“Sissy, where’s Bobo?”
Clara asked, tilting her head up to her older sister. Sissy, or Mikella in this case, peered down at her cute little sister while brushing her dark shoulder-length hair.
It was getting longer, but Clara wanted to keep it short and tidy. Mikella also figured it was better as she didn’t know what kind of products Clara would need. Normally she would rely on products that’s safe for Clara her age, making sure to focus on health rather than beauty.
After all, Clara is so cute and charming, she doesn’t need those fluffy products. All she needs to do is to be happy and healthy–the best kind of beauty.
She was taken aback by her question, and she realized that both Zeke and the lords were missing. Ana was with them as well, already taking care of herself by brushing her own hair.
Clara still liked Sissy to do her hair, and she loved to do the same for Sissy. It was a comforting thing for both of them.
“He’s probably with Cloud talking about boring stuff,” Mikella answered with a shrug. The only times Zeke would probably be in danger would be… well, by himself. He had a habit of getting into trouble, that damn Runist. So being with Cloud and especially Val is comforting.
“Oh,” Clara dampened. “Like, magic stuff?” She asked, almost hopefully.
“Nah, I think real world stuff. Like, bills and stuff.”
“Ugh…” Clara shivered, wanting nothing to do with that.
Clara has clearly taken a big interest in magic, and Mikella honestly doesn’t know how to deal with that. It wasn’t that she disliked Clara being a mage in the future. She wasn’t some hardcore warrior that she would never accept her sister being some mage or anything like that.
No, she was just worried that just like in combat, magic can be dangerous. Zeke is a testament to that, often getting himself in danger despite being a support mage. Then again, he was a special kind of man that Mikella had a hard time handling.
She wouldn’t complain, honestly, but she was just a little concerned if Clara started to follow his specific footsteps. A sister can worry about that, right?
“Hey, Sissy?” Clara asked, taking Mikella out of her musings. “Are we gonna stay here forever?”
Mikella was once again taken aback. Another question she didn’t know how to answer honestly. The first one was easy, but this?
“What brought that on?” Mikella asked. “You don’t like it here?”
“No!” Clara shook her head. “Not that! I love it here! I mean if we’re staying in this house forever!”
“Why not?” Ana asked, pushing herself into the conversation. “We can play together forever!”
“That’s why I’m asking!” Clara clarified, almost exasperated at Ana. “Are we gonna stay here forever then?”
“Oh…”
Mikella let out a relieved breath. She was glad Clara liked the town. After all, with every fiber of their being put into repairing this town, Zeke and Mikella had no intention of leaving.
As for the house? That was definitely a concern.
Zeke and Mikella already talked about this multiple times. They even brought it up to Cloud and Val about it. They didn’t want to continue pestering the family and just buy a home for themselves. They didn’t care how big or fancy it was–just a roof over their heads and some rooms would suffice. Hell, they don’t mind not having a bathroom installed either… but the two would clearly pay extra to have one or two installed. Two if possible.
Unfortunately, their little town is little for a reason, though Mikella still couldn’t understand. Apparently, they can’t really add another house for a particularly annoying reason, and it had something to do with the kingdom’s agreement. That also meant that the Mystio family would love to have them stay in their home, being big enough to house all of them and then some.
Zeke and Mikella didn’t mind, especially since Clara and Ana can play with each other like the sisters they practically are. Though Zeke was concerned that his presence might make the home seem uncomfortable, having a man outside of family being with girls. Mikella was also worried whether they were intruding in on the Mystio personal time.
However, they refuse to listen anymore, and until they are able to otherwise, they refuse to let the otherworlders leave without a home to go into. Figuring it was the better choice overall, the Ashton family resided, the extra Parlow in tow and deciding to just get over his anxieties.
“I’m not sure about forever,” Mikella answered, tilting her head. “But we’ll be staying here for a while, at least. That means you need to be on your best behavior. No more running in the house trying to chase butterbirds, got that?”
“Aww, why not?” Clara whined.
“Because I said so, so stop pouting. Use that on Zeke, but that won’t work on me.”
Clara whined some more, kicking her legs in protest. Mikella would not have it, not in this household or any other.
