V2: Epilogue:

…

I left for school, dropped out after razing half of a country, and came back to festivals and parades.

If I'm not careful, I'll start believing in my own 'legend' and end up getting myself killed.

Therefore, before getting sent off to find more allies, I scheduled a simple meeting to get myself humbled.

The best way to do that, naturally, was to talk to a bro.

And, the closest thing that I had to a bro happened to be Crusher, so I called him up for an informal meeting in a town between ours territories.

Trade with the Conquerors of the Desert were moving quickly. I didn't know how trains worked, but magic was very plentiful and mages apparently needed things to move around to refine their control. Therefore, floating platforms that only had to float forward on single rails were born. Yeah, I skipped ahead to levitating train cars, because magic is right there and I don't know how combustion or steam engines work.

But, I'll move on from powering a budding rail network with the training of interns/apprentices.

Tradestown, which was a great name no matter what anyone said, was mostly just a bunch of warehouses, places to eat, and places to rest. Between barracks-styled housing, and small apartment buildings, there were shops to get repairs for leathers, a general store, and loads of taverns. This was a place solely for work and if the trade ever stopped, it'll become a ghost town within days. The security was high because it was the official trading area between the Orcs and my people, as well as the fact that the Orcs were eyeing up the levitating rail and its conductors.

If you guys want your own, send your mages over to be taught by us.

It's not like we'll be able to discern what they can do to us and counter them immediately if we ever go to war.

Hah, we totally would, so they'll never do that.

Anyhow, I rented out one of the taverns and sequestered a whole street away for privacy, and so I waited for Crusher to arrive.

My plans were for us to shoot the shit, complain, and eat like morons.

While I'd like to drink, I held out against it, because hard liquor was still too damn expensive. When I become an alcoholic, I'd like to get smashed without ruining my monthly budget for luxury goods. So, I'll be waiting until the liquor starts flowing, before I delve into alcoholism. Remember, kids, always drink responsibly… never spend more on alcohol than you need to!

The goal is to get drunk.

Not to get off on smoky notes and smoothness.

As that thought permeated my mind, the door to the tavern opened and I sighed in relief at the sight of Crusher in all his glory.

"King of Wisdom."

"Crusher." I greeted him in return and gestured for him to take a seat at the bar with me. His guards shuffled in and they were covered in half-plate and chainmail. They got lucky with their starting zone and got access to some rich iron reserves. We could only get full plate on ours because we had two starting regions worth of strategics to work with and we were constraining our production of armies. We only had full-fledged army, but if wew anted another of the same caliber, we'll need to trade… or fire up an early Steelworks, which is garbage. 50 gold a turn for 1 strategic unit of steel is garbage. Gonna wait until the tech's progressed enough for a Steel Mill. "I see that you've been sharpening your teeth."

"Meat use teeth. People use weapons." Crusher grunted and let one of his men take his coat. The Raiment of Thunder crackled on his form. It was a scorched-black suit of full-plate that crackled with azure lightning. It lowered the health of the wearer by 25%, but gave the Champion using it a passive aura that continuously applied magical damage to their surroundings. If the Champion was melee-oriented, took the Magical Weapons trait after a level up, and used a melee-weapon, their weapon will have a chance to stun any target upon hit. Upgrade their attack speed, and you can permastun an enemy Champion, so that you can murder it with ease. "I see that even you understand that.'

"Oh, this? I'm afraid I don't exactly compare to most swordsmen, though I do have great guardians to make up for it." I pointed at the small, upper level of the tavern. I couldn't see them, but Rita and Ilych were both up there as my security detail. Both were fully kitted out with all the gear and equipment I'd pulled out from the Academy's depths. Two against one was already fantastic odds, but Rita was rocking an Anti-Champion build, while Ilych was just obscenely strong. I couldn't see her exact trait list, but it was definitely one of the murder-blender configurations. She can walk into a field filled three hundred or so professional soldiers and win, even if they didn't retreat or break from seeing a tornado of blood and guts roaring towards them. "Don't worry, I'll make sure to sharpen my blade until I can be confident with… just one of them around you and your men."

"Hah, I'd like to see you try to reach such heights of martial prowess, King of Wisdom." Crusher chuckled and came forward. He took a seat at the end of the small table between us, which rapidly filled with plates of food. His guards came forward to poison check and found none, before he unceremoniously started to eat. I only started eating after him, since I was the host. A few chews of a whole lamb shank later, and Crusher spoke again. "You best hurry and grow stronger, because the Academy has now truly shed the carcass it has hidden behind. Their true colors as enslavers and schemers have been revealed to the continent entire."

"Oh, you think that I'll have to draw my sword to face the Academy? Do you think my armies are that weak?"

"Your army is strong, but you only have one. The focus your people have on scholars and magic will be your undoing."

"One army at full strength, or three at a quarter strength. I believe that you may need to build a university of your own, Crusher. Your numbers are quite poor."

Crusher levelled a glare at me, his jaw set and tusks menacing outside his lips, and he stopped eating. The tavern was quiet, save for my knife going through my steak and my fork picking up the piece of meat. I ate it while not breaking my gaze from his own… and a single chuckle left his lips.

"Hah, it seems your time with those enslavers and murderers have not weakened you. You still know how to speak." Crusher spoke, and the tension in the air lessened. Not that it affected me in particular, since I knew these guys well. They liked to intimidate, but they'd never attack people out of war without good reason. And, I wasn't going to give them that reason. "So, your people offer their new treasures for us to use. We will never accept having our mages or officers be trained by you, but matters of statecraft are universal… as is the work of scholars."

