The more I think back on old stories with villains and evil organizations, the more jealous I get.
Every single one I can think of had their evil organization that they were the unquestioned leader of. They didn’t have to work hard to set it all up. They didn’t have to come up with their own BS idealogy. Also, they didn’t have such incompetent…
Actually, scratch that. A lot of villains had incompetent organizations under their command. So, maybe it’s the case that the more I deal with my cult, the more I understand villains who shot their own henchmen for being useless.
- My musings left on a discarded piece of paper in a precursor to my journal
-------
“Slow down a bit, would you?” I grumbled to the [Watch Officer], who was doing his best to lead me to safety. He wasn’t quite taking it at a jog, but I had needed to pull out my “cane” to follow him, and my knees and back were complaining.
“My apologies, your lordship,” the man replied hesitantly. “It’s just… Well… I thought…”
I sighed. “Yes, yes. You no doubt grew up on tales of my past life where I was undefeatable and could be at any end of Placeholder within a day.” I gave him a stern look as I tried to think of a half-decent explanation. “Those stories were true, of course, but the problem was that incarnation used up too much power.”
He motioned me aside, and we ducked around a corner as a patrol marched past us. I waited silently until he motioned me forward, and then I continued again.
“I was lucky to even be reborn with how much power he used, so that’s why I’m stuck in this weakened state.”
“I… see,” came his slow reply.
That made me realize I had likely said way too much. It didn’t take a genius social manipulator to figure out that if I didn’t match up to the impossible standards I had set in my last life, maybe people in my cult would be willing to jump ship.
That’s why as soon as we stopped to take a breath, I looked him in the eye and flared my Demon Lord aura.
“Look at me,” I said. I had barely needed to say that since just my aura had already grabbed his attention. “What is my goal?” I asked.
“Your… goal?”
“Yes. My goal. What is it?”
He paused and thought for a bit. “To… remake the world and lead us into a new age?”
I nodded. “Good,” I replied. Good in the sense that my cult still believed that random nonsense about me, so it would be easier to manipulate them. “And how am I going to do that?”
“I’m not quite sure,” he replied. “No one really knows.”
I scowled. “I thought it would have been pretty obvious from my last life.” I paused. “But I guess that was 50 years ago. Do they not teach this stuff in history class?”
Theo was about to respond, but my ending question derailed whatever train of thought he had.
“What do you mean by history class?” he asked.
I frowned. “Right. You probably don’t have state-mandated education for children. So, no history class.” I paused. “Well, did your grandparents tell you any stories about my past life? Or is knowing what happened a bit more than 50 years ago that uncommon?”
He furrowed his brow. “Well, they told stories about how that was the golden age of the children of flame and how you were the unopposed ruler of the world.”
I guess that’s all technically true. I thought.
“They also talk about how the kingdoms of the world tried to kill you with some type of ritual superweapon, but it failed and wiped out a lot of Dryadal instead. Then, they tried to cover it up by saying that you caused it.”
That brought me up short.
Wow. My cult really goes way too hard on the kool-aid. However, that was currently to my benefit, so I figured my best course of action at this point was to give him another cup.
“The story they come up with is not entirely false,” I replied as I subtly reached out to him with my newfound aura. “And that’s why it’s such an easy lie for the world to believe. The truth is that I was working on a time magic ritual, and, as loathe as I admit it, it did fail.” His eyes widened, but I continued before he could interject. “It was the [Hero’s] fault, of course. He saw that I was about to complete my grand ritual that would finally make me the master of time, and he interrupted it.”
“I… see,” Theo replied.
I was losing him, so I put my [Actor] skills to the test.
“All of those lives lost,” I said with a sniff and tears forming in my eyes. “All because of the jealousy of the [Hero] and the church.” I wiped the tears away with the back of my hand. “They knew that I was the only one who would be able to cast such a spell, and if they couldn’t have that power for themselves, they would allow no one to have it.”
I gave the [Watch Officer] a resolute look. “So, that’s why I must succeed. I must perfect time magic so that I can save the countless number of people who were lost due to the [Hero’s] destructive meddling. That ritual is their only hope now.”
I paused. “And that’s why I’ll do whatever it takes.” My voice started building. “Even if it makes me enemies of the whole world, even if I must die time and time again, even if I have to soil my hands with the blood of countless, when the end of it all is time magic, any means are justified!” I relaxed and gave a slight smirk. “After all, once it’s perfected, I will be able to go back and fix everything.”
