Gilgamesh had already suspected as much, though it was convenient for the man to just come right out and confirm it. His first impression was that the man thought far more highly of himself than he had the capability and good sense to support.

  “Haha! There is no need for hostilities, my friend.” Birpal said. “I simply wish to recruit your services. You see, there is another close by that I wish to have disposed of. All I require of you is to assist me in doing so.”

  Gilgamesh remained silent.

  Birpal let out a diplomatic chuckle in the awkward silence. “My friend, your fortunes are truly good to have encountered me. I offer you a better reward than can be found anywhere else in this barren land. One should not pass up such an opportunity when it is granted.”

  Though he had never met one before the Trials, Gilgamesh was educated about the other clans. The Pandava clan was somewhat unique. It operated on a caste system, even within itself.

  “This Birpal must be from among one of the higher castes, if he is acting this pompously and entitled despite the upheaval of the world.” Gilgamesh thought.

  It was obvious the man thought lowly of him, even if he laced his words with roses. He likely believed Gilgamesh to be a commoner, and thus bearing a natural inclination to gratefully accept the offer of a superior.

  “But… ‘payment’?” Gilgamesh had overheard some within the Zoraster decry the Pandava as being obsessed with money. “Does he believe it holds power even now within these Trials?"

  “Who is this target?” Gilgamesh finally asked. He needed more information to best navigate this situation.

  Birpal scoffed. His previously pleasant demeanor became stained with haughty, concealed derision. “An upstart who doesn’t know her place.”

  “Someone from his clan…” Gilgamesh deduced. The personal details did not concern him, nor was he inherently opposed, but there was still the matter of benefit. “What do you offer in return?”

  Birpal smiled with ample pride. “I possess a power which can duplicate any item of value. If you have anything of the sort, I can thus double your riches. The copies are exact, and of course, real.” He seemed to stress that last part.

  Gilgamesh was interested, but he did not show it on his face. “How many times can something be duplicated?”

  Birpal took on an expression of hardly restrained mockery, as if he were looking at a greedy, ignorant child. “It only turns one into two, and whatever is copied cannot be copied again.”

  “That is still an unbelievable ability. I will need proof.” Gilgamesh did not actually doubt that a scion of the Pandava could possess such an Astra, but he did need to confirm that it worked to the degree he required of it.

  “Give me something to duplicate.” Birpal said casually.

  Gilgamesh tossed over the simple iron dagger he kept on his cloth belt, intentionally a bit awkwardly. Birpal caught it, albeit without much athleticism and certainly without much deft.

  “He benefits from being a Magus, but he hasn’t invested much more into physical Attributes, if anything at all.” Gilgamesh gleaned.

  Birpal conjured a beautiful silver mirror and pushed the dagger into its glass. The blade sank through as though it were the surface of water, and two identical daggers appeared back out. Birpal tossed them both back as accurately as he could.

  [ Iron Dagger - Common Grade ]

  [ Iron Dagger - Common Grade ]

  Through both the Schema and his own senses, the daggers did indeed feel real, and he could find no discrepancies in either.

  “If you are offering payment, then I accept.” Gilgamesh said.

  Birpal’s power was not one meant for combat, and he almost certainly lacked experience and skill. Though he did have 300 soldiers, which meant he had won multiple fights.

  “Perhaps that mirror can do more than just what he’s shown...” Gilgamesh mused. It was too great a risk to challenge Birpal in that case.

  Gilgamesh glanced at the other charioteer. If necessary, he could just challenge him, but he needed to lower Birpal’s guard further and weaken him to ensure the opportunity of the silver mirror did not slip away.

  Birpal looked pleased at his agreement. “Then let us be on our way at once! It has not been long since I last saw her.”

  “How great are her forces?” Gilgamesh asked as he marched his army alongside theirs.

  Birpal laughed. “Not to worry. We now outnumber her by double! She herself is of no concern in battle. Ah, but that harlot has enticed a commoner as her guard dog…”

  “I suppose that makes us hunting dogs, then.” The bald man said as an amiable joke.

  Birpal laughed diplomatically again. “Nay, my friend. We are heroes!”

