“We’re all here now.” Owl two said in his synthesized monotone. “Let’s begin with a recap of what happened today.” While the android recapped what Ronin already knew, he looked around at those present. The line up was the same as the day before, except for Samantha. She’d skipped this one because she was needed back with the children. That still left, Guts, Elyria, Lily, Benjamin, Harken and Unyielding oak. Ronin took them in under the bright LEDs that provided constant light, making it easy to see and read each of their expressions.
“… additionally, I’ve passed out standard White flame syndicate decks to all the new combatants who wanted them.” Ronin perked up at that. He’d intended to get right into his desires, but this was a good place to start.
“Only the combatants?” He asked with a frown, “and what does a standard deck consist of?” He couldn’t help but add curiously.
“A standard deck consists of sixty random cards, my lord. Ten common rarity characters and ten common rarity equipment cards. These are cards of the noncombatants and the worker class goblins for characters and the equipment cards are things like shovels and wood axes. Then there are seven cards each of uncommon rarity cards. These are soldiers or scouts for characters and their level of equipment. Such as battle axes or scout armor. Finally, each also includes three cards of the rare category. This category includes highly placed people such as Benjamin or harken here and three cards of their equipment. The other twenty cards are standard ration cards. This let’s the individual make a standard forty card deck with enough cards left over to trade with their fellows.”
“That sounds reasonable, it encourages people to interact with each other. While the random nature of the decks will get people feeling competitive and give them the desire to play and trade with people, they wouldn’t ordinarily talk to.” Benjamin said with a nod. “The forces will enjoy the privilege.”
“I agree that it’s a great idea, but you didn’t answer my first question Owl two.” Ronin said, staring at the android.
“Yes, my lord.” Owl two answered promptly. “Only the combatants. I want it to be something for everyone to aspire to. If they get this privilege and no one else does, it will encourage the rest to join up.” He explained, while Benjamin nodded along beside him. Harken and Lily on the other hand, didn’t look as convinced.
“I see,” Ronin said tapping his fingers on the map. He glanced at Elyria who was staring at him blank faced, and he knew she was evaluating him. “What about the food corps, who are in charge of feeding your soldiers?” He asked, “How about the elderly, who can no longer fight? What about the artisans who will be responsible for creating your armor and weaponry once we get their crafting zones set up?”
“Sir, I don’t mean any disrespect but…” Benjamin started but Ronin rolled right over top of him.
“Tell me, Benjamin. What about the children to young to go to war, with nothing better to do than play a game featuring their favorite fighters with their elderly grandparents… but no, they won’t get that privilege will they?” He was being sarcastic and he knew it, but he was unhappy about how Owl two and Benjamin had handled the situation so far and he planned for it to change.
“Am I to understand that you want us to provide decks to everyone who wants them my lord?” Owl two asked, while Benjamin frowned unhappily.
“You are indeed to understand that Owl two,” he said with a nod.
“Very well, the extra printing time will take away from creating new munitions. So long as you are aware of that. Not to mention the materials we need to feed into the fabrication unit to make the cards themselves. Though they aren’t hard to get gathering them is time consuming.”
“What materials are required and who is gathering them now?” Ronin asked matching Benjamin frown for frown.
“The cards are made from a heavy card stock that is processed from a specific breed of forest tree. Then there are the inks to print the colored pictures. They are gathered from various leaves and plants in large quantities for the fabricator to break down into the dye needed for the cards. Lastly the card is covered with a hard wax coating that is produced from the bark of another tree. These materials are gathered by the scout teams, and it eats into their training time.” Owl two rattled off, as if any of those things was particularly difficult.
“Really?” Ronin said with a smirk. “Well then, it’s a good thing we have a large number of noncombatant personnel with nothing better to do than gather leaves and dead branches, don’t you think?” He asked with a tilt of his head.
“Understood, my lord.” Owl two replied. Benjamin also nodded when Ronin looked at him.
“Thank you,” he said with an incline of his head. “Now, I have a few things I’d like to go over since we are all already here.” He said, getting up from his chair and walking around the table slowly as he spoke.