He gave me a look of confusion that turned to awe. “By everything… do you mean?” he asked.
“Yes. Everything.” I nodded. “If I gain the ability to travel freely through time, I can fix every wrong done in this world. The fall of Besti, the rise of the [Necromancer], the pointless wars fought between nations and even the destruction caused by my past incarnations.”
“So-“ I paused. I was going to make my “heartfelt” plea for him to join my cause, but I belatedly realized that I didn’t know the man’s name. Have to figure that out later. I thought as I cut that part out of my internal script.
“So,” I continued. “Will you join me? Will you help me usher in the new era promised to the children of flame long ago? Will you do your utmost to live and die for the sake of the ideal future I can bring?”
He fell to his knees in front of me. “Of course! I, Theo Blair, will give everything for your noble goal!”
I didn’t let my internal sigh of relief show that I didn’t need to ask his name.
“Then rise, son of flame,” I stated gravely as I held out a hand to help him back up. “I have need of your assistance.”
“Of course, my lord!” he said. “What would you have me do?”
“First, I need somewhere safe to hide. The [Hero’s] going to be in the city any moment if he isn’t already,” I said as I looked around at the back alley we were in. This was definitely not the place to hold this conversation. Here’s hoping that no one heard any of that. “Second, I will need your help gathering the others who share a like mind. I will need to know who and what I’m dealing with to make the most effective plan.”
He nodded. “Of course!” Then after a brief pause. “My lord, you also mentioned a dave problem?”
I shook my head. “That comes third. Don’t worry about it yet. Now, come, we have to get moving.”
He nodded, and then we started hurrying… In a different direction than before.
I stopped. “Theo,” I stated calmly. “Where are we going?”
“To the safehouse, my lord!” he replied.
I frowned and tried to keep my anger in check. “Then where, pray tell, were we going earlier?”
He fell to his knees again and then blubbered out. “Forgive me, my lord! It was a moment of weakness! I wasn’t taking you the fastest way because my faith in you wavered! I entertained thoughts of turning you in! Please forgive me!”
I had two conflicting thoughts roll over me at once.
Yeesh, these frickin’ cultists carry on a frickin’ lot.
And-
Holy ship. He almost turned me in. I would’ve been a goner. Holy ship. Holy ship. Holy-
Neither of those thoughts made it to my face.
“Rise, Theo Blair,” I stated gravely as I again trusted in my [Actor] skill. “I will forgive your transgression this once, but know that I am not in a position where I can forgive another.” I gave him a stern glare with a hint of demon lord aura. “The next thought you have of betraying me shall be the last of your life.”
“I understand, your lordship! Thank you for your benevolence!” he replied.
The man was nearly in tears, and when he finally looked away to lead me to the safe house, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes.
The rest of the trip was quiet. That was both good and bad.
The good part was that a quiet trip meant I didn’t die, so I was willing to take that as a positive.
The bad part was that I had time to think, and there was a lot to go over.
Am I okay with just using these idiots like tools? I thought as I looked at the [Watch Officer]/[Cultist]. The disturbing answer seemed to be… yes. I would much rather use them and have them die for me if needed than die myself. However, that wasn’t the only thing that was troubling me.
Why was it so hard to cry over what Pride did? I asked myself. I knew the aftermath. I knew the number of casualties was countless because I even destroyed most of the records that any of those people ever existed. So, why didn’t I feel much in the way of remorse? Is it because Pride did it, not me? Or did I actually believe what I had told Theo about all of the means being justified in the case of time travel?
I thought I was mostly just spouting whatever bullspit he would believe… But… I paused. Is that actually what I think? Do the ends really justify the means since I’m going to overwrite the means anyway?
I frowned. That’s all assuming that time travel will work out as I hope. I think the best case scenario is that if I go back in time and stop myself, then this future… and this future version of me… will no longer exist. I clenched my “cane” a bit tighter as I walked. I didn’t want to be erased from existence, but if that was the only answer, I had made peace with it.
But what if it’s a multiverse situation where going back in time spawns another timeline? I paused. Actually, that’s pretty easy. If that’s the case, I’m staying there. Be there to stop myself from going down the wrong path? Check. My current timeline no longer has a [Demon Lord] to deal with? Check. Everyone wins!
