Six layers of stone had been placed upon the top of the chamber. It took surprisingly long to fill but once full the transition was swift. He knew it before happened before the prompt appeared, that resonating tension snapped and was gone.
You have killed level 14 Amog. Experience gained 731+(183).
Six almost felt cold with the absence of that feeling of gravity. He felt like he had been robbed of a crescendo.
There was no time to waste. Six tossed some more reachleaf in his mouth and turned back down the mountain, Poh Doh in tow. He found wounded bandits and slowly captured them through negotiation or domination, one by one, confiscating their weapons and force marching them down the mountain along the path of carnage. If they couldn’t walk he made the others carry them, it was slow going but eventually he encountered another group coming up the mountain.
It was Charles, flanked by two earth golems and leading more wounded and severely injured bandits.
There was damage on the golems so Charles must have gotten into a few fights. Still, he managed to rally up with Six and looked to be in control. From there Six led them to the Ley facility and into the residential block.
They protested when he sealed them inside but none made a move for the swinging doors.
Six felt the cold bite of shame. In his past life he had lived in relative safety, there had been no need to push back against the violence that spawned alongside the peace of the world. Others had done that for him, created security, created the balance of safety and freedom.
Even if it wasn’t for the village of Mountain’s End, this was something he had to do for himself.
Six returned to the spot where he first spoke with Amog and waved at the few bandit guards on the wall. He stood tall, with Charles, Poh Doh, Nibbler, Lump, and the two earth golems at his back. Six projected his voice to be heard at the palisade.
“Amog is dead.”
He paused to let that sink in, no doubt there was someone important close by and sure enough someone new popped up on the wall. They looked upon Six’s group and Six gestured for them to come out.
Instead a man in a tattered blue shirt shouted from the wall, “what do you want?”
“I am here for your unconditional surrender.” Six felt no need to be delicate with his intentions.
There was another pause as they discussed it.
“Under what terms?”
“Five year minimum prison term, with additional time for crimes committed during this short occupation.”
There was another short discussion.
“Let us quit this village and go our own ways.”
Six shook his head, no. “Unacceptable. No. I said unconditional. If you force me to attack there will be no mercy, no clemency, and you will die slowly.”
The next discussion was marked by the abrupt sounds of conflict and magical explosions.
Charles started forward but Six held him back with a sharp gesture. Even if the villagers were being attacked It was important to act together.
But the man soon returned. “We are ready to surrender.”
And with that sixteen more bandits came out of the walls where Six disarmed them, then led them off into the forest.
When he opened the sealed door to the residential area, a bandit ran out straight at Six clutching a knife made of shadow. Just before they got into striking range Poh Doh’s massive hand descended from above and slammed them to the ground spraying blood everywhere. Blood that Lump automatically absorbed, pulling it in like strands of red smoke.
“Get in,” Six ordered and the bewildered bandits did so with no argument. He sealed it once again.
That current crisis had been solved but Six wasn’t done. He would never be done. He sighed and closed his eyes. “It is what it is.” He knew that life was struggle, both this life and the last had an element of luck associated with his success, his birthplace, his talents, his starting gear. He had hoped to remove himself from that struggle but life was never so simple. Six looked at Charles who waited patiently.
Still, Six hesitated, he could not bring himself to do what needed to be done. “Charles, I am about to commit what could by many, be considered evil. I ask you once again, do you still want my help?”
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“By Kynarios, Six, you are making yourself out to be a monster.”
“If I go forward with this task, I think I will be considered a monster from the perspective of some, and it's for them I am worried. Who am I? No one. These people seek freedom, not my safety.”
“Why can’t it be both?”
“It may seem like a false dilemma to you but to me it is a self-evident inverse relationship, and, it is within that disagreement that I find the difficult part of navigating this. We already have a conflict and taming that chaos is something that burns the candle of life away until there is nothing left for anything else. I will not let that happen to me, regardless of our friendship. Are you sure you want my help?”
“Six, I have nothing. You have been nothing but kind and generous to me, do you not see the good that could come from you growing alongside us rather than from afar?”
“It is not my potential for good that you should be focusing on. It is my capacity for evil.”
“Six,” Charles hesitated in frustration. “If you truly believe that we are all monsters, shouldn’t you be the one to do something about it? At least you admit it within yourself. If not you? Then what other monster will perform the duty better? I? False prince of no loyalty? Irduth? The crazed priest?Perhaps Leoka? The unrefined foolhard? Or Kynairos forbid, Gatbark? The man who sees only money? Who Six? Who?”
Who indeed?
Six nodded and grunted. He was as good as any in that sense he supposed, as terrible as any. He sighed. “There is still time to be productive.”
Six walked into Mountain’s End followed by Charles and Nibbler, golems in tow. The people stared at him as he made his bedraggled way forward. Six was still suffering from the loss of his constitution and despite regaining a single point of the stat, Six was still weak.
He didn’t want to deal with this bullshit, he didn’t want the emotional baggage of having to actually care for these people.
