-chilling winds, and even hail of massive proportions. But this cold was unnatural. It was worse than anything he had ever experienced, and it was still only the beginning of Autumn!

"Um, pardon me, sir, but is that... thing truly worth all of this hassle?" he mustered up the courage to ask the Kommendant through his clapping teeth, as he turned his head toward him. His commander was actually only a colonel, but he had told all of his subordinates to call him "Kommendant", and so they did. All of them, without any kind of questions.

The Kommendant was a quite tall yet thin man, with a gaunt pinched face, close-sitting brown cat-eyes, a large pointy nose, lips so thin that if he pursed them enough they would probably disappear, a thick cropped beard the colour of acorns, and ears so pointy that they could have belonged to a bat.

Johan Falkenklaue, the Bloody Falcon of Olmdark. Hügor thought as a shiver, almost as cold as the air around them, slowly slithered down his spine.

The Kommendant was also dressed in a long coat in stone-grey and dark green colours, with golden buttons, a black belt with a golden buckle, a white wolf-fur collar and cuffs, and the many golden and silver medals with the Empire's seal on his left breast that he had earned through his many years of service. On his left biceps was a small pointed triangle-shaped shield with the coat of arms of the Empire, a black crow ready to fly off on a golden field with three upstanding blood-red chevrons behind it. On the other arm was the Kommendant's own coat, an almond-shaped shield with a grey falcon holding a red snake in it's golden claws as it flew over a dark green field with two purple bendlets over it. He also wore black boots and gloves with fur trimmings of sable, a dark green scarf covering his entire neck, and a dark grey cap worthy of a general with the Empire's coat of arms fastened on its front. He turned his head to Hügor, and the shiver returned, even colder than before.

"Captain Grimler, do you doubt our beloved Empire's prowess and strength?" he asked in a deep voice, with a calm yet ice-cold tone.

"N-no, Kommendant!", Hügor answered quickly, to not be ensnared in a debate about loyalty. He had heard of a man who had been lured into a similar trap by another commander. That man had ended his days in the gallows, branded a traitor to the Empire.

"Good. But I do. I have served this great nation for more than twenty-five years now, and I, among a few others, see the truth that many of the military and the Emperor himself doesn't; we simply can't keep up this fight with the Wry Republic as we have for the past hundred and eighty years. Give it two, maybe three decades and not a day more, and we will have run out of resources as well as manpower. But with this..." he pointed with his right index finger to the massive coffin, and the exhausted men who were now standing in front of and around it, and smiled the most frightening smile Hügor had ever seen, "...with this, we will have something that will give us the upper hand we require."

More soldiers started to surround the enormous coffin. Average sized and average built men in their primes clad in long dark green or dark grey coats with black buttons and brown fur-trimmed collars, black boots and gloves, black or green scarfs, and dark grey coal scuttle-shaped helmets with a single spike on top of each and their division's seal on both sides of it; a white hawk with red eyes on a moss-green shield, with a 2 and a 5 below the hawk in pitch-black. Some had bandoliers filled with 7.62 mm-ammunition from their shoulders to their waists and back again. A few others wore breastplates of black steel. All, however, wore holsters on mostly their right sides, armed with black Segfried-pistols. While the Republic still used mainly revolvers and bolt-action rifles, the Empire had shifted to semi-automatic pistols forty years back, along with semi-automatic rifles and improved machine guns thirty years ago. Almost all of the men were armed with those as well. Semi-automatic rifles with 7,92 mm calibres and made from black iron and dark brown oak, called Bratzman due to the name of their creator. The men themselves were hard veterans of this hard and long war. True soldiers who'd stared Death in the face more than once without fear nor regret.

The fifth Jäger-division, the pride of Schwarzhügel and the Empire's military. Hügor thought with pride as he looked over his comrades. The division he had served in for at least fifteen years, and been second-in-command for seven of those years. It was also one of the most dangerous and reliable forces in the Empire, known to make the impossible into the possible. Yet he still saw small glimpses of fear on the faces of his men, as they awaited the Kommendant and himself on the hill they stood on.

"What's the problem, Lieutenant Reffmeier?" the Kommendant asked the third-in-command, Arnfeld Reffmeier, as they descended from the hill down to the crowd. A tall and broad man dressed like the rest, with a flat nose, square jaw, small blue eyes, and the start of a beard with a short blood-red stubble all over his lower face. He had survived the siege of Dekkre, and together with the rest of the men as well as the thirty-first Panzer-division had won the brutal battle at Malmberg. He had left both those battles with a face as if carved in stone, yet now he was trembling like an Autumn-leaf and sweating bullets, even though the cold air almost froze them to ice as soon as they appeared.

"K-K-Kommendant, sir. W-we recovered t-the c-coffin f-f-from the t-tomb. B-but the m-m-men, t-t-they s-said t-they s-s-saw things d-down t-there. Horrible t-things." he said through shattering teeth, with eyes filled with fear.

"What things?" the Kommendant asked, looking mildly annoyed at how one of his best men had transformed from a fearless killing-machine into this shaking mess of an adult man.

Reffmeier only stared at him, while taking a few terrified glances back at the tomb, and always returning with wide eyes ready to break into tears. The Kommendant looked even more annoyed, but only shook his head in frustration and turned to the coffin. He looked at it as if it was the greatest price in the world, while Hügor and the other soldiers only looked at it with either pure fear or an unbearable curiosity. It was rectangle-shaped, huge, wide and long, but not that tall, and made from black stone, with depictions of skulls and inscriptions of a strange and ancient language written with gold and lapis lazuli all over it.

"This is just what we need." the Kommendant said in an assured tone, "Bring out the bars and hammers, boys!"

Half the troop ran back to the convoy, and quickly came back with crates filled with huge crowbars and large sledgehammers. Then the strongest in the company quickly drove the bars into where the lid were, and started to hammer down on them with the sledgehammers. It took a while, but after a time they managed to open the lid. Hügor would regret that moment for the remaining time of his life. A horrifying teal shine peered out, and through the half open lid, ice-cold winds and small teal balls of light in the shape of terrifying human skulls flew out, letting out blood-curdling screams and laughs. The men who had their guns ready aimed in panic at them, while those who didn't started to cover, run, or scream out of fear. Hügor couldn't move and was about to faint of fear, but he heard something strange. It was the Kommendant, who was trying to open the lid completely.

"Grimler!? Anybody!? Help me with this, you damn cowards!" he yelled in a tired yet furious voice, as he kept pushing at the massive lid with all his strength.

Hügor knew he should have just ran, perhaps even deserted, to save himself from this nightmare. But he was too loyal. Loyal to the empire, the army, his squad, and his commander. He ran to the Kommendant's side, and started to push as well. They both called for more help, and soon they were eight who pushed. Himself, the Kommendant, Reffmeier, whose face was now almost completely covered in snot and tears, their demolishing expert Werner Dråkler, and four of the men who had driven the crowbars into the lid from the start whose names Hügor could not remember. They all pushed with all their strength, while the nightmare-like laughter and screams from the flying skulls echoed in their heads, louder and louder.

God, please, let it end... Please, let us open it... Please... Hügor thought as he kept pushing. And as a horrible sign from God, the lid opened.

The skulls disappeared as if they had never been there, but the cold and the lights stayed, and became even worse. Those few who didn't fall or ran when the freezing wind or the blinding lights struck them walked up to the now open and glowing coffin. Those were Hügor, the Kommandant, Reffmeier, and Dråkler. They all looked into the blinding coffin, and all but the Kommendant flinched back as if they had been hit by a bombshell. Hügor landed on his back and almost puked, Reffmeier did puke, even as most of it froze even before it reached the ground, and Dråkler screamed as if he had been shot in the most painful of areas. The Kommendant only stood there, and watched into the horror.

"Yes..." he said calmly in an almost silent voice, and looked back at Hügor with a smile. His shiver returned, worse than before, almost as bad as what they had just experienced.

"S-sir?" Hügor asked meekly, as he felt his crotch becoming warm and wet, then cold and stale again, and his eyes hurting from the tears freezing even before they'd left them.

"This is just what we need," he said in the same calm and cold tone he had spoken with earlier, "to end an era... an era of war..."

**************


Chapter 1.
Born of Filth and Theft.

Northern part of Boozebottom, the worst slum in Wrychester, capital city of the Wry Republic. Late Spring of 1879 IB.