That was a bit heartless since I would be leaving behind my current messed-up timeline and just telling them to deal with it. Also, I was blindly choosing to believe that the answer to my question wasn’t “a cascading time paradox that destroys everything.” I think if I had entertained that thought for more than the split second it came up that it might have turned me into a wreck.
Fortunately, we reached the “safe house,” which looked more like an abandoned warehouse, before I could overthink myself into oblivion.
Theo pulled some crates aside and showed me a hidden trapdoor. “You should be safe down here for a while, or at least, until I can gather everyone like you asked.”
He went down the ladder, and I followed right behind. He pulled out a… metal torch? Before I could ask him what it was, he twisted the bottom, and a soft light illuminated the room. It had a bed and not much else.
He must have seen me looking curiously at his magic item because he immediately explained. “There’s not much air down here, so for light it’s best to use a magelight,” he said. “Oh, and that’s because-“
“Fire uses up air,” I replied. “Yes, I’m aware.”
Theo nodded. “Of course, as expected from your lordship. As for food and water, I’ll-“
I held up a hand. “Food and water are, fortunately, still unnecessary for me in this life. As for the magelight…” I took it from him, turned the dial down, and then was pleased to note that I could still see just fine.
The limit on [Dark Vision] this life must be the range. I thought.
“I can see perfectly fine down here without it,” I continued aloud. I flipped the light back on and then groaned as I sat on the bed. “The only thing I truly need in this life is a place to sleep, and this will do fine. Well done, Theo.”
“It was nothing, your lordship! I only did what any child of flame would have done!”
However, the safe house had one fatal flaw, and I realized it as I looked it over.
“Is that… the only entrance and exit?” I asked.
Theo nodded. “Yes, unfortunately.”
I frowned. “This might not work then, but it all depends on whether the [Hero] and his party can track me down.”
“We’ve used this safe house for several on-the-run members of the children of flame before, and no one has ever been caught,” Theo replied.
I snorted. “You didn’t have a Dave problem.” I materialized my wands and mirror.
“[Scry] Samson Stonebreaker,” I cast. He was currently at the gates of the city. That meant he was further behind than I thought… but also much closer than I could have hoped.
“Name, class, and race for identification purposes, please,” one of the [Guards] at the gate said. The two of them were standing with spears crossed, barring the way.
“We don’t have time for this!” Samson snapped. “We’re following the [Demon Lord’s] trail, and he already made it past you!”
“No one’s gone through the gate all day,” the [Guard] replied. “Are you sure the [Demon Lord’s] here?”
I snickered a bit as I watched the interaction. Since neither [Guard] could detect me, I literally walked past them in [Sneak] during broad daylight.
Eventually, Dave calmed Samson down, and Samson made a familiar gesture like he was sharing something from his status. The others in the party followed suit, and then they were all let into the town.
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
“Do people have to share their full status-“ I started but was surprised once again by my status popping up. I really thought I would remember not to use that word by now. I shook my head, closed my status, and continued. “Do people have to share all of their details to get into town?” I asked Theo.
Theo shook his head. “No, just name, race, and primary class.”
Status. I looked at my status screen and then asked. “Okay, how would I go about sharing that?”
He gave me an odd look, so I immediately clarified. “Remember, I’m not a native to your world. I didn’t grow up with a status. Also, the last time I ran around playing civilian, your status wasn’t exactly something you shared with anyone.”
Theo nodded in understanding. “Of course, your lordship. Forgive me. Manipulation of our System-given information is something we’re taught from a young age, so it’s just strange having to explain it to someone more knowledgeable than I.” He cleared his throat. “Status.” After a brief pause where I assumed it appeared for him, he continued. “You can select multiple things from your status by touching them, then, when you make this gesture-“ he flicked with his hand in my direction, and a portion of his status screen greeted me. “It will share only that info.”
“I see,” I replied as I looked over his info. Theo Blair, human, level 5 [Watch Officer]. There were no surprises there, so I closed out of that and then looked back over my status. So, I just touch here, here, and here… I repeated the same flicking gesture toward a surprised Theo.
He just stood there in shock.
“Did… I do something wrong?” I asked. No response. “Theo?”
“This… is the first time you’ve shared this info, isn’t it?” he asked.
“Yeah, I suppose it is,” I agreed after a moment’s thought.
“I am the most blessed among the children of flame! I am the first to see the [Demon Lord’s] status!” he said while nearly crying.
