12.

There were people at the fort. We had crested a slight sandy rise and were staring at the simple round keep when we noticed them. Bobby saw them first, seven slumped figures huddled around the small wall that encircled the tower. They were not far away, and we kept walking toward them. The exhaustion of our previous fight was still hanging heavy on me, even the slight trickle of adrenaline did little to rouse my spirit as we got closer.

Seven of them, six women and one man. The single man was African-American, younger than me, but older than Miguel, late teens to early twenties. He was lanky with short dreads that went to his shoulders. He had a bandage wrapped around one arm, stained brown. He spotted us and stood then started waving to us energetically. At his feet was a short spear, and on his belt was a blade similar to Miguel’s.

The rest of his party shot to their feet and watched us as we got closer to them. They were a range of ages, none younger than Miguel or older than Agatha. Two of the girls were wearing dark blue sweaters with their college initials on them. The remaining four were older, with the leader stepping out to meet us. Average height, with a similar length spear in one hand and a short hand ax like mine on her belt. Hard brown eyes watched as we walked up to them.

“Stop right there.” She commanded as her group spread out around her while the young man looked slightly perplexed and embarrassed. They weren’t raising their weapons, but all of them still clutched at them. Wary, but not hostile, at least not yet. I don’t recall seeing any of them in the fort- were they from the North Sea Region? If they were, it threw some of my hypotheses into the gutter. I was sure there’d be different species in the tutorial.

“Hello, my name’s Billy. I don’t recall seeing any of you at the fort?” I gave my statement as a question. It was hard to tell if they were stronger than us, but based on the amount of bandages and the wear and tear on their clothes, they had seen some fighting. The man wasn’t the only one with bandages, two others had them wrapped around various limbs. They weren’t wearing armor, but they were holding their weapons with more comfort than someone who had just picked them up. So, unless we had ran into a group of reenactors, they had been using their weapons for at least a few days. There was a good chance they’d have levels, likely even, and since we kept our attempts to raise our stats through consuming beasts mana hearts, they’d be stronger than us.

“No, we all came from the Mountain Fortress. Are you saying there’s more people?” There was a hint of desperation in her voice as she looked around at us.

“There were two hundred of us originally. We took a fort, ten miles South if you follow the coastline. Is it just you seven?” Bobby took over, stepping forward and in front of me. That rankled, my desire to step forward and take the lead had to be suppressed. Bobby was less threatening than me, and so far had shown her skill in gathering information from others.

``We were about the same. I was just shopping at night, and then next thing I know I was waking up in a tunnel. The end of the tunnel was a big cavern and we were all coming out. About two hundred of us. We never really had a chance to find out, we were attacked by these… these creatures within an hour.”

“Goblins!” One of the girls in a college sweater called out helpfully.

“Yeah, goblins. Some of the guys fought them off, and we were figuring out how the fort worked when we met the bugs.” Her face was growing pale, and darkness was threatening us as the sun began its descent.

“Why aren’t you in the keep?” I cut in.

“It won’t let us in. Says we can’t take other region’s forts while ours is still contested.” The guy said.

“Well, we can get in. Let’s get inside and out of the cold before dark. Our attacks come at night during the high tide and none of us want to be outside for that.” I started walking forward after that. I kept my head ducked down, but was looking up through my eyelashes as I approached. The other group split apart and let me pass without a word. Having them behind me as I approached the wall was enough to have a shiver run down my spine. It hadn’t been long enough yet for them to abandon their morals yet, or had it? Was I about to get a javelin to the spine the moment I opened the gate?

The fort’s small wall had a single square gate set in it. Thick wood with metal studs, it was only slightly wider than a regular doorway was. I put my hand against it, all the while waiting for that falling blow, my other hand clenched tight to my spear. I was cursing myself for having put my shield on my back for an easier time of carrying it.

North Sea Fort: Unclaimed

Open Fort:Y/N

I selected yes, tensing as the gate rolled into the wall. No blows came, so I walked inside the smaller keep. The actual keep was a round tower that was roughly twenty feet tall. It had a single door in the center of the dark oily stone, same as the gate, wood with metal studs. It opened with a slight push and I was in the first keep.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

A metal spiral staircase was in the middle of the tower, leading up toward the roof, but also down and underneath. Feet came tramping in behind me, boots thudding against the stone. I was already heading toward the staircase to head downstairs, to where the furnace would be. I had been carrying the crab mana heart for long enough.