The sun's goin' down. Evenin's here. And I'm late. Shit... Lidia thought as she watched the orange-blue sky with its grey clouds and black columns of smoke.

She ran as fast as she could back to Lennard's shop. If she would be late again, he would be angry. And probably drunk too. The old bugger drank like one of those strange animals from the far south-east, with two humps on their backs and a face only a mother could love. She ran past decrepit stone buildings either one or two levels high with either broken or boarded up windows, small plank houses which looked as if they would fall apart at any moment, small abandoned steel factories with lanky sky-high chimneys still letting out small columns of pitch-black smoke, dirty alleys in-between rickety and ramshackle houses of wood and bricks filled with manure and death, alehouses that looked more like used war cantinas or toilet-sheds made for four to five people, with only a few exceptions, that looked like shabby bordellos, and usually were exactly that. Boozebottom. The dirtiest, smelliest and most dangerous area of Wrychester, capital of the Wry Republic. More an old ruin than a district, with a majority of the buildings and facilities too dilapidated to even consider safe. It was nowadays only home to murderers and thieves, whores and degenerates, drunks and beggars, refugees and orphans. All the poor outcasts of a society where the high-and-mighty didn't wish to look upon anymore.

A true shithole.

All the nastiest gangs in the city also lived here, and in practice controlled the area, since the city's police force didn't really care about the place anymore than a horse did for the flies buzzing around it's arse. There were the Burning Buggers, Reynald's Rats, Bill Barchester's Boys, the Dealers, the Morsedi Brothers, the Rotten Apples, and some others she had forgotten the names of. Cruel cutthroats and brutal bastards, all of them. The kind of creeps and degenerates who would rape you while they robbed and gutted you. If you had a pretty face, that is.

Lucky me Lennard always says that I wouldn't be worth a bloody penny as a whore.

She ran faster, passing sleeping drunks and loud beggars, dirty and shabby whores looking for customers, and shady-looking men dressed in filthy coats and dirty jackets armed with all sorts of sharp or blunt things waiting for their next prey. They all ignored her.

'Course they do. I ain't got no money, I'm a youn' girl, and robbin' a child wouldn't be worth the damn bother. Well, she wasn't actually a child. She was seventeen, a woman grown. But she was small, one and sixty-two centimetres, a bit skinny, and looked half a child with her big green doe-eyes.

As she ran, she passed a smelly and hairy man dressed in a blue coat covered with patches and stitches as well as a pair of grey and yellow-lined pants who was selling mirrors in a small stand made from shabby light brown planks. Most of the mirrors were broken, or so dirty that it was impossible to see anything in them. However, one was not useless, and Lidia stopped for a short time to look upon herself in it. Her long loose dark brown and dirty hair, her pale dirt-spotted face, her thin build and finally her large green doe-eyes didn't give her a great impression of herself. Neither did her dirty orange vest with only three still intact buttons, her filth-spotted white lace-up blouse, her long patched blue skirt, and finally her shit-stained brown boots with a few holes that showed her smelly brown socks.

I need new clothes... Especially new boots... she thought sourly as she looked at her own reflection for a short time.

"Are ya buin', or just lookin'?" the salesmen asked in an annoyed tone that showed his pure disdain for window-shoppers. Lidia only gave him a sour look and a frown, then started running again. She could hear the salesmen mutter "Lil' twat..." under his breath as she extended the distance between them more and more.

Soon enough, she reached her destination. The Cocky Crab. The only inn in Boozebottom which didn't belong to any of the gangs or wasn't a ruin. A disgusting pile of rubbish and shit, but also her home for the past sixteen years. It was a broad and large two-level plank house, with almost no windows and six smaller shacks built into it from the sides. It kind of looked like the bloating carcass of a pig, full of sores left by age and termites, with the shacks looking like scavengers gathering around it for a feast. The biggest of these shacks were almost houses themselves, attached to the inn. There were Payter's Pawnshop, Fornelia's Fortune-Hut, Lennard's Service-Shop, the smaller shacks, and then the large inn itself, which was owned by a large and scruffy man with a red beard and dopey fish-eyes named Clarence Orlsson, who everyone in Boozebottom called Old Craby.

Home. Lidia thought, as an old white-haired drunk fell face-first into a brown puddle in front of her. Ignoring him, she started to run towards the Service-Shop.

Halfway there, at an old brick house which could have been a bakery once, she passed two of Barchester's Boys. A pair of large, bald and thick-built brigands dressed in green button-up shirts of wool covered with different kinds of stains, black braces with red suspenders, brown shoes covered with black and green muck, and grease-stained red scarfs around their thick necks, armed with old but long and sharp dirks. They were harassing a shaggy-looking drunk dressed in a dirty brown coat covered with patches and a pair of rotting black shoes. The pair asked for money, while the drunk didn't seem to understand a single thing they said, only shambling and babbling something incomprehensible. Lidia, for some reason she didn't even know herself, stared at them a short while, before one of the brutes noticed her.

"What d'ye want, ye little cunt? Bugger off 'fore we make a rug o' ye!" said the one who had noticed her. A brutish-looking man with a thick brown walrus moustache, a pointy red nose, and a pair of dull angry pig-eyes. He also had a tattoo of a green skull on the right side of his head. His companion had also noticed her by then.

"Heh, calm down Rudden. She's just a wee lass, what can she do? Oy, bonnie! Ye better leave 'fore tings get rough. 'Is ain't a dandy place 'or lil' ladies." the other one said. A calmer-toned man with a short but thick and grizzled black beard which looked like as if he had flayed a bear and glued its hide onto his face. He also had a pug-nose, brown eyes, and brown teeth too. Both he and his friend reeked of ale, onions and piss.

She did as he said and left. The drunk still didn't seem to understand what was happening around him, only looking around and spurting some gibberish as the two criminals started to threaten him again. Lidia ran the rest of the way to the front door, banged the code on it, and waited. For quite a while.

Where the hell is he?! she thought angrily and looked around to make sure she wasn't followed by the two brutes, or anyone else.

Is that old sack o' shit on another bender? I'll kill 'Im if that's the bloody case... She was about to knock again, even harder, but stopped herself when she heard the sound of a lock being unlocked, and the door opened.

Inside stood a short, bowlegged, skinny and sour-looking greybeard, with dark green eyes, a bald pate, a grey and white beard covering everything below his red potato of a nose to his crotch, a hunched back, and huge leathery hands. He was dressed in a patched and faded yellow coat with a high collar, black pants, and grey boots in need of a cobbler's magic hands. Father. He wasn't her real pa, just an old man who had adopted her at a really young age. Or that's at least what he had told her angrily last time she called him father, which had been eleven years ago.

"Yer late," he said in a stern yet quite high-pitched voice, "we got work t' do."

Still looks the same, except that green mould-stain by the window. Lidia thought uncomfortably as she looked around her home while following Lennard. First after entering the door there was a large room that worked like an entrance hall, with a quite high ceiling with a cheap wooden chandelier filled with candles, as well as brown floors and sea-green walls filled with different oddities and relics Lennard had collected during his long life placed on pedestals or hanging on the walls, like a pair of blue monkey feet, a black and pink feather which was almost a whole meter long, a long row of blood-red shark teeth, the shrunken head of a strange-looking woman with sewn-together lips and eyes, a small statue of black stone depicting a naked girl with a frog's head, an egg as large as a grown man's head and coloured in cream and gold, and a hundred other weird and strange things. After that there was a pretty long and thin hall with six doors, three on the left, two on the right, and a final one at the end of the hall, which led to Lennard's office as he called it. Its walls were dark blue, while the floor was still wooden brown, and on the walls hung a few paintings of fantastic animals and bitter-looking aristocrats (mostly stolen ones they hadn't manage to sell). The doors to the left was hers and his own living rooms, as well as a shared bathroom. The ones to the right was first a closet filled with different useful things they had gathered over the years, from a small arsenal of weapons to different tools they could use one way or another, and then another door she had always been ordered not to enter, which she for some strange reason had obliged. Then they entered the office, a quite large windowless room with two large wooden bookshelves on either side filled to the brim with books and almost obscuring the walls, a large dark brown desk almost at the end of the room, with a flask-shaped candle-lamp and a small and messy pile of paper on it, as well as a pair of fancy green chairs on either side of it, and finally a large collection of paintings depicting famous places and stuffed fish on trophies of different sizes (all stolen as well) on the bright yellow wall behind the desk. They both seated themselves in one of the chairs at the desk, opposite of each other, and simply sat there in silence. All the while, Lidia started to think about the Service-Shop.