I need to get new allies ASAP. I thought. While my cult was certainly loyal, I was starting to wonder if it would end up surviving or if I would end up strangling them all before too long.
“When you’re done freaking out, I have some questions-“ I started. However, my attention was pulled away by the [Scry] that I still had running.
“So, which way?” Samson asked.
“That way… maybe,” Dave replied.
“Maybe?” asked the elf.
“Yes, maybe,” the [Son of Dave] replied. “I told you before, [Path to Vengeance] doesn’t work as well when the [Demon Lord’s] on the move. Also, I just learned today that it doesn’t work as well in urban areas.”
“So much for that skill, then,” the elf replied haughtily.
“Oh, why don’t you [Track] him then, hmm?” Dave shot back.
“You should already know that it… doesn’t work as well in urban areas,” the [Ranger] finished quietly.
“So, there we have it. We’re going to have to search the city for the [Demon Lord] ourselves,” Samson intervened. “We’ll get the aid of the stoneguard- err… what do you call them here?” he asked Dave.
“The watch?” Dave guessed.
“Yes, the watch. We’ll have them help us look around. And we’ll have you two give us whatever information your skills can,” the [Hero] finished.
“Isn’t it a bit dangerous having the watch look for the [Demon Lord]?” Dave asked. “I mean… what happens if they find him?”
“This [Demon Lord] seems to be weak… and a coward,” Samson replied. “I trust in the watch to be able to flush him out, or at least delay him until we get there.” He chuckled. “In fact, I don’t even doubt that a more experienced group of them could take the [Demon Lord] out all by themselves.”
“Well, that’s just rude,” I muttered at the [Scry]. “And I pity the watch patrol that runs into me.” I looked over at Theo. “No offense to present company, of course.”
“Oh, uh, none taken,” he replied. After a brief pause. “Your lordship, you said you had some questions for me?”
“Yes, yes, I did,” I replied. “First off, you already showed me how to show a part of my stat- System info-“ I corrected myself, so I didn’t have a popup in my face. “But, how does that work for people who don’t have an advanced class? Like… a [Guard] for instance?”
Theo nodded. “If someone doesn’t have an advanced class, it displays their highest-level basic class. So, if the [Guard] were level 3, that would show. If they were also a… [Smith] at level 4, it would display that instead.”
“I see,” I replied. “And what about my cu-“ I almost slipped up and called my cult a cult. Instead, I disguised it as a cough as I organized my thoughts. Yeesh. I might need to get some sleep here. I’m not firing on all cylinders. I cleared my throat. “What about the children of flame? Do they have a class? How many of them are there in this fort? And what does the leadership structure look like?”
Theo’s eyes went wide as he started stammering out answers.
This could take a bit. I thought.
------
We ended up talking about things for more than an hour. It turned out that I had a lot of questions, and poor Theo was the only one who was really in a position to answer them.
In regard to my cult, yes, they had a class. According to Theo, it was [Child of Flame], but I had my suspicions that it only appeared that way to someone who had the class. I was pretty sure it was just [Cultist].
As for my following, it was a lot… weaker… than I expected. There were only about two dozen in Fort Faroff itself, and the numbers weren’t much higher anywhere else. It turns out that Fort Faroff and Faroff itself were “hotspots” for cultist activity since that was the area I always respawned.
The other unfortunate bit was that none of the current [Cultists] had managed to get the class past level 1. Theo beat around the bush a bit, but I eventually dragged it out of him that he believed the reason for the non-existent leveling was that they didn’t have any orders or guidelines from me. In other words, if I wanted my cult to grow stronger, I would have to manage it. That was the start of a headache I was sure no [Restore] would cure.
After discussing my cult, the next question was centered around gear. I desperately wanted to get some armor, some magic items to boost my resources, or, most importantly, a staff so that I didn’t have to keep dual-wielding wands all the time.
Of course, I told him I wanted the staff to give me at least 500 MP so I could [Teleport], and he gawked at me.
Yeah, that sparked the discussion on how things had been changing in Gram. I had always kinda known it was a military nation, but they had doubled down on that. If not more.
Basically, all weapons and armor were issued through the military. The emphasis was also on good-quality, low-cost equipment you could give to your bog-standard [Soldier]. So, even the wands I pulled out and showed him were far beyond anything the standard [Battlemage] would be issued.
In other words, getting gear in Gram would be difficult, if not impossible.
