“I see,” Colonel Zeigler said, his face impassive and not betraying any emotion as he stared at Sergeant Herman. “And pray tell me Sergeant, why did you feel the need to report this to me? Do you think I am in need of even more work?”
Zeigler kept staring into the eyes of the Sergeant, watching with some measure of amusement as the man’s eyes took in the thick stack of paperwork on his desk and the overall disheveled state of the room he had claimed as his office.
“Sir, these people threatened the life of not only the rank and file soldiers under me, but my own, an officer's.” The small man said, straightening his spine as if he was speaking some universal truth. “By martial law, that deserves detention at the very least. If we take into account their attempt to obstruct us in our duty … the deserved punishment is even more severe.”
“As the officer on site, it would have been your right to take them in for the tribunal to judge them for their crimes,” Zeigler said stoically, his cold eyes not even twitching. Inwardly though, he wanted to stand up, grab his chair and use it to smash the moron taking up the precious air in his office over the head. “Perhaps even to mete out punishment on the spot. Pray tell me, why didn’t you?”
“I couldn’t risk my men’s life for such a thing,” Herman said, raising his mustached nose into the air proudly.
“So you want to risk mine?” Zeigler asked. “Were those ‘civilians’ truly so dangerous that you, leading a fully armed and combat ready squad, couldn't take them into custody?”
“I … believe so, Sir.” Said Herman, looking uncomfortable for the first damned time. Zeigler hid the glee he felt at the sight.
The pathetic worm before him had been assigned to him by the general, probably so he wouldn’t jeopardize his push toward the city center to secure one of those ‘rifts’ there.
Zeigler would have loved to demote the moron and be done with it, but he lacked trained officers and would need the general’s approval either way. It would just be a pain.
“Then why did you antagonize them?” Zeigler asked. “Didn’t I explicitly tell every one of you to be respectful of the civilians, especially the ones who could likely blow your head off?”
“But the general’s orders-“
“Were for active combat situations, you numbskull,” Zeigler said, his face finally twitching into a glare. “And they were guidelines. To assign an approximate danger level to enemy combatants.”
That was a lie, and a blatant one at that. Not that Herman had any way to call Zeigler out on it.
The fact of the matter was that the command of the forces keeping the rear stable and the citizens away from the frontline safe fell to him and him alone.
Zeigler could command however he wished, as long as order remained. So he decided to not piss off about a third of the populace by implementing the general’s personal views into his orders.
He knew what was at the heart of it all, of course he did. Zeigler himself also couldn’t help but feel jealous when he saw people flying around in the sky on angelic wings or someone who had magically regained their youth.
The general felt it a thousand times worse, the man was an open wound, a roiling pit of insecurities and envy. That was Brigadier General Friedrich Eisenfaust summed up in a single sentence.
Sergeant Herman opened and closed his mouth a few times, reminding Zeigler of a stranded fish even more than his dumb wide open eyes already did.
“You are on perimeter patrol from now on,” Zeigler said. “Also, before you leave, tell me the address of every house with these supposed dissidents of yours.”
Zeigler pushed a paper and a pen before the Sergeant and watched as under his glare the man wrote out four addresses.
“Did any of the civilians come to any harm?” Zeigler asked.
“N-no Sir,” Herman gulped. “There shouldn’t be anything beyond maybe some strained wrists or at most a bruise or two. I only felt the need to even consider lethal force in the last residence where the six of them were all clearly intending to fight us.”
“The one where a ‘knight’ of all things threatened you?” Zeigler asked, a bushy white eyebrow raised in condescension. “Where you got spooked by a dwarf and an elf girl barely reaching your shoulders in height? Get out of here, Herman. You are dismissed.”
Zeigler watched with some amusement as the pathetic worm scampered out of his office. Then his smirk disappeared and a frown took its place.
“More work,” he murmured, pulling the paper before him and quickly marking down the houses connected to those addresses on a map he had hung up on the wall. “As moronic as Herman is, it might be useful to know which citizens might be powerful enough to bother enlisting the help of. If it really comes down to it.”
Colonel Zeigler ran a hand through his short trimmed beard. He stared at the map for a few more seconds, his gaze thoughtful.
“What do you think, Kelvin?” Zeigler asked his dutiful aid.
Kelvin looked up from the paperwork he’d been doing on his own desk. The man looked dishevelled, deep bags hanging under his tired grey eyes. “About what Sir?”
“This all,” Zeigler asked, though it wasn’t really a question and Kelvin knew it too. The Colonel loved using his aide as a sounding board and to not feel crazy when he thought aloud. “This city, the Rifts, the general, the world going to shit. Hell, about Herman even.”
“It sucks, Sir.”
“That it does,” Zeigler nodded to himself. “Now, you might be wondering why I haven't put a bullet in our favourite general’s skull yet, right?”