That didn’t matter.
Six walked straight to the Leyhall and it was only when he was twenty meters away did someone block his path.
Leoka stood against him. She had retrieved some gear now, much of it enchanted by himself. He did not fear such simple workings when weighed against his own gear. One salvo from Lump could easily disable her.
“What?” SIx asked, his voice was hard.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Her anger was clear on her face and her voice was tight.
“Taking control of the Leyhall?”
“You come back after killing Amog and crown yourself lord? Alison is dead because of you! Who do you think you are?” Leoka pointed and asked simple questions, questions that others wanted the answers to.
So, Six spoke to more than just Leoka, he spoke to the village. “I’m sorry but Alison is dead because of Amog. She was relying on you, not me. I think I am Six, the man who killed Amog.”
She didn’t care, she drew her one handed blade. “You have no right.”
That declaration incensed Six. He had no right? No right? They had followed him here and brought the very enemy they sought to escape from down upon themselves, catching him in the crossfire. But he calmed himself, she had reason to push against him on this, he didn’t need to take it personally.
“I have every right. If you want to try and stop me, go ahead.” Six walked straight past Leoka who held her stance and didn’t attack. He was confident in the outcomes of both possibilities of action by her.
He came closer to the Leyhall but Min came swinging out from the crowd on a pair of crutches. It looked like he was moving along with intense purpose. Six hesitated while Min drew close before the man shouted at him.
“You should have helped, Six. You selfish bastard. He killed her.” A single tear ran down his face. “He killed her.”
Six nodded, his face revealing no emotion while his voice brimmed with transparency. “I should have helped, yes. For that, I am sorry. My apologies.” There was only truth to his words.
Min growled for a second and Six prepared to receive the man. The growl became a sigh and there was a grey expectation to the next question. “Didja get that bastard?”
Six nodded at the one-legged man. “He’s done, bud.”
Min grinned and bellowed his vengeance to the sky before looking Six in the eye and whispering, “thank you.” He spun on his crutches and the way was clear.
Six approached the dark building. He felt the eyes of the village on him but there was no hesitation as he placed his hand upon the crimson wood.
This Village (Mountain’s End) has no owner. Would you like to claim this village? Yes/No?
Six selected Yes.
He felt power run through him and could see the Townhall1 buff in his conditions and when he checked his stat sheet he found a new tab titled, Village Management. He would explore that later. There were more immediate concerns to be addressed.
Six looked at the gathered crowd and gestured for Leoka and Franklin to join him. Leoka came, her expression a thunderstorm while Franklin looked mystified.
“Where are the casualties?” Six asked of them.
That question put Leoka off balance, her expression softening for a moment. “The bandits took most of the casualties, they sought to enslave us, not kill us. We sustained eleven casualties and were not able to do much in the little time we’ve had to ourselves and even then it took time for many of us to recover. The bandits had yet to retrieve theirs as well.”
“Ok, could you attend to the burial customs of the dead of Moutain’s End? I’ll handle the bandits.”
Leoka eyed him, weighing Six with her gaze. “Alright.”
“Franklin, could you construct a funeral pyre for the bandits a fair ways outta town? Nothing fancy, just function. I’ll transport the enemy dead.”
Franklin looked at him with a fair amount of uncertainty.
“Do you have a problem with what's transpired here Franklin?”
“Transpired?”
“Happened.”
“No my lord.”
Six’s facade broke at the honorific, but he just grunted.
They split up to perform their tasks and SIx spent the next half hour working with Charles and gathering twenty-one bandit corpses. Their golems proved quite the effective tool for movement of goods. Six searched the bodies for any valuables but found nothing but a small amount of coin. The corpses burned poorly, their smoke was wet and thick. It hurt the lungs.
But Six watched the fires burn, tossing wood on where more fuel was needed. They burned high, they raged.
But in the end, everything was reduced to ash.
The light of the fires died to nothing and Six was cast in the twilight of night.
He was exhausted and frayed. He thanked Franklin and Leoka and began his march back to his cave.
He didn’t get but ten meters before a voice stopped him.
“Six.”
The enchanter turned to see Ravna making her way towards him.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Going home?” he replied.
“No, I mean what are you doing acting like a tough guy towards Leoka?”
Six pursed his lips. “I wasn’t acting.”
“Yes, you were. Just like you’re doing now.”
“Do you think I'm incapable?”
“Not at all, I don’t think acting like a rock makes you capable. I also think you’re just fooling yourself if you think you’re really like this.”
“People are dead, Ravna. I must be like this, I must try my best. My people have a saying, ‘with great power, comes great responsibility.’” Six paused, gathering up the courage. “I like you Ravna, but I understand if this changes things.
She tucked her chin in and stared up at him all doey eyed. She suddenly batted him on the face and snickered. “You’re so gloomy.”
He blinked in surprise but smiled at the playful and gentle gesture. “I’d refer to myself as edgy, actually.”
He hadn’t smiled all day.