Lord Heleema Cosgrave sat on her throne, displaying to all that she had achieved victory. The halls of the throne room were filled with nobles waiting for the city-lord to dispense her will. The War had lasted twenty minutes, and all the noble house heads had been forcibly teleported to the throne room at the conclusion to witness the results. A Noble War, especially one overseen by Populators, was a rare event, and protocol must be followed to the letter.
The room was silent in anticipation of the city-lord's address. Noting the heavy atmosphere, Lord Cosgrave barely raised her voice, and relied on essence to address her subjects. “I hereby declare an end to this Noble War. With vi -”
“The Noble War has not concluded,” Champion Charity interrupted from the side of the room. She was backed up by three of her Populators, standing in a row like statues of liquid silver.
The room erupted with questions.
“Silence!” Lord Cosgrave’s voice ripped through the throne room, returning quiet to the room.
Turning her stern visage to the Populator, she simply said, “Please elaborate Champion.”
Champion Charity nodded, and stepped forward to address the audience. “As the link system is currently unusable, there are still pockets of activity that fall under the conditions of the noble war. The Gate 7 Center is currently being assaulted by mercenaries, and Dorchester's army is still in the field. Until communications have been restored, those areas are still in play,” she said.
Seeing the Lord’s face pale at the mention of the Gate 7 Center, she clarified, “I understand that your heirs are there. However, until either a relief force is sent to accept the Dorchen force’s surrender, or communication is restored and the enemy force submits upon learning of their loss, they are still active pieces.
“If it eases your mind, the Dorchen forces seem to be trying to capture your heirs, not kill them. That is all I’m allowed to say at the moment, even that could be construed as help, so be thankful and put away your scowl.” Champion Charity finished with her voice wrapped in ice.
The City Lord reigned in her anger at the situation. Gesturing to Head Guard Dalton, she said, “I want a detachment of guards dispatched with a writ detailing Dorchen’s defeat sent to the Gate 7 Center as soon as possible. You’ll have to ride, as the lower Gate 7 astra-platforms would be locked down and the wards charged when the communications went out.”
As Head Guard Dalton went to work, Lord Cosgrave addressed the nobles, “It seems we have a bit of a wait. Please enjoy the hospitality of the keep until such time as the Noble War comes to its inevitable conclusion.”
-----
Captain Angelton and Champion Charity waited patiently for Nero to calm down. He took some deep breaths and pondered the Champion’s question. ‘What DO I think about this world?’ he wondered.
Nero walked to the opposite side of the room and took a seat at the table. “In a word? Confusing. I understand what everyone says, but the context isn’t there. Every question I get answered just creates more questions. And I’m constantly finding myself in situations that make no sense. Like why are you dressed like that? I’m guessing your armor is special? Does your crown mean that you're royalty? What do the different tabards mean? Just walking into this room put me on edge. It’s exhausting,” he said with a sigh.
As Nero talked, he poured himself some water from the pitchers in the center of the table. “A better question is why you woke me up for this? Why am I here?” Nero asked, now slouching in his chair with a confused look on his face.
“That would be my fault,” said Champion Charity. “I told Captain Angelton that I would like to meet you while I was here. Currently, the other champions are attending to their assigned duties, and I had some time.”
Captain Angelton sat down opposite Nero, and said, “I should be taking the blame for waking you up. Based on the report concerning your involvement in the Noble War that took place last night, you should have had plenty of time to get a full night’s rest. I assumed, incorrectly, that you would be up at a reasonable hour. When you didn’t answer my ping, I saw that you were still in your room. In the future, please answer your urgent pings. If an army captain sends you an urgent ping, one which overrides your privacy function, you might want to answer it. You made the Populator wait on you, that is not a good idea.
“Speaking of the Populators, apparently you were already aware of their presence in the city. When you met Champion Memory last night, he wasn’t sure if you recognized what he represented. But, I’m guessing you spoke with Mr. Salvatore.”
The Captain noticed Nero’s worry when he mentioned Nick, and immediately reassured the young man. “Don’t worry about Mr. Salvatore, he doesn’t know anything that he shouldn’t have told you. The Populators being here was never meant to be a secret. In fact, we were hoping to use the fact that they had been called to prompt the rebels to attack. Which they did last night,” he said with satisfaction.
