Quest 2, Part 6: [Next game]

Half an hour goes by and the short rest is already over. Men ran back and forth in the camp preparing to leave. Only a few stays at a time in the base that is working as the headquarters in the campaign. The rest are divided into smaller groups, all having a dozen members. The chain of command is quite simple, five groups each having their own team leader report to their respective officers who report to the general. The general’s job is to use his brain so he is staying with me in the main command tent. The large full-scale map on the round table is more than enough for him to know the environment.

It could be better if we had radio communication, but that will have to wait for later. It is possible to use telepathy, but as it renders one unable to fight when used it’s only for emergencies. It’s hard to use and these soldiers are not magicians. The map shows us the smaller settlements, hills, forests and other areas we have to clear. 

For my inconvenience we have a lot of trouble with covering all places. The whole area I own was known as the highest leveled zone in the game. It is a tad different from back then, however monsters are still monsters and golems are still golems. The gun either has a hard time penetrating the monster infested ground or it just won’t die from holes in it’s body. The larger teams and good teamwork is essential for being able to locate all rebels.

Caves, bunkers and other annoying obstacles try to halt me but most of the time they are just obliterated. If it seems impossible, I myself go and went some anger. The new slave demon I have is working well, I’m glad I noticed how quick-thinking she has. A second after hearing the gunshot she ordered her friends to lay on the ground without any hint of hesitation. It doesn’t matter if she is a tester, that is a personal ability of hers. 

My pet’s are both cute, but I fear one of them will start talking soon. I mean the dragon. He is old enough to inherit his dragonic memories, he only lacks a trigger. I hoped having a “friend” pet will help him, but it was not enough. Should I just send him fight and eat? Nah, if anything happens to him the Dragon God will have an excuse to kidnap me. I’m have goosebumps from the thought. There are still some prisoner testers who survived the interrogation, they can fight him. This is actually a great idea.

I take a last look at the map filled with mainly red and blue pins. What we know is there, it should be easy to send them back to hell.

“Old man, I go and tend my dragon, just so you know, you will have less prisoners to feed. Call me if you run into some kind of trouble. After hearing that they also have some kind of research going on, we should be still cautious.” 

One of the luckiest told us that they managed to strengthen weapons and their bodies with a new magic and even created a few strange anomalies. The information is disturbingly small. If they have something to hide, that is something that’s worth a lot. Not speaking about the fact that they still have yet to give up. Those who committed crime will be killed either way and the leaders are the worst most likely. Getting shot from the front or the back, which is more scary? I hoped it was me, but I was mistaken. They don’t intend to give up just yet.

“I understand, have a good time Princess.” He mumbles under his nose without stopping staring at the map. It’s good to have employes so devoted to their work and he seems to enjoy it. Everyone has their own faults.

He mentioned that conquering is his childhood dream, who knew it was like this. I personally don’t care about that. I only need to strengthen my home and keep this place safe for my friends to come back to. When this situation, the [Test] or whatever this is is over, I still want to have this place to call it home. 

Well, I have a dragon to evolve. I watch the slave helping General Pletze full of smiles while I leave the room. I walk between the greenish tents under the leaf camouflage and watch the footprints on the poor grass that’s been trampled to death. 

Back then, I thought life is something precious. This is was they teach all of us. But if one thinks, we humans are a bunch of arrogance. Killing is bad, but just by existing we kill. We kill animals to eat, who feel the pain the same as us. If they are not to our standards we just don’t accept the fact of the crime. 

What if a human kill another one in self defence? They are not a monster, right? What about soldiers, war? Fighting to keep safe their loved ones? Maybe only the other’s family will blame them without any justified reason. 

There is a reason why killing, no, murdering the enemy in a war is not a crime, even if they are forced to fight and have a happy family.

These are all the same facts, what we all know. But there is one other thing we should never forget. We will all die one day. So what if you die? A hundred years later no one will even remember you. Most human want to achieve something to be remembered, but if they die isn’t it useless? They won’t get anything from it. Those few who are truly selfless are just stupid.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

I’m the same. I don’t want to die, I fear disappearing. I can lie that it is written in our genes but I know that I’m just a coward in reality.