The store's services were quite simple. People paid them to perform honest tasks. Most requests were thefts or espionage, and sometimes a few killings, but Lennard always refused the last kind. "It's bad enough we live in a dirty shit-covered dump and have t' steal and spy t' survive!" he had once told her angrily while being drunk like a skunk. Most of the jobs usually involved Lidia, the more agile and younger of the two, infiltrating some place, mostly rich mansions or estates in Golden Grove, the richest area in the capital. High-ranking generals, mighty and rich businessmen, and a large part of the nobility who were placed in Wrychester lived there. Lidia's job was usually to find some poor girl with her build and stature, knock her out, take her clothes, find the price, take it and return home. It was way easier than what some may think. Most of the rich buggers didn't even care to look closer at their younger or shorter servants, which made it all much easier for her to blend in. She had also mugged schoolgirls, young nurses, novice nuns, performers and even two young socialites. One had been at a funeral, wearing a black dress and face-covering veil, which had made it all easier. The other one had been a girl from the south-eastern country of Marzeer, wearing a strange and colourful concealing dress, as well as a head and face-covering shawl, making it also quite easy to not be noticed.

"Ya know the job?" Lennard asked, braking the silence.

"The normal kind?" Lidia asked back while sneering a little, knowing that the geezer hated when she answered his questions with another question.

"Yea," the old man answered while scowling through his almost yellow teeth, "information this time. The track o' a weapon transport led by Baron Hjordheim's youn'er brother, Phineas. Ya know where the Hjordheims' live?"

"The large blue estate with the statue o' a blue bull with golden lightning bolts as it's horns standing on a white flowerbed in front o' it?" she asked, knowing Golden Grove well.

"Yea. They're havin' a party t'night, celebratin' the Baron's son Albrecht's safe return from the war." the old man said, clearly disappointed by the outcome. Lidia knew Lennard's hate for the nobility all too well, since she shared it to a fault.

"Have we won?" she asked, too curious to stop herself, even though she already knew the answer.

"One rich cunt returnin' doesn't mean the end o' the fightin' with the Olmdark Empire." the old man answered bitterly, "But this information may perchance be o' use for some true patriots o' the Republic. A document, preferably. But if ya have t', try t' eavesdrop on the Baron or any o' 'is cronies and remember the information on yer own."

He opened a drawer and picked out a few things, then handed them to Lidia. He gave her a small bag of a green fabric filled with enough rope for two people and two pieces of thick beige cloth, to tie up and gag her victims with. A small knife for any kind of emergency that was quite easy to conceal. And finally a small red pouch with five gold coins in it, if the need for a bribe would ever appear, as well as a small brass key that Lennard had bought from a retired maid who had worked for the Hjordheims. A key that would probably work on a lot of the doors inside the mansion. He then waved her to his side, leading her to the other door on the now left side of the hall, the one she'd been told never to open. Lennard opened it, and outside was an alley big enough for a carriage and two horses on a row to stand in, which Lidia had never seen before, even though she'd been around the Cocky Crab a thousand times. A few feet from the door stood an old carriage, it's driver, and it's transport. The carriage was old and without any paint, except the wood's natural colour, which reminded Lidia of something she'd once been forced to clean up while disguised as a nurse. It had marks of age, much use, and termites. It's driver looked similar in an uncanny way. An elderly bugger dressed in a brown jacket, pants, boots, scarf and bowler-hat, with short yet wild grey hair and sly old eyes the same colour as the carriage. His face and carrot-like red nose were pox-marked and covered with early syphilis wounds, as well as black and grey stubble all over his thin cheeks and chin. Finally the poor nag, who was brown and covered with white spots on it's arse and sides, as well as having a grey mane and only one functional eye.

"The bleedin' hell is that?" Lidia asked in an annoyed tone. She had always preferred to walk as well as hating carriages, since they were a symbol of the wealthy, who she hated almost more than the pox.

"It's yer ride." Lennard answered as he was taking out a small hidden bottle of green glass in his coat, "The streets ain't safe no more. T' many fuckers who'd rape and kill ya, and that would mean the end t' our business, wouldn't it?"

Lidia looked at the old driver, who gave her one of the most disturbing smiles she'd ever been given. It felt as if a snake made out of ice slithered down her spine.

"And what if he rapes and kills me? He looks the type." she asked while shifting her gaze from the still smiling perv to Lennard, who was taking a healthy swig from the bottle.

"Crill may look like a perverted killah, but he's in me debt, and he's trustworthy. He'll take ya t' Golden Grove without any problems," Lennard said as he was re-entering the shop via the door, "and don't ya come back without the goods, ya hear!?" he yelled to her as he closed the door with a pretty loud bang.

Lidia glared angrily at the closed door, sighed deeply, and entered the carriage. The way to Golden Grove in that old carriage proved to be one of the most boring experiences in her entire short life. Looking out for anything interesting proved useless, since the carriage didn't have any windows, except for four wide slits, big enough for a child's hand to slid through, made for air. One was at the front behind the driver, one each was placed in the doors, and the last was behind Lidia's head. It was almost impossible to see through them, but hearing was no problem. However, the streets were seemingly dead, as quiet as they were. Speaking to Crill proved fruitless as well, since the bugger was either mute or just ignoring her. The trip was also slow, even though she rode in a carriage, something she knew could go faster than a running man. She guessed that either the old perv was treating the nag nicely just to spite her, or that the poor creature was too old to walk faster than a snail. Even though she knew she would probably either be raped, gutted, or both if she fell asleep, she quickly started dozing off. She was tired, partly thanks to the boredom, and soon entered the land of dreams.

**************

"Oy, m'lady! Wake up! We're 'ere!" a hoarse voice called out, waking Lidia up from a dream where she had danced on a beautiful meadow filled with yellow, red and white roses. A dream that had made her more happy then she had ever been in her whole miserable life.

"Shut that fuckin' trap, arsehole!" she called back, enraged. Both out of annoyance for the fact that the old bugger wasn't mute but had just ignored her during the ride and that he had ruined her wonderful dream, and fury over the fact he had called her m'lady, when she hated the nobility even worse than the plague. She left the carriage and came out into a large yellow brick alley that was made to hold garbage. As she walked up to the old bastard, she noticed that the sun had only almost gone down, making the night sky dark blue instead of black, yet filled with golden and silver stars.

"Oh, aren't we lovely 'is dandy evenin', eh?" Crill said, chuckling.

Lidia was surprised that he hadn't raped or murdered her, and even more surprised when he told her with a prideful voice that it had only taken them two hours to get here, when her own walks usually took three hours, and that the old nag didn't even seem tired from his lightning-fast sprint, as Crill put it. When she asked how it was even possible, the old man just smiled and told her to hurry on to the estate, and that he'll be waiting where they now stood for her.

"Okay, but ya best be here when I come back." she said and started walking, hearing no answer from the old crook as she strolled on her way to the blue estate and its bull with the lightning bolts as its horns. She looked out from the alley, and took a good look of her surroundings.

Place's still the same Lidia thought as she looked over Golden Grove from her hiding place. Almost all of the huge buildings were identical. Incredibly large and high square or rectangle-shaped mansions placed in the middle of huge square grounds, filled with either huge hedge-labyrinths, enormous gardens, or small forests made for partying and merrymaking. Almost all of the mansions looked the same, with the only exceptions between them being their colour and exterior décor. Most were coloured in shades of white, beige or brown, with a few sculptures and planted trees in the front yards. But some had much more impressive colours and décor, such as blue, green, red, yellow, orange, and purple, and beautiful statues, gardens and fountains. The Voltwell's, (the presidential in-laws) mansion was coloured entirely in gold, silver and black, with huge marble gargoyles resembling demons and goblins on the balconies, and with a magnificent fountain made also out of marble at the middle of the yard, with a huge blue-painted and beautiful naked nymph riding a large silver salmon as its motive. While the Orkwall's, (the Republic's richest bankers) mansion was coloured purple and in a shade of green Lidia didn't know the name of, with a statue of a bronze stag with a hawk's wings at the gate, and wonderful gardens containing the most rare and exotic flowers. Another thing all the mansions shared was the walls protecting them from burglars and assassins. From four and a half to almost seven meters high they were, and usually heavily guarded by tough and brutish-looking men wearing the emblems or insignia of the family they served.

