“Damn them all.”
Tarquin paced around his luxurious study, whose mahogany table and many bookshelves were currently lit by a half dozen candles.
The room may as well have been a trash dump for all Tarquin cared at that moment. Gnawing on his fingernails, his pace grew increasingly frantic.
It was over. His entire empire, unmade in the course of a single night.
All because of that Dominion-damned ‘request’.
Criminal underworlds were never safe or secure places, and that was doubly so for Basecrest’s. So, when the de facto kings of that world came calling, Tarquin dared not refuse the honor.
No one knew who they were, or even what they were called. Everyone wondered, but they worked through a dozen layers of intermediaries, and anyone who attempted to unravel that thread found themselves swiftly terminated.
Tarquin knew better than to cross such a figure. Not when the rewards of playing nice were nearly endless. Which was why Tarquin obliged when they’d ordered him to send that infernal piece of evidence. Encrypted in Blacksmith Guild cipher though it might be, it took only the presence of a guild member to unravel it.
It was why he’d sent his Boonworthy, in the middle of the night, after ensuring there would be no issues.
Yet something had gone wrong. His runner had been seen, clearly, and without the ears he had planted within the City Guard, Tarquin might never have known.
The whole situation stank. As if he’d been made to fail. For what purpose, who knew?
He cursed his greed. His ambition. He should never have done business with them.
Of course, he thought ironically, it wouldn’t be much of an empire without that.
Now, his life’s work was in jeopardy, and yet, fleeing never once crossed his mind. He couldn’t so easily abandon all that he’d worked so hard to build. Not until he’d done everything to save it.
Without the emergency warning, Tarquin would have been sleeping blissfully in bed when Commander Tarth’s troops raided his compound in just a few hours. He would’ve lost everything.
Now? Tarquin ceased pacing and glanced at the note he’d scribbled moments earlier. Now, at least there was a chance. Fearing this exact situation, he’d made preparations. Preparations that had cost an arm and a leg, yes, but the Warborn Band of mercenaries charged what they did for a reason. There was no better organized force he could’ve mustered on short notice.
And if they failed? Well….
Tarquin’s lips warped into a vicious, spite-filled grin.
At least he’d take everyone down with him.
----------------------------------------
“This is just awful,” Aerion snapped, pacing back and forth in the pre-dawn darkness. “I hate this waiting. I want to do something. Anything.”
“Seriously? I feel like most people would spring at a chance to relax in a place like this.” I gestured to the platter of fruits, bread, and oil that had been brought to our incredibly luxurious waiting room. Given that it was a VIP guest room within the castle itself, that made a lot of sense.
Its ceiling was tall, its walls brightly painted, and its furnishings lavish—everything I’d expect out of a place like this. I was surprised to find it even had its own bathroom with a proper porcelain toilet, not just an outhouse with a deep hole as I’d been used to so far. That meant a sewage system, probably not unlike the ones beneath modern cities.
I doubted most residents of Basecrest ever got a chance to even look at a room like this, let alone stay in one.
“How can anyone enjoy luxuries at a time like this? I can’t even taste this food, I’m so worried.”
“Relax,” I said. “They’ll come get us when they’re ready. Until then, we’ve got food and water. Even beds!”
I plopped a grape into my mouth and turned back to Aerion. “We’re getting a great deal here, y’know? Tarquin goes down. You get your pendant back. We’ll gain some levels in the process, and the city will be in our debt. Wins all around.”
“I know. I know, but what if he escapes? He’s wearing my pendant, Greg!”
“Then we’ll just have to ensure he doesn’t. You and me. He’ll be our primary target. Gotta say, the Baron’s not what I expected. And I mean that in a good way.”
Aerion stopped pacing and raised a brow. “Why? What did you think he would be like?”
I scratched the back of my head. “For some reason, my society paints all nobility as stuck up, incompetent assholes. I kinda just assumed that’s what he’d be like. I was ready for a heated argument.”
Aerion shook her head. “Such a steward would be quickly deposed by their patron god. Granted, each deity has their quirks, but none of them allow incompetent leaders. Let alone selfish or corrupt ones. Well, aside from Order, anyway.”
“Handy, that,” I said. “Amazing what having an infallible, incorruptible deity watching over everything does for a country.”
Baron Sinclair had been quick to understand after I’d cited our motivations. The desire to seek personal gain had been a universal driver of humankind ever since prehistory, so it hadn’t taken much. Be it prestige or wealth, it was something anyone, anywhere, would understand.
It wasn’t an outright lie, either. I very much did want to appropriate Tarquin of whatever valuables we found. Just that one very specific item was of greater importance to us than the others. And now, we had free rein to scoop up any baubles we found along the way.
