I woke up in my bed, extremely sore, groggy and completely unaware of how or when I got back to the base. Judging from the light coming from my window, it was just starting to get light out. I heard the sheets rustle and almost jumped out of my skin, but it was just Rylea peacefully sleeping on the side of the bed while cuddling with Lucky. Her face was rather flushed, so I checked to see if she had a temperature. As I moved closer, the sheets shuffled a bit and I finally noticed that her clothes were nowhere to be seen, causing me to almost leap out of bed in shock.
What the f*ck is going on?! My head's so groggy... I can't remember if anything happened, shit! Hold on, why do I think I can taste berries? Did someone drug me? That's so weird... Wait a minute, there's no way we did what I think we did… did we? Nah, I have more control than that. I think. I hope... Oh my god, I have no faith in my self-control whatsoever, I know I must've done something!!! This isn't my fault; I swear I'm not a pervert!
I fearfully lifted the bed sheets off of my aching body and panicked even harder when I saw that I was completely naked too, but I was also covered in bandages and bruises from neck to toe... Judging from the damage my body had taken and how sore I was, I didn’t think I was healthy enough for her to do anything. Relieved, I let out a sigh and gave Lucky a small scratch to help calm myself.
I tried to remember how I had gotten back here, but the last thing that came to mind was the arrow that was shot at me while I was in the middle of fighting Geruda. Someone (probably Rylea) had left a jug of water on the counter next to me, so I poured myself a drink and pulled my clothes back on. I was so thirsty for some reason, so I finished the entire jug of water and finally made the effort to get up. I opened the window and could hear people arguing outside, so I carefully made my way down the stairs with the empty jug to go see what was happening.
When I came out of the workshop’s front door, I was greeted by the largest crowd of people I’d seen since I arrived in this world. Standing in front of me was the original six chimera ants I had grown accustomed to seeing, the fifteen slaves I had freed, the nine slavers who willingly agreed to serve me, and about fifty elves gathered around the main house, all shouting over each other in an effort to be heard. The chimera ants we’re trying to control the crowd, but in all honesty, we’re doing a pretty poor job getting them to settle down. Ferrix and Terrix looked like they we’re clearly frustrated with the slavers, and I started to worry a fight might break out at any second.
I had only been downstairs for a few moments, but the noise from the assembled crown was already giving me a massive migraine. Finally having enough and wanting to get everyone's attention, I smashed the clay jug I was carrying against the ground as hard as I could while shouting, “WILL ALL OF YOU FOR THE LOVE OF GOD PLEASE JUST SHUT THE F*CK UP?!” That seemed to get their attention. The different groups proceeded to stop fighting and all turned to face me, looking quite ashamed of themselves as they did. “Good. Now can someone quietly explain to me what the problem is?”
¤ ¤ ¤
I had a smaller, much more controllable gathering of people come into the workshop for a more amicable discussion. The main chairs we’re occupied by me, the chimera ants, and Kenji. Jobe and Gerrix still needed time to recover and wouldn't be present this time. Since the elves hadn’t officially joined us yet, I decided that most of their problems could wait until we finished resolving ours first, but I did let Elendria, her brother Feindall (who was one of the captured elves we freed), and her father come to the meeting to show that we we’re open to letting them join us. I also welcomed Kreedy and Hugo since I felt like I could trust them after we fought together. Rylea and Elendria both decided that they needed to force their way into the chairs on either side of me, causing the people around the room to laugh. Well, minus Elen. He didn’t seem to find whatever they we’re laughing at very amusing and was giving me a rather menacing look for some reason. That’s odd…What the hell did I do to make him so angry with me?
The twelve of us sat around the table in the workshop while one of the slave girls began serving refreshments to everyone. The slave girl was the youngest of the people we rescued, and she looked like she was trying her hardest to stay unnoticed. She nervously filled our cups and brought treats whenever someone asked for some, then would retreat to the back of the room silently like a ghost. The girl had a slightly androgynous look to her, and her hair was cut into a pretty short bob, so I had mistakenly thought she was a boy the first time I saw her. When she saw that I was looking at her, she blushed for a moment and looked down at her feet before giving me a cute little wink. I smiled back and couldn't help but be reminded of my little sister. She was always pretty shy with strangers but had no problem talking to me.
An awkward air hung over the group as they all waited for me to begin. For a second, I thought I saw Elendria and Rylea shooting daggers at each other, but I must have been seeing things because they both would give me big smiles whenever I looked in their direction. Weird. Finally, after everyone had settled in, the first meeting of my new little nation was officially ready to begin. My biggest priority was finding out what had happened while I was unconscious, so that’s we’re we decided to start.
Kenji proceeded to explain how I had managed to beat Geruda and then lost control. He seemed to avoid going into details about the fight which I was grateful for as he retold the story. When he got to the part where I lost it and almost killed everyone, I was sick to my stomach as I listened. The people around the room kept shooting me nervous glances, so I tried my hardest to not let my emotions show but it wasn't easy. I can’t believe I almost killed Gerrix and I don’t even remember what happened! I need to figure out what this weird ??? seed thing is before something horrible happens to me or worse, someone I care about. If I lost someone due to a battle or an accident, I might be able to live with the results, but if I personally killed an ally while not in control and found out about it after, I didn’t think I’d ever be able to mentally recover. After the fight ended, the rest of the group had gathered the slaves we hid in the forest and the slaver’s leftover supplies, then made their way back here. Are complete haul for the day included;
* 16 horses of various breeds
* 15 Slaves
* 10 Tents
* Camping Supplies
* A Wagon
* A small ledger made up of random letters and numbers
* Geruda’s Journal
* A Battle Bunny
The elves had already been brought over by Rylix and Elendria by the time our group arrived back at base. Ferdi; The squirrel-person who was a healer from Hugo and Kreedy’s adventuring team, immediately burst into action when she saw the condition of everyone who came back from the rescue mission. She ran around healing injuries of all kinds with her healing magic, even managing to reattach Jobe’s right hand and fixing Gerrix’ eye. The only lingering side effects were some numbness in the tips of Jobe’s fingers, otherwise the treatments went almost exactly as planned. Gerrix had forced bed rest for the next few days to recover, so I decided I'd visit him frequently to try and apologize for what I did. Ferdi would have been welcomed at this smaller meeting too, but she had promptly passed out from exhausting her mana after taking care of the last patient, so Elen decided to let her rest instead of forcing her to attend.
The chimera ants had then tried to act hospitably, keeping everyone organized and handing out basic supplies, but tension broke out between the groups as they began anticipating what we would want from them in return. The chimera ants were unaware of what I was planning, so they didn’t have any answers for the elves, which only caused the tension to fester between the groups while I was sleeping. I wasn’t happy about that, but I understood that most of the tension was caused by the elves anxiety and the fact I hadn’t revealed anything about myself.
Thinking about it logically, even I would be nervous if I wasn’t aware of what the person in charge of me wanted or what their true motivations were for helping me. Standing in the elf's shoes for a moment, I realized that they would assess my thoughts and actions to determine if I actually was just some sort of saint or a manipulative schemer trying to deceive them. I needed to put those negative feelings the elves had to bed as soon as possible or they most likely would never join us. I contemplated how I wanted to approach them, but there was still so much I didn’t know about their motivations, and they seemed to be quite secretive, unlike the chimera ants who wore their thoughts on their chests like a badge of honor.