“The Islangurs are rebels?” Nero asked.
Champion Charity took a seat next to Captain Angelton. “The Islangurs were a ruse. Within an hour of our arrival yesterday, we broke the ward hiding the rebel army. It turned out to be a mercenary force backed by what was left of the Dorchen line. Apparently, the Dorchens wanted Dorchester to return to their control. With more money than sense, they gathered what could be considered a large military force for this area. They were hiding a small army of around 250,000 in one of their mountain mines near the eastern wilds.
“We found the connection to the merchant caravan that your body’s previous occupant was with. It seems they had made a detour to one of Dorchen’s estates while en route to Dorchester. One of the merchants had spent the night at the main house. The man we questioned didn’t know exactly what had happened, but the result was Lord Dorchen executing his nephew, and immediately ordering the raid. He demanded the destruction of any evidence that connected the merchant to Dorchen. In order to cover up whatever mistake the nephew had made, they used the cover of an Islangur raid. That was their first mistake. All that did was show that they had the ability to source Islangur arrows and armor.
“Due to the evidence the army compiled, Lord Cosgrave called for the Populators. When Lord Dorchen realized his plot had been discovered, he issued a formal challenge for the city-seat, at which point our hands were tied until the challenge was completed. The mercenary forces weren’t ready, and Dorchen didn’t have a way prepared to get them into the city, thanks to the army’s thorough investigation of the mages guild. Therefore, his army was forced to break up and surround the city. They then offered a formal challenge, and the army was forced to respond.
“Dorchen did have a few hundred mercenaries at his estate within the walls. Their hastily prepared plan was to assault the keep from the inside, and use the Cosgrave children to force Lord Cosgrave to concede the challenge. It would have been considered a poor win, but a win none the less. With him ascending to the seat of the city lord, he would have been able to petition the Populators to return with a new writ authorizing the investigation of a city lord. He hoped to buy enough time to remove any evidence of his illicit dealings. The plan had an outside chance of working, since he used his position as a logician to subvert the central Thought Hub.
“Unfortunately for him, Lord Cosgrave was prepared for the inevitable assault. However, she was not prepared for her children to be targeted, due to the fact that most nobles would not have had the nerve to assault a City-Center, even if it was technically within the rules.
“Dorchen’s gambit at the keep failed. He did, unfortunately, manage to flee before his forces officially surrendered. Therefore he wasn’t taken into custody at the conclusion of the keep battle.
“Your actions last night were unnecessary. As such, I would like to know why you got involved. Technically, under the rules, you became a participant of the winning side. In fact, you finished with the highest score of any combatant. That score is based on several factors, including level disparity of combatants and contributions toward victory. As the battle at the keep was barely a battle, the only real combatant was you. So please enlighten me as to why you thought it was a good idea to fight for a cause not your own?”
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Nero was silent in the face of the excessive information dump. Taking a minute to formulate his response, he drank his water and leaned back in his chair. “So those men didn’t need to die,” Nero asked quietly.
“No. They did not,” Champion Charity said simply. There was no judgment in her voice, she was just stating a fact. Apparently, she was still waiting for Nero to answer her question and she waited patiently for his response.
Nero sighed, and tried to choose his words carefully. “I didn’t know 90% of what you just said. Also, even after hearing it, I only understand about 60% of it. All I know is that last night, my home was invaded. People came in and rounded us up. They took two people, one of them had the crap kicked out of him and the other was a young woman that the man in charge smacked around. That shit doesn’t happen when I’m around. No one seemed to want to get involved, like it wasn’t their problem. As for me, I didn’t like the idea of letting invaders take what they wanted without anyone fighting back. So I fought back. I’m sorry those men died, but they made the choice to enter into a fight that put us on opposite sides. Nobody comes into MY house and starts shit. They wanted a war, so I gave them one.” Nero finished with a growl.
Champion Charity nodded at Nero’s stare. “You did nothing wrong. The situation could easily have gone another way. Had Dorchen been even partially successful at the keep, the children would have been killed. Either he would have threatened to harm them to ensure Lord Cosgrave’s cooperation, or he would have had them killed when he was the confirmed victor. He wouldn’t have repeated the mistakes of the past. So, I’ll repeat myself as you seem to be struggling with your actions: You did nothing wrong.”