…..
Zeke rubbed the bridge of his nose. All of a sudden, the weight in this chamber underneath the household was leaning on his shoulders spectacularly.
What he just heard wasn’t his mind playing tricks on him. Even now, Cloud and Val looked at him nervously, as if they really thought Zeke would be brazen enough to refuse.
And refuse he did, with gusto.
“You can’t really expect me to be a lord,” Zeke pleaded, not outright denying them, but making them see reason. “I mean, I’m just a Runist who just got into the Expert stage. I’m definitely not leader material. I can’t even make speeches in front of a small group, much less an entire town. Plus, I’m pretty sure plenty of folks here would really hate the idea of having me as a lord…”
Zeke was just spitting out excuse after excuse. He didn’t even know why they were asking him to be a leader of the town. All he knew was that it was a very bad idea, an idea that made him uncomfortable as all hell.
However the lords don't seem all that disturbed. Rather, Val looked at him in amusement, a giggle bubbling to take form, before Cloud stepped in with a smirk of his own.
“Don’t worry, Zeke. It’s not what you think,” Cloud consoled him, raising his hand in gesture. “While we say we want you to be a lord, it’s really in name only to the town and to the system.”
“In name?” Zeke repeated. Now that got his interest. “Okay… okay, I’ll bite. What exactly does being a lord mean?”
Cloud nodded in affirmation. “The Unity Core is an artifact created long ago, this particular core created by the kingdom of Sham-la. It connects to the system, at least superficially, and gives those who are recognized as proper citizens by the lords (that’s us) and hand them the needs for living. With the Unity Core, one can control every aspect of the town or city it resides in–including features like keeping up with sanitation and air pollution, a rare feature not many small towns would normally have. But only under the kingdom’s permission. Because of that, dealing with a Unity Core is top priority.”
“We thought the reason why the knights came to attack would be to take the Unity Core,” Val continued. “But there are plenty of reasons why that would be a bad idea. For one thing, if a Unity Core is taken, the kingdom is notified immediately. You can raze the town down to embers, but one must always deal with the Unity Core carefully. Since they haven’t done anything to it, it’s possible they only wanted to force us into their territory along with the Core.”
Zeke felt his stomach whirl. The Unity Core is so valuable that even human life is worthless to most of the major powers. He didn’t like that at all, but then again, his own world killed people for oil and even for beliefs. That’s how humans worked, unfortunately.
“What happens if you have more than one Unity Core?” Zeke asked, his curiosity burning. “Actually, how are they even made and able to connect with the system?”
“The second one is actually a well-kept national secret for obvious reasons,” Cloud answered easily, which Zeke should’ve guessed already considering how important they were to everyone. “As for the first, there’s plenty of benefits. Like I said, it requires plenty of fuel to charge it. For us, these flowers around us is enough to fuel the town for their basic needs. Having another one means having to get more fuel, but we get the better sum of their parts as it would open up the system for us to include even more features. Features that, quite frankly, are too bothersome to keep up and aren’t worth paying the extra costs for them to the kingdom.”
“So you still have to pay to the kingdom annually for the Unity Cores?” Zeke asked incredulously.
“Every city under the kingdom’s banner does,” Val answered. “Putting that aside, dealing with the Unity Core is important for the lord, and the title suggests that they keep the Unity Core safe and fed properly. You could say that this core is the breathing heart and soul of the entirety of Eve Glade.”
“And making another Lord is also just as complicated,” Cloud continued seamlessly. The two played off so well together to the point of freaking Zeke out. “But, we’re prepared to make it work, if you decide to take on the title. There’s plenty of benefits to being a lord outside of commanding the citizens. You can also partake in the Core’s features, but… the unfair part of this is that since we only plan on making you a Lord in name only, you won’t get those features…”
Cloud actually looked dampened, as if realizing that he was asking a man to jump off a cliff on his word alone. However, Zeke can’t even be bothered with those particular features. He can’t help but think of it as an actual management game where those features might mean giving permission to give people a home, decide what to build and where, and even perhaps expand their territory.