Still, I have to figure something out or risk missing out on an amazing opportunity to level myself up even further. I eventually decided that the best direction I could take with them was to just be as straight forward as possible, so that’s what I did. Even the chimera ants were surprised by what I shared at the gathering, but at least this way they could explain my goals to any other potential recruits without causing a minor panic. While I was lost in thought listening to everyone, Jobe came hobbling into the meeting and slowly made his way over to an empty seat by Kenji. We eventually got down to business after he settled in.
“…So, as I explained, I’m looking to build a new nation here, a place for all the species to come together and face the coming threat as one.”
“The coming threat?” Elen curiously asked. Kenji and the slave serving refreshments both nodded in confirmation, which only seemed to confuse everyone else.
“That’s right. What I’m about to say will probably be terrifying, but I believe its best that we’re all on the same page going forward. As you all know, the demon race has not invaded the southern continent for almost twenty years, but I know for a fact that the demon wars will start again quite soon.”
“WHAT?!” Most of the people in the room yelled.
“Preposterous!” Jobe shouted, clearly disagreeing with my opinion.
“And what makes you say that Jobe?”
“I was there, kid. We chased those demons back to their lands and annihilated all of the ones who didn’t. Why would a demon lord foolishly attack us again? They might be strong, but they don’t have the strength to fight off all of humanity.”
“Well, you might be right about a demon lord, but what about a demon king?”
“A-a d-demon king?” Feindall nervously sputtered from beside his father.
“That’s right.”
“I’ve never heard of a demon king before… are they stronger than a regular demon lord?” Jobe loudly asked.
“As you know, we elves live a long time, so long in fact that some of us remember the last demon king. That bastard was strong enough to chase your kind from the northern continent and is the reason only demi-humans make their home there. What we’re talking about is a near-omnipotent like being. A pseudo-god, if you will. If what Adam says is true, no one will survive the coming fight.” Elen said as he stroked his chin deep in thought.
“How soon are we talking here?” Jobe quickly interjected.
“About twenty years.” Kenji muttered under his breath and Jobe did a double take when he heard his friend answer his question and not me. I could practically see the veins bulging on Jobe’s neck as he tried to keep himself from blowing his top, but it was a losing effort. Jobe violently pushed the chair out from under him in a huff and lifted Kenji by the collar before anyone in the room could react, which was pretty impressive considering the state he was in.
“You knew?” He spat out venomously as he dangled Kenji a few feet off of the ground.
“I did. I'm sorry, I wanted to tell you…but I couldn’t.” Kenji said rather sadly while staring down at his shoes, not making eye contact with the big man who held him. The two men stood there in silence for a moment, and I thought for a second that we we're going to see a fight. The tension finally evaporated when Jobe sighed and loosened his grip on Kenji, releasing him.
“Well, if you didn’t tell me, I’m assuming you had a good reason for doing so. I won’t bust your balls too badly over this, but for f*ck’s sake, the next time you know something this significant, you better tell me. We’re friends, aren’t we?”
“Jobe…you’re right. I’m sorry.”
“Hey Adam, I hate to interrupt this touching moment, but how do you know that this demon king is even coming?” Elendria nervously added after the two men had finished speaking.
“Because my parents told me.” I obviously couldn’t just admit that I was told this by The House and get an instant game-over, so this lie would have to do for now.
“And why would that suffice as proof? You’re just a human child!” Elen said in a rather condescending tone. “Do you even know what ‘evidence’ even is? How childish of you to suggest-”
“Um Elen?” Hugo interrupted.
“What?!” Elen shouted back at Hugo, then took a large sip of tea to calm himself after realizing that he was getting visibly upset in front of everyone.
“The kid’s parents are the Scarlet Sage and the Champion of-”
“PFFT-Champion of Chiltern?! You’re the child of Victor Vegas?!” Elen did a spit take just like Elendria had, his jaw practically dropped to the floor. Jeez… is spitting out your drink from surprise a thing for this family or what?!
“Yep, that’s right.” I calmly stated as I handed Elen something to wipe himself down with. Elen’s jaw had yet to return to normal, so Elendria gave him a small whack on the back to bring him back to reality.
“I apologize. I take back what I said earlier.” Elen said with a stiff and formal bow that made me rather uncomfortable. “Your parents have helped us several times in the past. I would never question their judgement, or any of their offspring, for that matter.” I had only guessed that the bluff would work, but the results of it we’re far better than I could have ever anticipated.
“Good. So now that you know what my motivations are, what I really want to know is if you’ll join us?”
“As a temporary leader, I can’t make that decision myself. Can you give us some time to think it over and have a discussion?”
“Of course. I’ll drop by later and we can go over any details further.”
“Thank you.” Elen said while nodding to the others, which apparently was their cue to leave. The high elves and the adventuring team promptly left to have their discussion about what they wanted to do.
“As for the rest of you, there’s a few things I’d like you to do. Firstly, can anyone tell me about the slaves?”
“I have compiled a report for you right here with help from the one named Kenji, my liege.” Rylix handed me a scroll and I thanked her before I opened it. “Hmmm…So there’s five humans, four beast-men, three dwarves, an Arachne, a half-elf and a dark elf?” That’s quite a mixed bag. “Also, didn’t the high elves want all of the elven hostages? Why did they leave us two of their own kind?”
“That’s simple, they aren’t their own kind. Elves may share similarities between groups, but they differ greatly based on type. The high elves in particular are quite protective when it comes to the purity of their bloodline. An unsanctioned half-elf is basically considered blasphemous to them, but there have been half-elves who have been recognized by the tribe leaders in the past for accomplishing great things. As for the dark elves, I’ve heard they don’t get along with any of the other tribes. Logic dictates that this reason is probably why they chose to leave them with us in this circumstance.” Rylix said.
“For now, can you see how they want their living arrangements set up? That way I can throw down some homes quickly for them and the ex-slavers on my way to the high elves later. Also, if any of the slaves have any unique skills or talents, please write that down for me as well.” That reminded me to get the rest of the ex-slavers and slaves to swear allegiance to me so that I could level up again. “On second thought, I might swing by earlier than expected. That won’t be too big a problem for you, right Rylix?”
“I will see to it immediately.” Rylix said with a graceful bow.
“Great. Once that’s done, I want Gerrix and Terrix to take whoever can work to go gather more materials. Where going to need a ton of food, so Ferrix will have to go hunting with Salix from now on.”
“Mind if I help out with that too? I used to hunt back with my pops when I was a kid, I know how to handle myself in the forest.” Jobe asked.
"I think Griza would be pissed if you didn't take him along too, he was always the hunter for our group while we we're in the woods."
“That's fine. The four of you will be our hunting team for now. Can you make sure Griza's aware that's he a part of your team, Jobe?”
“Not a problem, thanks boss!” Jobe happily said as he slammed his hand down. We seemed to be finished for now, so I promptly dismissed everyone else from the room. They all got up to leave, except for Kenji and the slave girl who had been attending to us.
“So, this is the girl you mentioned earlier?” I asked Kenji once I was sure that everyone was out of ear shot.
“That’s right.” Kenji said with a nod.
“What’s your name?”
“Rachel.”
“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Rachel. My name here is Adam, but my real name is Sake. So, from what Kenji told me, you’re also from earth too?”
“That’s correct. I was born in the Kingdom of England. Have you ever heard of it?”