I fear death but I fear staying alive too. What if I lose everyone? What if I lose the place I belong to? What if I lose the reason to live?

Maybe this is my biggest weakness. I know that no matter who am I, I’m just a speck of dust or maybe a few words in an old book in the far future. My life has no meaning no matter what I do. But do I care? I don’t, as long as I live I will fight tooth and nail for my own little happiness. There is nothing else that matters.

I arrive at the prison section, what is an underground room hidden by a normal tent. Noticing me the soldier behind the army-desk stands up and salutes me like all other I passed by. Without a word I pick the large folder on the desk and open it. I watch the names, who died and who are still alive.

“Get me number 31 and two others who are in good shape. Don’t hurt them, I need them in a condition good enough to run a little and swing a shortsword a few times.”

“Short sword, is it?” he asks from himself while thinking. “Oris! Get 31, 2 and 7 and chain them on the legs. The Princess needs them fresh, so hold back.” he tells to one of the guards standing a few meters away. “Damn musclebrains”  complains to himself under his breath.

I motion for him to sit while I sit on another chair that is brought to me almost instantly by another man. They were trained quite well, I have to thank Eluben. The two elves are really handful. Speaking of them, Neth is doing most of the work at home, like always, so I can play here. She doesn’t mind it since it’s better for the public image for me taking the field and it’s faster to get rid of the annoying “rebels”. There are also reduced losses with my toys and we use less resources too. She even said goodbye with these words: “Oh, you are going out to play? Have fun, but don’t be late.” I’m sure that she was not joking either.

Well, let’s just do what I can do now. I requested the man named number 31 because he seemed interesting. The file said that he uncovered a dummy base for us. The problem with this is that how did he even know that place? It was certainly a secret since only he knew and the place was as empty as heaven. Not even one trace of anyone ever being there. The two rest are just cannon fodders and snack for my dragon.

I watch as the three are led out of the tent. I stand up and give a short thanks and have the soldiers lead them to the dragons pit. Their eyes are bloodshot and empty, torture took their weak will away already. These three Testers are just following commands praying for a quick and painless death. Their ragged clothes are just as filthy as it was before, but there is not a single bloodstain. How is that possible with so many wounds? 

Stepping into the pets’ quarters I see both of them playing in a large pit that was shoveled for a long time. It’s not just for them, however hiding a dragon is not very easy. The hole will be used to put the dead bodies of the fallen enemies into. I wanted to burn them at first, but that is just so dangerous with such a large number that it’s better to hide them deep down where nothing will stop them from decaying. Yes, there are diseases in this world and they are even more nasty than reality. Let’s just put them on fire underground and it will turn into charcoal. Probably.

The two little cuties like to play with each other, I hope they don’t try to mate. I whistle and see that both of them obediently line up in front of me in seconds. 

“Now, we will play catch. You will have to hunt these three down. Be careful because they can poke.” I turn to the prisoners and write a command with mind magic directly inside their head. 

“You, take a sword and run, if you get away you live.” I summon each one a simple ironsword and cut their restraints with magic. 

Using it like this is pretty awful since the brain doesn’t like such ways of information control, meaning it must hurt like hell. When I use it on myself, even the weaker suggestions cause heavy mental strain. This is the reason why brainwash works probably, the self-defense goes off and everything will be remembered by the subconscious instead of the main personality. I treat it as if you are a pilot while the subconscious is an AI managing your vehicle. It handles the tasks of basic life and stops you from hurting yourself. If I hack the vehicle the pilot can fight back or adapt. 

It takes a few seconds until they understand everything. Their animalistic instincts comes alive and restores parts of their broken spirits. I might be able to use this for therapy… I learned something new today.

I send the soldiers who are looking at me with strange eyes away and sit on my dragon’s back. The dragon dragon, not the fake one. Getting excited I watch as all three men start to run at full speed without taking the swords. I only sigh, the fun just got halved.