The young woman had been close to the gates when she had seen the royal guards return.
The guild leader had ordered the young people in the guild to have an eye open for when the guards returned. If they saw them, they were to follow them and send word.
She slowly rose from her corner where she had been begging while trying to find a good target for the two pickpockets a bit further down the street.
As she watched the guards pass her, she easily noticed a young man, he was after all the only one besides the guards that was riding. She knew from the information the guild had given, that he had not been with them when they left the city yesterday.
As she studied the young man dressed like a mix between a ranger and a warrior, she noticed that a young wolf ran beside him. He must be some young ranger from the garrison she decided, better to keep some distance.
They didn't travel fast so she had no problem following them as they made their way through the city. When she passed her two guild mates she signaled that she was trailing them. And she could see how one of them nodded and started to head down towards the docks.
She followed them towards the northern part of the city. This was the richer part of the city and she was starting to stick out, so she entered a small alley between two houses and tossed away her grey smelly robe that she used while begging.
They came to the open area around the castle, and she halted. Her stealth, while it was good, would never allow her to follow the small party across open ground. But it didn't matter as the trawlers soon stopped before the gates and spoke to the castle guards. Too bad they were too far away for her to hear what was being said. Soon the gates opened and they entered.
As she stood there wondering if she should now leave and report where the royal guards had gone she felt a hand on her shoulders and jumped in surprise. As she turned her hands went for her daggers.
"Don't be scared little sister, it's just me."
She recognized the voice, and as she turned saw elder brother Dave. He was one of the five tier two class holders in the guild.
"Sorry elder brother, you startled me."
The hood of his mantel was up so most of his face lay in shadow, but she could still make out a smile.
"I'm sorry little sister I didn't mean to, but was it them that entered the castle just now?"
"Sure you didn't, show off!" She thought, while nodding to him.
"Yes, and they had a young ranger with a wolf with them."
Elder brother Dave was silent for a moment, while he thought.
"Go home to father and report what you have seen, I will keep watch."
Dredd filled her, father was what everyone in the guild called the guild master. He and mother was not gentle with their children, but this was still a chance to prove herself. And as she opened her quest log, she saw that it had been updated.
Follow the royal guards.
Type: Guild quest
Information
Update: You have found and followed the guards, they entered the castle with a young man. While watching the castle, guild officer Dave showed up with new orders. You are to report to the guild master about your observations.
Reward: 250xp + Whatever the guild master decides to give.
A smile crept up her face, no matter what the so-called "father" told them, they were no family. And the system confirmed it.
"You better get going little sister."
She closed the quest log, gave Dave a nod and started walking towards the harbor.
-Elric-
The next day I had woken early, and after asking one of the castle servants, had made my way to the castle's training grounds. Hoping some sweating would help to clear my foggy mind, after having spoken with Anders all the way into the night. The man clearly had an education and experience in how to train and manage soldiers, but that was the extent of his knowledge. But there was obviously a lot more to running a county than marching around, and he was almost as clueless as me when it came to managing anything bigger than my own gear. And when I looked at all the riches that now supposedly were mine, I just felt confused. How could all that be mine, when I hadn't earned anything.
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I finally found the training grounds, and was happy to note that they also included an archery range. They were located in the northern part of the castle. I started warming up with a slow jog and was slowly able to focus and my head started to clear up. After about an hour of exercise I noticed that the captain and some of the castle guards had gathered and were looking at me. I walked over to them.
"Morning Captain!"
I greeted him, and Anders straightened and saluted.
"Morning my Lord, as we spoke about yesterday I have rounded up half the castle guards and it's Captain."
He did a gesture with his hand to indicate a short stocky man to his left. The man had short cropped brown hair, and could not have been taller than 5'7 ft. He had a well groomed mustache and a square jaw. My first impression of the man was "solid".
"Let me introduce you, Commander Bjorn, this is the young man I spoke about Lord Elric, newly appointed to the county. Lord Elric, this is Commander Bjorn leader of the castle guards for the last four years."
I held out my hand and he seemed surprised but happy by the gesture, and we shook hands.
"Pleasure to meet you Bjorn, as you can see I'm young and untested so don't be afraid to speak up if you don't agree with something or have ideas. I might not always agree with you, but I will try to listen. With that said I would like for you to write down the things that the guards are lacking and what changes you would like to make to the castle guards and why."
