We arrived at the Narrows a little later than scheduled. The sun was now setting, and the goblins were out in force, cackling and screeching into the night. In order to protect us from those nocturnal little fuckers, I had Sapphire use <
Since we were trying to avoid attracting attention, no fire was lit. We quietly ate our rations while watching the sunset from on top of the walls. Watching the sunset over the Acheron River was quite an experience. At first, the sky looked like it was on fire. Then the blazing red sky gave way to the encroaching darkness slowly but surely. Eventually, the sun disappeared under the river, as if the mighty river swallowed it whole.
This river, about 1-2 klicks wide at the Narrows, was the western boundary of human civilization on this entire continent. It flowed fiercely and proudly, refusing to be tamed despite the Empire’s best efforts.
I remembered Vinnick telling me about the 625th Imperial Ranger Legion, who was ordered by the previous Emperor about 20 years ago to cross the river and set up a forward base on the west bank of the Acheron and to catalog all the valuable natural resources to exploit. Out of the 5500 Rangers and Auxiliaries who set out to conquer the river and its west bank, only 300 returned, battered and delirious. The 626th Legion had to be quickly raised from nearby Legions and civilians to protect Carnwennan and her settlements as a result. Whatever’s out there, it scared the top brass so badly that there hasn’t been a single major recon mission anywhere near the river since then.
If we were going to live here, I’d have to conquer (or at least keep in check) what the Legion couldn’t. And I would have to do it with a tiny fraction of their resources and manpower. Yikes...
Well, that was a problem for future Rummy. Tonight, I had to come up with a good name for my new puppy. The first name that I thought of and instantly rejected was “Wolfie”. I would’ve liked it on a dog, but to call a wolf that is horrendously cliche. The wolf’s blue eyes and white coat did remind me of an iconic monster from a beloved old-school anime/card game franchise, so “Kisara” was a great option. The other option I considered was from a decades-old video game franchise, “Blizzaga”, which would’ve been a great fit considering its likely elemental affinity.
I was leaning towards “Blizzaga” mainly because it was a name that worked with both genders. But I ended the night with no final decision. I took a power nap as Skera volunteers for the first watch once more.
***
After a couple of hours of well-deserved sleep, I was woken up by a suckling sensation on my finger. Guess it was hungry again. I was amazed how this helplessly blind (its eyes were still closed) pup somehow found my finger with only its nose. I took the glass bottle of milk and began to feed it in near-total darkness, with the waxing crescent moon providing the only source of light.
As it greedily suckled my finger, I ask. “Hey puppy. How do you feel about the name, ‘Kisara’?”
No response- it continues to suckle until the milk is gone. I dip my finger into the milk bottle once more and stick it back into its mouth.
“Ok, how about, ‘Blizzaga’?”
The pup kept suckling. Guess it had no opinion either way…
I dipped my milk-covered finger into its waiting mouth again.
After 20 minutes of feeding, it went back to sleep. I put the pup in my satchel, reloaded my magazines and en bloc clips, and walked onto the top of the wall. It was a cloudless night with half a moon lighting the sky. The cold night breezes caressed my face and chilled my soul.
Skera was still on watch. She grunted at me and turned her head back to watch. No glares or putdowns… I supposed we were making progress…
“Lady Skera, please take a break. Judging by the moon’s position, it is past midnight. Your watch is over.”
She wearily looked up at me. You could see the bags under her eyes- 3+ consecutive days of minimal sleep would do that to anyone. Jeez, this woman was hanging on by a thread.
“I’m fine.” She stoically declined.
“Hah! In your present state, even I could best you in a swordfight.”
Emma walked up to the ramp. “And I agree with him. Gods, Skera, you look awful. You need to sleep. Our journey is only half-finished, you know!”
Skera tried to refute, but her eyebags betrayed her. “Fine! I’ll leave you lovebirds alone!” She then got up and went back down the ramp.