The estate would be easy to find, even without the bull. More than thirty carriages and less than ten automobiles in hundreds of colours and metals stood outside of the teal-coloured five and a half meters high front-wall, like a massive way-point on wheels and coloured in gold, green, purple, blue, red, yellow, black, orange and more colours she couldn't even name. The open main gate, which was made in the traditional way, consisting of two massive rectangle-shaped oak doors with the family's coat of arms painted beautifully on each one, was guarded by a pair of rough-looking men clad in blue brigantines, golden lobster-tailed pot helmets with face-shields in the form of bull-faces, chausses and vambraces enamelled in aqua blue, and finally gold-coloured braces, jackets, leather gloves and boots. Both were also armed with thin sabres with golden hilts, and loaded Bedwells 1859 with gold-plated barrels and ash handles. They were at the moment asking a pair of peacocks with human heads for their invitations.

Hell, those rich pricks even dress their guards up in fineries.

The main gate was out of the question, so Lidia quickly and quietly snuck behind the carriages and around the wall, to look around. And as a sign from Heaven, she saw a small wooden door made for the servants so they could easily take the trash out to three large brown containers made for depositing the filth. And even better, someone was there, taking the trash out. It was a girl of eighteen years, with pale skin, big blue eyes, a small yet pointy nose and freckles all over her pretty face. She wore a black front-button dress with an ankle-long skirt and long sleeves, puffed shoulders, white ruffle cuffs, a high collar with white frills at the end and an unnecessary bowknot-tie around the throat. She also wore a snow white apron with ruffle edges and ends, an equally white frilly mob cap concealing her hair and most of her upper brow and lower back of her head, and grey lace-up boots with slightly heightened heels. And as another gift from Heaven, she looked about Lidia's size and height, with a thin build and hardly any breasts at all. Lidia walked over to her, fast and quiet like a cat so not to be spotted by the soon to be unfortunate maid. When she was almost right behind her, Lidia picked up a well-placed glass bottle at the foot of the closest container, which looked as if it had previously been filled with milk, and smashed it over the poor girl's head. With only a quick and squeaky OW! leaving her lips, she fell down face-first onto a closed bag made from dirty grey plastic, unconscious.

"Nothin' personal, dove. Just business." Lidia said, smiling at the poor girl as she brushed away the glass from her cap and started to work.

Lidia started with dragging her off the bags and turning her over, then unlacing her boots and removing them, as well as her long white stockings. Then she untied the apron and removed the cap, revealing her victim's beautiful brick-red shoulder-long hair. After that, she started to unbutton the dress, untied the tie and removed the white undershirt with the frilly collar and the long underskirt with frilly ends. Soon enough, all the moaning girl was dressed in was her undergarments, consisting of a long white shift and thin long white close-fitting bloomers. Lidia then removed her own clothes; her orange vest, her white blouse, her blue skirt, and finally her boots and socks.

"Ahh, it feels quite good t' come out o' those clothes. I'm goin' t' ask Lennard t' buy me some new ones when we get payed for this job." she said nonchalantly to herself, as she started to put on the maid's stockings, undershirt and underskirt, buttoned up the collar, tied the apron and necktie, hid her dirty dark brown hair inside the cap, straightened the skirt, and lastly laced up the boots. She also folded her own clothes into a neat pile, hid them where only she would find them nearby, and took her small green pouch, her knife and her red bag and hid them all inside her apron.

Being all clear, she then began to work on the poor redhead, starting with tying the wrists of the young maid behind her back, securing her ankles and her knees, and finally wrapped and tightened one of the coils of rope around her lower breasts and upper arms to pin them on her sides. She then used one of the pieces of cloth to gag her. She quickly placed the cloth over the maid's mouth-area, from below the nose to just below the chin, and tied a hard knot behind her head. A cleave-gag would perhaps have been more effective, but the cloth was too big for her mouth, and Lidia was in a hurry. She placed the maid against the wall beside one of the garbage containers, and placed a few of the large bags made of grey plastic and filled with garbage around her, to make it extra hard for anyone to spot her.

"Well then. Have a dandy nap, miss, and thank ya for this nice new outfit. Now I'm goin' t' take a good look around this fancy house..." Lidia said as she sarcastically waved goodbye to the sleeping beauty and walked through the small door. And entered a fantasy-world.

(Horribly sorry that it took so long to complete. A million different things constantly came into the way, but I hope it was worth the truly horrendous wait. Also, due to making it a tad too long, I was forced to split both chapter 1 and 2 into 2 different posts, so pardon for that one. I'm not entirely sure when a third chapter will come, but I will try and make it as soon as possible. I'm also going to write down some short-stories in the near future, so I hope it can suffice. Thank you very much for reading and waiting.)

[esercito sconfitto]

hey, what a starting point

please provide a description of Lidia

and an accurate list of ALL her previous adventures

Lidia's job was usually to find some poor girl with her stature, knock her out, take her clothes, find the price, take it, and return home. It was way easier than what some may think. Most of the rich buggers didn't care to look closer at their younger or shorter servants, which made it easier for her to blend in. She had also mugged schoolgirls, young nurses, novice nuns, performers and even two young socialites. One had been at a funeral, wearing a black dress and face-covering veil, which had made it all easier. The other one had been a girl from the south-eastern country of Marzeer, wearing a strange concealing dress and face-covering shawl, also making it easy to not be noticed.

hey keep writing where is the second installment

[rufusluciusivan]

First things first, congratulations for your first chapter! From what I've read, I can guess that you have a detailed universe you wanted to showcase in a story.

As for me, I make no secret about the fact that I prefer stories with overarching plots, which contain a lot of uniform stealings as part of the adventures of course, but of which the uniform stealing is not the finality in itself. In my opinion, stories of which the uniform stealing is the only finality tend to quickly become repetitive and not very interesting.

I like the idea of your 'Victorian-Edwardian' setting. It allows to use "retro" outfits and underwear (bloomers...). Plus, the gritty 'England Industrial Revolution' is a new setting on this Board. It helps this story bring something original and new. I confess I'm not very familiar with the Diesel-Punk, I'm more familiar with the Steampunk (and the Renaissance-like and Medieval Fantasy, obviously).

The style and dialogues are indeed more mature and grittier than other stories. But it fits the setting of the story. Not exactly my favorite kind of atmosphere, but you seem very comfortable writing with this style, and it's the most important.

Lidia looks like an interesting character. Not my favorite kind of protagonist, but she's well-written. Plus, given the kind of nasty place she lives in, one can clearly see why she made some life choices.

Lidia's job was usually to find some poor girl with her stature, knock her out, take her clothes, find the price, take it, and return home. It was way easier than what some may think. Most of the rich buggers didn't care to look closer at their younger or shorter servants, which made it easier for her to blend in. She had also mugged schoolgirls, young nurses, novice nuns, performers and even two young socialites. One had been at a funeral, wearing a black dress and face-covering veil, which had made it all easier. The other one had been a girl from the south-eastern country of Marzeer, wearing a strange concealing dress and face-covering shawl, also making it easy to not be noticed.

It was a good idea to include references to her previous jobs. A great way to characterize her and to make her feel like a real character who has a past. Though I can see why some people would want to hear more about these stunts, some times it's also a good thing to leave things to the imagination... In my opinion, this part is the most clever part of Lidia's introduction.

When it comes to the uniform stealing itself, the scene was nice. I liked your descriptions (of the physical appearance of the maid, of the uniform, of the underwear and of the binding and gagging). They were not too long, but well-detailed enough. The maid sounded very cute. Hopefully, she won't suffer too much side-effects. At least it's the late spring, so she shouldn't be too cold...

I have to say that I'm jealous of your way to write people's accents. As a non-English native speaker, that is something I'll sadly never be able to do... It's a bit of a detail, but it does a lot to create an atmosphere and to set your story apart.

[The Sick One]

First things first, congratulations for your first chapter! From what I've read, I can guess that you have a detailed universe you wanted to showcase in a story.

As for me, I make no secret about the fact that I prefer stories with overarching plots, which contain a lot of uniform stealings as part of the adventures of course, but of which the uniform stealing is not the finality in itself. In my opinion, stories of which the uniform stealing is the only finality tend to quickly become repetitive and not very interesting.