“Of course, I have. It’s an island in Western Europe.” What a weird question. Who hadn’t heard of England before, and why did she not call it a country?
“You actually have heard of it? I thought she was making the place up.” Kenji muttered under his breath. I shot Kenji a look, but he didn’t seem to be making a joke or lying either. Weird…
“So, what job did you end up with?”
“I’m always loved animals, so I picked the tamer class…Oh right! I forgot to thank you for rescuing Sir Cuddles!”
“I’m sorry but who’s Sir Cuddles?”
“My Battle Bunny, silly! You guys did rescue him from the slavers, right?”
“Oh, yes that’s right.” So, she picked the battle bunny as her first pet huh…but seriously, Sir cuddles?! Well, she is a child. Whatever, but that little bunny looked way too cute to be a threat, I almost couldn't believe the slavers had it in a cage. Wait, I really hope we don't have a Monty Python's Holy Grail rabbit on our hands...
“So, how did the two of you meet?”
“I was reincarnated into a small village called Trestinberg in the country of Keegan. It's not too far from this forest, actually. I was out looking for friends when the slavers captured me.”
“Friends? In a forest?” I asked and Rachel laughed.
“Not human friends, silly. Animals. I told you that I picked the tamer class.” Oh right, that made sense. “When I was captured and taken back to the slave camp, I saw Kenji for the first time. I had seen a man from China once in my last life, and I thought Kenji kind of looked like that… So, one night, when I had a moment alone with him, I asked Kenji if he was from China.”
“And I was about to smack her for being ignorant too, until I realized that she must know what China is or she wouldn’t have made that assumption.” Kenji said with a chuckle.
“That reminds me; why did you become a slave trader Kenji? I can’t think of any reason why a person from Japan would be okay with slaves.”
“What are you talking about? Slave trading was a huge practice where I lived and is a completely legitimate business, what rock did you live under?” Huh?
“Moving on, I just recently started getting a hang of my terminal, do any of you have any problems with yours?”
“Umm, about that… I don’t know how to use mine.”
“Me either. It’s like a floating book with magical pictures. I don’t understand it all.” Kenji said. Uh-oh.
“Thank goodness, I was worried I was the only one!” Rachel said with a laugh.
“Really? I found the terminal to be incredibly simple and intuitive… are you guys just not good with computers or something?”
“What’s a comp-u-ter?”
“Never heard of it.” Double uh-oh. A thought popped into my head that I was hoping was completely incorrect, but I had to find out for sure.
“Um, what year did you guys die?”
“I believe the year was 1570…” Kenji said while stroking his chin, reminiscing about his past.
“I died in 1623.” Rachel said rather confidently but with a tiny hint of sadness.
“And what did you do for a living?”
“Isn’t it obvious? I was a samurai. That’s why I picked the class.”
“I lived on a farm, but I died pretty young, well before I really had to start doing any of the real work.”
Shit... No wonder these people are struggling with their terminals and Kenji’s okay with slaves, none of them have experienced anything close to modern life before! I was hoping I could use the reincarnates to expedite new technologies we had in our world already, but neither Rachel nor Kenji would have ever seen what I wanted to create in either of their past lives. I suddenly felt like I was struck a fatal blow, but I tried not to let it show on my face. The only good news I had was that Kenji was clearly remarkably talented. Being able to survive combat encounters without understanding how to use his terminal or his skills was actually quite impressive. “Well, you’re at a huge disadvantage in this world if you don’t know how to use the terminal the house gave us. Let me teach you the basics.”
Kenji and Rachel left sat around the table after our conversation so we could look at their terminals. With the information I gave them, they were able to operate it themselves for the most part, so I made myself something to eat quickly while I watched them. It seems like they're going to be a while... I should probably go take care of everything else around that still needed doing. I made sure to do some basic maintenance on my weapons and equipment before heading off to where Rylix was waiting for me with the slaves.
I could see that some of the High Elves were mulling around watching me, so I tried to appear as confident in myself as possible as I strode out to the gathered crowd. “Okay, what’s the situation Rylix?”
“As you surmised, the slaves would like to be separated by gender. If we include the ex-slavers, there are ten females and fourteen males who need shelter. The houses you can build comfortably hold six, so we’ll have to make at least five houses.”
“Sounds good. I wanted to give Jobe and Kenji their own place so I’m glad the numbers work out. Can you have Terrix bring the required rocks and lumber?” Rylix nodded and handed me a list. “What’s this?”
“The list of occupations and skills you asked me to assemble.”
“Wow, you’re already done?” That was quick. Rylix might have been made for administrative work. I looked through the list and smiled involuntarily at what I saw. My first wild cards might have been duds, but luckily there we’re quite a few useful prospects here. I had everyone line up and slowly made my way down the line, starting with the three dwarves. The three of them looked exactly like you would think when you pictured your classic dwarf from literature, but they we're taller and bulkier than I expected. If I had to guess, I would say the dwarves we're about five and half feet tall.
The first dwarf looked older than everyone in line put together and struggled to stand up-right with his cane as he approached me. He had long grey hair that was matted and uncombed. A knot in his eyebrow made him look rather intimidating, but his warm smile seemed to overtake him as he gave me the once over. His beard was tied in a single braid that went well past his chest to his waist, where a small leather tool belt hung that looked almost as old as the dwarf did. He took a small step forward and the other male dwarf quickly stuck out his foot while whistling nonchalantly. This dwarf was much younger than the last, with bushy red hair and his beard tied into a pair of shorter braids. He brazenly stepped over the older dwarf as he offered out his hand towards me to shake. The old dwarf took a hard tumble and hit the ground with a groan. He angrily pulled himself to his feet and shot his kin a nasty look, which only seemed to make the other dwarf laugh like a hyena at him. Without missing a beat, the old dwarf swung the head of his cane into the shin of the laughing dwarf, who cried out and crumpled immediately. “Ass." He said as he dusted himself off. "Now where was I? Oh Right! It’s great to finally meet you, sir. I assure you, the pleasure’s all mine- WHOA!!!” The red-headed dwarf had grabbed the older dwarf's leg as he tried to step over top of him to shake my hand, causing the man to face plant right into the dirt again next to his kin. "That's it! Earth Magic: Quicksand Trap!" The red-headed dwarf sunk neck deep into the ground, looking almost like one of those parents who you see sometimes at the beach being buried by their children for fun.
“Crazy old coot! What d'ya do that for?!”
“Just returning the favor, you pot-bellied drunkard!” The third dwarf sighed as the two other’s continued fighting, which finally drew my attention away from the bickering pair. She was female and had a thick pair of spectacles that we’re so magnified they made her eyes look huge. She had short brown hair that was cut in a bob and seemed completely indifferent to the attitude of the others.
They two men had both wanted to be first I guessed. The two dwarves were jostling and arguing between themselves the entire time as they made their way over, and the third dwarf seemed to be trying her hardest to ignore them. Judging from the way the two dwarves acted, I didn’t think that this behavior was anything new for the pair. I honestly couldn’t tell you if they we’re friends or enemies. I cleared my throat dramatically and the two dwarves finally got the message.
“Introduce yourselves.” Rylix stated rather firmly, and the dwarves stiffened up immediately. She got them in line rather quickly... does her strictness just terrify everyone or what?