After surveying our perimeter with my spyglass to see if there were any goblin war parties nearby, I turned to Emma. “Lovely night so far. Let’s hope those green bastards don’t ruin it.”
“Don’t think there’s anything wrong with a night spent killing these rapey little shits.” She quipped.
I chuckled a bit. “I’m so glad I get to marry a woman this witty and fiesty.”
After fighting off her blush, she countered. “I’m so glad that I get to marry a man of mystery.” She sat down next to me.
Her quip reminded me that this engagement was blazing fast compared to the standards of my old world. Normally, we’d date and learn more and more about one another. But there was nothing “normal” about this. From her standpoint, marriage was a convenient way to tie me down to her cause. The fact that she was attracted to me and was intrigued by my life was a bonus, not a requirement.
But hey, not like the wedding was happening soon. There was plenty of time for us to really know one another. “Emma, we can learn more about one another right now, no wedding required.”
She looks at me with a puzzled expression. “What do you want to know? And since when do husbands bother spending time getting to know their wives?”
“Well, I’m no ordinary husband. Tell you what, let’s spend every night asking and answering one personal question from one another. Nothing technical like ‘how was I able to make guns?’, but anything else is fair game.” It wasn’t that I wanted to hide the reincarnation stuff from her, but a part of me wanted to hold out a bit and not start our Q&A session off with the crazy stuff.
Her eyes shone with excitement despite this limitation. “I’d like that very much, Rummy.” She scooted even closer to me. “If you don’t mind, I’ll ask the first question.”
Well, how could I refuse? “Shoot.”I casually answered.
“Who taught you how to forge-smith?” Lol. Nice try getting around the limitation. Too bad she was too vague on the question.
“The 626th Imperial Ranger Legion. 5th Auxiliary Cohort, 2nd Century, 3rd Squad. Under the tutelage of Decanus Arminius, may he rest in peace.”
“Was he some sort of prodigy?”
“No. He was just a commoner Expert-level forge-smith.”
“I see. Looks like I need to think harder about my question tomorrow.” She conceded with a wry smile. “Well, it’s your turn. What do you want to ask me?”
“Oh, nothing major. I was just wondering what you want out of life?”
After a brief silence, Emma replied. “When I was sold by my parents to the Galahad household, I cursed them for being weak. When I was violated by those noble bastards, I feared that I would be forced to give birth to children who would also suffer my fate. Luckily, Lady Natalia rescued me before those degenerates soiled my womb. I took advantage of my magical talent and worked day and night to acquire the power I need to change my fate. But despite my best efforts, Lady Natalia is on the verge of losing everything. My 7-star magical power isn’t enough to reverse her fortunes or my fate as a weakling that the powerful torments for fun.”
Emma’s blue eyes grimly look at the ground in dejection. I can almost see the soul-crushing guilt that she feels as she admits her failure to me. After all, if her opponents have their way, Natalia’s company would be stripped bare by the opportunistic vultures and its employees (mostly women and men of low status) would be abused once more.
She looks at me and continues. “So to answer your question, future husband, I want a husband who is strong enough to change my fate, no, our fate. Do that, and I would devote my life to you as your loving wife. Do that, and I would gladly bear you children. Do that, and I would even help you build your harem.”
Wow, what a waifu! Beautiful, talented, and ambitious- all in one package...
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
I took out one of the mithril daggers I looted from the Witches from my storage bracelet and gave it to her. “Emma, my betrothed, take this dagger as a symbol of my promise to build a city upon this hill. When I complete this task, you will be my wedded wife and the first of my harem.”
Emma smiled at me as she accepted the dagger. “I look forward to seeing what miracles you can deliver with your gift, husband.” She flicked her dazzling purple hair at me and seductively smiled.
“Well, if you can give me a preview of what our married life will be like, I bet I can deliver that miracle just a little quicker~” I gave her a playful smile as I approached her.