I like the idea of your 'Victorian-Edwardian' setting. It allows to use "retro" outfits and underwear (bloomers...). Plus, the gritty 'England Industrial Revolution' is a new setting on this Board. It helps this story bring something original and new. I confess I'm not very familiar with the Diesel-Punk, I'm more familiar with the Steampunk (and the Renaissance-like and Medieval Fantasy, obviously).

The style and dialogues are indeed more mature and grittier than other stories. But it fits the setting of the story. Not exactly my favorite kind of atmosphere, but you seem very comfortable writing with this style, and it's the most important.

Lidia looks like an interesting character. Not my favorite kind of protagonist, but she's well-written. Plus, given the kind of nasty place she lives in, one can clearly see why she made some life choices.

Lidia's job was usually to find some poor girl with her stature, knock her out, take her clothes, find the price, take it, and return home. It was way easier than what some may think. Most of the rich buggers didn't care to look closer at their younger or shorter servants, which made it easier for her to blend in. She had also mugged schoolgirls, young nurses, novice nuns, performers and even two young socialites. One had been at a funeral, wearing a black dress and face-covering veil, which had made it all easier. The other one had been a girl from the south-eastern country of Marzeer, wearing a strange concealing dress and face-covering shawl, also making it easy to not be noticed.

It was a good idea to include references to her previous jobs. A great way to characterize her and to make her feel like a real character who has a past. Though I can see why some people would want to hear more about these stunts, some times it's also a good thing to leave things to the imagination... In my opinion, this part is the most clever part of Lidia's introduction.

When it comes to the uniform stealing itself, the scene was nice. I liked your descriptions (of the physical appearance of the maid, of the uniform, of the underwear and of the binding and gagging). They were not too long, but well-detailed enough. The maid sounded very cute. Hopefully, she won't suffer too much side-effects. At least it's the late spring, so she shouldn't be too cold...

I have to say that I'm jealous of your way to write people's accents. As a non-English native speaker, that is something I'll sadly never be able to do... It's a bit of a detail, but it does a lot to create an atmosphere and to set your story apart.

Thanks, mate. It really goes to the heart when it's from somebody who's written one of the best stories on the board.

I wasn't too sure on the setting, so I settled on a combination between the WW2 30s-40s (the diesel-punk, if you were wondering) and the 1800s Europe.

Also, thanks for being interested in my choice of speech. I settled on a combination between broken Cockney and old-fashioned peasant-speech for the majority of the wrymen, and a more modern English for the olmdarkians (excluding when they speak in their native language, which is a combination between Dutch, German and Swedish, which will come later in the story).

I'm really grateful that you've enjoyed it this far. I will try to keep delivering in the future. Also, I will try to finish the current chapter and start on the next one this week. Thanks again to you, and everyone else who has enjoyed my tale this far.

[rufusluciusivan]

I'm really grateful that you've enjoyed it this far. I will try to keep delivering in the future. Also, I will try to finish the current chapter and start on the next one this week. Thanks again to you, and everyone else who has enjoyed my tale this far.

You're welcome. This is a solid saga introduction: starting with an ominously mysterious prologue to foreshadow the upcoming plot, but then following up with the main character in her 'normal' environment doing a job that is normal for her before starting the triggering event of the main plot, so that the exposition will feel more natural.

I settled on a combination between broken Cockney and old-fashioned peasant-speech for the majority of the wrymen, and a more modern English for the olmdarkians (excluding when they speak in their native language, which is a combination between Dutch, German and Swedish, which will come later in the story).

The amount of thinking in that detail, and in the style and plot in general, are making me wonder... If it's not too intrusive, I'd be curious to know how long you had this project in mind before starting to post it. Was it something you planned for months, or did you suddenly get the inspiration a few weeks ago?

[The Sick One]

I'm really grateful that you've enjoyed it this far. I will try to keep delivering in the future. Also, I will try to finish the current chapter and start on the next one this week. Thanks again to you, and everyone else who has enjoyed my tale this far.

You're welcome. This is a solid saga introduction: starting with an ominously mysterious prologue to foreshadow the upcoming plot, but then following up with the main character in her 'normal' environment doing a job that is normal for her before starting the triggering event of the main plot, so that the exposition will feel more natural.

I settled on a combination between broken Cockney and old-fashioned peasant-speech for the majority of the wrymen, and a more modern English for the olmdarkians (excluding when they speak in their native language, which is a combination between Dutch, German and Swedish, which will come later in the story).

The amount of thinking in that detail, and in the style and plot in general, are making me wonder... If it's not too intrusive, I'd be curious to know how long you had this project in mind before starting to post it. Was it something you planned for months, or did you suddenly get the inspiration a few weeks ago?

Sure, I could tell you. Funny thing is that I'm been writing this for over one and a half years now, due to both personal stuff, work, and that I'm a slow writer. But I've been having this tale in my noggin now for a few years, fueled by different pieces of arts, music and writing I've seen. Also, just so you know, one of the biggest reasons I don't plan to put an overabundance of steals in plot is mainly due to the fact I plan to make this into an actual novel one day (though I don't believe anybody would buy the shite, lol). Big talk, I know, but a bugger can dream, can't he? Funniest thing is that I have the full thing in my head, and I only have to write, which is the part.

Thanks though for being interested. When I started to write this, I first thought it would only get a few reads and then be forgotten by everyone on the board. Though it warms my gut to know people actually wants what I write.

[The Sick One]

Chapter 2.
Like a Fairy-Tale.

Bullhall, home to the honourable Hjordheim family. Placed in Golden Grove, home to the Republic's elite in Wrychester. Late Spring of 1879 IB.


It's like a fairy-tale. Lidia thought when she had entered the grounds and closed the small door behind her. Everywhere she looked, wonders and images taken out of the most beautiful dreams appeared.

She saw beautiful beds of roses in red, blue and white, as well as small dark green spruces, light green bushes shaped like animals, and a thick yet short oak surrounded by small beech trees, which seemed to only starting to sprout their leaves now, in the end of April. The grass on the ground was so fresh it looked fake but was actually real, as well as cone-shaped yellow-green bushes covered with purple flowers shaped like tiny bells. She could see a small pond filled with a dozen of tiny orange, white and pink carps swimming around, and a marble statue not far from it, shaped like a beautiful naked woman holding a crying baby gracefully in her arms, as tears of happiness streamed down her face in the shape of tiny pale-blue opals. Dandelions, buttercups and violets grew around it's foundation in a fixed beautiful pattern. All of it was almost placed in the shadow of the enormous estate, with its azure blue walls and cream white window frames. It all felt and looked like a dream come true.

This can't be real! Lidia thought as she looked all over the place, so filled with pleasure that she almost forgot why she was there, It must be a dream. A beautiful dream.

"Sarah! Sarah, is that you?" a voice called out behind her in a concerned tone. The voice of a young women.

Lidia, a little bit startled, quickly returned to reality and turned around, and saw a women in her early twenties dressed in an identical outfit as the one she had just stolen from the young redhead, who's name she guessed was Sarah. The other maid had blue eyes, a bit darker than Sarah's, and dark blonde hair, which Lidia could see thanks to a single curly lock protruding from the left side of the cap. She also had pale skin, a tiny nose and thin lips. In contrast to Sarah her bust was about the same size as a pair of cabbages. She looked at first quite concerned, then seemingly annoyed when she saw that her younger colleague wasn't Sarah.

"Who are you? I've never seen you before. Why are you dirty in your face and on your hands, and where is Sarah?" she asked quite fast in a both annoyed yet surprisingly calm voice.

Fuck, I've got t' come up with somethin' good, and quick! Lidia thought stressfully as the second maid seemed to lose more and more of her patience.

"Me name's Claire! I only started workin' here today, and I haven't seen any Sarah!" she managed to spit out, hoping that the older girl would swallow the lie.

"Claire? I've haven't seen or heard of you before. Guess I have to take you to Bellcrum, so he can decide if you're lying or not." the older maid said with a frown as she took Lidia's right hand in a firm yet soft grip and started to lead her towards a small backdoor made of black oak Lidia hadn't even noticed before.

Well, that's a decent start, at least. And a better option than bein' thrown out. Lidia thought while being led away by the older girl.