"I'm glad to hear you say that Lord Elric, it's about time I had somewhere to turn with my complaints and requests. At least to someone with any authority to do something about it. And let's just say they have been piling up."
I gave the man a sad smile, I believed him and the equipment of him and the other guards spoke volumes of this county's neglect. Not to mention the city itself. Anders probably seeing my plight came to rescue.
"Now that everyone has met, let's get started with the morning training."
He clapped his hands and all the guards straightened up.
" Now normally I would examine you and your gear, but for reasons known to everyone here I will skip this part. Instead we are going to focus on my favorite part, fitness and skill."
An evil smile spread on the Captain's face as he looked over to me.
" First let me tell you lot, a secret. When I first met our young lord here. He was covered in sweat and dirt."
He pointed at me with his hand, and the guards all looked over. I could feel my cheeks rising in temperature.
"It was all from his morning practice under the strict eyes of a fourth tier… who you might ask?
Bull shit you might think, but the truth is that King Thorgrim Orcsbane is his foster father and he tolerates no weeklings."
A murmur went through the guards and Bjorn looked a bit surprised. Well now I was definitely as red as the coal in said man's furnace.
"So I had this wonderful idea, why don't we let Lord Elric lead us through some of his exercises. Since the training our lord went through, can turn a boy not even fifteen years old into a well trained warrior. Sounds like fun right?"
Some of the men and women were smiling, probably thinking how bad could this be, and I was inclined to believe them. From what Anders had told me yesterday most of the castle guards were around level ten. So they should have gotten at least eight free attribute points to assign.
I pulled up my attributes and gave them a glance, I wondered how I would fare against the guards.
Personal Information
Name:
Elric Silveraxe
Age: 14 years
Length: 176 cm
Weight: 74 kg
Race:
Half-elf
(Human)
Class:
N/A
Exp:
N/A
Titles: Lord of Mistwood (low landholding Noble of Astrana, gives +2 to charisma)
Hit points:
11/11
Stamina:
12/12
Mana:
2/2
Attributes
Strength:
14 (+2)
Dexterity:
13 (+1)
Constitution:
13 (+1)
Intelligence:
14 (+2)
Wisdom:
12(+1)
Charisma:
13+2 (+2)
Perception:
13 (+1)
Endurance:
15 (+2)
Agility:
14 (+2)
I was surprised when I saw the new column regarding titles, but happy to note that there was something good with being a noble plus two to charisma was nothing to scoff at. From what Father had told me I was doing great and my stats were clearly above normal. And with fifteen in endurance I should at least not embarrass myself.
"Sure, if they want to I can lead the exercise."
-Bjorn-
Bjorn smiled when he heard Anders question, it was after all one of the normal ways for the army to test if someone had any leadership capabilities.
If you could not lead an exercise, you should not lead in the field. The training started with some simple warm up, and there was nothing special when the young lord called them over.
"Okay men, now I want everyone to get one of the gambesons and a chainmail."
Now this was interesting, were they going to spar? Bjorn and the other guards went over to the small house that was filled with training gear and grabbed the equipment.
"My Lord should we bring weapons to?"
Ulf one of the more senior guards asked.
"You don't have to, but If you want, why not?"
All guards including Bjorn grabbed a wooden training sword and shield. When they came out, Elric had them line up. The young man had the same gear but no weapon or shield.
" Okay, now everyone bend your knees while holding your hands on the ground between your legs, then while you swing your arms up you jump."
Lord Elric demonstrated a classic frog jump. Then turned around and looked at them.
"Does everyone understand?"
" My Lord, are we not going to spar, we did grab all this gear after all?"
Elric looked at him confused.
" Uhh no, we are going to frog jump to the other side of this training field, then do fifty push ups then jump back and do fifty sit ups. And we will do this in armor, don't worry father taught me lots of different exercises. If it is too easy for you just grab one more chainmail."
Bjorn could feel how the color of his face drained.
The boy was mad, how in all the hells could he think this was training. He looked over to Anders who seemed sick, and his lips formed the word "Sorry" silently towards him in apology.
And that was the start of two of the worst hours in Bjorn's life.