22 kills today, Jack read the report. He nodded and handed the report back to the messenger.
“Tell General Leofric to keep up the good work.”
The messenger bowed and then left.
Leofric was working very hard. And so too Jack had to go above and beyond. If they were going to maximise the resource extraction, then he as leader had to fix the upcoming labour shortage.
He had ordered the [Scouts] to find the main bases of the Silver Wings tribe and the Black Grass tribe using the general directions that Noella gave.
Once their capital villages were found, it was marked on the [Map].
Jack’s idea was to get at least one of those tribes to attack Noella’s tribe. So that he can have an excuse to attack them. After all, protectings ones ally is always a good excuse to attack
It might appear that it would be difficult to get a tribe to attack another one without good cause. But greed is always a good motivator.
Jack knew from playing the game, ‘Kings, Magic and War’ that the easiest way to get raided was to advertise the high value items in your base.
And Jack would exploit this feeling of greed.
Jack would get an opportunity to try out the first step of his plans.
A trade deal between the Yellow Moon tribe had been finalised. A celebration to mark the occasion was organised by Noella’s tribe.
The [Village Chief] and his representatives greeted Jack as he arrived with the trade commissioner and Isoldea.
“We’ve organised a feast for you all,” the chief said cheerfully. “We’ve slaughtered five goats and five sheep for you.”
“That’s a lot of meat,” Jack said, concerned.
“But you were so generous in the trade agreement. You’ve sold us rice for dirt cheap. And your trade commissioner promised to give us a preservation box in order to make our food last longer.”
Jack glared at the trade commissioner. When he told him to lean on being generous, he wasn’t expecting the commissioner to go all out with the gifts. A preservation box is imbued with magic seals. It alone should come with three horses.
And yet they only got ten goats and ten sheep, plus two horses. The demons gave this village flour, rice, charcoal and even a magic box.
“Are you angry?” the chief looked concerned.
Jack shook his head, “No no, we’re friends. Of course we’ll be generous to each other.”
The feast was delicious. At least they didn’t shy away from cooking lots of food for them.
“How is my daughter?” the village chief asked as he drank a jug of fermented milk alcohol.
‘Noella is fine. She’s a hard worker. And a valuable member of the palace.”
The chief smiled hearing those words, “And what about my son, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“You should ask my steward. But I’m sure his time in the palace is good.”
The feast carried on. Jack tried drinking the fermented milk alcohol. But after one sip, he almost puked.
It was not for him. He just drank water.
When night arrived, the feast wind down. Jack remembered a key to his plan.
“Chief, I have a gift for you,” Jack said to Noella’s father.
“No no, you’ve already been so generous.”
“I insist.”
“No no, I insist not to. We would be taking advantage of you if we accepted any more from you.”
Instead, the chief was the one who gave Jack a gift. The chief gave him a dagger crafted by the best [Artisan] of the village.
Jack wanted to gift the village an obelisk made of gold and gems. It would be an easy target for the other tribes to raid.
But he could see that the chief wouldn’t accept anything more from him.
He had to adjust his plans and figure out a different way to get the other tribes to attack the Yellow Moon tribe.
…
…
Four days passed without a report from Leofric.
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“Should I be concerned?” Jack asked Isoldea.
She shook her head, “I don’t believe there’s a need to worry. Leofric isn’t known to be very organised or punctual. I’m surprised he managed a daily report for more than one day.”
She had a point, Jack admitted. He was worried for nothing.
Jack turned his focus to the livestock that they received from the village.
He took a vial of blood from the sheep and used [Appraise].
The blood’s genetic makeup appeared on a screen.
[GX-TG-TG-AD-AB-X-R]
The genetic mechanic of this world was radically different from the game. He’d have to experiment to find the perfect genetic makeup for each of the livestock.
And so that’s what Jack put his focus on. He summoned slimes and made them morph into sheep sharing the genetic makeup of the ones he extracted blood from.
Slimes are good at copying other beasts. So they were the perfect lab rats.
“Have you found a potion to increase the reproduction rate of the sheep?” Jack asked the highest level [Alchemist] in the palace.