“Firstly, I did as you asked and walked around the camp. Thank you for that suggestion, Owl two, without it I wouldn’t have noticed how poor the living conditions of the people are… tell me, why is it that it was too much trouble to have proper latrines dug?”
“Sir,” it was Benjamin this time who answered Ronin. “We have several proper latrines, dug out around our military tents. It was another...”
“Another privilege for the people who enrolled in our military?” Ronin finished for him.
“Yes sir,” Benjamin said clearly unhappy at being called out on it like that.
“Lieutenant Benjamin,” Ronin said quietly looking the man in the eye. He was beginning to remember why he hadn’t wanted to waste one of his parasite drones on this man. In fact, he might have to use the control features of the drone if the man didn’t straighten up. Though he really didn’t want to do that.
“Yes sir?” Benjamin asked at his pause.
“If I’d only wanted the combat capable people fed and cared for, do you think I would have brought back everyone or just the people I wanted?” He asked in that same quiet tone. “That goes equally for you, Owl two. You know that I intended to build a community here. That was the entire point of gathering the goblins, why are you going out of your way to anger our citizens?” As Ronin got going, his mind started making connections it hadn’t before. Why hadn’t he noticed that the living situation had been done deliberately? The android was far too competent to make such a mistake.
“I’m sorry my lord.” Owl two said without skipping a beat. “I will see to it that the problem is taken care of. In the meantime, however, I think you should go check in on the queen you captured and…”
“No, Owl two.” Ronin said, cutting the android off. “I will take care of it myself. But I will need a few things from you. For starters, is my truck running?” He asked having come up with an idea while going over the map.
“It is sir, the battery system was much easier to reproduce than the Kaldarr system. I’ve even reloaded the turret mounted tank. Though I hardly think now is the right time to utilize…”
“Good, then I’ll ask Sam to get it out for me. I’ll need you to show me how it works after this meeting, Owl two. Next, I’ll need two heavy duty axils and good tires for off road. I will be constructing a trailer for the truck and want good weight bearing capabilities. I will need this done by the day after tomorrow. Can you do that Owl two?”
“It is possible sir, however…”
“Perhaps Owl two, you forgot our positions somewhere along the way.” Ronin said raising his voice for the first time. “I’ve been taking your lead up until now because I hadn’t had a clue on what I was doing. You somehow have interpreted that as you being in charge here, rather than being my assistant. Well, that ends here… in case the contents of this meeting have somehow escaped your understanding, I am angry about how the people here were treated. I am angry that my wishes have been ignored. For goodness sakes man, you put a ten-year-old in the damaged dropship with rapists and murderers. What the hell?” He wasn’t, quite, screaming by the end but it was close.
“Sir, I think your being…” Benjamin said.
“Silence.” Ronin commanded and Benjamin shut his mouth with a snap. “Get out of here. Do twenty laps around the entire valley at your best speed. While you’re doing that, I want you to think about your place here and the ‘privilege’ I’ve given you. I haven’t restricted your freedom at all, because I wanted your honest opinions on how to lead my men. Not to argue with me when I’ve given a clear order.” Once he’d finished speaking, Benjamin leapt to his feet and sprinted from the room.
“Was that necessary?” Owl two asked, not having budged an inch from where he’d been seated the whole time. “The youth was eighteen, considered an adult by human standards. Nothing I’ve done has…”
“I said silence.” Ronin ground out between clenched teeth. “Make my wheels and axils, make more cards. Stop assigning special privileges to the soldiers. From now on, I want a written account from each of you at the end of the day stating what you’ve done that day. This is not a punishment; this is simply me wanting to be informed as best as I can be to make difficult decisions.” He looked at each of his people in turn, they all nodded their heads at his words. Although some did so with more hesitancy than others.
