Robert was tying the straps on armor when William approached with a bowl of porridge. Feeling the smell, Rob barely managed to hold his belly from growling but didn’t want to stop in the middle of the process. It was already the midday of the next day when they finally halted their journey for long-awaited rest. During all this time, he was running near the carriage, which led to an endless torrent of mockery and insults from Angela and two other mages, which they tried to keep between themselves, but failed. He understood it was the result of Walter’s death by his hand, but there was no way to reverse the time. Moreover, Robert wasn’t sure how it would end if he wasn’t the first to act. It could be his corpse to be buried in the yard of that cursed village. Therefore, he had no regrets. Of course, such an attitude only led to more problems in communication.
“Thanks,” Rob took the bowl after finally finishing fixing the varmbrace on his arm. Right now, he was equipped in the ordinary helmet without visor, but with nose protection, brigandine armor with the addition of neck defense – gorget, leather gloves, and short greaves, which started from the knee and went downwards up to leather boots. Some parts were reinforced with metal plates as it was with brigandine, but overall it wasn’t on the same level as the knight’s full plate armor. There were gaps. Moreover, it wasn’t even that light. Only fictional leather from mystical creatures could give free movement and was as light as cloth, but the real one wasn’t so generous in terms of comfort.
“You know you could take the armor of the fallen knight,” William said, pointing at the leather varmbrace.
“If only… I am quite short in comparison to everyone, and it just doesn’t fit. Always a problem to find the proper equipment. That only becomes harder when I take into account how shitty the metal is – it easily breaks. What the point of defense that couldn’t last for long?”
“This problem comes from the need to imbue energy inside the steel. There is a law that tells - everything has to be made from such material, but it downgrades properties of material greatly. At least that is what I heard from my master. Nobody speaks about it. However, I do know that each batch of steel is tested attentively,” William explained with a frown.
“Makes sense,” Robert nodded after quick consideration, “The rule of knights has to be protected. Even by the cost of shitty steel. Or lives of others.”
“Yeah. And that's what I want to change!”
“Aspen, are sure you can become an archiknight there?” Robert asked, looking directly at William in an attempt to see any doubts or hesitation. There was none. Instead, he was met with a wide smile and counter-question.
“Stick, are sure you can run all the way there?”
“Oh, I sure do! I am feeling like a boiling pot, which needs to spend extra heat all the time not to pour out. Running indeed helps!” Robert grinned while starting to eat. They spoke for some time with William before Angela called him. Rob had to finish his bowl alone, ignoring her comment about being an “uncultured gnome” only because of Aspen. He wasn’t even that much shorter than the girl. However, such solitude allowed him to think over the information he got from them.
The first thing was that their meeting in this village wasn’t a coincidence at all. Angela, being a mage, managed to find out that her guildmates were preparing an attack during the battles. Because of predetermined places, it wasn’t hard to find the nearest village near it. Her reasoning for such places just several days after was simple – she could see by her own eyes the existence of magic rabies. Before that, she only managed to read through some documents and experimental journals but hadn’t seen it in life. Another reason was that by this point in time most of the mages, knights, or even villagers would run away or be dead. That could help to meet in a relatively “safe” place while giving actual confirmation to William about the level of threat. It still was a one out of five chance to meet them, but at least could explain such an unexpected outcome.
The newly appointed knight wanted to use the information about magic illness to warn his grandfather, Duke. He hadn’t met him in person and had to rely on communication through Marquise to tell the possibility of revolt. It took good effort to convince Blueriver to prepare additional force in case it was true. That force was meant to be sent to the town of Douger, where one of the main mage’s towers was located. The very same tower that conducted most experiments about rabies. Angela’s idea was to use the results of this work to expand the magic capacity of William to grant him the legendary power of archiknight. Robert still remembered his confusion about the belief that it would work.
“You ask why it will work only on me and not others? Personally, I am also not sure. I don’t feel any special. Yes, I know I am gifted and became a great knight as soon I was given a spirit stone, but still… Angela thinks that my mixed lineage gave me enormous potential in mana-wielding. My mother’s side had generations of mages, while my father’s lineage was knights from the beginning. Pure luck for me. Definitely not something that I achieved with my own efforts. Still, I can use it for a greater good!”
“I really hope you can as this world seems to be in deep crisis right now and inevitably going into a deeper pit.”
“I know, Robert, I know. We’ll do what we can… At least we have luck on our side – Angela managed to find notes of one high-rank mage in the cart that your group had taken from the battlefield. He was one of the ideologists and creator of runes for their magic staves. Also, he had taken part in developing this illness, but only partly. As you can see, we have a chance.”