Nero nodded at the reassurance, banishing any doubts to the back of his mind. “You said Lord Dorchen got away, so what will happen now? Will he return in the sequel?” Nero asked.
The champion seemed to understand what Nero was asking and said, “First, he is not a lord anymore. His house was stripped of its title by the Populators. He didn’t know it, but he lost before he even offered the challenge. He was found to be supplying the Islangurs with arms and armor, therefore he will be killed. We have already executed his wife and children who were of age. Luckily, he didn’t have any un-awakened children. Three of my squad are currently clearing out all the mercenaries that refused to surrender for their association with a traitor. Three others are hunting Dorchen through his teleportation trails. He is only a semi-accomplished mage, so he shouldn’t get very far. The remaining Populators are issuing decrees and parsing the spoils of victory. Speaking of the spoils, congratulations. The Captain here will assist you with those after we finish speaking.”
Nero was shocked. He couldn't help but focus on one thing she had said, and barely heard the rest. “Did you just say that 3 of you guys are currently facing the mercenaries? Weren’t there like 250,000 of them or something? Isn’t there going to be a battle?”
Champion Charity nodded, “Yes, there would have been a battle if the Populators had not found a reason to be involved. The City would have had to send out its army to deal with the rebels and find Dorchen. However, since Dorchen left the keep grounds during the challenge, he forfeited his claim. Therefore, he was no longer a challenger, and became a simple rebel lord. There are no accords protecting a rebel lord.”
Shaking his head, Nero said, “That’s not what I’m talking about. I don’t understand any of that anyway. I’m talking about the fact that three dudes are fighting an army, and you just assume that they’ll win.”
Tilting her head to the side, she said, “A single Populator would be enough for the mercenaries. It would be too expensive to have a real mage in Dorchen’s employ, let alone one that would stoop to following his orders. This is a small city, there aren’t any real powerhouses here.” She turned to the Captain and continued, “Not that there aren’t people with the potential to grow. It’s just that by the time someone reaches a reasonable level, they would move on. People with power have to see the world, and experience things that Dorchester can’t offer. There aren’t even any real dungeons near this city, I think there are few small ones, and some pocket arena’s that make up most of the local essence trade. The essence in this region is too thin. It’s been that way for hundreds of years.”
Nero nodded to himself. There is a huge world out there, and he needs to get his head around the idea that a city of the size of Dorchester should not be impressive. He had looked up the population and been amazed at the size of the city. 1.5 million and 30 gates. 30 army compounds, centers and slices of civilization that he has lived in for the past week. He’ll need to start going out of the Center and getting some experience in this world.
“OK. This place is tiny. Understood. What’s the level range for this area then?” Nero asked directly.
Captain Angelton spoke up, startling Nero as he had kind of forgotten he was there. “Level 70 would be the upper echelon of the city. I myself am level 52 and am 71 years old. I would be considered a very fast climber. Normally people don’t share that information, so I would ask you to keep that to yourself. It just seemed like you needed an example.”
Trying to do the math in his head. “I’m sure this question is going to be rude, but I don’t mean it to be. You’re not going to hit level 100 by the time you're 100 years old are you?”
The Captain chuckled. “No. Not a chance. Very few people actually make that climb. If nothing changes, the chances of me making Tier 2 are very low. Most likely, my leveling speed will die off in the 70’s, and I will make it to around 300 years old before age creep catches up to me. Of course, that assumes that I stay in this region and don’t seek out new opportunities. But to reach level 100 by the time a person reaches 100 years old? That is only a dream for most people. Until I met you, I didn’t think I’d ever meet someone who had the chance. If you keep going the way you're going, that isn’t an inconceivable goal. But for most people, reaching level 100 may take up to a thousand years. Each of the last levels can take 20 years or more . There are many people in the capital fighting age creep while focusing on the last 20 levels.”
The Champion chimed in. “That brings us to one of the things I wanted to speak with you about. The mages in the capital have been watching you. In fact, the arch-mage who discovered the anomaly in the higher planes that brought you here has spent most of the past few days watching you. He is a mean old bastard and takes great pleasure in your condemnation of our kingdom’s way of thought. Your meeting with the local research head was very amusing. Not to mention, no less than three committees were formed to investigate the possibility of weaponizing the links in ways you suggested to Captain Angelton here.”