The tower had been much warmer than the outside, but just as the fort's magic furnace room was hot, so was this keeps’. Sweat was budding on my forehead as I went down the ten or so steps, and found a room identical to the keeps’. Digging the mana heart free, I dropped it down without hesitation.

North Sea Fort Claimed

Owner: William Brent

Forts Owned 3/320

Northern Forts Owned 3/64

Someone else had already managed to get to their own keep and claim it. I wondered if they got the same alert as I did? If so, there was going to be some pointed questions about why I was the owner of all the forts. The first person to claim a fort for their faction was the faction leader, at least that’s what I had managed to decipher from the library. It had been couched in different terms, but I was glad to see that I had translated and interpreted the reading correctly. Now, with this new group saying that they couldn’t contest my forts, or claim their own since their own area wasn’t conquered it was a relief. I wouldn’t have to worry about other regions yet.

Going back upstairs reminded me of my own battered body. Fighting was tough, I was looking forward to the day I finally allowed myself to use my free stats. A higher endurance and constitution would be great. I allowed myself to toy with the thoughts of the type of build I wanted. Bobby was going towards something around strength, and Miguel was building a dexterity speed fighter. I’d try to steer Agatha toward a perception ranged fighter, which meant I should lean into a high constitution and endurance build. The centerline of the fight, just as we had with the rabbits, if I kept my current party that was.

Miguel was attached to me, I could see that as every day passed by. Bobby was cautious around me, but was comfortable with Agatha and seemed to find Miguel amusing. Agatha was a question though, if we found her granddaughters, would she stay with us? How much time and resources should I invest in her, if she was potentially going to leave us the minute we found her granddaughters? I didn’t have long to think on it, just a few steps, but as I took in the battered group of survivors from the Mountain region, I knew I would have to keep it in mind.

They had found the kitchen in the few minutes I had been below, everyone had fresh water and our pack that held the butchered rabbit was gone along with Agatha and one of the older women from the mountain group. Fresh meat made my stomach gurgle in anticipation, but the extra seven mouths would thin how much any of us would get.

Bobby was with the rest of their group at the only table in the primary room. Taking a look around I saw three other doors aside from the entrance. Kitchen, dorms, and bathroom if my information was correct. The keep was meant for a small group of people, only six bunks, the water cistern was small but refilled quickly. It was more of a watchtower than an actual defensive location. The fort was designed to be the center of the local defensive net, with the little keeps used to watch the surroundings, and to keep any of the spawning monsters from having a direct attack line on the fort.

“Keep’s up and running. We will need a few more hearts to get it running all the way though.” They had the rest of the hearts in their packs. Bobby nodded and Miguel rose up and started down the stairs with his own pack. Good kid.

“Bobby was telling me about your fort and the monsters you all fight at night. Has it really only been five days?” Their leader asked.

“Roughly. How long were you in the mountains?” I questioned.

“We’ve been running for two days. We’re just a scouting team from the main party. We found a fort to the North of here, but it was locked like this one. We were camping out in some of the local woods, but we decided we needed to look around. I can tell the rest of what happened in a minute when everyone is here.”

“Alright. Let’s get some food first and then we can hear your guys story.”

“Did you see a pair of girls there? Their names are Milly and Olivia. My granddaughters, they’re teenagers, black curly hair, Milly has hazel eyes and a mole on her right cheek, and Olivia is short and was wearing a pink jacket.” Agatha cut in before anyone could say anything. My heart stuttered for a second as I saw the leader's eyes widen in recognition.

“I don’t know Milly. There is a girl with a pink jacket at the camp. She’s young, a teenager, a little heavier with black hair.” the woman said.

Agatha’s face became filled with hope and joy. I was watching my plans crash around me with those few sentences. I had wanted to have her granddaughters be people we found much later or not at all. Not finding one of them with the first group of people we met.

“We have to stay here for the night. We can leave in the morning.” I cut in before Agatha could demand we leave right now. I could still see the arguments forming, a night march toward the camp of the mountain people. Bobby aided me though.

“We wouldn’t make it halfway there before we were all killed by monsters. There’s too many of those monsters out there at night. We can go in the morning, first thing.” Bobby reached over and grabbed the older woman's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.

“First thing in the morning.” I chimed in, looking into the older woman's eyes as I nodded. In the meantime we had to fight off a probable attack and find out how the Mountain group had been forced out of their fort.