“Yes ma’am! My name is Bagrin, and this beautiful little thing is my grand-daughter, Belgrin. The bastard with the fiery hair and personality is Ashir. The three of us are reporting for duty, ma’am!”
“Again, it’s nice to meet you!” Ashir huffed from behind him after finally pulling himself free from the quicksand trap.
“We just wanted to say thank you for freeing us from that hellhole. To be honest with you, I wasn’t sure if I’d ever get to swing a hammer again when we got captured.” Bagrin said with a small laugh.
“Please, if anything I should be the one thanking you guys. I heard you’re open to staying?”
“Yeah, that’s right. In reality though, we’ve got nowhere else to go, unfortunately.”
"Well, you're really doing me a solid. When I try to think about doing all the blacksmithing work myself, I couldn't help but feel overwhelmed. Having some extra hands around who know what they're doing will make all the difference in the world."
“Oh, a fellow smith, eh? That’s great! Can I see what you’ve made so far?” I handed him Last Resort, which he unsheathed and examined carefully. “Hmmm. What do you think, Belgrin?”
“Is Belgrin a smith too?” I curiously asked, trying to figure out why the man would choose to travel with his granddaughter despite the danger.
“Not exactly,” Belgrin shyly responded without making eye contact with me. “I’m a practicing rune-carver.” She said as she shyly took the sword from her grandfather. She examined the blade for some time, and I could tell that she was a quite meticulous person from the way she touched the sword. “Not bad, but not great either.”
“I’m sorry?”
“The edge is way rougher than it should be, and the polishing is uneven, but that might be a side effect of the type of metal you picked. The metal seems like steel but has been mixed rather crudely with other minerals to produce something I've never seen before. Speaking of which, I’ve never seen steel of this quality made with such simple methods before."
"Simple methods?"
"Look at this little village around us. I don't see any of the high-end furnaces or smelting facilities you'd find in a city anywhere, but you were still able to make a decent steel substitute. I’d go as far to say that the metal is definitely the most impressive part of the weapon. To make a metal of this strength out in the wilderness takes skill, hence the not bad, but the sword leaves a lot to be desired, hence the not great.” Damn. She completely eviscerated my work in seconds. “How long have you been a blacksmith?” Belgrin asked.
“About a week.”
“What?!”
“You must be joking! It normally would take ten years of training as a blacksmith’s apprentice to make something like this!” Bagrin shouted so loud he practically burst from the seams.
“Really?! Huh, I guess I’ve just got a talent for it?”
“Even so, kid… this goes beyond what even we dwarves, known as the masters of metal, could even accomplish.” Belgrin said while scratching the back of his head.
“Cool,” I tried to deflect the attention off of me as smoothly as possible. “And Ashir, you’re a brew master? I’m guessing you make alcohol?”
“I can make all types of brews boy, not just one’s of the alcoholic variety.” Ashir said proudly without any hint of modesty. “I’m currently brewing a juice that will increase a person’s strength temporarily, but it’s still a work-in-progress I’m afraid. Still, keep it on the hush-hush. Don’t need those ass-wipes from the Alcohol Agency Bureau cracking down on me again, no sir.”
“Wow you can do that?!” Alcohol was great for raising morale and fostering community, but if Ashir could create buffs for battle as well, his usefulness just skyrocketed tenfold. “Tell me what you need exactly, and I’ll procure the supplies for you as soon as I can.”
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“I’d greatly appreciate it! It’s been a while since I last got to do some real mixing. My bones are aching to get back to it.”
“Well, you can push those thoughts to the side for now, Ashir. It’s going to take forever to get the facilities you need set up.”
“Maybe… but maybe not.” I said with a small smile and the dwarves exchanged nervous looks with each other before returning their attention to me. Too bad there’s no popcorn…oh well, time to put on a show.
I had opened my EZ-Builder to make a place for them earlier when I discovered a couple new buildings had appeared in the available selections that weren’t listed previously. I took a moment to look through the list again and it seemed that the requirements for these new structures had either something to do with the number of retainers I’d gained or a certain retainer possessing a particular skill. I asked everyone to follow me and walked over to a section I had marked out earlier as the location where I wanted to build the main street of my new settlement.
I carefully set down the Blacksmith’s Forge and Brew House next to each other and confirmed their placements, making the structures shift from their ethereal forms to physically present in the blink of an eye. To my surprise, the Brew House even had a small medieval inn and bar attached to it. The appearance of the buildings completely shocked the people present, and various cries of alarm or surprise rang out from the assembled crowd just like when I had activated EZ-Build for the first time with the Chimera Ants. There were some gasps coming from the hill to my left, and I looked over to see the elves making similar expressions out of the corner of my eye.
“…How did you do that?” Bagrin finally spat out as he turned to look at me.
“Magic.” I said as nonchalantly as possible, like it wasn’t a big deal in the slightest. Ashir quickly took a peek inside and did a double take. “Will this suffice for now?” I asked sarcastically, trying to keep my obvious amusement to myself.
“I’ll say! I don’t know how ya did it, but there’s two of everything I would need in ‘ere! Plus, with the little inn and bar, I’d say it’s even better than the set-up I had back home. It's amazing!” Ashir yelled as he came out of the brew house grinning from ear to ear.
“I’ll second that.” Belgrin said as she finished looking around the forge. “There’s a high-end furnace, anvils, tools, a casting bench, sharpening stone and a rune carving station. I think you’ll find everything we used to keep at our old forge in here Grandpa."
"Oh, and maybe you guys can use some of this," I said as I started looking in my inventory for some stuff for them to use. I pulled out some iron, a little bit of copper and a small pile of mithril, placing them on the table in the Blacksmith's Forge. I still had a little bit of the steel I made, so I threw that in as well. Just as I put some rune stone down, Belgrin squealed in excitement. "Don't tell me... Is that what I think it is?"
"That depends on what you think it is." I said with a smile.
"Pure Runestone?!"
"Um... yeah, we found some out in the wasteland nearby. You can have that, but I was wondering if you can help me build something first. I wanted to make firearms for myself, but I really could use some help with that."
"Firearms? What's that?"
"They're weapons you hold in your hands. They shoot small metal projectiles about the size of a small arrowhead at an extremely high speed."
"Huh... never heard of 'em before, but I'm sure I can do it if you're there to help me. They kind of sound a little like Magi-Guns to be honest with you, and I can make those for sure."
"A gun is a type of firearm, so we're off to a good start. We'll talk about it more later."
"I don't understand how this is possible... Um Lord Adam, if you could do this earlier how come you didn't already have a high-grade furnace?” Belgrin quietly asked after me and her grandfather finished talking.
"Without getting into it too much, what I can build is reliant upon the people who serve under me, so this place wasn't available until you guys decided to stay." I explained as I stepped back outside with the group of dwarves following me. "Who knows, with everyone else here we might be able to build tons of special facilities for everyone-"
"THREE CHEERS FOR KING ADAM!"
""ALL HAIL KING ADAM!""
"Um, can you all please stop?" The attention I was getting was making me feel sick to my stomach.
"AND HE'S SO MODEST TOO!"
"KING ADAM'S THE GREATEST!"
"I actually don't love being called that." I said, suddenly feeling like I wanted to curl up into a ball and die.
“You know what this means right, Bagrin?!"
"Sure I do, I'm not that old, Ashir! Bring out the good stuff!!!