  “He possesses some savvy and fortitude. Birpal is not a complete fool either.” Gilgamesh evaluated. As a precaution, he considered them to be both slightly higher threats than before.

  “How skilled is her dog?” Gilgamesh asked.

  “We don’t need to vanquish the army.” Birpal replied. “You need only push through to Kubera and allow me the chance to challenge her. That ought to be the easiest part.”

  “She is weak, then?” Gilgamesh inquired further.

  “Utterly worthless.” Birpal insulted the thought of her. “She eats gold and produces naught but illusions and lies. That the elders allow her to…”

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  Gilgamesh contemplated as Birpal’s words trailed off. Birpal seemed quite assured and it did not seem to be entirely out of ignorance, but Gilgamesh did not hold a shred of trust in him.

  “Is it that Kubera is weak, or is he simply confident in his own power? Given that he has found victory in duels, it could be the latter…” Gilgamesh thought. “However, if I allow him to duel her, he might simply leave the Trial afterwards… It would be better if I used them to wear down each other’s armies and challenge Kubera myself. Then I will have the advantage to force his end of the deal.”

  Soon, an army came into view in the distance. Gilgamesh estimated a force of roughly 500, just as Birpal had claimed. At the rear, he spotted two chariots. One was a rugged man who was not immediately apparent to be a Magus. The other was a beautiful woman in her late twenties or early thirties who wore a luxurious green silk dress adorned with jewelry of an elegant gaudiness that did not suit her stoic expression.

  “...I have a proposal for our strategy.” Gilgamesh said now that he had confirmed the enemy and gained more insight into his allies. “The enemy is lopsided around Kubera’s side. We should send his army to keep them busy, while you and I combine our forces to quickly smash through the weaker side and rush to Kubera.”

  The bald man frowned at Gilgamesh’s suggestion. Naturally, he would take the biggest risk with such a strategy. But his opinion was of no concern, as Birpal seemed delighted.

  “Oh! Are you trained in warfare?” He asked.

  “This strategy has the highest chance of success.” Gilgamesh ignored the question.

  “We should take more time-”

  “I approve.” Birpal cut off the commoner’s objections. “We should not delay. Who knows what that harlot might do if we drag our feet.”

  The Pandava elite acted exactly as Gilgamesh wanted. Now the other man would be pushed into the bloodiest role and lose the most soldiers, while he would be able to conserve his own. Birpal was smart enough to know that he would conserve most of his own as well, and the plight of one hunting dog was of no concern. He, too, only saw them as tools after all.

  “Advance together, then wait for my signal.” Gilgamesh directed.

  Kubera’s army readied itself against their approach. A fair enough shield wall, but the lopsided nature remained.

  “Now, on me!”

  Birpal followed Gilgamesh as their charge favored the weak side of the enemy. Their formation was a mess, but it worked well enough. His army went first, but he didn’t complain. Instead, he took advantage of the opportunity to take the farmost side, which would ultimately allow him to conserve even more of his soldiers than Birpal.

  The rugged man next to Kubera barked out some orders, but his soldiers were slow to react. Gilgamesh and Birpal’s soldiers crashed into the enemy and quickly overwhelmed them. Reserves around the two enemy charioteers were sent to bolster their crumbling formations, but Gilgamesh could see they seemed more inclined to flee.

  “They are thinking of running away!” Gilgamesh shouted at Birpal. “We cannot linger. Leave half of our soldiers here and follow me to charge around!”

  Birpal seemed reluctant, but the stress of the situation and the urgency of his grudge caused his judgement to default to Gilgamesh’s words.

  “Vanguard push right! Rearguard advance to take their place!” His soldiers did as ordered, and soon the bulk of Gilgamesh’s army had left the front lines and joined him.

  It was a tactic of pure deception. His vanguard was three-quarters of his army and comprised the stronger fighters. Now he had double Birpal’s remaining soldiers. That fact was not lost on the Pandava scion, but it was too late for him to do anything about it.

  With that, Gilgamesh’s strategy was secured. All he needed to do now was use his soldiers to slay Kubera, and force Birpal to uphold his end of the deal using superior numbers.