The door led into a short and narrow passage with white stone floors and walls as well as dark brown ceilings and a second door, this one made of chestnut and with the same colour, at the end. The older maid opened it, and inside was an immensely big rectangular-shaped kitchen with light brown wooden floors and beige brick walls. A trio of enormous black iron ovens framed by big beige bricks could be seen to her right, and a large door with dark blue planks and frames as well as golden handles to her left. A few meters in front of her was a large hearth inside a gigantic chimney made of the same kind of bricks as the walls. Over the hearth hung a huge black kettle which emanated a delicious-smelling mist. On the walls hung many wooden cabinets coloured the same as the large door to the left, probably filled to the brim with plates, glasswork, cutlery or different kinds of spices and herbs. Three large dark brown tables could be seen near the ovens in the form of a large square C. The tables were almost filled to the brim with vegetables, herbs and different kinds of meat, jars and small boxes of spices and ingredients, knives and cutting boards, as well as towels. The kitchen was filled to the brim with food and equipment.

And people... Lidia thought as she looked around while following the older maid.

Servants were everywhere, with most being either adult or old women dressed in white and grey smocks and skirts, as well as aprons not too unfamiliar to her own. The few men that who were either fully grown or just children present seemed to be the ones who kept everything going, as in coming and going with new ingredients to be prepared or keeping the ovens and stows burning and cooking. They were all doing whatever chores they had to complete at the moment. Some peeled and cut up the vegetables, some boiled the water and broth for the soups and stews, some grilled whatever meat that was to be prepared, some washed dishes, a few boys no older than twelve carried equipment, two really chubby men in their primes kept the massive ovens burning, an old woman spiced all the different meals with many different kinds of spices, and many more people did a hundred other things that someone would do in a kitchen. Anyone who wasn't stuck at a constant position were constantly moving around and looking for work, excluding six people standing not far from the blue door with the golden handles. They were five young people, three girls and two boys, who were all dressed like her, with the girls being dressed in the exact same uniform as her and the boys wearing more fitting outfits for boys that looked like they belonged to some kind of butler. The sixth person was a short yet stout elderly man with a bald pate and receding grey hair, as well as a short and thin moustache. He was dressed similarly to the two young men before him, in a black jacket with golden buttons and a pair of black pants, a white shirt with a blue bowtie, black shoes, and white silk gloves. He also wore circular glasses with light brown frames over a pair of small black and watery eyes.

That got t' be Bellcrum. Lidia thought as she got closer and closer to the geezer and his small retinue.

"Bellcrum!" the older maid called out as they were right behind the five servants in front of him, "I couldn't find Sarah, but I did find this girl. She said her name is Claire, and that she was supposed to replace Sarah for the evening."

The geezer stood there silently as he pondered, all the while the chaos of the kitchen was around them. He walked up to Lidia with an impressive speed for his age and started to inspect her with his small watery eyes.

"I expected a new maid tonight," he said in a voice that would have fitted a rat, if rats could talk that is, "due to the party. However, I didn't expect her to be this... filthy. Nor to loose one of those I already had. Very well, Claire, I will give you one chance to prove your worth. Wash your face and hands over there, take that bowl filled with flowing mint and pistachio-flavoured dipping from that table, and offer it to all our guests. Fail one single part of that order and you'll be thrown out. Understand?"

"Yes, sir." Lidia said, trying to hide her temper from the old man so as to not blow her cover.

"And also, try to keep quiet, would you? That dialect of yours could infuriate some of the guests. Not to mention me." Bellcrum said with pure contempt in his rat-like voice and walked off, while his retinue split apart to complete their own chores.

O' course, ya pompous son o' a bitch! Lidia thought as she silently went to wash herself where the geezer had pointed. After a quick washing of both her hands and her face, she went and picked up the large silver bowl filled with a green ooze that smelled both sweet and sour at the same time. The bowl was made out of the finest silver and had both four small legs on the bottom and a pair of handles on each side as to make it easier to carry, and it was large, big enough to hold a whole human head in it without any problems. She picked it up and walked towards the large doors with the golden handles. The two boys who had listened to Bellcrum earlier opened it for her, and she entered a large ballroom.

It was two times as high in the ceiling as the kitchen and three times as big, complete with a large staircase in white with blue and golden railings leading up to the second level, with white and blue walls and a floor seemingly made out of marble. Paintings covered the walls and statues were everywhere she looked, but perfectly placed so not to disturb any of the probably hundreds of people who all stood and walked around the enormous room, chatting and socialising with each other. Everyone was fabulously dressed, with the men wearing either pristine business suits or high-ranking uniforms from the Republic's army (most one or two decades too old compared to the modern ones), and the women beautiful dresses in a hundred different colours. Almost everyone was adults, excluding a few elderly guests and even fewer children. The women all wore sleeveless dresses with flowing skirts reaching the floor and upheld thanks to corsets around their waists as well as elbow bands in different shapes and looks, plus low necklines and bodices. Their accessories consisted of different kinds of jewellery, choker-necklaces, and elbow-reaching gloves made out of many expensive fabrics. A few mittens and pelts made from exotic animals, as well as scarfs and shawls made out of silk weren't too uncommon neither. The only exceptions to these dress-rules were the elderly or the children, who all wore more concealing and conservative outfits, but still as beautifully and expensively made as the adult women's clothes. Lidia walked around and offered the dip to every guest she encountered, with almost everyone either ignoring her or in different tones declining the offer (excluding a fat man in a purple business suit and an old geezer looking like a general who both tasted the sauce by dipping their fingers in it, to Lidia's surprise and thinly veiled amusement). All the while, she listened carefully for whatever information she could gain, but to no avail. She couldn't hear anything useful from the never-ending talking and chatting all around her.

"I say, the widow Cantlebury looks even more miserable than usual." a middle-aged stick of a man with black hair and dressed in a red and blue suit who Lidia just accidently stood beside said as he sipped from a glass of red wine, "Do you see, darling?"

"Oh, yes I do, Herbert," a chubby blonde woman in a black and green dress who stood in front of the man answered, "she just gets worse and worse for each year that passes. At the last party at the McWoldens' residence she did at least choose not to wear that veil. But now..."

The chubby woman turned around and discreetly pointed towards a slim and slightly short woman who wore a tight and concealing black and burgundy dress fitted for a widow. It had a black ankle-long skirt, a tight burgundy corset around the stomach, puffed burgundy elbows and long black sleeves that had burgundy ruffle-cuffs, as well as a high and closed collar hold up thanks to a golden pendant with a small ruby in it. She also wore black highheeled boots, black gloves, and a large black and burgundy bonnet-like headpiece with an attached black veil with burgundy embroidery looking like many different kinds of vines. The headpiece and veil made it impossible to see any part of her looks, like her hair or her face, and the dress and her accessories made it impossible to see anything about her body, excluding the fact that she was slim.

"I do say, ever since the Colonel died twenty-five years ago, she has been as sorrowful as if she was being followed by a black dog wherever she goes." the chubby woman continued as she and Herbert looked at the widow with sympathetic gazes. Or at least they tried for a few seconds, before returning to talking with each other about the latest trend in the world of fashion.

Damnit, I'm not gettin' anythin' useful out o' these gossipin' moneygrubbers! I need a way t' get a better disguise so that old Bellcrum don't recognise me, but how?! Lidia thought angrily as she kept walking forward and passed the widow Cantlebury, who Lidia could have sworn gave her a quick glance through the veil, with what looked like a pair of hard green globes with a haunting beauty. The eyes of a cat, looking over its prey. Lidia shivered silently and hastened her steps.

"I'm telling you, Bartson, never foster any children of any sort! Especially any girls!" a thin man dressed in a white and yellow suit with a bald head, thick black eyebrows and a small yet very long nose said in a quite angry and seemingly slightly drunk tone to a young freckled and redheaded man dressed as a military officer.

"I hear you, Mr. O'Malley, but why this sudden hatred for children? The children are our future, those who will take on the torch when we pass on." the younger man by the name of Bartson said, as he looked more amused than shocked by Mr. O'Malley's outburst.

"Hah, say that again if you would have to put up with brats like those over there!" Mr. O'Malley said and pointed towards a small group near the stairs, "Just you try it, and then we'll see if you like them that much afterwards, you pup!"