“Not yet, my lord. The Slimes you’ve given us reacted poorly to the potions we gave them. I’m unsure whether the cause of this is because the potion is hurting the slime or the sheep it's imitating.
Jack wasn’t willing to take the chance. If the potion didn’t work on a Slime imitating a sheep, then the potion won’t be tried on an actual sheep.
Jack spent whole days in his study room trying to manipulate genes on the slime. The pursuit for the perfect genetics was going to take some time.
But the reward of figuring it out should be immense. Imagine sheep that breed quickly, produce lots of wool and have great tasting meat.
Such a sheep would fetch a good price. And the demons would have a monopoly.
All this time spent in the study room, Jack relied on Isoldea to do most of the work of running the day to day issues in the palace.
She was a champ. Isoldea had no problem attending the department meetings. Jack always found those meetings boring anyway.
But Isoldea would send a letter to Jack asking for a one on one meeting. She sounded serious.
So he attended the privy council meeting.
“What’s the matter? I have tests to complete,” he told her frankly.
“We have a problem, my lord. Leofric hasn’t reported back for over ten days. This wasn’t an issue before but when we tried using teleportation magic to see what was going on the island, it showed a [Invalid! Magical Nullification Active].”
“Magical nullification? On the entire island?” Jack who was not interested in this meeting now paid attention.
“Yes. The whole island seems to be blocking any communication or teleportation magic.”
“I need to leave then. Something is off,” Jack stood up.
“I should come too. To assist you, my lord.”
“And who will be here to run the palace?”
“Someone else. It would be foolish for you to go alone without backup. I’m the only person in the palace currently who’s strong enough to not be a burden.”
She had a point. Whatever is going on that island could be big. And Isoldea was the highest level NPC beside Leofric.
“Fine, can you think of someone to run this place in the meantime?”
“How about the [Red Matron]. She commands respect in the palace and could bring order while we’re away.”
“Then go tell her of this development. When you’re done, pack whatever you’ll need on the island.”
Jack made sure that his most valuable items were easily accessible when he needed them. Healing potions. Weapons. Magic scrolls. He had to be prepared for anything to go down.
“[Summon] Black Dragon!”
A large beast ejected out of the ground. This was the largest monster that Jack had. The Black Dragon of Ulzur was the most difficult monster to capture in the game. It took him a year to get it. And he had to pay $200 extra to make sure it stayed with him.
The Black Dragon was his prized jewel in his monster collection. He wasn’t taking any chances against what he’ll find on the island.
Jack and isoldea climbed on the beast’s back. They bid everyone farewell and flew off to the island.
The journey there was silent. Isoldea and Jack chose to keep quiet.
The only thing on his mind was what was on that island for Leofric to disappear without warning. The best case scenario was that the communication between the palace and the island was cut off by accident.
The worst case scenario was that there was a threat greater than the Frost Giants.
It took ten minutes of flying before they arrived at the island.
The most notable thing about it was that it was covered with snow. And severe cold temperatures accompanied it.
Jack guided the dragon around the coastline of the island. From Leofric’s report, they set up a camp somewhere on the coast.
Isoldea was the first one who spotted tents. Her eyesight was rather good.
He landed the dragon next to the campsite.
The tents looked undisturbed.
“Do you smell anything?” Jack asked Isoldea. She was a [Vampire], her senses were heightened. Maybe she could detect something he couldn’t.
“Nothing. Besides the scents of our people,” she responded.
She then stared at the dense forest in the interior of the island.
“We should split up to cover more area, my lord,” she suggested.
“That’s a bad idea. Never works out in horror movies.”
“Movies?”
“Nevermind. We should stick together. Let’s first scout out the island from the safety of the air. If we spot something amiss, then we can fly down to investigate further.”
“Before we do, my lord. Could I check something?”
Jack shrugged.
“[Gate]!” she proclaimed.
Nothing happened. The teleportation spell didn’t work.
Jack gave it a try. “[Gate].”
[Invalid! Magic Nullification Active]
So was all kinds of magic invalid?
“[Fireball]!” a ball of fire formed in his hand.
The invalid notification didn’t pop up.
“We can still use our magic. Except for the use of teleportation,” he told Isoldea.
They then climbed on the dragon’s back once again and scouted the island for anything suspicious.