“I am not Sir,” Kelvin answered dryly. “That would be insubordination. Please don’t shoot the general.”
“Well, to answer your question,” Zeigler continued, unbothered by Kelvin’s words. “That’s because as dimwitted as he is, he is all that’s keeping this brigade from fracturing into separate regiments all doing their own thing.“
“Thank you for your thoughtfulness, Sir.”
“You are welcome, Kelvin.” Zeigler nodded, his eyes narrowing on the map before him.
The map had many pins, new marks and titles that it didn’t have before. Five large coloured sections marked the regions overrun by monsters of the five rifts for one, then there were smaller marks for all the little warlords they’d found holed up here or there.
Some had only a dozen or two fighters under them, while the most dangerous now had upwards of a thousand.
“The werewolf king, huh?” Zeigler murmured, his mouth twitching into a smirk at the weirdness of it all.
“Sir?”
“Nothing, nothing,” Zeigler huffed, waving his aide off. “Don’t mind me.”
The suburbs and some outer sections of the city were mostly free of monsters, though that sadly only went for the northern part of the city. The entire southern quarter of it was overrun with wolves of all kinds.
Worse yet were the vicious goblins, those evil little cretins. Zeigler felt his blood boil at the thought of them.
A single group of survivors in their territory. Two hundred at most, out of the thirty thousand that once lived there.
He shook his head, slowly lowering himself back into his chair. Statistics. That’s what all those people were by this point, because not a single one of their bodies were ever found.
Because of the rats.
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
At least they’ll get what’s coming for them. Zeigler thought. It wouldn’t bring back the dead, nor would it avenge them, not really, but the rats would die screaming. Of that, he was sure.
The general had a plan, after all and it was an uncharacteristically good one too. Perhaps because the foe he had to outmanoeuvre was a bunch of overgrown rats, and not other humans.
Nepotism bought Brigadier General Eisenfaust’s rank after all, not his outstanding accomplishments or his strategic genius.
I suppose I’ll send someone over to these houses. He mused. Some extra rations and drinking water should go a long way to stifle their discontent. Hopefully. The last thing I need is magically enhanced superhumans attacking our men from the behind while they fight and bleed to free this city from the monsters.
Order must be kept.
*****
“Did you claim your rewards yet?”
“What rewards?” Mia frowned, looking up at Mark. She’d just started grasping how the homing variation of the Bolt spell worked.
“The Realm Event,” Mark snorted. “A week’s passed. I thought you’d forget. The rewards are … okay I guess, for me at least. Maybe you’ll get something nicer since you’d probably have more contribution.”
With that, he left and plopped down into his corner of the garden where he went back to playing with dirt.
***
[Realm Event: Rift Mayhem]
Objectives:
* Kill monsters: 195
* Enter a Rift!
* Clear a Rift: 0
* Defeat a Rift Guardian: 0
* Clear and Close a Rift: 0
* Contribute to securing your home against monsters: Low (95%)
* Assist those fending off monsters and diving Rifts: Low (20%)
[Rewards will be given at the end of each week based on each User’s contribution! The Event will end once the Realm is stabilised!]
[Failing this event might mean not only the end of your town, but that of your planet and the Realm as a whole]
[Rewards for Week #1 are available! Claim Now!]
***
“Low?” Mia frowned, she’d been killing monsters for hours almost every day since the System came. Sure, she was taking the time to train, eat, sleep and also didn’t risk her life overly much to kill just a bit more monsters … but ‘low’? “Really?”
After a bit of glaring, she shrugged and just clicked on the glowing ‘claim now’ line with her mind.
***
[Calculating rewards based on contribution … ]
[Congratulations! You are in the top 20% of Users in your region based on contributions to this Realm Event!]
Rewards:
* 1 x Elixir of Greater Healing
* 5 x Greater Mana Potions
* 1 x Silverlight Pear
* 2 x Potion of Unleashed Potential
***
Mia carefully held the goodies that fell into her lap, careful not to break the glass vials holding the potions in them.
That looks … good. Mia thought, her gaze landing on the Elixir. The one she fed to Carmilla didn’t have the ‘greater’ modifier to it and it already brought the girl back from the brink of death. And that was with two thirds of it going into the dirt instead of her mouth.
That Elixir could save the life of someone, so Mia was already happy enough with getting it. The mana potions were a nice addition, though she supposed the only way she could make use of them would be to summon two Familiars at the same time.
I shouldn’t. The book said my Spirit isn’t high enough yet to maintain two such bonds at once.
The pear, she assumed, was another natural treasure. So free stats, which was always welcome.
The only thing she couldn’t infer just off of the name, were the last potions. What did ‘Unleashed Potential’ mean?
***
Elixir of Greater Healing: One of the most powerful healing elixirs that is widely available. It is capable of healing all mortal wounds, dispelling Minor curses and even replenishing and stabilising lifeforce.