That also led to my question about the Gram church. I mentioned how I was surprised that there was no [Cleric] with the [Hero], and that was how I learned the church’s presence was greatly diminished. Like a lot of things that had happened in Placeholder, that was also kinda my fault. It turned out that my disdain of [Clerics] must have extended to Pride which meant that over his decades-long reign, the “examples” he made might have been mainly people from that body.
I didn’t realize I’d done that, but I was also zoned out for a lot of what Pride did. Despite being [Ageless], being trapped in your own head for that long gets kinda boring if you try to pay attention all the time.
Not that every bit of healing was gone from Gram. Apparently, [Soldiers] who were trained correctly could become [Battle Medics] at level 10. They got access to [Restore] and [Heal], but not any of the higher level stuff.
However, the lack of healing was another piece of a puzzle that I was slowly putting together in my head.
Then, I unintentionally saved some of the most important questions for last. With [Guards] doing status checks to enter towns, I thought back to when AltSys changed my status display and asked if there was any way to do that.
It wouldn’t do to run around into towns showing that my name was Titus, after all.
The answer to that was disappointing. He didn’t know. He assumed there must be a way to do that because otherwise, all [Criminals] would be easy to find and root out. Unfortunately, neither he nor the rest of the cult had heard of it, and it hadn’t been a priority because [Cultist] wasn’t their highest level class anyway.
Internally, that just made me realize that I would have to find a way to contact the Thieve’s Guild… Or whatever had replaced them.
I already had a few ideas on how to do that.
It was about at that point that Theo started yawning a bit excessively. I belatedly learned that he was usually patrolling on the night shift and that I was currently keeping him up past his bedtime.
I quickly dismissed him and told him I would keep in touch via [Message] if anything came up. I also gave him orders to set up a meeting with the rest of the cult as soon as he could safely do so.
He tried to promise me he’d have it done for that night, but I told him it would probably be best to wait a few days.
He left, replaced the crates, and trapped me inside my safe house.
------
Bored is always better than dead. I thought as I lay down on the bed. But there has to be something I can do. There was magic practice, but as I looked over at the [Scry] that I was still watching, I liked that idea less and less.
“Magic is out,” I muttered. “What else is there?”
I flipped through my inventory and realized I still had some paper and a pen from ages ago when I had studied under that woman… the mother of Sarah’s murderer.
“Just another thing I’ll fix,” I murmured to myself. I pulled out pen and paper. I wasn’t sure what to write until I had a sudden lightbulb.
“Well, every cult needs a manifesto,” I said with a sigh.
So, I got to work trying to figure out how I wanted to shape my cult. What did I want them to believe? What did I want them to do? And how could I manipulate them in a way that gave me the most benefit?
It turned out that the writing process was more difficult than I’d imagined. I wadded up and tossed failed draft after failed draft into the corner, and that was just for the first page.
During all of that writing, the [Scry] winked out.
“Wait, what?” I asked the inanimate mirror. I put pen and paper away and examined it a bit. Not a problem with the mirror, so it’s… Oh. I’m an idiot.
My mana had emptied.
It turned out that [Scry] had an upkeep cost that I wasn’t aware of, and my mana regen couldn’t keep up with that with only a single wand.
That led to awkward attempts to try to write while holding a wand in my writing hand, but I eventually gave up on that too. So, I sat and thought until I got enough mana back to cast [Scry] again.
I needn’t have bothered. When I finally cast it, the [Hero] and his party were packing things in for the night. They had “scoured the town” for me and didn’t have a clue, so I was pretty happy with my hiding place.
I yawned.
Right. Sleep. I almost went to bed right then and there before remembering. I waited for a few points of mana to regen, cast a [Restore] on myself, and then curled up to go to bed.
I slept soundly until-
System: You have entered an opposing faction’s zone after midnight. Valid allied or unclaimed zone is adjacent. Beginning monster wave
I bolted upright.
After reading that urgent message from the System, I… shrugged and went back to sleep.
-------
Samson awoke to the sound of an alarm ringing out through the town.
Monsters!... Or is it the [Demon Lord]? Either way, as a [Hero], he couldn’t sit idly by. He pulled his boots on, forewent his armor because he didn’t have the time, and rushed out of the inn. He could tell through his [Enhanced Party] that the others were stirring, and he nonverbally called them to follow after him. From there, he wasn’t sure where the danger was, but he took an educated guess that it was in the direction all the [Soldiers] were headed.