Nero interrupted her, “They’re watching me? How? Wait… Better question; did the links go down last night because I said it was possible?!?”
She replied, “No. We already knew the method Dorchen used. There are already safeguards in place. He wouldn’t have been successful if he didn’t have access as a logician.”
From her pocket space, she produced a small stack of books. “These are from the arch-mage who first noticed you. His name is Jennings. He and some others have been scrying on you. If you don’t like it, learn to diffuse your essence signature.” She paused then tilted her head at Nero and continued, “On second thought, ignore that last statement. I have the feeling that you’re the kind of person who would actually try. You are YEARS away from being able to do that, so focus on learning things that are actually useful to you for the moment,” she said and patted the stack of books.
“These books are from Jennings, he said ‘The crap you are reading is for morons; learn smarter.’ He also asked me to tell you: ‘Leveling is based on how well you integrate the experiences of life, it’s ‘what’ you absorb that dictates how fast you grow, and how tall you grow is based on whether or not your life is well fed.’ I’m not sure what he meant for you to take away from that, but he wouldn’t give me any clarification. He offered to bring you to the capital, but the king overruled him. The king believes that your path is your own, and while help on the path is appreciated, being dragged alongside someone else’s path is not in your best interest. I see that being observed bothers you for some reason, but try not to focus on it. Live your life. They’ll get bored of watching you eventually,” she finished, and handed Nero the books.
Nero looked them over: ‘Combat for mages’, ‘Seeing without Sight’, ‘Controlling the world around you’, and ‘Leveling Simplified vol.1’. The irony of there being multiple volumes of a book called ‘Leveling Simplified’ was not lost on Nero. As thankful as he was for the books, the fact that some old bastards were watching him annoyed the shit out him.
Looking into the air, he threw up double middle fingers and said, “I know you’re watching. You peeping bastards better not fuck with me, because I might be nothing right now, but one day I’ll be an old bastard just like you. Think of what you’d do to someone that screwed with you, and then imagine what I would do.” As Nero finished, he was stuffing the books into his satchel. He muttered about how if they really wanted to help, they could have included a book on personal dimensions.
He looked up to see the Captain hiding a smile behind his hand. The champion still looked like a robot. Annoyed, and wanting this meeting to come to an end, he said, “OK, is there anything else?”
The Captain looked to the Champion. She stood up from the table. “No Mr. Walker, you are free to go. Remember to discuss your reward from the Noble War with the Captain.” she said as she gestured to Captain Angelton.
Looking down at Nero, she said, “For me, I’d like to thank you for your time. You are a very interesting young man. Considering your personality and penchant for being in the middle of things, I’m sure I’ll hear of your exploits all the way in the halls of the Capital. Even Champion Memory will remember you, he has been playing with basic spells infused with unconventional essences to everyone’s annoyance.” She turned to the Captain and continued, “If I have any further need of you, I’ll contact you. In the meantime, I’ll be at the keep.”
Without another word, she turned into light and popped. She looked like a very weak light bulb exploding. Nero stared at where she had disappeared, and rushed to her side of the table. He waved his hand through where she used to be. The essence in the room had returned to normal, and she was just gone.
“What the fuck, Cap? Did she just teleport? People can do that? Of course they can do that. How hard is it to learn?” Nero babbled at the Captain.
Holding his hands to stave off the over-eager young man, the captain said, “Yes she teleported. And most people can’t just do that. It is a relatively difficult spell in the first place, and beyond that, you need authorization to teleport within city limits. But, she is a Populator and can do whatever she wants. When they are in the City, they represent the highest authority.”
“That’s awesome. I’m putting it on my list. Now let’s get some food, I’m starving.” Nero said, and then walked off without giving the captain a chance to argue. ‘I think I’m getting the hang of ending conversations. The trick is to just be the one leaving, that way THEY are the uncomfortable ones,’ he thought while chuckling.
His amusement was short lived, as he left the room and saw a patiently waiting Sergeant Blackwood. Closing the door behind him, Nero resigned himself to some more pointless bureaucracy.