Lucillus arranged the sheets on his bed with meticulous accuracy that bordered on obsession. The sight of crinkles on what he considered one of the most crucial fixtures of a home was an abomination to him. How anyone could leave their dwelling with their bed in disarray was unfathomable. The mere thought of an unkempt home gnawed at his sanity throughout the day.
The guardsman then began his morning routine with a satisfied nod. He activated the fire rune that powered his stove, a staple in every household. Fetching water from a barrel, he filled a pot with the cool liquid and oats, placing it over the flame to simmer.
While Lucillus might have been no cook, he knew perfectly well what he liked to eat. Fruits and vegetables were part of most of his meals, breakfast included. He neatly arranged two bowls over the wooden table and kept a watchful eye over the oats. He stirred them a few times, alternating clockwise and counterclockwise movements. Nothing was better than a warm fistful of oats to start a day well. Whenever he knew that the day ahead would be long, Lucillus always added one more cup or even two if he was feeling particularly indulgent.
He cut an apple into tiny slices and did the same with what Joey would have recognized as dwarf bananas. Leuconiae, the Elves called them. They were like bananas, but instead of going from green to yellow, they went from cream-colored to white.
Lucillus looked over his shoulder a few times before drawing some strawberries from a cupboard. Now, those were really a treat. Strawberries were rather expensive this time of the year, and he had to bargain pretty hard with his meager salary to not go bankrupt for his vice.
Rotten roots, I really need them, he told himself as he cut up a few more.
He had requested a meeting with the [Captain], Drusillus, to discuss his future and his career. The talks he had had with Joey in the past had opened his eyes. He couldn’t just keep sitting there and waiting for an opportunity to magically fell out of the sky thanks to some weird [Teleport] spell.
Lucillus had decided to take his life into his own two hands.
He swallowed in anticipation while finishing arranging his breakfast.
Chewing on the sweet strawberries mixed with the oats helped him relax a little.
Maybe I should have waited to know whether the [Captain] would agree, he suddenly thought after shoveling half of the strawberries and oats in his mouth.
He shook his head, resuming the breakfast and trying to calm himself.
…
Lucillus went through the checkpoints that the paranoid [Captain] Drusillus had set up in the Watch to reach him and, more importantly, the most important documents that the Watch had on the ongoing operations.
No one gave him any problem as he finally reached the [Captain]’s office and decided to knock, feeling his heart about to burst out of his chest.
“Come in,” he heard the even voice.
“Close the door,” Drusillus added after Lucillus had crossed the threshold.
“[Captain],” Lucillus gave the man the military salute and stood straight as an arrow as soon as he got acknowledged.
“At rest. Sit,” Drusillus said while reading through some reports with a slight frown.
Lucillus waited in religious silence while [Captain] Drusillus ignored him. It was a known hazing technique that the man used to rile people up and get them to show their real colors. By now, everyone in the Watch knew about it—but it still got many of the [Guards]. More than one person had gotten a night watch on the walls for a month straight for misbehaving in front of the man.
However, if there was one person who truly didn’t mind silence and thinking, that was Lucillus. You could say that Lucillus actually relished the silence, especially after getting the level 10 capstone skill for his [Historian] class.
[Mindcopy – Book, Parchment, Paper]
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It was a rather straightforward skill that had allowed Lucillus to consult books he owned or had mostly read through in his own mind. When he initially got the skill, its effect could be used for about an hour a day. But that was almost four years ago. Now, he could read up to eight hours undisturbed. It was one of the few reasons he had never minded the extremely boring night watch on the wall. He wasn’t in charge of noticing things since he had no skill to pierce the night with his vision. [Captain] Drusillus had always insisted that those with the right skills had to cover each position.
Many had considered it a stretch—there was no reason to act this paranoid in Amorium. Even if they got subjected to attacks of any kind, it wouldn’t be from the walls.
But there had been one thing that few had apparently considered when dismissing [Captain] Drusillus’s directives.
If you have people do what they are supposed to do in a position where they are to use their own skills, more occasions to level up said skills will arise. And leveling up skills only means having your class evolve, level up, and transform.
Lucillus didn’t have the numbers on hand. Still, he knew that when [Captain] Drusillus took over more than ten years ago, the average level on board was much lower than the current one.