Samson sprinted past them and soon found himself at the base of the wall, where dozens of archers were shooting at something on the other side.
Monsters then, Samson thought. He located the human who seemed to be calling out orders and shouted up to them. “I’m here to help!” he called out. “Where do you need me?”
The [Commander] looked over at him and scowled. “Monster attacks on this fort are a Gram matter. Please return to your lodgings immediately.”
Samson was taken aback. They didn’t want his help?
Of course. Samson thought as he looked down at the nightwear he was currently clad in. He pulled out hammer and shield.
“I’m the [Hero] of Placeholder, Samson Stonebreaker,” he introduced himself. “Where do you need me?”
The [Commander] ignored him for a moment and called out for the archers to target… something. Meanwhile, Samson waited.
“We have the situation well in hand, [Hero],” the [Commander] continued. “We experience monster attacks at least once a month. Return to your inn.”
“You pure gold pickaxe!” Samson shouted in anger. Immediately, he regretted it, but given the look of confusion that spread across the [Commander’s] face, it would seem the insult didn’t land anyway. Samson powered through. “This isn’t a normal monster attack! This is a wave! You have no idea what-“
He was interrupted by the sound of metal being folded in.
“Target those bears!” the [Commander] shouted. “Quickly! They’re trying to take down the gates!”
The archers were already on it. However, it was unfortunate that the human architects in charge of the wall hadn’t built it as well as Samson would have hoped. There were no murder holes, which meant that the archers had to awkwardly lean to fire once the enemies were close to the walls.
That almost spelled disaster. Not for the gate. Samson was sure that even if the monsters broke that down, he could hold the line just fine.
No, it almost spelled disaster for the archers.
It turned out that the same daves that had ambushed Samson in the forest had also joined the monster wave.
They stealthily climbed the walls, and then once the archers were distracted, they leaped.
There were only 5 of them, but that was enough to cause chaos. The other [Soldiers] couldn’t shoot at the monsters because they might hit their friendlies.
Without another thought, Samson charged up the battlements. He slew one dave, then a second, then a third, and then-
“Get it off me!” one of the [Soldiers] shouted. However, he was off-balance even before the dave grappled him. He tripped and tumbled off the wall.
Samson immediately jumped after him. He landed heavily but ignored the sudden drop in HP. Then, with another quick hammer strike, he slew that dave too.
However, he was now surrounded.
“Stay behind me!” he shouted to the [Soldier] as he prepared to face the coming horde.
“[Fortitude]!” he shouted the name of his skill as the bear bore down on him. He caught its heavy attack on his shield and responded with a hammer blow that sent it reeling. Then, several wolves jumped at him, but he batted them all away. “[Shield Bash]!”
None of them got back up.
However, he wasn’t done yet. He needed to protect the man behind him and get the enemies off the gates.
“[Challenge]!” he roared as he charged forward. Every enemy in the area immediately turned toward him. Even with [Fortitude], that could have been a risky tactic without his armor on.
Well, it could have been risky if he didn’t also have his level 25 [Knight] skill.
“[Body of Adamantium]!” he shouted. His skin, his clothes, and even his hair turned to the jet-black of adamantium. His movements turned sluggish, but that was a small price to pay for the huge defensive buff… that stacked with [Fortitude].
He had a forest dave stuck to his back, dealing no damage. He had wolves on all sides hanging off him. He even took a direct hit from a bear that moved him not even an inch.
Meanwhile, he couldn’t respond in kind. He was too slow to land a hit on most of his enemies.
He didn’t need to. That’s what his party members were for.
“[Fireball]!” came the call from the top of the wall.
It immolated all the monsters around him, while he experienced nothing more than the unpleasant heat he often felt whenever he visited the hall of smiths.
Now that his party was there, the fight was over.
In many respects, it was also much easier than he was used to. There were no enemies that exploded when they were killed, no ceilings or walls that the monsters could leap at him from, and most importantly, no crawlers to burst from the ground and swallow him whole.
After they mopped all the enemies up and he deactivated his skill, he expected to receive at least a bit of thanks from the [Commander].
Instead, the [Commander] chewed his party out about “destroying loot” with the [Fireball] and “stealing part of Gram’s gold supply.” There was also some grudging thanks for saving “that idiot who tripped off the walls,” but that felt like more of an afterthought.