If that’s the case, he was totally fine not getting anything. Sure, it’s fun to do it in a game, but this is the real world. People’s lives would hang on his every action if he did that. He can’t imagine having another funeral pyre made by his own actions.
But he knew there was something else to this.
“Then what are you asking me to do?” Zeke asked.
“To summarize, we want you to be used like a wall against attackers.”
“Cloud!”
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Val hissed as she jabbed Cloud’s side. He winced, but he still looked solemnly at her and at Zeke.
“Val, it’s better to be honest with him. He always seems to be ready to accept anything.”
“I know, but still, can’t you say it better than that? It sounds like we don’t see him as human at all!” Val refuted, her brows furrowing at him in disbelief.
“Uuh, can you explain a little bit more?” Zeke asked, figuring it was better to continue. Cloud stood straight up as he spoke.
“Zeke, being a lord means having a lot of responsibilities to the town, and it’s not just filling it with mana and deciding where each home can be placed or what building is necessary. The Unity Core can take in an aspect of the Lord’s power and design the town based around it. Another way to say it is that the Unity Core can take a certain skill of the one deemed as a Lord and can display it to the whole town. For example, in a frozen land, a Lord with a Fire attunement or a powerful Fire based skill can be used to warm the town from the icey climate, making it hospitable to the people living there.”
Zeke widened his eyes. Everything started to make sense now.
“You want to use my Barrier Craft to protect the town,” Zeke finally realized, getting the Lords to nod.
“Zeke, we made a mistake. Several, if you think about it. We left the town completely open because we believe nobody has any intention of taking anything worthwhile from our town, but we were wrong. Not just that, but the horde attacks on our town and forcing us to be on our last legs constantly every day reminded us just how foolish we were. Even if we didn’t try to charge the sphere of inheritance for Ana, it was a gross oversight on our part.”
Cloud continued, laying everything on for Zeke. While Zeke nodded, he couldn't help but refute some of the things. It’s like they were asked to see the future, having no way to do that, and blaming themselves for the crap they couldn’t even see coming.
Hell, who would expect a bunch of zombies nearby a forest filled with greenery and nature?
“So, Val and I talked quite a bit about the future of Eve Glade. The people here were promised to be taken care of, to live a life worth living without being under the thumb of those too powerful to care about those who are of lower-stage. But we didn’t give them that. Instead, they lost their loved ones and even lost their homes in the process.”
“We already had several townsfolk leave us,” Val said sadly. “We couldn’t blame them for returning back to the territories they once left for the promise of being safe in Eve Glade. To their eyes, we spat in their faces and told them to suck it.”
“But that wasn’t even your fault!” Zeke argued, not able to hold back his complaint. “I get they were angry, but they can’t get angry at you two.”
“They have every right to be angry,” Cloud shrugged. “They don’t know what we’re thinking, and we’re on a higher stage than them. For the lower staged, they think people like us are sages filled with deep knowledge. They might think we’re thinking about the meaning of life and how to gain power while really we’re figuring out how to deal with this mess.”
“But isn’t that just prejudiced thinking?” Zeke tried to argue, but he felt his emotions dim at their lack of response. In the end, nothing could be done.
“That’s why we decided on asking you for help,” Cloud asked. “With your skill, we can be able to protect the town with your barrier. Our Unity Core is not powerful enough to conjure a barrier like in most prominent towns. And to make a barrier of our own, making it cover the entire town would be Mana expensive. It would also require several mages and runists of high levels to cast, and we also need blacksmiths capable of creating the magical metal they need to make the barrier. As you can see–that’s way too expensive and way out of our depth. But you’re basically a living barrier made manifest.”
Val once again jabbed Cloud by the hip. He winced. “What?”
“You suck with words, Cloud,” Val grumbled, shaking her head. “Zeke, what he’s trying to say is that with your power, we can help protect the town, and give the people the security they asked for.”
Zeke nodded, now fully understanding their plight. He lowered his head and closed his eyes for a moment. Opening them, he kept looking at the ground as he muttered.
“Is… is something going to happen if I become a lord?” Zeke asked.