“You want to talk about something?” The [Captain] had finally stopped writing things down and rested his hands on the desk as he stared at the [Guard].
“Yes, sir,” Lucillus nodded, trying not to appear too insecure. His cousin had made plenty of fun of him for being too shy. “I would like to help more around the Watch, sir.”
“Are you looking for a promotion?”
“No, sir. I would like to take on harder operations. I want to level up, sir.”
[Captain] Drusillus reclined in his chair, looking thoughtfully at Lucillus.
“You want to take on harder operations… let’s start with you telling me why.”
“I am a [Guard]—I want to help my fellow citizens have a better, more secure life.”
“I would like a crossbow made out of the wood of the World’s Tree to shoot half the military to death,” [Captain] Drusillus sighed, rubbing a hand over his face.
“Sir?” Lucillus was confused by the out-of-character response he had just gotten.
“You are loyal, Lucillus,” [Captain] Drusillus ignored him, “you are a good [Guard]. But you have average talents in everything. I had reports on your [Guard] class and what you do on duties all morning. You didn’t even notice I was reading them, and you simply stared away from my desk instead of gathering information.”
“Sir, I thought it would be disrespectful to…”
“It is,” the [Captain] nodded. “If you want to start tackling harder things than just patrolling the city, you’ll go much deeper than ‘disrespectful’ while at it. Trust me, [Guard].”
Lucillus just stared in silence, slightly embarrassed.
He wished he had thought of something like that before. Clodia loved to tell him that he was a stickler for rules and that he could only follow orders—perhaps she was right.
“What’s your second most leveled class, Lucillus,” [Captain] Drusillus asked, fishing out the special truth-stone from a drawer.
“My secondary class, sir?” Lucillus clarified.
“No, your second most leveled class,” the [Captain] reiterated.
“Sir, that would be…” Lucillus visibly hesitated, blushing.
“[Guard], speak out. Even if you somehow had a [Thief] class…”
“No, no! It’s nothing like that… it’s just that… it’s [Guard], sir. My second most leveled class is [Guard].”
Throughout their interaction, [Captain] Drusillus had been extremely composed and unbothered by what Lucillus had to say for himself. However, the maybe-not-so-average [Guard] had piqued Drusillus’s attention.
“Which is your most leveled class, then?”
“[Historian], sir,” Lucillus forced out the words with a hint of shame.
This time, the stoic [Captain] straight out frowned and almost recoiled. He looked at the truth stone, still flashing green.
“[Guard], your most leveled class is… [Historian]?”
“I… yes, sir. I’m a level 17 [Historian] and level 14 [Guard].”
“I like tricks,” [Captain] Drusillus said, “they are useful to glean information about people. But now, I would ask you to speak candidly with me, Lucillus, about this class of yours.”
“Sir?”
“Why [Historian]? Explain your passion for this to me, Lucillus.”
“Sir, I just like reading about Elven history. I started when I was a kid. I didn’t really like playing games with other kids as much as I liked reading stories on [Great Prince] Vespasianus and such. I do a lot of research in my free time and have made a few… theories on Amorium’s history. It’s all green and stupid, sir, but some made me level up.”
“I don’t think it’s stupid at all,” Drusillus narrowed his eyes. “On the contrary, double classing is a powerful thing.”
“I… just like history, sir.”
“More than that,” Drusillus replied curtly before falling silent again.
Lucillus waited for the [Captain] to say anything else before remembering that he got scolded for it the first time. He had to take more initiative to get assigned to more important operations.
“I started reading about Elven history, but I then branched out and read about Teiko, Carilia, Foresta, and all I could find about Kome. I held some correspondence with a few [Historians] through the Mages’ Guild…”
Lucillus recounted briefly what he knew, hoping it would somehow help. He had no idea how history was anything useful, but perhaps the [Captain] would find uses he himself hadn’t considered.
“[Guard],” [Captain] Drusillus said after a long speech about how great history was, “there’s an escort operation coming up in a week or so. If you feel ready, I want to put you in that detail. We’ll go from there if the mission is successful.”
Still not knowing how history fits any of that but still extremely excited about the opportunity, Lucillus nodded.
“Yes, sir. I will not disappoint you, sir.”
“We’ll see, [Guard]. We’ll see,” the [Captain] replied with a mysterious smile.