So, as the thoroughly chastened party returned to the inn, Samson couldn’t help but think.
Three months in Gram, and I still don’t understand humans one bit.
-------
July 9th, 289 AA - Almost a week after arriving in Fort Faroff
“They’re getting closer to finding me,” I muttered as I watched the [Hero’s] party yet again through my [Scry]. “Seems that [Path to Vengeance] gets more accurate the more I sit around, and I’ve been sitting around a lot.”
The good news was the party seemed a bit tired. It turned out that there was no cooldown on monster waves, so every night I stayed in the fort, there was another attack.
I even watched those fights to see what I could learn about the [Hero’s] party. I quickly determined that Samson’s skills meant it would be difficult for me to damage him, much less kill him. That didn’t change much since my current plan was to just… not fight him. If I had my way, the [Hero] of Placeholder would die eventually, but probably to old age.
During my boring stay in the safe house, I finished my “manifesto,” if you could even call it that. It was more of a single-page rough draft with just a few declarative statements and the oath I wanted all of my followers to swear. There were also some tentative plans on a second page for the path to “promotion” and what kind of more restrictive oaths I would want people to take for that.
I handed a copy off to Theo to get his thoughts, but I’m not sure he understood me. He mostly just held onto the piece of paper like it was the holy grail, and I’m pretty sure my questions went in one ear and out the other.
Fortunately, he did listen when I said I wanted a meeting of my followers, which was planned for that night.
It had been a bit awkward trying to get that going. It turns out that when the [Demon Lord] can stay in one city for more than a few days, it becomes pretty clear that someone is harboring him. That meant extra shifts for Theo as the watch was going around and asking questions under truth stone if anyone had seen the [Demon Lord].
… Not gonna lie. I [Scryed] Theo a bit just to watch that because I found the irony of that whole situation hilarious. The one person in the entire world who was guilty of aiding and abetting me was going around asking people if they were guilty of the same.
However, that did mean that my little meet and greet with the cult was going to be a bit difficult. I wanted their help, but I didn’t exactly want to increase the number of people who could out me.
That’s why Theo and I showed up to the meeting a bit earlier than everyone else. There was a small stage in the decrepit building we were using, and we placed a single chair on it and hung a curtain in front to hide it from view. Then, I sat down.
Besides Theo, it turned out that no one would be seeing the [Demon Lord] tonight.
A combination of Theo and my Demon Lord aura kept people from approaching the stage, and eventually, Theo leaned over to speak to me.
“Everyone is gathered, my lord,” he said.
“Good,” I replied. “Now, repeat everything I say.”
Not only would no one see the [Demon Lord], they could even honestly say that they hadn’t heard him or been given orders from him.
That extra bit of caution did cause things to be a bit awkward, though. It meant that every time I wanted to say something (which was often), Theo had to lean a bit behind the curtain to hear me and then do his best to parrot what I said.
He got it close enough, I guess.
And so, I went through pretty much the same BS that I gave Theo earlier about my grand quest to save the entire world with time magic and how the [Hero] and the governments of the world were evil for trying to stop me.
Then, when that was done, and I waited for the gathered [Cultists] to stop cheering, it was time to get on to the real reason I called the cult together.
“And so, my first order. Get rid of the [Son of Dave],” I commanded, with Theo still acting as my voice. “He is the only one keeping me from moving freely, and he is your most important target. Kill him, or make him leave the [Hero’s] party, I don’t care which.”
There were various shouts along the line of “Your will, lord of flame!” or “That son of a dave is as good as dead!”
I once again waited for them to die down before continuing.
“As for your blessing, I leave you this,” I stated. “Doubt. When the [Guards] come to question you with truth stones, you can doubt. You never once saw me tonight, you didn’t hear me speak a single word, and you can doubt I was ever here.”
Before Theo finished that last statement, I stood up and entered [Sneak]. Then, just as we rehearsed, he threw back the curtain as he echoed it.
That gave the awed [Cultists] a look onto what appeared to be an empty stage. My aura was proof enough that I had given them orders, but just like I promised, I had given them plenty of ammunition against the truth stone interrogations that would surely be coming their way.
Unfortunately, it also gave me a look into the dark room where my cult was gathered. As I stared out at the 20 or so [Cultists] who were mostly elderly, I couldn’t help the thought that immediately crossed my mind.
I’m going to need a plan B.