  Seeing all hope was lost, the gruff man betrayed Kubera with a challenge and quickly died, to Gilgamesh's surprise. Kubera and all the remaining enemy soldiers vanished in an instant.

  “No!” Birpal cursed, but Gilgamesh acted.

  “Attack!”

  Birpal panicked at the sight of his army quickly folding to Gilgamesh’s. “Come to my aid!” He yelled to the other mercenary.

  Gilgamesh braced himself to deal with the other enemy, but to both of their surprise, the man simply fled. Gilgamesh looked back and saw what gave him fear. An army twice as large as their alliance, a full two thousand strong. And behind that giant force was the old man from before, deep in the throes of ecstatic madness. Gilgamesh cursed as he knew exactly what would happen next.

  “All of you hold him back!” Birpal ordered his army as he fled alone in the same direction as the bald man.

  “Left side with me. Everyone else attack!” Gilgamesh commanded as he sped after Birpal.

  Gilgamesh pursued him as fast as he could, but he was gradually falling behind. The soldiers he brought along were slowing him down, but he couldn’t discard them just yet. He needed something to threaten Birpal with after all, and continue with the Trial.

  The bald man looked back at the two in pursuit and sent the rest of his army to attack Gilgamesh as he himself made a move for Birpal. Birpal, in response, veered off to the left to escape his second attacker.

  “All of you at the back obstruct him!” Gilgamesh clicked his teeth, and ordered the slowest of his army to get in the bald man’s way. “Kill his soldiers, then follow after me!”

  Most of his soldiers met the enemy army head-on, while some went for him. It wasn’t by much, but they managed to force a detour that cost the bald man valuable ground. Gilgamesh was now the closest of them to catching Birpal.

  Gilgamesh looked in the distance to see the soldiers they left behind trampled over like weeds and the bulk of the old man’s army continuing on in their direction.

  “Challenge!” Gilgamesh attempted at Birpal, but he wasn’t close enough.

  Gilgamesh clenched his jaw slightly. He couldn’t allow Birpal to get away. The opportunity of that mirror is far too valuable for him. The bald man, however, had clearly given up on playing it safe. With the threat of a massive army not far behind, he intended to challenge the closest one, and that was Gilgamesh.

  Gilgamesh couldn’t allow himself to get caught either, as that would give Birpal the previous moments he needed to escape.

  “C’mon! Let’s have a dog fight-!”

  Gilgamesh watched as a sword of blazing gold sliced through his pursuer’s neck, wielded by a charioteer clad in flames. His skin burned dark orange, like that of molten metal, and his eyes and hair burned with the same golden flames that clad his formidable physique. It was though the sun itself had descended in the form of a warrior.

  The bald man’s headless corpse vanished along with his chariot, and the shining sword crumbled away to ash. But the sun still walked the land, and he chose Gilgamesh as his next target.

  Gilgamesh summoned his Bolt Viper to spit out an iron arrow as he threw a dagger at the man’s face. The sunfire man effortlessly deflected the dagger and ignored the iron bolt as its course seemed to miss him entirely. But he suddenly jolted into action and swatted the arrow away.

  Gilgamesh’s eyes narrowed. He had given nothing away of his intention to use the arrow to jam the chariot’s wheels. Upon that thought, he noticed the man’s glowing pale eyes.

  “The mark of Foresight? He’s a Sabaean. But that sunfire… Is that not the legacy of Angabo? How? A Dawn King has not been seen since Memnon!” Urgency spiked within Gilgamesh.

  He knew he was no match. Even among the great clans, there would be few equals to that Sabaean. There was no other choice. He must catch Birpal before he himself is captured. Gilgamesh scanned the land with piercing eyes and drifted to the right.

  Birpal started to pull away from him and the sunfire warrior drew closer. But soon, Birpal noticed the unrelated battle raging ahead and was forced to turn away, which brought him straight into Gilgamesh’s path.

  “Challenge.”

  Gilgamesh found himself within an encirclement of barely 200 soldiers between his and Birpal’s, who had managed to survive until now, but Gilgamesh paid them no mind. He brought out his golems and aimed all of his focus solely on Birpal.