""It’s time for a Grum-Sprigga!”" The dwarves cried in unison.
“Grum-Sprigga?” Curious by the term, I asked Rylix for an explanation and she face-palmed and just sighed while giving the side-eye to the two dwarves.
“It’s a dwarven drinking celebration. They do it whenever they think something life-changing has happened, which for them… is practically all the time.” Rylix whispered to me quietly while trying not to roll her eyes further back into her head then they already were.
The dwarves we’re ecstatic with their new homes and had started celebrating with some alcohol that seemingly appeared out of nowhere while my back was turned. Where did that even come from? Wait- Can dwarves use space magic too?! After a few sips from his drink, Bagrin suddenly started singing a tune that sounded quite out of key. Ashir, whose face had somehow turned a brighter shade of red than his hair, had pulled his shirt off and was dancing like a crazy person while Belgrin tried her best to keep her balance and not tip over. Their reactions we’re unexpected, but they generally acted how I was hoping they would. Seeing this, the slaves had all promptly lined up in a hurry, extremely excited and in a rush to be next. I couldn’t help but smile to myself as I shouted “Next!”
¤ ¤ ¤
Including the dwarves, I had fifteen people from the group of slaves and slavers with job skills that allowed for specialized buildings. Once I had finished with everyone, a message alerted me to the fact that I was close to leveling up, having hit thirty-one of fifty subordinates required. It would take forever for me to go over all the new structures available, so I decided to just summarize them for now in my journal and completely investigate their intended purposes later.
* There was a near-sighted mole-man named Mitch who was an apprentice miner, granting me the quarry improvement for mineral veins. I promptly built a quarry next to the river on the clay pocket, then three more in the wasteland, which subsequently increased our daily intake of minerals. Mitch was a portly fellow who struck me as being overly shy, but I sensed a great passion for his work from him and an almost unhealthy obsession with rocks. Unfortunately for us, I would need more miners to continue to build anymore Mines. Being extremely near-sighted, I also wasn’t sure how useful he’d be as a worker until we procured him a new pair of bifocals.
* The Arachne was a half spider – half human beast person named Jira who had four eyes and jet-black hair like a person from Japan would have. She wore her hair down so that her bangs covered her extra eyes, and I only got a glimpse of them when she elegantly flipped her hair. Being an Arachne, Jira could produce spider silk, which was highly capable material when it came to retaining magic and could be used in the clothing she created. Her serene nature seemed slightly artificial to me and the way she moved was rather calculated, almost like she knew just how captivating she was. Something about her felt very nostalgic and I eventually put together that her appearance and garb was very shrine maiden-like. Even with the extra legs and eyes, I’d still say that she was hauntingly beautiful if anyone asked me for my opinion.
I did note that Rylix acted rather indifferently towards her for some reason and Jira’s presence would seem to trigger the other Chimera Ants anger, which I found out was the result of an apparent blood-feud that went back almost four hundred years. For now, I decided I’d keep them amicably separated until I could figure something else out. Jira’s skill came with a building called the weaver’s hut, but she also requested a loom to increase her efficiency.
* The Hodge Brothers had both been masons before turning to a life of crime, so they unlocked a building called the Masonry for me which came with a primitive concrete mixer, a stone lathe and a brick oven. I had them start pumping out concrete for roads immediately by mixing ash and limestone which we got from the charcoal pit and wasteland respectively.
* Dexter was a human male who had been an aspiring trader but didn’t have any money or connections, so he borrowed some from a shady benefactor in the capital to start his business. After promising Dexter that he would have a month to return the borrowed funds, the man had suddenly demanded the loan back due to a poor return on another investment only three days later, knowing full well that Dexter would never be able to pay him back so soon.
Despite how unfair the situation was, the contract that Dexter had abruptly signed had stipulated that the loaner could request the funds back at any date or time hidden in small print, so he was forced to comply with the demand. Dexter had desperately tried to throw the money together in time but had ended up still short of what was owed, so he was forcibly sold into slavery to make up the difference thanks to some horrible rule the Empire had to protect business owners. As a merchant, Dexter came with the General Store and Trading Post, but each of these buildings required at least one merchant to be retained, so I could unfortunately only build one for now. After weighing my options, I decided to go with the Trading Post.
* The wild-looking slaver named Griza with the hand-axes I had fought earlier had the tanning skill, but really hadn’t done any tanning since he left his village in The Targe Mountains as a child. Being the fifth kid of a poor family, there just wasn’t enough food to go around his house. On his tenth birthday, his father had said to him that they we’re going to go out hunting, but something happened. His father had vanished when Griza wasn’t looking, leaving him lost deep in a forest called the Dark Wood. Instead of dying however, Griza survived by teaching himself how to tan and hunt. He had the lowest leveled job skill out of everyone I had just recruited, but I figured that he would improve quickly with time and effort considering his past. Recruiting a Tanner made a specialized building called the Tannery appear on the list. After it was finished being built, I had all of our animal hides and skins delivered so Griza could get some practice in. He even managed to finish tanning the shadow cat hide Salix had brought in, which Jira promptly made into a cloak for me as a thank you for her new home. One of the other slaver’s named Ungur had the stable master job skill, so I built him a stable for the horses we got from raiding the slavers camp.
* A male otter beast-man named Frederick (preferred to be called Freddy) had the fisherman job skill, which granted a structure called Basic Docks and a vehicle called a Fishing Vessel which I assumed was just a small boat. He knew how to build simple fishing rods and nets as well, which was incredibly useful in the long run. We wouldn’t be able to make the boat without linen sails which we didn’t have yet, but Frederick could fish from the docks we built for now. He joined our food acquisition team and seemed to be getting along quite well with Salix rather quickly.
* The two other human male slaves were named Jugal and Reviard, who had the cook job skill and carpenter job skill respectively. The two of them had been best friends since they first met in Keegan almost fifteen years ago. Looking for rare cooking ingredients and types of wood, the two had decided to go on adventure exploring the forest when they were captured by Black Century.
* Last, but definitely not least, was the female dark elf who introduced herself as Serulia. She had her white hair tied into a ponytail to keep it out of her face and her brown skin glistened in the sun. She was practically what you would have typically envisioned when picturing a Dark Elf from the fantasy genre, with even the giant knocker's dark elves typically had to go along with her look. Serulia was a Witch Doctor, which was a class I honestly didn’t know the capabilities of at all. She generally kept to herself and was rather quiet, so I figured I might be able to learn more about witch doctors in the future if I got her to feel more comfortable with me. Her job came with the Witch Doctor Hut, which I had no clue how to use, but I built it anyway. When the hut was finished, I thought I saw her smile momentarily, but she quickly wiped any emotion from her face just as fast as it had arrived.
* Everyone else either had a job that didn’t grant any buildings yet or had a common civilian job like soldier, thief, bandit, guard, farmer, vendor, etc. Hopefully with more of these kinds of people, I could eventually build Barracks and Guard Towers for defense or Farms and Markets for food consumption.
I finished up with my new retainers and left Salix and Rylix in charge of getting dinner ready for them while I went to where the elves had been waiting patiently for me with their things already gathered. “So, I take it you’ve made a decision?” I said to Elen who was leaning on a tree nearby, supervising the elves as they worked.