Lidia listened, and looked as discreetly as she could towards the group. It consisted of two adults, a fat blonde man and a plump brunette woman, with four children, three girls and one boy. Two of the girls and the boy couldn't have been any older than eight years at most, while the third girl must have been thirteen or fourteen, due to her height and looks, with a thin build and a shy way of looking around. Lidia also noticed that she had a very similar build to her own, even with the age gap, as well as the dress she wore which looked quite concealing. Said dress was coloured dark blue and light green, with puffed shoulders, long sleeves and ruffled cuffs, a long skirt reaching her ankles, a high collar with ruffle-ends. White boots with black lace-up fronts and slightly heightened heels. She also wore a green and blue bonnet on her head, that covered her entire head, excluding the face. But with just some some adjustments...

Jackpot! Lidia thought as she looked at the girl. But now she needed some way to lead her away from the large room and take her outfit. And the opportunity soon arrived.

On the second level, at the start of the staircase, stood Baron Hjordheim himself. A small fat man with short blonde hair and a large blonde spade-shaped beard filled with grey streaks, small blue eyes, large eyebrows and a large red nose. He wore a blue and white military uniform fitted for a general, but two generations too old for the current military of the Republic. He was also accompanied by five other men, and was readying himself for a speech.

"My friends! My dear, dear friends! I am so glad all of you could come to this celebration of my dear son's return from the battles of this grizzly war between us and Olmdark!" he shouted out with a deep voice to all the attendances as he put his hand on the elbow of the closest man from his small retinue, a young blonde and clean shaven man who greatly resembled the Baron.

Must be Albrecht. Lidia thought as the guests around her applauded and the Baron whispered something in his son's ear, to which Albrecht nodded and stepped forward.

"Thank you, all of you! Its mighty fine to be home again, and see all of your faces! Well, maybe excluding yours, cousin Valfrid!" he said in a similar voice to his father's, but a bit stronger and more jovial. Everyone, including cousin Valfrid, began to laugh. They all laughed until the Baron coughed noisily and raised his right hand.

"Yes, well now. Enjoy the festivities! I must speak in private about important business with my dear colleagues, but enjoy the evening in my absence! Celebrate, my friends, celebrate!" the baron yelled before he and the rest of his retinue, excluding Albrecht, walked towards the left end of the upper level and disappeared into a hallway, to the sound of a second round of applause from the guests.

Guess that's me que. Lidia thought and started to walk towards the family at the stairs.

The family in question was a true nightmare to behold and hear. The parents were having a heated discussion about the supposed infidelity of the husband with a young bank teller working at Passliegh & Waltson, one of the biggest banks in Wrychester, while their three youngest children were loudly harassing a poor couple not far from them and the fourth, her target, was trying to speak with a passing man dressed like a ringmaster from a circus, but was dismissed as the man kept walking until he reached a young blonde and slender woman dressed in a red and orange dress. Since both the parents and the siblings were distracted, Lidia seized the chance.

"Excuse me, miss?" Lidia said, walking up behind the girl and tried to sound as nice and possible, as well as hiding her dialect as good as she could.

The girl turned around with an innocent expression and examined her with cold brown eyes. Her looks quickly soured as she saw Lidia's stolen uniform.

"What do you want, servant?" she said, with a voice filled with more venom than an entire snake, "I don't have to lower myself to waste time on some lowborn maid. Go away!"

Oh, ya lil' bitch! Lidia thought, but composed herself and tried to keep the charade alive.

"I only wished to say that the youn' master over there has a gift for ye, miss." she said, while pointing towards a young olive-skinned and black-haired fellow dressed in a fine black and red suit who was standing near the exit and speaking to an elderly woman in a beige and kobold dress, all the while trying to keep her rage down.

"Oh, you mean Frederico Pantigani, the Ambassador of Caramasia's eldest son? And he has a gift? For me?!" the girl almost screamed with glee, and an obvious blush started to slowly creep up her face.

Holy hell, I'm good at this. Or just quite bloody lucky. Lidia thought as she tried to stop a sly smile from forming on her lips. She nodded and pointed up to the second floor.

"Up there, miss. I can show ya the way. It's a surprise gift." she said in a hushed tone and beckoned the girl to follow her. The girl looked a bit reluctant at first, but quickly started to follow Lidia as they both began walking up the stairs. They passed a few people as they reached the top of the stairs and Lidia looked back to see if any of the girl's family had noticed the conversation. To Lidia's relief, they clearly hadn't, standing where they stood just moments earlier, still arguing and pestering those around them.

Great. Lidia thought as she and the girl kept walking the same way that the Baron and his entourage had taken, passing a few more guests and a single older maid being harassed by a drunken man dressed like some kind of admiral. They turned into the same hallway as the Baron, which consisted of a long hallway with white walls, floor and ceiling, a blue and yellow carpet spanning the entire hallway, a closed window at the end with a small white table in front of it with a blue and white vase on it that was holding a yellow orchid in it, and finally a turn to the right, that probably led farther into the mansion. Quickly looking around, Lidia noticed that there were a few doors in the walls, mainly due to the now obvious doorknobs probably made of brass that poked out.

Well, well, well. I hope at least one o' these bloody doors leads t' a closet. Lidia thought and walked up to one of the doors to the left. She put the bowl of green sauce down on the floor and took out the red bag, and from it took out the brass key. She put it into the lock, and to her luck, it worked, unlocking the door. Lidia opened it, picked up the bowl, and beckoned the girl to enter. She quickly followed after when the girl had walked all the way in.

The closet was pretty big. Big enough for the two girls, plus maybe three more, to all stand there in a row with their arms stretched out both ways. The blue walls had some long shelves on them made from white-coloured wood on each side. Most of them had items placed on them, mainly cleaning equipment, but there was space for her bowl on one to the right. The girl, who at that point had only quickly looked around, now turned around, scowling, probably understanding that she had been tricked.

"So, where's the gift, servant?" she said calmly, yet with so much venom in her tone that someone could probably kill an enormous whale with it.

Lidia looked calmly at her, not showing any emotions. She then put the bowl onto the closest shelve, turned around and closed the door, turned around again to face the girl, and punched her the hardest she could, straight into the area around her right eye with her right fist. The girl didn't even have time to react before Lidia's fist crashed into her face, not even to scream or shout in pain, since she just fell backwards and landed with a small dunce on the floor.

Damn, I didn't know I was that stron'! Or maybe she's just really weak. Eh, who bloody cares? Lidia thought as she stood over the now unconscious girl, who had a large and growing blue-black bruise forming around her right eye. Lidia quickly took off her uniform and boots and laid them in a pile beside the girl, who she then she started to undress, and dressing herself up as. And just as she had thought, the girl was a perfect fit! She also adjusted the bonnet so that very little of her face and none of her hair were visible. However, before she could do anything more, she heard steps outside. And voices.

Lidia walked to the door and peeked outside through the keyhole. Outside, she couldn't see nor hear much at first, but after just a few seconds, the speakers were both visible and quite easier to listen to. She could see the Baron and all of his entourage, four men who all looked and were all dressed quite differently. The first was a tall and thin man with a bald head who Lidia could only see the back of. He was dressed in a fine black and green-striped suit and had pale skin, almost white. The second was a broad-shouldered and stocky man with a thick pair of light brown whiskers, a pudgy horse-face with a pair of buckteeth and small green eyes, and finally a bald pate. He was dressed in a purple suit with a green shirt and purple tie underneath made from many extremely expensive fabrics. The third man was young and strong-looking, dressed in a modern version of the uniform the Baron wore, but khaki and brown instead of blue and white. He had coal-black hair that reached his neck and a thin yet quite visible moustache below a widow's beak as well as also having a pair of large dark brown eyes and a tiny scar on his clean-shaven chin. The last man was tall and skinny, dressed similarly to the young black-haired man, but in a more formal uniform. He had short blonde hair with a few grey streaks in it, a cleanshaven and gaunt face, small blue eyes, and a thin and pointy nose. Even though he and the Baron looked quite different in both stature and features, it was quite obvious they were kin.

That might be Phineas... Lidia thought and tried to eavesdrop on the five men, now that she had the opportunity.

"I keep telling you, Baron," the pale man said in a voice that would have made an ice-cold killer shiver out of fear, "my men need those guns if our little scheme shall become a reality. Immediately!"

"And I hear you, Mr. Baltridge. But if you do not calm down right now, then I'll..." before the Baron could finish his threat, the large man with the horse-face and the whiskers interfered.