“Good.” Ronin said, moving back to his place at the table. “Owl two, I forbid you to influence the parasite drones or the mother drone from today onward. You are not to issue orders or change orders I have given through them nor are you to use them to communicate telepathically without express permission from me ahead of time.” Ronin didn’t know if that was necessary or not, but he didn’t like how close Owl two and Benjamin had gotten lately. This should at least break up any potential plots and keep the android from gaining control of the queen locust. Ronin wanted to be the only one who could control her. For numerous reasons.”
“Understood.” Owl two said giving no hint about his thoughts.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“Now, please continue.” Ronin said as he sank into his chair again. He knew he’d over done it by a long stretch, but he’d had an awful day. Safie’s headless body twitching on the ground kept playing on repeat through his mind, and he couldn’t help but wonder if it could have been avoided.
The rest of the meeting passed without further incident. Benjamin hadn’t returned, but the valley was big, and Ronin expected it to take the man several hours to finish his laps. Once it was over, he told Owl two to go wait for him by his armored truck and asked Unyielding oak and Harken to remain behind for a moment.
“What can we do for you, my lord?” The old bugbear asked warily, no doubt wondering why they’d been held back.
“I wanted to apologize for what happened today, both this morning and at this meeting.” Ronin said with a frown. “I know you have strong views on the civilians Unyielding oak, but I firmly believe that they will be a benefit to us if utilized properly.’
“No need to apologize, my lord.” Harken said, with a seated bow. “I would be lying if I said I was happy about the way our young and elderly were being treated, but I’m relieved to see that it wasn’t by your order. Just let me know how I can help.”
“I agree with the old bear,” Unyielding oak said. “I heard what you said this morning to Safie. About how starving the civilians and doing a forced take over of the clan played a large part in their taking up arms against those of us fighting to defend them… I won’t say that I agree entirely with what you said, but it gave me something to think about.” She bowed before leaving the tent.
“Harken,” Ronin called as the bugbear made to leave as well.
“Yes, my lord?” He asked, popping his head back through the flap.
“I will need some talented wood workers to assist me in building my trailer. You’ve seen my truck, right?” He asked just to be sure, when the bugbear nodded, he continued. “Good, will you get some people together and begin collecting and processing the wood? We will be hauling crushed stone back from the mines, among other things.” Ronin instructed and after Harken nodded, let him leave with the rest.
“Well, look who finally grew a pair.” Elyria said, not having shifted from her chair. Her feet were no longer on the table, instead she was slowly kicking them up and down, to maintain her balance on the rear two legs. “You know getting on your military leader that strongly will have repercussions, right?” She asked without looking at him.
“Yes,” ronin said with a sigh. “But what choice did I have? He wouldn’t let it drop, and I couldn’t let them back me down the first time I spoke out against what they wanted.” He was so tired of leading, his mind flashed back to the day dream of his party riding the giant goats through the mountains. Away from all the politics and infighting he was forced to deal with now.”
“I’m not arguing that point,” Elyria said still balancing on two chair legs. “I just want you to understand that every action has consequences. Fortunately, I think you got to those two before they got too far out of control. As long as you stay consistent going forward, I don’t think the fall out will be too bad.”
“Well, thanks.” He said, and meant it. She was quickly becoming his best sounding board.
“Don’t thank me,” she said glancing at him at last. “I’ll tell you when you did something stupid, but I won’t stop you from doing it. If it’s something too bad, I’ll kill you before you even know you’ve screwed up… so, don’t screw up. Got it?”
“Yea, I got it.” He said with an eye roll. He believed she would do exactly what she said, he just couldn’t stay afraid of the threat forever. “If there’s nothing else? I need to have Owl two show me how to use my new truck.” He said rising to his feet and looking back at her.
“Boys with their toys.” She said with a chuckle, “species doesn’t matter at all when it comes to certain things.” Doing a back flip over the still balancing chair, the slender moon elf was gone from the tent before the chair had a chance to hit the floor. Snorting, Ronin picked up her chair and tucked it back under the table before going out to meet Owl two.
“What have you done to it?” He asked in horror when he beheld his beautiful truck. The damned android had repainted the beautiful mottled black and green camouflage into the black with grey and white flames of his new syndicate.