"And, we will happily offer our limited seats to your people and teach them as well as we can." In the game, friendly relationships started off with your civilization getting a bunch of a pop-ups for the things you had and didn't have. Relations could be bettered by offering your new, friendly nation 'room' in the facilities you had at your disposal. Increase their research output for magic, military, and the economy, if you had the right buildings, which I did. Excess resources were also on the table, though I personally preferred to just use the trade menu to make bribes, because it had a greater effect on the relationship score. People took handouts for granted, but windfalls are always greatly appreciated. "In exchange, we ask for talent. A skilled individual capable of being a Champion who will be able to lead the second army that we are building."

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"You ask for one of our future generals for a meagre price."

"In exchange for not furnishing and staffing and operating a university in it's entirety? Is that not a worthy price for a budding general from the Conquerors? I had hoped to offer seats for all three academies, but you only wish for one."

"Implying that I lowered the price myself?"

"We are still willing to give seats for all three academies in exchange for one future general, Crusher. The offer is still there. Just refused for less."

Crusher glared at me again. Big silence. Tension. All that jazz.

I took a sip of some water.

Man, it sure is great to know that the intimidate function really is just words!

…

After the formalities were over, I joined Crusher at the end of the meal. While he had a whole keg to drink from, from which he drank by dunking a whole mug into in order to refill, I was helping myself to some cake. Taking care of your body was a lot easier when you had time to work out every single day, and the fact that sugar was pretty difficult to access for most towns. Loads of things were only lightly sweetened, but with my tastebuds less acclimated to sweetness, it took a lot less to get that hit that I wanted.

So, I sat next to a massive Orc with more muscle in one leg than my whole body with a slice of cake, while he chugged tankard after tankard of beer to just get a light buzz.

Couldn't make up a more ludicrous sight.

Anyway, I was talked mostly about home life for a bit, which was mostly studying for me, but he was caring for his children.

Which was surprising, given the lore on Conquerors.

The ones taking care of the kids were the ones who could be spared for it. The elderly, the ones who suffered too many wounds, and recovering warriors. The people who had experience to hand down, and who can handle six-foot tall, hormonal teenagers with more muscle than horses.

It was pretty easy to put two-and-two together.

"I've never heard of someone lamenting having such strong children."

"They will be the death of me." Crusher grunted and shook his head. A heavy sigh left him and he gazed upward at the star-filled sky. The scarred moon was high above us and waning into a half-circle. Hard to believe that was once a massive military outpost that promised whole legions of soldiery arriving anywhere on the planet in hours. Harder to believe that the guys with that sort of firepower lost, but civil wars are a bitch. "My daughter and son spent much of their childhood sleeping, and now they are benefiting from the excess of food that we have. Their mother cannot bring them to heel, and I can barely do the same. This excursion is a welcome one."

"Well, it's better to have strong children than weak ones." Crusher gave a grunt of agreement at that, and the massive mass of muscle brightened up at the thought. I wondered how to cheer him up, but all that came to mind were the years I spent on this rock scavenging for every bit of scrap I could sell. I decided against ruining the lighthearted mood. "And, I'm sure that they'll appreciate having fewer memories of ill-thought moments with your supervision."

Less cringe to recoil from while being alone with your own thoughts is always nice.

I wasn't speaking from experience. I spent my teenage years the same way I spent my time off after work: playing games.

Wait, some people might call that cringe itself.

Are you telling me that my whole life is cringe!?

Yeah, I agree.

Moving on.

"It is the way of the Conquerors to not shelter their children, but with our new lands, there are many who do so. Hunting rites are being stalled. Warrior rites are fewer and fewer. Many can no longer complete the rites necessary to ascend to the greatest height of Champion."

"Yeah, it's pretty hard to kill your way through a hundred armed soldiers and steal their officer's horse in peacetime."

Crusher barely raised an eyebrow when I mentioned his people's greatest requirement before someone could have the resources invested into them to become a Champion of the Conquerors. He probably thought that I figured it out, but I just read the wiki like anyone else waiting for the game to load. The Conquerors history was based off an amalgam of loads of cultures back home. Mongol, Native American, a bit of Arabian, and more. The more you mix together, the more original it gets, and all that. Killing enemy soldiers and stealing an officer's horse to have the right to wield Artifacts sounded vaguely Native American, but I'm uncultured, so I could be wrong.

"I worry for the future of my people. Our strength has always been born of hardship. Our unity comes from that as well. What will become of us, if we find no worthy foes, and look for them amongst one another? That is how we were enslaved before we were all freed." It was an honest concern for Crusher's end. There were probably plans by the governing body to stop that from happening, but a Champion wouldn't know about it. Rebellions and insurrections happened if you had negative happiness through your whole empire, and it was a good way of dealing with the Conquerors. Quarantine them, wait for their population to explode, and refuse to trade with them. They'll get low happiness and their people and armies will turn on each other, until someone can sweep in for the kill. "I can see that you know what I fear, King of Wisdom. If you have any ounce of mercy for your foes, would you not share the secret that you know that will save my people from repeating our history?"

On one hand, I would lose a strategic advantage.

On the other hand, I'm not a fucking monster… and these guys weren't sprites on a screen.

They're people, and I'm doing my best to survive with as few regrets as possible.

So, of course, I told what to look into vaguely from my knowledge of the tech tree and authors to look into from the books I read at the library.

Only time will tell if I made a mistake and fucked myself over by doing this good dead, but until then… I'll sleep well at night knowing I did the right thing.

Hopefully.