A small village at the edge of the Hur region of the Duchy of Lorraine, Verrigo does not see plenty of traffic or visitors often. And with just over 400 citizens, life in the village is exceedingly dull. The most exciting events that could occur in one’s stay here would be to encounter one of the animals that dwell within the Anarit Forest, but even those are mostly harmless except for the occasional Haflies that passover just before and after the Winter. Indeed, this is the perfect place for someone looking to get away from the complicacies of life in the City.
Even though I’ve been assigned the ‘Lord’ of this town after my performance during the Wyrm Hunt, I haven’t really had to do much administrative work since I came. Most of the day-to-day operations come only once in a while, with the bulk of it being for birth and death, and those are being handled by my Majordomo.
Owing to its size, I also haven’t had much need to change anything about it for most of the time - the village mostly runs itself and the people are mostly familiar with one another already so any unnecessary action on my part would only cause more problems. Other than that, I also have to make reports to the Regional Governor every few months, which means traveling down to the town of Rear, attending a function or two, and just doing my job all-around.
If you can’t already tell, I really do love my job. Sure, it’s boring most of the time, but I can’t really complain when I could dedicate my time to my studies instead. Indeed, the quiet life here at Verrigo has allowed me to advance as a runesmith much more than I thought would be possible and, thanks to my substantial salary, I’m even able to afford a tutor to teach me about rune-smithing.
I do miss the days that I spent as an adventurer, touring the entirety of Lorraine and parts of the neighboring states of Naval, Namor, Rhapsody, and Barav, but I’m not so drawn into the lifestyle that I actively seek it back. However, that doesn’t really mean that I’ve grown complacent either - I still am a former adventurer and I do have to act as one now and then.
Today is one such day - after receiving multiple complaints from the residents of Verrigo about raids on the food storage, I launched an investigation to find out who or what has been behind these attacks. Indeed, it didn’t take us long to track down the perpetrator - a large Gigarachna, far bigger than what would be common for its brethren.
Its size clued me in that it’s probably a female that’s currently pregnant, which means that it would soon be giving birth to a new generation of Megarachnids. I cannot allow that.
Megarachnids came all the way from the Engardean Kingdom in the west and their presence has caused an ecological disaster after they arrived. They were mostly herbivorous, but their ability to reproduce gave them an advantage in sheer numbers which overwhelmed the flora of this region. Most of them have been wiped out by previous extermination attempts, but some still clearly survived.
I brought with me a couple dozen adventurers to bring the massive beast down, surrounding it as it slept within its nest. Much like most spiders, the Gigarachna built webs for their home. However, unlike other spiders, these webs are not sticky at all and thus do not serve the purpose of catching prey - at least not in the traditional sense. These webs serve as a place for plants to ‘grow into’, allowing the Gigarachna to feed on both the plants and the animals that came to eat it. As one would expect, the Gigarachna is a difficult opponent for as long as it sits on its web high up in the canopy of the forest.
Thus, alongside four other runesmiths, we began the battle by climbing up the trees where its web connects. Upon reaching these ‘connection points’, we drew the inverse ‘strength’ rune which weakens the string, activating it almost at the same time. This caused the weight of the Gigarachna to shift into the remaining strings as the ones we targeted began to snap. The momentum caused by this shift would then be too great for the remaining connections to sustain, causing the Gigarachna to fall down with a great thud.
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That was, however, just the beginning of the battle. Next, our allies on the ground would begin ganging up on the Gigarachna as it begins to rampage from its rude awakening. Musketballs would fly from their rifles and into the beast’s soft abdomen, swords and knives piercing the beast’s exoskeleton, and pre-made ‘trap runes’ would be activated from under the beast.
The Megarachnid is a tough f0e to beat, but the people of the region have garnered experience in killing it that it has become nothing more than troublesome. Sure, it’s dangerous to fight on its own, but a group can bring it down without much effort.
Soon after, the battle was over and the group was celebrating. We each bought a part of the Megarachnid as proof of its demise in order to claim the bounty associated with it. I sent a message to the Governor with regards to this incident as well as a request to get the bounty tied to it and I expect to receive it within two weeks. In the meantime, I am hosting the adventurers I hired within my own residence.
***
The next day, I toured Verrigo to greet its citizens, mostly because a month from now would mark the first anniversary of my arrival here. I would be meeting with the heads of household tonight to talk about that, but for now I decided that an extended walk is in order.
I walked around the village greeting the citizens, helping with towing the field, carrying various objects, thanking our patrols, and many other mundane activities. I assured them that the food raids are over and that they shouldn’t worry any longer. I also assured them that I already requested aid for the upcoming winter so food supplies shouldn’t be a problem.
“Thank you for your hard work, Lord Alec,” said Martha the Tailor as I was talking to her and her neighbors. “This village has become more lively with you in it.”
“I really didn’t do much,” I said. I didn’t know what the village was like before me, but it’s true that I didn’t really do anything to change it either.
“You’re doing plenty already.” The others nodded in agreement. “We’re happy to be part of your domain.”
I smiled and thanked them. I didn’t know what else to say, so I said my goodbyes and left for the next community.
It’s not like I’m completely clueless as to what this village was like before I came - my early days here with the people were both awkward and mind-numbingly boring - however, I mostly chalk that up to unfamiliarity. Still, if the villagers say I leave a positive impact on the village, then who am I to deny it? I smiled at the thought.
***
Evening came as I finished my tour, which meant that it’s now time for the meeting. For a town with 429 citizens, 14 of which belonged to my household, it only had around 74 households including mine. Thus in attendance at tonight's meeting were 74 people, including me.
Tonight’s agenda would be the anniversary of my appointment as Lord, and leading the group was Paul, a Town Guard. I tried to decline their initial proposals, but they were stubborn in celebrating my arrival. They said that I have been a positive influence to the people that it’s imperative that they must celebrate it and, on top of everything, that it would also help keep the people’s morale throughout the year. I couldn’t really disagree, and so I just went with what they said.
Their plan was simple - just a gathering at the plaza where food would be handed out for free. The menu was easy, the main course would be a stew while bread would be served on the side, with the local Tavern providing free drinks all night long. I would be giving a few short words there as well. For a celebration, it was relatively tame. Aside from this speech, I would be completely devoid of responsibilities through the entire ordeal.But then again, our town is also relatively small.
I would love to see how this party turns out.
Two weeks later, however, the gold for the Megarachna arrived.
Along with the gold came a message from the Governor.