“Yes, we have. Despite the things you have told me about the demon king, I wasn’t able to convince the rest to stay in the end. A few of them almost changed their minds when you started spawning buildings out of nowhere like some minor god, but the majority of them are too afraid to do anything about the coming threat. After everything we’ve been through in the last year, most of the elves just want to escape to one of the other Elven settlements in the south before doom rears its ugly head again. They’ve had their fair share of death already.”
“I understand, and I get that it isn’t my place to comment on how the elves feel. If they truly believe that they can escape what’s coming, who am I to judge them for trying to survive?”
“That’s very admirable of you, even with you implying that the elves can’t escape their fates.” Elen said with a sad smile. Elendria approached us after helping one of the children with their pack and let Elen know that preparations were finished. While Elendria provided her update she seemed rather stiff and formal. She avoided making eye contact with me the entire time she spoke to her father, which made me feel rather awkward while I waited. “Did I do something to offend you?” I asked, unsure of why she was acting so differently. Her scowl melted away and she turned bright red for a second but didn’t answer me. She bowed to her father and gave me one last peculiar look before returning to the group. What was that about?
“Forgive her. Expressing her gratitude has never been one of her strengths.”
“Is that what that was? I just thought she was mad at me.”
“Trust me, I’ve seen her when she’s mad. This is something… else.”
“Meaning?”
“As her father It’s not my place to say, but just know that her mother used to act the same way when the two of us first met as well.” Elen said with a knowing smile as he gave me a friendly pat on the back.
HUH? Now I’m even more confused, what the hell is that supposed to mean? I had way more questions for him, but I decided that I wouldn’t get anywhere by prying and moved the conversation forward. “So where will you guys go?”
“There’s a large settlement located in the Emerald Valley. We’ll most likely head there, but before we do, I’d like to give you something.” Elen pulled out a small pouch from his back pocket and handed it to me. “My daughter gathered these Magentium Seeds as a thank you for everything you’ve done for us. We’d be honored if you took them.”
“Thanks, I Promise that I’ll put these to good use.” What are Magentium Seeds? That’s not a flower I’ve ever heard of before... I didn’t want to seem rude, so I responded as graciously as possible as I accepted the seeds from Elen. I wasn’t sure exactly how valuable the gift they gave me actually was, so I quickly pulled out Yashin’s Encyclopedia of Everything and held one of the seeds in front of an open page.
Magentium Seeds
A type of seed native to heavily wooded areas in the northern part of the continent. After germinating, will begin to grow Magentium Flowers, one of the main ingredients of Healing Potions. Extremely difficult to procure and actually grow, as Magentium Flowers require an extreme amount of sunlight, nutrients and water compared to the average plant.
Awesome! Now I can start farming Health Potions-
THUD!
Suddenly, every elf in the area dropped to their knees and started bowing profusely towards me. I was taken completely off-guard by the strange turn of events I was witnessing and had to pinch myself to keep from high-tailing it out of there before things got even more cult-like.
“Why do you have that?!” Elendria practically shouted at me with a look of pure shock on her face.
“I’m sorry?” I muttered, rather confused by the scene playing out in front of me. “Can someone explain what’s going on here?”
“That b-book belonged to Yashin, the first elf, but it hasn’t been seen in over five thousand years! It’s considered a holy relic in our faith and is mentioned in something we call the great prophecy. It's supposed to be lost!” Elen stammered back.
“The great prophecy?”
“An elven oracle named Delilah discovered an ancient prophecy that was passed down for generations by the High Elves. The prophecy stated that one day, a person would appear from another plane of existence, carrying the lost instruments of Yashin and knowledge from his homeland. We elves have waited generations for the return of this individual, though we never would have imagined the person Delilah referred to would ever be a human... Again Adam, where did you find that?” Oops, and I just casually whipped the encyclopedia out like it was nothing. No wonder the elves were acting so bizarrely. What I just did was the equivalent of taking the Holy Grail and waving it in the faces of a bunch of devout Christians. I better think of something quick. “Um, my father gave it to me.”
“Your father had our greatest treasure in his possession but didn’t tell me?!” Elen was clearly quite angry with my answer and for the first time I felt like I may have made a mistake using that excuse, but he promptly gathered himself before I could try to smooth things over. “I apologize, that idea may have angered me, but I'm fine now. In the end, your father was a good man. I can only assume he had a reason for keeping this from me, despite the way I might feel about it.”
“That’s a very mature response. Thanks for being so rational.” He nodded back at me, but I could tell that this still bothered him greatly. That being said, I couldn’t believe how lucky I was. "There is one thing I should mention..."
"Oh yeah?"
"The prophecy never stated if this person was going to be our salvation or our doom... I'd like for you to keep thst in mind as we get closer to the end."
In between chants and bows from the elves gathered around me, I sarcastically whispered to Elen, “So, I guess this means you're staying?”
¤ ¤ ¤
I got a prompt from my terminal informing me that I received another level from adding the fifty elves to my loyal retainers, raising my total level to four. I would need to get to 100 royal retainers from the 80 I had currently to meet the next level up requirement. I quickly took a look at my stats with the terminal to see how much I’d grown over the first few weeks.
Name: Adam Vegas Rep: Good Class: Sovereign
LVL: 4 Age: 18 yrs. old Sex: Male
Deity: Aliyah Retainers: 79
STR: 5 AGI: 8 INT: 8
CON: 5 DEX: 6 CHR: 5
LUK: 6 = 5 (+1) WIS: 4
Health: 2000 HP Mana: 3200 MP
Stamina: 200 SP
{Acrobat: LVL 1} {Alchemy: LVL 1} {Appraisal: LVL 2} {Archery: LVL 1} {Asset Manager: LVL 10} {Blacksmithing: LVL 2} {Botany: LVL 1} {Calculations: LVL 10} {Commerce: LVL 1} {Cooking: LVL 2} {Crafting: LVL 1} {Dagger Mastery: LVL 1} {Dark Magic: LVL 1} {Dual Casting: LVL 1} {Dual Wielding: LVL 1} {Earth Magic: LVL 2} {Enchanting: LVL 1} {Engineering: LVL 1} {Etiquette: LVL 10} {EZ-Build: LVL 10} {Farming: LVL 1} {Fishing: LVL 2} {Fire Arm Mastery: LVL 1} {Hunting: LVL 1} {Hyper Regeneration: LVL 1} {Investigation: LVL 1} {Kingcraft: LVL 10} {Leadership: LVL 10} {Lightning Magic: LVL 1} {Linguistics: LVL 10} {Lock-picking: LVL 1} {Mana Manipulation: LVL 10} {Marksman: LVL 1} {Medicine Maker: LVL 1} {Naming: LVL 2} {Navigation: LVL 1} {Pick-pocket: LVL 1} {Quick Casting: LVL 1} {Reading & Writing: LVL 10} {Riding: LVL 10} {Stealth: LVL 1} {Strategist: LVL 1} {Support Magic: LVL 1} {Sword Mastery: LVL 1} {Space Magic: LVL 2} {Mind Magic: LVL 1} {Taming Magic: LVL 1}
Wait a minute…something doesn’t add up here. At the beginning, there was the six chimera ants, then we added twenty-four slaves and slavers, plus the fifty elves… I should have eighty loyal retainers, not seventy-nine. Did I just miscount or something? Could there be someone here who I haven't won over yet? Or maybe, their loyal to someone else... f*ck, this isn't good. Am I being watched, hunted, or worse? Shit... Either way, I better be careful until I figure out what’s causing this discrepancy in the numbers.