I grabbed Emma and gave her a hug. The natural scent of her hair utterly intoxicated me. I pulled back a bit and stared into her lake blue eyes. I gave her a quick peck on the lips at first, then emboldened by her consent, I kissed her full on. Before I knew it, our tongues were wrestling with one another as the dawn’s first early light heralded the start of a new day.
Married life is gonna be great~
***
Fuck! This sucks! I forgot how sucky getting blue-balled was. Emma gave me a very generous preview if you know what I mean, but stopped short of the promiseland to my frustration~
But I did promise her- no husband-and-wife activities until I’ve built a city in the middle of a hostile death jungle. Some may think I was a simp over-promising her the impossible, but it really wasn’t that hard to deliver this promise.
After all, I was lucky to have two 7-star mages on my side; and one of them even specialized in earth elemental spells. I also had 5 storage bracelets, so getting supplies and materials wouldn’t be a problem. The only major problem to deal with was the wildlife, and for that problem, I’ve thought of 2 solutions: the MG-42 general-purpose machine gun and steel-reinforced concrete.
The MG-42 was a tour de force of superb German engineering. It handily outperformed its American and British counterparts in WWII despite being made of lower quality steel; it had double the firing rate and easier barrel change mechanisms (machine gun barrels need to be rotated after a while to make sure they don’t overheat and lose their rifling). With a theoretical firing rate of 1200 rounds per minute and a practical rate of 153 rounds per minute (when you factor in belt/barrel change times), a single machine gun squad nested in a concrete-fortified position could literally hold off an army by themselves as long as they were properly supplied.
With tracer rounds and ample supply of flares for lighting, I could turn a goblin war party’s night raid into a bloody field of mangled bodies in mere minutes. And now that I had Natalia’s support, I could mass-produce the ammo needed for such a weapon.
In fact, I planned to build machine gun nests on top of the steel-reinforced concrete wall to maximize the defensive advantage. Even if the Elves unleashed a horde on us, I should be able to hold it off assuming I had enough ammo.
This promise to Emma was very do-able thanks to a combination of magic and engineering (and most important resource of all- money)! And after I complete the impossible, Emma would-
“What do you think, Forge-Master Rummy?” Natalia snapped me out of my R-rated reverie and asked me a question. “Do you think we can establish a settlement here?”
Oh right, I was supposed to give a scouting report of the area. I quickly gathered my thoughts and gave her the answer that would define our fate. “Ah yes. After extensively scouting the nearby area, I believe we’re in an ideal location for a city.”
I pointed to the roaring Acheron River in front of us. “The black sands of the Acheron river bank is a great source for iron ores. In addition, I saw plenty of clay, limestone, and pumice deposit sites nearby, so we shouldn’t lack building materials for the foreseeable future.”
After a pause, I continued. “For food, as long as we bring enough food to last us until our first harvest, we should be fine. There are plenty of fish in the river to supplement, and the soil looks fertile enough to support large-scale farming without much development.”
I pointed to the hill we were on. “The lack of mana crystal mines is a bit concerning, but I believe we could compensate for that by harvesting them from mana-beasts attracted by our presence here. This hill, which is 3 meters high at the peak, is an easily defensible position from potential raids.”
Natalia let out a small sigh of relief. “Very well then, it looks like this is a place where we can escape to if events in the city take a turn for the worse.” The way Natalia looked at me made me believe that this was not only a viable Plan B, but Plan A. I should probably warn her that it wouldn’t be easy.
“My Lady, I should inform you that any serious plan to settle here would require at least 12 moons of careful preparation and a sizable amount of wealth. Going through with the plan with anything less is incredibly risky.” Even with her resources, developing my knockoff of the MG-42 and the insane amounts of ammo required was not gonna be a simple task.
“I’m afraid you have 6 moons at best.” Natalia stoically replied. “My father, in a desperate attempt to stop the spiraling violence, had asked House Mordred for mediation and support. They have designs on me and my company, so eventually they will come asking for my hand in marriage in exchange for their help. I have been and will continue to delay all I can, but a match is inevitable.”