"Gentlemen! Calm down, both of you, please. We are all here due to business, and I'm sure none of us businessmen would want said business endeavour to fail or come into jeopardy simply due to immature bickering between us, am I not right?" he said, sounding like a slimy salesmen with pure butter in his mouth, making the words come out all oily and sweet. Mr. Baltridge and the Baron quickly exchanged deadly glares, but looked away after a few seconds of it.

"Yes. Of course, Mr. Orkwall." Mr. Baltridge said and quickly calmed down. The Baron mumbled something similar and tried to calm down as well, with less great results. The man who Lidia believed was Phineas took the opportunity to speak.

"I can assure all of you that the weapons, as well as the resources and the required amount of men will all be ready in two months, and not a day more." he said, with a high-pitched and tired voice, "Rest assured, gentlemen, all our important documents are hidden in my brother's office. None but us can find it."

Both Mr. Onobrecht and Mr. Baltridge seemed unhappy, yet satisfied, with those claims. However, the young black-haired officer didn't seem satisfied, and spoke up.

"Two months seems a bit too long for me. I will await one and a half. After that, I will begin my coup, and claim what's mine. Understood, gentlemen?" he said with a smooth voice that had a hint of a Caramasian accent.

"We will see what we can do, General Faltrino." Phineas said, barely being able to hide his rage and disdain. General Falctrino simply smiled a pearl-white smile with his teeth, which clearly aggravated Phineas and his brother even more. However, before something could happen, a guard appeared from where Lidia and the girl had come from, heavily panting.

"My lord! Sir! Trouble!" the guard said in-between deep gasps for air.

"Yes, what is it? Speak up, guardsman!" the Baron demanded, clearly annoyed that his guard prioritized his breathing before delivering the important message to his master.

"Dallard and James (gasp) found one of the maids (gasp) half naked and tied up near the garbage dump! Someone had stolen (gasp) her uniform!" he managed to say while breathing heavily. The gathered men all looked at each other, then at the Baron, who had now become beet-red.

"Search all the servants! Find this intruder and bring her to me in my quarters, preferably unharmed. And make sure to not disturb my guests! Understood, guardsman?" he said, almost choking on his rage. The guard only nodded and saluted, then ran back the way he came, even faster than before. His entourage all looked at the Baron, who took a deep breath and exchanged the look to his cohorts.

"We will speak more later, when this little problem is resolved. Is that good with all of you, gentlemen?" the three men all answered in their own way, with Mr. Baltridge saying a short "Yes", Mr. Orkwall complementing and thanking the Baron for his hospitality, and the General simply by smiling with his lips closed and nodding. All three walked away, while the Hjordheim-brothers stayed a short while.

"Working with these idiots is the worst decision I've ever made, brother." the Baron said, sighing deeply.

"I agree that they are fools, but we need them for our plan to succeed, Galbin. Now, lets find this little spy before she becomes too much of a problem." his brother said back as they both followed their cohorts, leaving Lidia and the still knocked out girl completely alone again.

Just ya wait and see, ya gaunt fuck! Lidia thought as she walked away from the door and towards her discarded and stolen uniform. From it she took all her equipment, especially the green bag filled with the rope and the gag.

She looked over the girl, who was now only dressed in a slightly concealing and white underdress with green and blue accessories. Lidia remembered her attitude from earlier, and started to think of a greater way to get revenge on the brat than just tying her up in her underwear. It would take a bit of time, but it would be worth it.

This will teach ya not t' turn up ya nose at me, lil' brat! Lidia thought and started to dress the girl in the discarded uniform. From the bonnet all the way to the boots. When that was done, she put her against the backwall and started to tie her up as well, the same way she had tied up Sarah before. When that process was done, she walked to the shelve where her bowl stood. She picked it up, smiled, and dumped the entire thing straight over the unconscious girl, soaking her with the mint-goo from head to knees and painting it all in the green colour. After that, Lidia smiled to herself and left the bowl on top of the still unconscious girl's head and walked to the door, satisfied.

Now, time t' get that information. she thought as she walked out of the closet, leaving it unlocked, just to make it easier for someone to find the humiliated girl. Lidia walked up to the corner and took a sharp right, where she entered another empty and almost identical hallway, but this one had only two doors, and a lot of different paintings hung up on the walls. The doors, one small and and big, stood opposite of each other. Lidia guessed that the bigger one led to the Baron's office.

Lidia took out the key again, and prayed it would work on the large blue doors with the brass lock.

"C'mon, ya bastard!" she said angrily to herself as she kept trying, until it finally opened, revealing a large room with rich furnishings and a lot of valuable decorations. However, that didn't interest Lidia at the moment. All she cared about was finding that information. She started by searching the large desk in the middle of the room, made from dark oak and with gold-painted frames. She first searched the top left chest, but found nothing but a pair of black pens. She then searched the second, which was empty as well. The last one was filled with bills and receipts for different business related to the war, but not what she was searching for. Then she started searching the top chest to the right, and there she found some documents, explaining both dates for the convoys, amount of items and resources they would deliver, as well as the amounts and kinds of protection. Even many of the kinds of items that would be delivered were listed down.

This should be what Lennard wants. Good, now I just need t' get out o' here and back home. She thought and placed the papers in her small bag, but before she even could leave the room, the shape of a short yet stout man stood at the door. Dressed like a butler and with grey receding hair.

"Well, well, well Claire. From the start I had my suspicions of you, and they seem to stand corrected." Bellcrum said with his rat-like voice, holding a black iron fire poker shaped like a trident, "You need not to worry, just come peacefully, and I'll not harm you. Maybe just curb you a little..."

A freighting smile slowly crept across his face, but before he could even enter the room, a black gloved hand took a firm hold over his mouth, and before he could react to that, a second hand drove a long and sharp letter opener into the front of his thick throat, as if it pierced soft butter. Bellcrum couldn't even react to his own murder, before the assailant pushed him in the back and made him fall face-first to the floor, not being able to utter a single word, only gurgling as his blood started to make a small puddle where his head laid. His tiny black eyes had already rolled up into his skull while his glasses had fallen off and landed a few centimeters away from his head. He had stopped squirming and wheezing after just a few seconds, all the while the puddle became bigger and bigger.

"What... the... fuck...?" Lidia managed to spurt out, unable to turn away her gaze from the dying man, before finally turning towards her saviour. It was the widow from earlier, Mrs. Cantlebury. They looked at each other for a short moment, before the widow lifted her right hand and used it to remove her headpiece and veil, revealing to Lidia's surprise a young and beautiful woman, with a pale complexion, dark brown, almost black, hair, and large green doe-eyes. She resembled Lidia quite a lot, only older by at least ten years. They looked at each other for another short moment, before the woman started to smile. A smile that looked much kinder than the one Bellcrum had worn before his death, yet it still produced a similar sense of fear and dread inside Lidia.

"Well hello there, little girl, are you playing at being a spy?" the woman said, in a light, calm and beautiful voice, yet it still only made Lidia more uneasy. And that was mainly due to her thin accent.

It was Olmdarkian.

[esercito sconfitto]

wow, what a great return

and the final twist seems to introduce the real main character, once established that Lidia alone is unable to perform her mission

very well written , my impression is that you are describing a real palace

[rufusluciusivan]

Back in november, seeing your update was a surprise, but of course a very pleasant one. Finally carved up the time to check it.

Nothing much to add compared to the fist comment. I guess it's because we're still only in the introductory part of the story. While it ends on a cliffhanger, I need the plot to really start to get fully invested with the story itself. I think I noticed some foreshadowing with a few conversations. Still in love with your setting. Still blown away by your writing style and your descriptions. (As a non-native English speaker who has a very heavy handed style, I again confess my jealousy. )

You have knack for writing pompous wealthy jerks, that's for sure. They're the kind of antagonists we love to despise.

The uniform stealing itself was a classic - the rude victim who gets karma USB-style. Always a nice treat. She was perfectly written personality-wise, and I liked the description of her dress - detailed enough. I confess her physical description and the description of her bonds felt a little shorter comparatively though

I also appreciated the little realism added by referencing the victim of the previous update - Sarah the maid - by having other characters discuss her and even having her being found. A good twist to create suspense and a good way to tie the chapters together.

If I had one suggestion, it would be either to feature several uniform stealings - or if there is only one, to make it even longer and more detailed. Personally, I don't mind heavily narrative-driven USB stories, but I know some other people prefer when there's more USB fun.