Chapter 23

Tom, Jessica, Grant, Emil, and Norman arrived at Weaver estate several days later. Tom of course immediately set up a Dungeon for Alpha. It was once more partitioned, with a room that was comfortable for his minotaur minions, a large cavernous labyrinth for his Korgoath, and a third wing dedicated to spawning monsters like burrowers, rock spiders, and mindless zombies.

After greeting the staff and thanking them for their service, he penned a letter to the king informing him of his intentions to lay low until Antoine finished with the dragon. The king promptly replied, requesting permission to visit, and to bring Rowena with him. Tom replied in the affirmative, and informed his staff to prepare for a visit from the monarch.

Emil vanished into the room he had set up for Jessica previously to begin exploring some of his ideas regarding ritual magic. Jessica checked in with Jill, the maid with whom she liked to spend time and gossip. Grant vanished into one of the dens with a thick tome to research the history of the six nations. Norman vanished into his workshop, and Mark and Tony, the faithful stableboys who had been seeing to the mounts this entire time, got a few days off to visit their families and spend some of the coin they had earned on the road.

Tom had sometimes thought it strange that he was actually younger than Tony, but Tony was still considered a child, while Tom was legally an adult after unlocking his class. But then, little Vella was in an even more awkward position, barely ten years old and already a Mage.

It was good, because they said that the most powerful mages awaken young. But it was probably going to be a little awkward for her when she became interested in boys. Aside from the harmless crush that she’d once had on Tom.

The household turned out for the royal visit, but such things had become somewhat routine at Weaver Estate and everything returned to normal, with Tom, Rowena, King Fenard, Grant, and Norman retiring to a den while awaiting dinner.

“Oh I wish I could have come with you. It’s so silly that I can stay at your house but we can’t travel together on the road,” Rowena complained to Tom.

“Well, when you were here before, neither of us was really alone,” Tom pointed out. “I almost always had Nigel, my valet, with me. And you had your maids. I guess that keeps things proper?”

“Being proper all of the time is boring,” she complained. “Anyway, I’m glad that you didn’t forget me this time .”

“I didn’t forget you last time either. I just had so many other things to think about when my parents arrived that there was a bottleneck in getting them up to date on all of the things that happened,” Tom explained.

“I’m pretty certain that you forgot, and I’m never going to stop teasing you for it,” Rowena said.

Tom was about to say more in his defense when Klein saved him by jumping onto his shoulders. The Lynx was heavy and nearly bowled him over. If he had been lower leveled, he probably would have fallen instead of simply staggering.

“Oof, Klein, you’re too heavy to do that,” Tom complained, while Rowena chuckled. The lynx, which weight about fifteen kilograms, simply purred in his ear. When Tom went to dislodge the creature, however, it sank its claws into his shirt.

“And now you’ve ruined my clothes. Wonderful.”

Klein responded by nipping at him in a play-bite. Rowena laughed.

“Serves you right. You forget that he’s around even more often than you forget me!”

“I only forgot you the one time!”

“So you did forget!”

The couple continued bickering while the adults settled in.

“At least they have some chemistry,” Grant commented quietly to the other men so as not to interrupt the teenagers. “It would be awkward if you expected them to marry when they couldn’t even get along.”

“If they couldn’t get along, I’d move on to my other nieces and cousins until I found someone with whom Tom could have a meaningful relationship with,” Fenard said. “But yes, it is good luck that their courtship is blossoming. Norman? I’ve been meaning to ask for a while now about you and your wife’s parentage. I was rather hoping for some distant relations to one of the noble families, if I’m being honest. It would make marrying Tom into the royal family much easier politically. His class is enough to justify it, but not everyone is aware of the nature and importance of the Controller in our society.”

Norman scratched the back of his hand and thought for a moment. “I’m afraid I’ll have to disappoint you, Your Majesty. I come from a family of Weavers and villagers going back four generations. My wife has Merchants in her pedigree, but they’re new money. In fact, they don’t like me very much. Sue was supposed to marry into the Urban clan, but she fell in love with me instead and we eloped.”

“I see,” Fenard said. “I’d still like to get the names of your parents and grandparents if that’s possible.”

“I’ll write them down,” Norman agreed, and he did so.

“So, Your Majesty,” Grant said. “I have a feeling that this isn’t simply a social visit. What brings you to Weaver Estate?”

King Fenard sighed. “I’ve been trying not to bother you with the issues related to the ongoing collapse of Velund, Tom. However, I must trouble you for a bit of assistance in preparing for the arrival of the refugees.”

Tom nodded. “I knew you had Cores with you, you know. I can sense them. You want me to add them to my network?”

“That is what I was thinking, yes,” Fenard agreed. “If you seed them with food items and edible monsters, it would go a long way to feeding the people once they arrive. These cores correspond to villages on our border in the direction of Velund. Or at least they’re supposed to. I am increasingly finding that our records are less reliable than I’d always believed they were.”

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Tom considered. “I can probably link them through Alpha Core without much problem,” he admitted. “After that it would be a simple matter of fulfilling your requests. I think that the Command Cores might be destroyed in the process, however. If they’re anything like the one that went with Tilluth, then they’re probably very low level.”

“That is a problem for the distant future,” Fenard said. He exhaled a deep sigh. “Tom, have you had any more visions since the one predicting the fall of a second nation?”

“I’ve told you of all the visions I’ve had,” Tom said.