Greater Mana Potions: Replenishes a significant amount of mana once drunk. Separation to portions for weaker mages is recommended.
Silverlight Pear: The mystical fruit of the Silverlight Willow that is rumoured to be capable of quelling the minds of even the most wrathful beings while they take refuge under its shade. The fruit itself is said to expand the mind and grant enhanced acuity.
Potion of Unleashed Potential: For the next five hours after drinking this potion, increasing your Base Body Attributes through training becomes 200% more efficient.
***
“Oh?” Mia grinned, maybe getting her base body stats to an acceptable level wouldn't be such a chore after all.
Furthermore, unlike the apple, this pear seemed to be one that gave Mind stats instead of Body ones.
Her eyes went back to the Realm Event’s window and she noted how the contribution percentile stayed the same even after she claimed the rewards.
Perhaps she’d been mistaken, and the percentile would keep going up and up until the end of the Event. Which would mean she’d be getting a steady stream of goodies just as great as the ones she got now even if she didn’t contribute ever again to the Event.
Not that she intended to do such a thing. The System certainly knew how to motivate her. If these were the things she got for low contributions and without stepping foot into a rift, what would she get for clearing all five in Graz? For killing thousands of monsters?
That question was just enough for her to steel herself and decide to do her best … though that was for later, since they’d just decided to stay put and train for now.
Mostly at Mia’s urging too. Stupid past Mia didn’t know how badly her future self would be aching to slaughter some monsters.
Alas, training time.
I’ll get this homing Bolt down, then try that potion out. I should try to up my Agility and Flexibility more than my Strength.
*****
“My kingdom … for a glass of water.”
Mia was dying, she was certain of it. Her legs hurt, she couldn’t feel her feet and even her butt was somehow sore.
“Come on, one more lap!” Carmilla shouted, her voice annoyingly cheery and without a single sign of fatigue in it. “Your potion thingy still has a few minutes left to go. Up, up!”
“You’re … evil,” Mia grumbled, not even managing to sit up despite wanting to.
A hand grabbed her wrist and pulled her back onto her feet. Mia wobbled, her stomach lurching for a moment.
“Run! If you rest now, your body will realise you stopped moving and you’ll crash,” Carmilla said, poking Mia in the side until she started running again.
Why was Carmilla doing this? Well, Mia had the bright idea to ask the vampiress to push her to use every minute of the potion.
Mia knew herself well enough by now that she knew she had to have someone around to push her. Otherwise, she would have stopped exercising when it started hurting to go on … which had been around two hours in.
The final lap felt like death, like she was stumbling through the pearly gates. Or maybe the gates of hell, those fire pits. The second felt more apt, considering how much every step hurt.
“Done!” Carmilla exclaimed, her watch letting out a little chirp as the five hour stopper she’d started finally came to an end. “Good job!”
Mia collapsed, barely managing to twist herself around to land on her back. Her breathing was beyond ragged and sweat coated her like a second, third and even a fourth layer of skin.
Her whole body felt sticky, and her clothes were practically fused with her body by now.
“Soooo?” Carmilla asked, standing over Mia’s fallen form with her hands on her hips. “What are the gains?”
Mia just stared up at the sky, eyes unfocused. Her head utterly bereft of thoughts as she just blissfully gulped down mouthfuls of fresh air one after the other.
“Hello?” Carmilla waved a hand in front of her face and Mia slowly focused her eyes on the vampiress. “So? Gains?”
It took Mia’s brain a few seconds to boot up, and when it did it was still sluggish and a step away from crashing.
Right. Gains. Interface?
***
[Base Agility: 6 -> 8]
[Base Strength: 3 -> 4]
[Base Flexibility: 6 -> 7]
[Main Body: 7 -> 8]
***
Oh, how nice it would have been if that notification came now. Alas, that last Main Body up had actually happened hours ago and so Mia didn’t have the fortune of getting a magical pick-me-up from the System.
Which left her feeling dead tired, thirsty and hungry.
“Why,” Mia wheezed. “Are you so damned happy?”
Here she was, a step away from death and delirious from all that running. Carmilla though? She was up, grinning unlike Mia had ever seen her do so before and bouncing on her feet.
She was so cheery, bright and all that. It was annoying tired-Mia to no end.
“This is awesome,” the vampiress said, launching into a slew of stretches without waiting. “I feel so free. Powerful. It’s great!”
Mia blinked, the sincerity in those words chasing away the broody clouds gathering above her for a bit.
Carmilla had spent the last seven years of her life either locked inside a hospital or dead. The second part was still weirding Mia out, but that was neither here nor there. Meaning, it had probably been more than half a decade since the girl could run around so freely, without her body betraying her.
Mia sighed, suddenly feeling horrible for having been annoyed at the bundle of happiness now doing cartwheels around the old willow tree.
“Want to go another lap?”
“Hell no!”