“Will you not apologise for your offence, Adventurer?” Shadis asked. “I could have you keelhauled for attacking one of Lord Blitz’s honourable knights.”
He was still too shocked to formulate a proper sentence, reveling in the impressive aura of the [Knight] from [Cavon], so instead, he got to his knees and lowered his forehead to the ground. Finally, he was able to let out an apology.
“I apologise for the disrespect! I’m sorry, I truly am.”
Sir Moore just scoffed and continued on his way. Unbelievable! That old man is LVL 33?
What he saw next, however, shocked him to the core. Just a few metres ahead of Shadis was Varyan walking towards Cadmun. Lord Varyan Blitz’s [Status] revealed that he was [LVL] 35. His mind was blown to the point where he was unable to move. He was still bent over in an apologetic position, gawking at the young lord. He didn’t care that the other miners were staring. He couldn’t help it. What the fuck? No way…
The young lord’s [Status] was so different from the others. He followed Shadis and Varyan under the guise of needing extra work from Cadmun, all the while staring at Varyan. His origin and affiliation were [House Blitz], but there was some information missing. He’s a [Mage] alright, but what class? It’s not specified.
“Let’s keep it short today,” Varyan said. “One meal. But a big one. Get some cleaning and fixing done and go to sleep at sundown. Remember: We have to combine the tents for winter. And maybe some more firewood wouldn’t hurt.”
“Understood, Lord Blitz!” Cadmun responded.
Varyan nodded and made his way back to his tent with Shadis in tow. They didn’t acknowledge his presence, although he kept staring at their [Status] throughout.
“What was that?” he asked Cadmun.
“What do you mean?” Cadmun asked back.
“What about the Arslan? I thought we were celebrating a holiday. Varyan seemed so… hopeless.”
Cadmun stirred the boiling stew with a ladle. The vegetables inside tossed and turned in a circular motion.
“Adventurers in the West mourn his death, but their people now get to celebrate freedom. Adventurers in the East now celebrate their freedom, and that’s why we mourn his death. Don’t let the big meal offered by the Baron deceive you,” Cadmun said. “I liked the Great Hero like any other, but why did he have to die?”
He took a minute to take that in. Everyone is affected differently.
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Cadmun had lost his steam. “Go and help the others with the tents, Recruit.”
He followed Cadmun’s order and found a group of slaves untying the tents. There were quite a lot of farmers present, who apparently had the day off and were helping out around camp. Shadis was in charge of the modifications and he instructed the men on how to place and tie the sheets together to build big, communal tents. They had enough spare cloth remaining to be used as covers. By the time the food was ready, they had built two enormous tents able to house “roughly 12 men”. Great.
He could feel the piercing looks from the others appointing him as the 25th person unlucky enough to sleep outside those tents. If he didn’t want to freeze in the winter, he’d have to win over their trust by coming up with the perfect alternative escape plan in case Cassandra missed the deadline. Or maybe I should say ‘inexplicably fails to show up’. Would that be too much?
At dinner he came up with the core principles. The plan had to depend on three people or so, to raise the likelihood that the slaves would support it. The less responsibility they had to share, the easier it would be to convince them to help. It was imperative to make the twins’ escape the first priority to get everyone riled up. If they succeeded with that, then it wouldn’t matter that most of them might be captured again. The Blitz family would be able to build a stronger force outside the manor, and once the twins turned 18 they would come back for them. No matter what the Adventurers would try to do to break the prisoners’ spirits at that point, the slaves would retain the unyielding hope that their heroes would return. He took a look around at the slaves’ smiling faces enjoying the sumptuous meal on their day off. Man, I really am weak.
He cursed at himself for giving in to his despair so quickly after Montgomery disappeared, when the people around him were suffering for way longer than him and still kept their morale up. Of course, he was cast out for being a Player while they had each other to rely on, but that felt more like an excuse for his weakness when he considered that PP had been living like an outcast for years. He was probably eating somewhere in a secluded corner of the camp alone right at that moment. Only the Gods knew how often the man had been attacked and insulted by the other slaves, but that never seemed to take away from his menacing strength. And he is one of the lowest LVLs here!
He sighed. He knew he wasn’t cut out to be a hero, as much as he wanted to. He could never be those people’s hero. That was Varyan’s and Jacoby’s role. He was just an unfortunate soul caught up in the middle of a huge feud. Just a tiny, sad speck of dust that had to bow to the will of the wind. Staring off into the distance, he noticed that the fire was left unattended and started to die down. He grabbed some firewood from the stack nearby and groaned because of its weight. He compared the log in his hands with his thin arms, which were half its size. On his first day, he and Varyan carried like a dozen of them all the way down the hill, and now he struggled with a single one after half a day’s work. That’s how weak he had become. Or maybe he had always been that weak and just noticed? Just a line in the landscape. As thin as a stick. He formed a fist, remembering how the Baron made fun of him, when he fought in the pit. But what if that stick was used as a weapon to poke Carnifex’s eyes out? What if that stick was able to start a fire in the slaves’ hearts? What if that stick could become a hero?
He had a determined grin on his face as the crackling log he threw into the fireplace reinvigorated the hot flames shooting up into the sky with sparks flying in front of his face. Maybe. Just maybe it’s time for a new story to be written to bring the people hope.
image [https://i.imgur.com/S0eOZXz.jpeg]