“I redid the paint to match your colors, my lord.” The smug android said, in a monotone that nevertheless let Ronin know that the android knew exactly what he’d done. “Now, are you ready for your instructions? I’ve recalibrated the batteries to run off energy we can easily create from the pod or the Kaldarr ships, so as long as you don’t stray to far you will be able to recharge the truck whenever you want to.”
“I also loaded out the turret with new rounds. The gun shoots something pretty close to earth’s 120 mm x 570 mm tank round. The truck wasn’t built to house the ammunition however, so I was only able to get twenty rounds safely inside. When I was reworking the battery system I…” this was the normal annoying Owl two that Ronin actually liked. The one who got into his experiments to the point that he forgot about the work Ronin had asked him to do… That made Ronin pause. Perhaps the Android was programed more as an experiment assistant rather than a military one? that would explain a few things, but not all. Ronin would have to think on that.
“… SO, what do you think?” Owl two finished some twenty minutes later.
“Sounds like you did a thorough job, Owl two.” Ronin said with praise in his voice. “Now, why don’t you show me how to drive it?” Over the last twenty odd minutes of staring at the truck, Ronin had to admit that it looked rather intimidating now, but there was no way it would remain inconspicuous in a woodland or grassy environment. Of course, realistically speaking, there was no way a truck in a medieval world would be inconspicuous so, did it really matter?
Once he’d finally gotten all the instructions he needed, a task that only took another three hours. Ronin had to fetch Sam to put the truck outside for him. Once that was done, Ronin was feeling tired again. Owl two suggested he return to his pod, but Ronin wanted to sleep in his bed tonight. It just seemed right to sleep normally when that’s how all his subjects rested. Upon returning to his tent, he found that it wasn’t empty.
“Greetings, my lord.” Lily said with a bow. She was holding a bundle in her arms, and Ronin looked at it before he addressed her.
“Hi, Lily.” He said with a weak smile. “I hate to be rude, but it’s been a really long day, and I just want to get some sleep.”
“Understood my lord.” She said with a bow, “I didn’t come to disturb your rest, however. I came because Owl two just finished the project I’d asked him to help me with, and I wanted to bring it to you myself.” After she finished speaking, she opened the bundle to reveal a goat hide. Looking around, Ronin noted that the goat hide that Owl three had killed wasn’t on his bed anymore. He began to get angry, wondering what she’d done to it, but she jumped to explain before he could say anything.
“I am sorry if I over stepped, husband.” She began, “however after hearing that you were partial to the goats, I asked around to find out why. When I learned that it was a goat that you first hunted upon coming to this world I understood. When I realized it was this goat in particular, and that your deceased party member was the one who shot it… well, I talked to Owl two. He ran it through that magic machine that you sleep in sometimes.” She shook out the slightly off-white hide, bringing it over for Ronin to see it clearly.
“He did something with ‘carbon fiber’ and ‘nanites’ to strengthen the material. It will also selfheal now when damaged… I have no idea how that works, but it does.” She said with an excited giggle. “Anyway,” she said getting herself back under control. “I thought a white cloak for your white flame armor would be the perfect touch. Even more so since this hide has sentimental value to you, husband. The head is also detachable and has been fitted around your helmet. So, it can function as the cloaks hood or simply as decoration when you are fully outfitted with your helmet.”
Having finished speaking, she draped the cloak over his shoulders. It had two silver clasps in the shape of tongues of fire, connected with a silver chain and latched onto the front of his shoulder guards. Once she’d put it on him. She picked up a mirror that he hadn’t noticed before, because it was laying face down on his bed, and held it out before her. Looking at his reflection, Ronin had to admit the cloak looked rather good.
The shaggy white hide hung around his shoulders down to his chest, but thanks to the size of the animal it also covered his back all the way down to his thighs. It reminded Ronin of the sheep’s hide Vikings from earth wore around their shoulders in several of the books he’d read about them. It also stood out against the black armor and matched well with the white flames that tipped the grey fire that covered it. All things considered; he liked it. A thought struck him then that made him worry.