Everyone else was running around getting things done and the day was almost half over, so I made regular homes for the fifty elves along the forest border and figured I’d worry about their specialty buildings later. The elves had started treating me like some sort of religious prophet (which somehow made me way more uncomfortable than the blind loyalty the chimera ants had shown me), so I promptly made an excuse and escaped as fast as I possibly could. Between using up my mana to produce a town out of nowhere and the fight with Geruda, I was completely exhausted. Salix had made a large stew and was handing out bowls to everyone when I went by the main house, so I quickly grabbed some and made my way up to my room before anyone else roped me into another conversation. I made my way up my tower carefully and placed the stew down while trying to compile my thoughts from the afternoon.
Jeez… what a crazy couple of days. I literally almost died several times this week! I have to get better at fighting if I’m going to survive in this fucked up place, but I don’t have the time to keep leveling my skills with all these new tasks that keep popping up constantly. I’m going to have to travel to a human town to gather supplies at some point, but which town should I go to? The nations around us don’t exactly have the most stellar reputations…Not only that, but who would I bring with me? I’m going to need to put together a list of everything we’ll require going forward…
I had only been in my room for a few seconds when something moved out of the corner of my eye. I nearly jumped out of my skin but caught my breath when I saw who it was. “Holy shit Rylea, you almost gave me a heart attack! How did you get in here -and what are you wearing?” I said while attempting to cover my eyes with my hand, but I couldn’t help but glance at her through the gaps in my intertwined fingers. Rylea just chuckled softly, her chest bobbing up and down from beneath her see-through negligee, clearly amused by my reaction. I could tell that I was sweating all the sudden and it felt like my pulse had drastically escalated. I attempted to find the door and make my escape while trying not to look directly at her, but Rylea beat me to the handle. Don’t look Adam, don’t look Adam, don’t look… shit. I looked.
“You finally left the door unlocked, and I couldn’t wait any longer.”
“Finally? Hold on- wait any longer for what?”
“Adam, I know you’re not that dense. Why else would a woman be waiting in your room late at night by herself in clothes like this?” Rylea said with a look so hot it could melt steal.
“O-oh… is t-that right? I’m flattered…Well, it’s getting pretty late, so I wouldn’t mind if you got going now. Got to get some sleep, should be a big day tomorrow, all that jazz ha-ha…ha.” I tried to open the door to push her out but Rylea and the door through extension wouldn’t budge an inch. Instead, she wrapped her arms around my neck and refused to break eye contact with me.
"You've already shared a bed with me, what's the problem? Don't tell me, you're a-"
"No t-that's not it, I swear."
"Then quit being so nervous and kiss me." Rylea said as she lunged at me, our lips touching for the first time. It was a passionate kiss that tasted a little like berries, and I got lost in it as it took most of my concentration away. Something about the taste reminded me of something from earlier, but I couldn't put my finger on it. When I opened my eyes, Rylea was sitting on the bed and patted the spot next to her rather suggestively while giving me a seductive look.
"Berries? Is that why I tasted berries when I woke up this morning?" I asked her playfully.
"I might have had some practice doing that last night..." She said while blushing and cutely biting the tip of her finger. "Besides, with you bringing those other girls back to the camp, I knew I had to make my move first."
"Wait, do you mean Elendria? You're wrong, it's totally not like that-"
"I'm not stupid, Adam. I have eyes. I see the way she looks at you."
"Huh... well, that's news to me."
She sighed before continuing, "You can be so dense sometimes! But... I think that's one of the things I like about you. You have all these brilliant ideas but somehow miss what's right in front of you sometimes. It's really kind of adorable. I feel like I need to protect you and show you off at the same time."
"Thanks, that really makes me feel better..."
"If you want, I can really make you feel better."
GULP!
"Now, why don't you get over here already, I'm getting tired of waiting for you to come to me."
After hearing that, all I could do was swallow in pure panic. I could feel the front of my pants tightening, and I tried to get a grip of myself. Rylea seemed to enjoy how nervous I was acting, and I could see her trying to stifle a laugh. The way she was staring at me was starting to really excite me, but I didn't want to show her how much just yet. What I really wanted was to meet all of her expectations as best I possibly could. I slowly began to move towards her, trying to seem as confident in myself as possible, but tripped over my own two feet and fell face-first onto my bed next to her. Within seconds Rylea had pounced on top of me with a strength I didn't know she had and a cute giggle. I could feel the warmness of the bare skin of her legs rubbing against my own as she tugged at the belt that was my last line of defense, and I couldn't help but feel slightly like a cornered animal. She finally took off her shirt, throwing it behind her with one hand while we kissed, and my brain froze.
“Adam?” She said finally after making eye contact with me again.
“…” I wanted to speak, but a nervous squeak was pretty much all that came out.
“You remember what our agreement was, right? Now, are you going to give me what I want, or am I taking it by force?”
¤ ¤ ¤
EPILOGUE
“There it is brother, just like I told you. See?! I wasn’t lying, a village really did appear out of nowhere!”
“Well, you can understand why I would be skeptical right? Obviously even I won’t deny it now that I’ve seen this place for myself. This is… beyond anything I could have imagined.”
“See?! I told you! You all thought I was playing girl-who-cried-wolf when I told you about the human boy, and there was only one fucking building here before. Now it’s an entire fucking village!”
“I still don’t understand why they decided to settle here… are the humans so stupid that they’ve already forgotten what happened to them last time? Why can’t they leave us alone? They already captured our goddess…are they really that desperate for territory? Oh well, I guess we’ll just have to rip them apart again.”
“I don’t think that’ll go the way you think…”
“And why is that?”
“Well… the thing is, I already tried.”
“You what?!”
“Don’t be mad at me big brother! After the whole tribe said I was lying and made fun of me, I thought that the only way I could restore my honour was to kill the child and bring him back myself as proof.”
“That’s foolishly reckless and exactly the kind of stuff I’ve asked you to stop doing, Eris.”
“I know and I’m sorry. I was careful, though. Without being able to accurately gauge his strength, I decided that attacking him indirectly would be best.”
“Go on…”
“I followed him for a while waiting for an opportunity to strike. First, I saw him defeat a Gilly Monster by himself before using magic to tame two forest guardians. Then he defeated a group of criminals almost single-handedly, although he left the strongest one for his subordinates to handle. After that, he promptly stormed the criminal’s encampment, causing a large melee to break out which I figured would be my best chance to take him out. I launched a poison arrow at him while the boy was locked in combat with the criminal’s leader and…”
“And?”
“AND HE FUCKING CAUGHT IT WITHOUT LOOKING!”
“…”
“Don’t look at me like that, I’m telling you the truth. He. Caught. It.”
“How curious…”
“I mean, I did everything by the book exactly how we were trained, it’s not my fault I was never taught how to deal with someone who can sense blood lust like that. Seriously, what could I have done better?”
“Don’t give me that crap! You could have gone for backup!”
“That’s…true, I guess. There is one more thing I forgot to mention?”
“Oh?”
“The human had…other beast men with him. Elves too. They also seemed friendly.”
“What?! That can’t be…why would a human treat other species as equals?”
“Look I’m just telling you what I saw, I know how unbelievable it sounds. That’s practically why I didn’t want to mention it. Why do you think that is?”
“It means there’s something different about this child.”