Therefore, the grand plan appeared as simple as it could be. While mages were distracted by the knight’s forces, gathered by the Duke, their small group had to sneak into the tower using Angela’s knowledge. After that magician had to conduct a ritual on William, while others had to stall the time. The breakthrough to the knight’s force had to stop the fight by the direct order of an archiknight. The following negotiations between knights and mages could finally set the way for a bright future without the dominance of a single class. In Robert’s personal opinion, the plan not only had a huge amount of “if”, but also heavily relied on tradition and smelled with naivety. However, what else he could do?
Does it sound stupid and one-way ticket directly to the death door? Yeah, absolutely. Do I have a good alternative to increase my odds of survival? Nope. So, let’s help my friend. At least he will get the girl if the plan of turning into the knight with the biggest balls going to become a complete failure.
Of course, Robert didn’t say that and just agreed straightaway. He could tell that the scale of infection was definitely much bigger than they thought. Could describe that it wasn’t rabies in the first place but an attempt to increase the magic capacity for mages. Could explain that not only mages or knights were against them, but literally a God. Could point to a vague description of a ritual with unknown results, solely based on trust in the magician's beauty. Could point to the unwillingness of knights to lose their ruling position or genocidal speech from mages, which he had heard personally. There were even more problems with it, but after looking at hopeful William, he just agreed. Rob was sure that there were zero chances to convince him of anything. The result of the ball hitting too hard on a poor guy. Moreover, nobody would believe him – on what basis a mere soldier with an odd past could obtain such information?
“Let’s do it, Aspen!”
That was Robert’s answer. He didn’t have anything in this world, except the wish to live and a single friend. The former was quite hard and seemed on the verge of impossibility as his Core stat continued to drop, leading to a well-known outcome. However, the latter, his friendship, was valuable as it was. That’s why if his friend wanted willingly to put his head under the guillotine in an attempt to fulfill his dreams, Robert could only support it until the end. Most like his own end. Still, that made him exhaust himself constantly to balance his non-stopping mana regeneration.
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“I am confident in my first assumption that your friend is completely out of his mind. No sane person would do such things. And he is doing it while not showing any signs of infection. I just refuse to imagine how crazy or dangerous he will be in the infected state, despite his small frame,” looking at a running figure with a chest-size log on his shoulder on top of a worn backpack, Angela spoke.
“It works for him. And he is not crazy – he just has an enormous willpower, while not realizing this fact. His desire to live a full life pushes him to the extreme, to overcome himself. You know, he didn’t have any memories before training camp? Completely blank sheet. Thin, weak, and short, he was called a Stick not without a reason. However, right now nobody will name him like that…,” commented William, who was sitting in coachman's place beside the magician. Both other mages were sleeping inside, preparing for their turn to lead the carriage through the night.
“I am not interested in Walter’s murderer, who constantly smells like a wet dog. Or beggar. His deed couldn’t be undone as my attitude to such behavior couldn’t be changed. Better tell what pushes you forward?” the girl asked, slightly leaning on William’s shoulder.
“I am in the process of rethinking. Again, despite your opinion about him, precisely Robert made me think about not only the end goal but also about the process of achieving it. Just need some time to organize everything inside my head…,” Their conversation continued as they started to exchange different funny stories from their past in improvised competition about the dumbest event. Even Rob tried to participate at some point at Aspens’ request, telling them how his observation of a few fighting elks ended in being poisoned, but was met with an angry gaze from Angela and had to back off.
The journey went in the same manner for six days straight. The absence of stops increased their speed by a lot, especially compared to the foot march. They already had met two knights, whom William asked for help with a silent approval from Marquise. They both didn’t like to talk, clearly feeling superiority over mages and maniacs from the militia. Fortunately, they traveled on their own cart, limiting conversation from both parties to an absolute minimum. However, that didn’t help to strengthen the feeling of companionship. It seemed they carried out the order and were not here because of successful persuasion. Still, two additional knights were quite a force to reckon on. That definitely would be valuable in the upcoming implementation of a dangerous plan.
If it was a classic story, despite our differences, overcoming dangers together would have led us to develop bonds and finally change our attitude toward each other, forming real friendship… But not gonna happen. Crap, the knights even eat separately, showing clear disgust in sharing food with the lower class. The mages are not better in their stupid attempt to assert themselves before the knights just to show their no less inferior but forgetting to be polite to me. Damn, a few times only sheer willpower saved their asses from being beaten to a pulp. I, myself, am behaving like a real lunatic. Smelling one indeed. Angela is clearly flirting with William, but at least the latter is trying to distance himself for now… No, just a single mission wouldn’t change anything between us. It is another nail in the coffin of a dream about a whole world living happily after a single order from archiknight.
Robert tried to point this problem to William. However, Aspen’s belief in others almost blinded him. He was sure with complete sincerity that joint hardship would destroy self-erected walls. For him, it was only a matter of time and effort. The latter wasn’t an obstacle for him as William indeed wanted to destroy the shackles of classes.