We’d get along well, this Baron and I. I felt a little bad for lying to him about Aerion’s deal with Tarquin. Well, we didn’t lie—more like we just chose not to tell the whole truth. If Tarquin was captured and he eventually spilled the beans about Aerion and their deal, well...
At that point, we’d have assisted in not only cornering one of his agents, but also assisting the law in bringing a crime lord to justice. I was calculating the Baron would overlook certain misdemeanors Aerion might’ve committed in the past. What was the saying? Better to ask for forgiveness than permission?
Aerion had started pacing again, so I stopped munching on the food and decided to do something to calm my anxious friend.
“Tell you what? Let’s practice Taiji while we wait. Might gain a few points in Order and Wisdom as well.”
Aerion halted. “Here?”
“Why not? We’ve got plenty of space…”
She looked around, as if realizing just how large the suite was for the first time, before nodding. “I think I’d like that.”
----------------------------------------
We spent the next hour moving through my Taiji form. I was surprised at how far Aerion had come with the art, even pointing out issues in my form. I felt like I was pretty close to what I’d been when actively practicing years ago.
“Every time I see it, I can't help but think how unusual this form of meditation is,” she said. “I would never have thought to combine movement into the process. And it’s so… slow.”
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“The slower the better,” I replied, continuing to move through the form. “But you’re not really supposed to talk.”
“O-Oh. Sorry.”
I peeked at the elf. Her ears had flushed and she was looking down at the ground, like a kid caught dipping their hand into a cookie jar. She really took things too seriously sometimes, though I had to admit, she had loosened up a bit ever since we exited the Trial, occasionally cracking jokes or responding to mine instead of dismissing them like she used to.
It was… nice, having a friend in this world. Even ignoring my chances of surviving the Trial without her, I don’t think I’d have fared nearly as well mentally if I’d been alone. Especially in an alien world like this where so much was new and strange to me.
Since my mind had drifted, I abandoned my form and plopped down on the comfy couch. They’d be calling for us soon, and this was a good time to take stock of my inventory.
I pulled up the screen. I’d leveraged the UI customization feature of my interface to streamline what it showed me, giving me just the name, rarity, and Essence Cost of each item rather than the huge table from before. The list had grown considerably, so this was easier on the eyes.
Essence Utilization: 169/190
Equipped by Greg:
— Otherworld T-shirt [Common] (6)
— Otherworld Sneakers [Common] (6)
— Stainless Steel Plate Cuirass [Common] (8)
— Stainless Steel Gauntlets [Common] (4)
— Otherworld Socks [Common] (3)
— Steel-Plated Tower Shield [Common] (5)
— Woven Fabric Sweater [Common] (3)
— Woven Fabric Trousers [Common] (3)
— Fine-Woven Fabric Hose [Uncommon] (7)
— Fine-Woven Fabric Undershirt [Uncommon] (7)
— Fine-Woven Bandana [Uncommon] (7)
— Fine-Woven Scarf [Uncommon] (7)
— Steel Poleaxe [Common] (6)
— Steel Mace [Common] (6)
Equipped by Aerion:
— Elven Commoner Robe [ Common] (9)
— Iron Dagger [ Common] (4)
— Pet Rock [Common] (1)
— Nobleman's Steel Shortsword [Uncommon] (11)
Not Equipped/Unequippable:
— Makeshift Waterskin [Common] (3)
— Aerion: Elf [Common / F] (63)
I felt like everything in there was pretty streamlined already. I had a decent buffer, and both Aerion and I had all of our armor, weapons, and clothing repaired in advance. My sneakers had been patched up, although the shoemaker didn’t quite know what to do with it. Suffice it to say it would never look the same again.
It didn’t matter. If this raid went as I hoped, both Aerion and I were getting all sorts of rewards from the Baron. Not to mention all the level ups and stat gains.
Speaking of, I opened up the minimized notifications from our meditation session. Incidentally, my Passion had gone up another point after the further bargaining I’d done with Sinclair, and was now 17.
Congratulations! Order has increased to 11.
Congratulations! Wisdom has increased to 20.
Not a bad haul at all, and I felt great to boot, though my Order was now at its current limit. To increase it any more, I’d have to find new gear. Wisdom still had 2 points before I hit the limit in that.
“You’re doing that thing again,” Aerion said, eyeing me pensively as she slipped a grape into her mouth.
“What thing?”
“That grin. You do that when you learn something. Usually about your stats, or leveling.”
“That’s…” Wow. This girl knew me far too well. “That’s exactly right.”
Aerion smirked knowingly. “Well? Care to share?”