“Unyielding oak…” he began but Lily was already ahead of him.
“I talked to her after I learned the history of the hide. She understands kinship and the power a hunt shared between comrades can bring. She welcomed the idea, in fact she seemed very proud that you have such a strong connection to the beasts her tribe is working to make their new spirit animal.”
Ronin blinked, not sure if it was worth that much notice to him. Still, he’d be lying if he said he didn’t like the look, or the reminder of his first day in this world.
“Thank you, Lily.” He said, and meant the words.
“Of course, husband.” She said with a smile that showed off her gleaming white teeth. Laying the mirror down on the bed again, she gently took Ronin in her arms for a light hug. It was a hug meant to comfort and nothing more. Before she stepped back, picked up her mirror and gave him a shallow bow. “Rest well, my husband.” She said before leaving the tent.
Ronin watched her go, not sure what he was feeling in that moment. Well, he knew he was tired. He didn’t really need to sleep every night, but after the day he’d had, he wanted the escape sleep offered him. There would be plenty of work to keep him busy starting tomorrow.
Stripping out of his armor, he cleaned each piece as it was removed. The habit had become so ingrained in him now that it was just as relaxing for him to clean his armor as it had once been for him to read a book… well not quite, but it wasn’t too far off. Having finished, he ran his fingers through the clean fur of his new cloak and smiled. It really was a nice gift. Laying out on his freshly fixed bed, Ronin closed his eyes and let sleep take him.
* * *
“Are you sure this is wise?” K3 asked again as they walked down the southern tunnel the next morning.
“No,” Ronin said with a smirk. “But I’m doing it anyway. We have a few weeks before we need to march on the undercity. Last time I had a few weeks to prepare, I used them to train my body to the exclusion of all else. This time, I plan to use them to get to know my subjects a little better.”
“But the risks,” K3 tried again only to be cut off.
“That’s what I have you for,” Ronin said with a laugh, patting the giant on the back with his bare hand. It was no small wonder K3 was worried, Ronin was dressed in a set of workers clothes he’d asked Guts to get for him the night before. They didn’t offer any protection from attack whatsoever, and very little from whatever work he was likely to do either. Still, Ronin was committed to this course of action.
The Kaldarr on guard duty stared at him as he exited the gate, one even made a move to stop him before he saw K3 walking in step with him. Seeing the enhanced Kaldarr clearly on guard duty let the guards know who Ronin was, and he smirked as he passed them because he could hear their whispers.
“Was that the White flame?” One asked his fellow, with a jostling sound that indicated he’d elbowed him in the ribs.
“Yea, I think it was.” Answered his fellow guard. “That was K3 following him anyway so it must be.”
“He looks so small outside his armor, yet he’s so strong. I’ve sparred with Lord Ronin before; he was able to overcome my attacks with raw strength alone. I don’t get how…” their voices trailed off as Ronin got further away, but he still chuckled at their conversation. “If they only knew,” he thought. Recalling how he’d grown half a foot and gained fifty pounds of muscle after his crystallization. They might think he was small, but he didn’t feel small. Even when surrounded by all these giant Kaldarr and bugbears.
“Should I have them punished boss?” K3 asked once they were out of ear shot of the guards. “They should know better than to talk about you like that.”
“Nah,” Ronin said with a wave of his hand. “That’s part of the reason I’m doing this my friend. I want these people to know I won’t execute them for breathing too loudly when I’m nearby.”
“Very well, but I still say this is a waste of your time.” Ronin laughed, but ignored his friend. They’d reached their destination, and Ronin accepted the shovel from the waiting Guts.
“Ready to begin boss?” The food corps leader asked him with a grin, holding his own shovel. The goblin was small, by human standards. About the size of the average woman, but he was also filled with nanites. He’d be able to keep up with Ronin for several hours at least. Which was good, because they had a lot of work to do.”
“Of course,” Ronin said with a grin. “These latrines aren’t going to dig themselves.”