“Maybe I am skeptical in this but be ready for anything. Check what you are told – you haven’t seen it with your own eyes to be absolutely sure. And don’t fall for Angela before you personally speak with your girl-knight.”
“You are like my old master, Rob. I know that something is starting between Angela and me. However, I am not ready yet. I have been doing everything possible to be with Sophie for years and I just can’t forget her in a month. But you are right – to end it correctly I indeed need to speak with her. To see her. To hear her reasons. Thanks, buddy!” William patted Robert’s shoulder, before walking away.
Hey, is that everything you heard from my words? I wasn’t speaking about that… Shit, forget it!
In the end, another downpour with a thunderstorm stopped their journey for another day. Fortunately, one of the knights hunted in that region and led them to a small cabin in the forest. They had chosen remote roads in the first place and avoided any settlements or places of interest, which in exchange gave them deserted natural surroundings. Their group had to abandon both carriage and cart temporarily just to walk to a new shelter. The mud, dark clouds, and constant water flow exhausted mages completely. William even carried Angela in the last part. Others were not better as both knights had a lot of equipment on them while Robert wasn’t as strong as them. At least his starting cold had disappeared after a wave of restoration. Still, he was on a timer, so Rob didn’t have the opportunity to enjoy the rest.
He almost felt the stream of mana, which was constantly refiling his body. Before getting into this situation, he never thought about mana regeneration in detail. Robert always assumed it was similar to stamina, be it in the games or books. It had an upper limit, but it couldn’t be over-regenerated as you couldn’t be over-rested. However, right now for him, it appeared like a bath tap with a broken valve and an endless stream of water pouring inside. He had to work his ass to balance it and not to spill anything from the tube. This pressured his mind much harder than his body. At least he had some capacity for short breaks between his cycles. Maybe for others, he seemed to be crazy, but he had no other choice.
Sprinting with log wore him out quite fast. Restoration emptied his mana and gave him some free time, which he could use for a slower movement. The problem was that his ability meant adaptation in the first place. Its effectiveness might be based on energy spent, but quantity could be no less effective than quality. Therefore, his body started to adapt to such stress rapidly. That, as time flew, made his slowing times happen rarely and the log weights went up, straight to the situation when he needed to run permanently with additional weight. The heavier weight didn’t work as he didn’t manage to find convenient logs for carrying, while the need to keep up with others hadn’t disappeared. They were still traveling.
However, it resulted in his body being able to carry such weight and almost not tiring out between short brakes. He felt as if he was simply jogging. Robert knew he didn’t become strong as hell. No, simply his muscles could produce enough strength to carry the log while simply breathing gave enough energy from oxygen to supply those movements. Maybe an increased pace could help, but he didn’t want to lose his group from view. Thus, progress stalled, barely helping in balancing mana usage and regeneration.
Hurting himself didn’t work too as he didn’t want to show his speed-healing to the knights. Angela and William were already enough, and he didn’t want to show the extent of his regeneration. Robert only used his knife in the night, when he tried to sleep. Physical exercises were a bad aid in falling asleep fast, which led him to limit his sleep time as both his options seemed quite bad. And that was without adding the smell of sweat that attacked everyone who tried to speak to him. Robert wanted to undress, but that decreased the weight, which was not a good solution either. Therefore, he met this downpour with internal happiness, despite his mental tiredness. Maybe he wasn’t cleaned after it as mud stuck to his boots and pants, but he definitely felt much fresher.
While others were sleeping inside the cabin, Robert silently stood outside. Looking at the two moons above his head and ignoring water drops, he was thinking about his past, his goals, and his current doings. His fallen friends and companions from both worlds. His unfulfilled dreams. His possible shaky road ahead if he managed to survive. It wasn’t like a direct thought process, no. His thoughts, unclear and blurry, were jumping from one topic to another, not stopping anywhere specifically. They were chaotic as much as they could be, following his mood. The mood was triggered by the first sign of magic rabies – a violent cough with glowing patterns.
Despite all his enormous efforts, his Core stat continued to drop, reaching a miserable 2 points. Robert was sure that by the morning, it would get to zero. At least they would get to their destination tomorrow. He had some time, alas not much. Rob wasn’t the only one to be infected, but he was unlucky enough to be in epicenters plenty of times to trigger the rabies faster than others.
Shitty flower… I felt that it was cursed… Damn it!
Rob sighed, before checking his status screen. His attempt to prolong his life resulted in huge growth in his stats, especially in Endurance. But what was the point if he was going to lose his mind in a day or two? Therefore, he threw away the thought about a new round of training and went to wash himself. He didn’t want to meet his death, smelling like a wet dog. Or beggar.