“Huh?”
“God…you never think for yourself Lidara. Mother teaching you to act on instinct alone has been nothing but a pain in my ass since you we’re little, but there’s no use getting upset about it now. Luckily, I’m used to it.”
“Does that mean what I think it does?”
“It’s a big brother’s job to clean up after his little sister. Besides, we need to figure out more about this mysterious boy you’ve discovered anyway. I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t curious either. Gather the others and get them ready for a fight.”
“Oh wow! Thank you so much Aldran! I can always count on you to take care of me!”
“More like take care of your mistakes.”
“Ouch, that hurts big bro! You better make sure you leave that cute boy to me though. I need to get even with him."
"Sure, I don't care, but you better not lose. If I keep stepping into all of your battles constantly, you'll never learn to handle yourself out in the real world."
"So, what are you going to do now?”
“I think for now, I’m going to watch my new village.” Aldran replied with a knowing smile. "Wait a minute, did you just call the boy 'cute'?!"
"Um, N-no!"
¤ ¤ ¤
“Hey Adam, Rachel and I are finished playing around with our terminals, would you mind taking a look?”
“Sure thing, just give me a second to finish up here.” I was currently inspecting the bricks that the Hodge brothers had been mass producing when Rachel and Kenji approached me. I can’t believe it’s been fourteen days since I arrived… I’ve got to say, things have gone pretty well so far. EZ-Build had even just informed me that an upgrade would soon be possible. Curious, I opened my terminal and saw that I could eventually upgrade my Settlement into a Village, but I would need to meet a few special requirements first.
In order to hit the requirements for a Village; I needed to have a Blacksmith, three Farms, a Hospice, a Woodcutter's lodge, a Wall, a Tannery, and a Market built before the upgrade would become available. The bricks we had made we’re one of the materials needed to build everything in the next tier; Town, so I had ordered the Hodge brothers to focus on their creation for now. The problem with that was the amount of clay we currently had. Even with the elves joining us, we just didn’t have enough laborers to create a legitimate chain of production practically anywhere.
In hindsight, we had expanded way too quickly for our own good. Unfortunately, without doubling our workforce, things were going to progress incredibly slowly for now. Rylix and Elen (who had a real knack for supervision and bureaucratic work), had figured out that one masonry would need to be fed by two clay pits to run at maximum efficiency. A small team of scouts lead by Elen’s son had gone out into the wasteland to try and find another clay pit for us but so far hadn’t had any luck. I was going to go with them the next time in case my mineral radar managed to find something they couldn't.
I was also required to have 100 loyal retainers and maintain a strength rating of 1000 joules, but I still didn’t know what actually effected my village’s strength rating in the first place. Adding retainers seemed to increase the value somewhat, but a quick calculation showed me that it would take almost 1200 citizens to hit a strength rating of 1000 in this way.
There must be another way to raise a village’s strength rating that I’m not currently aware of… Does it possibly have something to do with the level of my retainers? I’m going to have to play around with different skills and buildings until I figure this out-
do-doo-do-do-dooo!
What the heck was that?!
The three terminals that were open next to each other had all suddenly played a musical chime out loud simultaneously, causing everyone who was working around us to turn and look over. Panicked, I quickly ushered the three of us into an open field where it would be much harder to hear the terminals over the background noise of the Masonry. After making sure that we were safe from prying ears, we pulled out our terminals again where a prompt saying ‘Incoming Message’ was displayed on each screen.
“What do you think this is about?” Kenji asked.
“No clue, what do you think Sake?” Rachel said with a shake of her head.
“I have no idea either. We’ll just have to click it and see.”
About a minute later our screens suddenly changed again, and a light projecting from each device connected in the air between us before turning into the hologram of a man. When I saw his face slowly materialize, I instinctively started getting angry but decided I would wait before I blew my top. The House tipped his cap towards us with an air of showmanship before bowing gracefully. With an evil smile and an extreme amount of pompousness that would make a celebrity seem humble the house finally spoke. “Did you miss me, kiddos?”
“You!” I spat out, completely forgetting to hide my personal feelings.
“Oh my! What’s with that tone? Is someone not happy with me per chance? As much as I’d love to listen to you complain, that isn’t why I’m here now.”
“Ass-wipe.”
“Takes one to know one.”
“Can you two just cool your jets for a second?”
““Stay out of this!”” Kenji had tried to defuse the situation, but The House and I snapped at him simultaneously. He slinked down looking completely dejected, but I had other things to worry about right now. Mainly, why did this asshole choose to show up now of all times?
“So um, Mr. House? If you don’t mind me asking, why did you decide to appear now?” Rachel respectfully asked the hologram. Yes Rachel, good question!
It’s simple really,” The House stated rather indifferently while inspecting his nails. “With all of our contestants now being in the game for at least two weeks, I figured it was time to update the leader-board and odds. I will now display the first results on everyone’s tablets, so please take a moment to see how you’ve done so far.”
Our terminals suddenly went into override, displaying a constant stream of net code, numbers and letters before going completely black. ‘Now Opening: Leader-board’ was temporarily displayed with a spinning loading wheel before being replaced with a list that ranked all the contestants by their jobs, odds, location and status. I managed to find Kenji’s place almost right away.
17. Oracle 7 in 200 Othellia Alive
18. Samurai 5 in 200 Helgin River Alive
19. Shaman 4 in 200 Mulamur Hills Alive
Kenji’s odds weren’t that great at 5-200, but he was still ranked as the 18th contestant most likely to win the entire game. Rachel was much further down the list, ranked 29th for now with 1-1000 odds. She didn’t seem two down about her rank though, which made sense considering she was just a slave until a day ago. When I tried to comfort her about it, she just smiled and told me she needed to work harder. I was glad she was so mentally tough, but she had made a few bad decisions since being reincarnated. I wanted Rylea to teach Rachel how to handle herself in case trouble came for her again. Giving her a reassuring pat on the back, I looked through the screen for my job and almost did a back flip when I saw my listing.
33. General 5 in 10000 Calpurnican City Alive
34. Sake Shit-Pants 3 in 10000 Helgin River Alive
35. Ninja 2 in 10000 The Grim Marsh Alive
“Sake Shit-Pants? That’s hilarious!” Kenji laughed but I was absolutely mortified. “I need to know how you got that nickname.”
“How could you do that to me?!” I shouted at The House who was laughing like a hyena at my humiliation.
“What, don’t you like it? No?? Oh well.” The House shrugged sarcastically. “Maybe that will teach you to watch your mouth around your elders, small-fry.”
“That’s it! I’ve had enough of your shit, come down here so I can kick your fucking ass already!”
“I think I’ll pass.”
“I hate to interrupt you, but can I ask one more question? These seven names at the bottom of the list that are crossed out, that doesn’t mean what I think it does right?"
“Rachel, wasn't it? You're actually pretty smart, so I'm not surprised you figured it out first.” The House said with a wicked smile as he gestured in my direction.
"What are you guys talking about?" Kenji asked, confused by the turn the conversation had taken.
"If the crest mage is one of those names, it should be pretty obvious... you'd think the KIA status would be the first tip off, but I guess that's from before your time." The House said to Kenji with a chuckle.
"Well, it's not obvious, someone spell it out before I get any angrier than I already am."
“Kenji, seven contestants are already dead.” I muttered under my breath.
"Oh. Well, that blows."