Well, fuck. That was… sub-optimal to say the least. Looked like the little violence I started last winter has escalated to something beyond what I could’ve ever imagined. I honestly thought Count Galahad would simply crush the upstart nobles in a few weeks and life would move on. But his inability to resolve this crisis without outside help really showed me that his reputation as the man who runs Carnwennan was built on a house of cards.
“I suppose I owe you an apology.” I said sheepishly. “In my defense, I thought your father would weather this crisis like he did for the past 15 winters running this place.”
Natalia wryly smiled at me and replied. “The proud and capable man that left my ancestral home in the south for Carnwennan 15 winters ago no longer exists. My father is a shadow of the man he used to be. Nowadays he drinks and whores himself to sleep, only intervening when my brother Valerian catastrophically blunders.”
Wow, what a harsh appraisal from your own daughter. It was tragic to see a man lose his fire and drag his whole family down with him. To see somebody with dreams and ambition decay into a deadweight… that was my version of a Bad Ending.
“I suppose you should thank his laziness for getting the opportunity to run the Galahad Trading Company.” I said, trying to brighten up the atmosphere.
“And if I failed to secure the profits he needed to continue his lavish life, I would’ve been replaced a long time ago.” She replied with a cold splash of grim reality.
“My Lady, 6 moons is not nearly enough. I will need apprentices just to put together the weapons and armor required to survive this trek. On top of that, I need time to make armored carts for all of your dependents. Without the necessary time, some of them will be marching out there in the Wild with no protection at all!”
Natalia gave me a pained look. “Do what you can, my Forge-Master of miracles. That is all I can ask of you. I will gather all the supplies I can muster and the most capable people for you to command in a forge-smithy.”
Shit, no matter which world I’m in, I was just destined to put in overtime, huh? Well, at least this time around I was the one calling the shots, and there wouldn’t be any ungrateful parasites bossing me around in my shop, shoehorning me into backing their mediocre ideas.
Besides, migrating and building a new settlement in the middle of the Wilds was gonna be the engineering project of two lifetimes. Despite knowing the difficult challenges ahead of us, I was giddy and excited!
I took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly. I then looked at my new boss with determined eyes. “Then we should hurry back to Carnwennan, Lady Natalia. We don’t have a moment to spare.”
Field Inventory
Primary Weapon
Recurve bow made from Champion mana-beast sinew/Quiver with arrows
M1 Garand v.1.0 [Christened Severance Pay]
Secondary Weapon
Colt M1911A1 Semi-Automatic Pistol v.2.0 [Christened Aurelia]
Armor
Champion mana-beast leather body armor [Damaged], bracers, and greaves; Leather boots lined with bear fur
Mana Crystals
1x Adept-level air elemental mana crystal
1x Adept-level fire elemental mana crystal
1x Adept-level earth elemental mana crystal
2x Adept-level ice elemental mana crystal
5x Adept-level space elemental mana crystal
4x Beginner-level time elemental mana crystal
1x Adept-level life elemental mana crystal
1x Expert-level earth elemental mana crystal
1x Expert-level space elemental mana crystal
Stash of various mana crystals
Misc.
5x storage bracelets, spyglass
Utility belt, grappling hook, rope, dark green cloak, field satchel, waterskin, rations, boarskin map and steel knife
1x .45 ACP steel centerfire pistol suppressor
1x .30-06 Springfield steel centerfire rifle suppressor / bayonet [Damaged]
6x en bloc clips of .30-06 Springfield armor-piercing ammo
3x magazines of .45 ACP hollow-point ammo
1x leather holster
5x dragon leather armor set
2x dragon sinew recurve bow
2x steel shields
1x polearm
1x arming sword
5x mithril dagger
1x mutated wolf mana-beast pup [Name TBD]