“It’s about Order,” I said. “I did some experiments, and just now, I gained a few more points. I think I know what it does now.”
“Oh? Do tell.” Aerion stopped eating and gave me her full attention. “If it impacts my progression direction, I must know what it does.”
That made me more than a little happy. She was taking an active interest in stats and levels now, instead of letting me handle everything. That was great.
“Well, at the level I’m at, the feeling’s still very slight, but I think it has to do with my body’s state. My centeredness, if you will. Or awareness.”
Taiji came more fluidly when I had Order-boosting gear on me, and if I assumed that Order had to do with my body’s internal regulation… It made some sort of sense.
“I thought we’d concluded Cunning governed Awareness, though?” Aerion asked.
“Right. It does, and that’s what threw me off ever since our excursion into the woods. I think Cunning is about external awareness, while Order is about awareness of your body.”
“Internal awareness,” Aerion said, mulling it over. “I suppose that makes sense. I do feel better when my Order stat goes up, but it’s a different sort of feeling than when Vigor or Dominion improve.”
“Exactly!” I said. I began to walk around the room. “I think Cunning and Order are—”
A knock on our door cut me off.
“Excuse me, sirs?” a voice called from the other side. “They’re ready.”
I locked eyes with Aerion, and we exchanged a nod. It was go-time.
----------------------------------------
Tarquin’s compound wasn’t just the single building I’d watched Aerion go into.
The entire block was his compound. Without realizing it, I’d helped those traders offload Tarquin’s supplies back when I’d waited for Aerion. The crates had been bound for Tarquin’s storehouse.
He had a smithy, several more storehouses, and who knew what else. The town guard’s encirclement was almost a quarter mile in diameter, and all of a sudden, those 500 men didn’t sound nearly as impressive. I sincerely hoped we had enough manpower to keep Tarquin from slipping out.
“I won’t question the capabilities of a Blessed,” the commander of the guard—Tarth—said, addressing Aerion. “However, I must ask that you stay out of the way of my troops. You are unfamiliar with our tactics, and I’m afraid there isn’t nearly enough time to coach you.”
“Not a problem,” I said. “We’ll follow on your men’s heels. They won’t notice we’re there.”
That was more true than I’d let on. The moment they’d breached Tarquin’s buildings and had occupied his fighters, Aerion and I intended to hunt the slumlord down.
Tarquin himself was weak—he was neither Boonworthy nor Blessed, and taking him down would be trivial. That was, of course, if his bodyguards weren’t present.
We probably wouldn’t get that lucky, but I couldn’t see him surrounding himself with a small army at the cost of the rest of his empire. Not with 500 professional soldiers bearing down on him.
Again, we didn’t have to beat him. We only needed to occupy him until reinforcements arrived.
We stood side by side with the other troops, and just as dawn broke over the horizon, bathing the city in a deep shade of red, Commander Tarth gave the order.
There were no roars or manly screams. These were professional soldiers carrying out a mission.
With little fanfare, they kicked down doors and filtered into the buildings. Commander Tarth hung back, overseeing the operation.
He gave us a nod. “May Dominion be with you.”
“And you,” I said, returning the gesture.
Then Aerion and I entered the building, following the troops. It was a two-story wood-and-plaster construction like most of the buildings in this part of town, and the interior was dark.
They either didn’t know we were coming, or…
“Empty,” one of the town guard reported. “Moving deeper.”
They cleared the rooms one by one. They kept going… and going… and going. It soon became apparent that the buildings weren’t ordinary buildings at all.
Sure, they looked like normal buildings from the outside, but internally, they’d all been altered to connect with one another.
The result was a mind-bogglingly confusing labyrinth.
Our squad rounded a bend, coming face to face with three fighters. They raised their weapons… and stopped.
“Halt!” someone roared.
It was another squad.
The forces joined up and continued penetrating deeper into Tarquin’s labyrinth. And with every empty room cleared, the knot in the pit of my stomach tightened.
“Where is everyone?” Aerion asked.
“They knew we were coming,” I said. “He’s prepared for this.”
I wanted to curse. If that was the case, it’d be a crapshoot as to whether Tarquin was even there anymore. And if he was, I was damned well sure he had an escape route planned.
Our chances of success had just plummeted. I didn’t understand. How could Tarquin have known? This operation had coalesced in under six hours. What kind of intelligence network did Tarquin have that allowed him to know of troop movements on such short notice?
Unless…
My heart sank.
Unless he had a mole.
And then we burst into a massive circular courtyard, and I knew that those chances had just increased even further.
Because this large courtyard was not empty.
It was filled with about a hundred soldiers. And they were ready to shoot us.
We hadn’t ambushed the enemy.
They had ambushed us.