He trusted the lords. They even kept their secret of being otherworldly visitors while helping them stay at their own personal home. Zeke trusted Cloud and Val and would always have their back if they asked.
But he’s not alone. He had Mikella and Clara to think about. The fact that Mikella isn’t here is already making him worry. Also, unlike with a simple promise, they said that being a lord is complicated and the kingdom needed to be notified. In other words, it was like signing a permanent contract to Eve Glade.
He needed to cover his bases. It’s something all adults need to be weary of.
“What do I need to look out for?” Zeke asked. “You said I’ll be a Lord in name, what does that entail?”
Cloud and Val stood straight to his questions, surprising him a little. He figured they were just going to make fun of him, saying he’s taking this too seriously, but their faces proved him wrong.
“First things first–because it’s in name only, you will not be subjected to the same report handling and managing the citizen’s complaints. That also means that you have no significance in your words about the town’s progress. That doesn’t mean your opinion is invalidated, of course.”
“Because you will be a lord, the core will take a certain fee when handling quest rewards to you, just as the two of us,” Val explained eloquently. She placed her hand on herself. “Though, even I’m not directly a lord as I am the wife of the lord. In other words, Cloud is the main lord, but I have my own significance in giving my say for the town. Managing the citizen’s wealth, economy, and any potential unrest is also my duty. In fact, Cloud is so terrible at it that his only job is to make sure the town doesn’t get screwed over Mana-wise.”
“Okay, that was unnecessary,” Cloud tried to defend himself, but apparently that was the truth.
Zeke shook his head. In other words, Cloud is the lord tied to the Unity Core while Val is connected as his wife, or perhaps the same way as the first lady over in the United States of his old world, but she has the say when it comes to managing citizens.
In other words, Zeke will be doing something else.
“Fee…” Zeke muttered. “You mean the rewards when you do something for the town? The Unity Core will take away a certain amount due to my title?”
“Precisely,” Cloud said, and his face showed that was one of the caveats of the deal. “I know it seems unfair, but that isn’t something we can change. We tried our hardest to make it fair for you the past month or so, but there were no changes. It seems even crueler to ask you to share our burden while having no say…”
“Oh, don’t worry about that,” Zeke waved it off with his hand. “I don’t really care about the money.”
Money was important, especially since it’s the only form of currency that wasn’t directly controlled by the system. Everyone, from as high as Journeymen to even those at Beginner can use the coins. It’s just one of those unwritten rules of society to not mess with the coins, or else all hell breaks loose and the major powers would be on your ass.
It also had apparently been established by every other major power to use the coins as necessary, but that was too much history for Zeke to focus on at the time. Still, to him, money wasn’t really all that important.
“I mean, what the hell am I gonna spend the money on? There’s no shops here open for me to buy anything!”
In fact, the whopping 50 gold coins and 100 silver he gained from the dungeon, equivalent to 6 grand in their old word, was useless to hold onto when the town was suffering, so he and Mikella donated half of all their rewards to the construction. It wasn’t just their own action, every soldier who had some savings helped with their piece, though undoubtedly Zeke and Mikella gave the most.
They have their own bills, while Zeke and Mikella were shamelessly living in someone else’s home. It was only natural.
“That’s true but…” Val questioned, but Zeke raised his hand.
“Any other potential issues I gotta worry about?” Zeke asked, turning to Val. “Like I said, I have no problem with that.”
Val looked defeated, though there was a hint of gratefulness in her eyes. Zeke mostly focused on Cloud’s solemn stare, continuing with his explanation.
“That’s basically it,” Cloud said. “As a lord in name, your role will be to provide Mana every week or so. It’ll only be about a small amount at first, but depending on how things go, it can increase. I currently put in about a quarter of mana per week, but the maximum I’ll allow you is only half of that.”
Zeke nodded. It was no wonder why Cloud was the lord. That can give Zeke enough to cast multiple barriers, even creating the powerful but expensive superball barrier he created back at the dungeon.
“That Mana alone will give us what we need,” Cloud said. Then, finally, he lowered his head. “We know we’re asking a lot. Despite everything you’ve done for us, we still need your help. But with this, it would give us the security we need. So…”
“Alright, I’ll do it.”