“I thought that your unlocking collaboration early would be a blessing,” Fenard commented. Tom raised his eyebrows, a little surprised that the monarch had put together what his level twenty skill was despite never being told. “Perhaps it was, since it came with the warning you’ve given us. The other kingdoms are stockpiling food and preparing for a possible exodus. Petosh is hoping that simply having some core stones on your network will prevent a full collapse like Velund is suffering, but we simply don’t know enough to be certain that there is any stopping it. Tom, the truth is, that we may be looking at the end of civilization on Reus. If the nations are destined to collapse one after the other, then we’re living on borrowed time.”

“Alpha said that my quest would help things,” Tom said.

“Alpha is the apparition that appeared to you?” Fenard asked.

“She is,” Tom admitted. “She is … she’s very young, I think. She’s a collective spirit of the core stones on my network. She’s getting stronger with each Core I connect to it. It’s hard to communicate with her. I’ve been trying to ask which of the kingdoms is next, but she doesn’t seem to understand the question, or know how to answer it.”

“Yes. Tom, I’m a little concerned for you,” King Fenard admitted. “I was very troubled when you informed me so casually that you were on a system quest. While it is not the quest you’re currently on, it is common for Controllers to acquire a quest at level eighty. I don’t think that your current quest is so dangerous, but--”

“Fenard, did you know your father ordered Marshal to be killed?” Tom asked.

Rowena dropped a glass. It shattered on the floor and spilled its contents onto the hardwood. Silence filled the room.

“That would explain a lot,” Fenard admitted. “Antoine told you this?”

“He said that’s why he hates you. He doesn’t know if you’re involved or not, but that either way he can’t forgive you for sitting where Marshal should.”

“I would have stepped down as crown prince if Marshal had emerged from the World Dungeon with his quest complete,” Fenard said. “It would have been my duty to do so. The only reason why Controllers no longer inherit the crown is because of the quest that drives them to seek out the World Core.”

He paused for a moment, then shook his head ruefully. “At least, that’s what I would have done if I had been the man I am now back then. As things stood, I might have cursed my lot in life. I might have caused all sorts of problems had Marshal returned to take my place on the throne. It’s really no wonder that Antoine hates me, if he blames my father for Marshal’s death rather than the system and it’s damned quest.”

“So you had no idea?” Tom challenged.

“I knew that Antoine hated me, and I’ve long speculated on the reasons why,” Fenard said. “But while I wish I could say that my father was incapable of such backstabbing, I know that is not the case. Sadly the man is not around to defend himself. A certain assassin made sure of that. We never had any proof. Or real cause to suspect him. And he had an alibi. I’m very curious as to how he did it.”

“What are you talking about?” Tom asked.

“If my father killed Marshal, there is no way that Antoine would let things lie. It was years after he emerged from the World Dungeon as the sole survivor. He had been a drunken lout for some time then. I see now that he was simply biding his time and planning.” Fenard sighed. “I shall have Yecha look into it, but I fear there is nothing that I can do without proof. Even with proof, the most I believe I can feasibly do is exile the man. Normally the punishment for regicide would be execution, of course, but who would be the headsman for the strongest knight in my army?”

Tom hadn’t realized that Fenard would make so many leaps of logic from one piece of information, and he silently cursed himself for confronting King Fenard. However, rather than back down, he proceeded with the next confrontation he intended to make. “Who was Winter Greens?” Tom asked.

Fenard looked up, confused. “Is that a name? I’ve never heard it before.”

“Alpha said that she was the previous Progenitor Candidate. And that she died three hundred years ago in Velund of a broken neck,” Tom explained.

Fenard shook his head. “I know nothing about the topic, Tom. If she died in Welsius I might look into the matter for you, if you think it’s important. The fact that it happened in Velund three centuries ago complicates matters slightly. With Queen Galya incommunicado and her nation in a state of cascading collapse, I’m uncertain what you want me to do about it.”

Tom considered. Fenard was right, it was probably too much to ask for King Fenard to know whether or not his predecessor has been executed by another country. “If you do speak with Queen Galya again, try to get Winter Greens into the discussion. I want to know what happened to her. Whether or not she was executed. I think that it might be important. Alpha gave me her name, and I don’t think Alpha has told me anything that hasn’t been important.”

King Fenard shrugged. “If I speak with Galya in the near future, there will be a long list of things to discuss, but I will try to work your request into the conversation.”

They discussed a few other less important matters before dinner. The conversation at dinner was light, and King Fenard departed afterward rather than spending the night. He did, however, leave behind five Command Cores for Tom to sync onto his network.

Tom began that task the next morning. He was forced to level Alpha Core several times to keep its HP high enough to safely link the other Cores onto the network, and each of the Command Cores shattered from the backlash of the connection, except for one that Tom put aside, unsure what to do with it.

The result was an additional eight village cores and five dungeon cores added into Tom’s network. Unfortunately each of those cores had been sundered and not properly maintained afterwards, so he was forced to level and evolve each of them, in addition to creating dungeons for the eight villages.

The result was a spike of danger for the villagers who were in the area, but he had discussed it with the king the night before and everything he did was according to the plan they had come up with. The villages were all in the northeastern corner of the kingdom, as were the dungeons.

In the villages, he created small dungeons filled with grasslands that were to Seed milnet and Spawn wild boars. Some of the village cores were less cooperative than others, and in three cases he had to build deeper floors with more difficult challenges, including one with harpies and another with satyrs. The third was satisfied with a minotaur.

The dungeon cores he likewise tried to mitigate the danger by creating deeper floors and putting the more dangerous and evolved monsters there, rather than at the entrance. The task took him hours of communing with Alpha Core, but when he finished he had moved his quest progress forward from fifteen percent to twenty-eight percent.

Also, when he finished, he was notified by a waiting Nigel that he had guests.

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