Zeke answered easily. It was so easy, he was even surprised.
The two looked at him curiously. While Val smiled at him, Cloud cleared his throat.
“Zeke, I know you’re the type to help, but this is a big decision,” Cloud reinstated. “You don’t have to make a decision now. You can talk it over with Mikella and see how things will go.”
“But the sooner my barrier covers the town, the better, right?” Zeke answered back. “Besides, I know Mikella. She loves my barriers. Of course she’ll agree.”
“Even with the fee taken into account?” Val asked, ensuring that money is still important for the young kids.
“Look, I don’t want to toot my own horn, but…” Zeke flushed a little. “I could make a lot of money as a Runist. A tiny hit won’t really affect me. I mean, I can probably make more money than most other folks here even with it.”
It wasn’t like Zeke was utterly arrogant to believe that was the case. This was something he kept hearing about, rather forcibly, by the other townsfolk who realized that he was a true Runist. With his abilities, he’s basically the electrician that helps everyone get their stuff working in order. That included all the heat provided with his rune arrays for the coming winter cold that everyone would appreciate.
After talking with some of them (he didn’t like it but he did have to be sociable), he found out that Runists are incredibly, incredibly useful and can make a crap ton of gold and even platinum daily if they’re good enough.
“Why do you think they’re so valuable?” Cloud smirked, fully knowing Zeke’s confidence in the subject. “Then again, no other support mage has an unfair link that gives them free XP just by sitting on their asses.”
“Right?” Zeke followed up, fully ignoring Cloud’s snide. “Might as well do something useful for once!”
Zeke joked, but he really didn’t mind. Seeing the lords smile at him and his decision was worth it. After all, these were good people.
The people of the town were good to them, and especially to Clara. She felt safe here, and Mikella loved that part as well. As long as the two could be safe in this town, that’s all he could ask for.
If there were any potential issues, that would only be because the circumstances were unfavorable. Otherwise, there was no reason to refuse.
“So… what do I do?” Zeke asked, figuring to get on with it.
“Put your hand on the core, and say these words; ‘I, your name, shall accept the title of Lord for Eve Glade.’. The rest should be easy enough.”
“And Zeke?” Val spoke up just when Zeke nodded and was about to turn around to face the core. “Thank you. Truly.”
“No problem,” Zeke smiled back. “I’m just glad to help.”
If he was allowed to be selfish, he likes to be useful. Putting aside Mikella and even Clara, Zeke still wanted to help. He knew this might be something that could be taken advantage of, but he can’t help himself.
Besides, he wants to be a good role model to Clara. Mikella will teach her not to take shit from anybody, but he will teach her to help others when they need it. He didn’t know whether parenting is done like this, but he liked the idea.
He placed his hand on the Unity Core. Touching it was like touching a glass tank containing so much water, it could burst at a touch. He felt something churn and writhe in there, but also swirl and crash, like waves hitting the rocky shores. He felt inundated by the mana. Then he spoke the words.
“I, Zeke Parlow, shall accept the title of Lord of Eve Glade.”
Then, a notification popped up.
> You are about to consent your loyalty to the Unity Core of Eve Glade. With permission granted by current lord Cloud Mystio, you shall be given the title of Lord (Provisional).
>
> Would you still accept the title?
With resolution, Zeke mentally tapped ‘Yes’. Then, a moment passed, his heart racing as he felt the energy churn and whirling within the Unity Core…
Then another notification dropped.
> New Title available:
>
> Lord of Eve Glade (Provisional):
> You accepted to be the Lord of Eve Glade, in name only. Regardless of the lack of significance, you chose to give your loyalty to the town. May your name forever be etched to the town’s providence.
>
> As this Title is circumstantial, there is no need to equip the title to use its abilities. Depending on your actions, the current Lord Cloud Mystio can take your title away, or you can revoke the title.
Zeke stood there for a moment, expecting something else to happen… but nothing did.
After another moment, he told the Lords what happened, then asked:
“That’s it?”
“That’s it,” Cloud answered, with Val nodding in return.
Zeke looked back at the core, raising a single brow.
“That was… anticlimactic.”