CHAPTER 5: LORDSHIP

As I was leaving my house the next day, I noticed a bundle by the door. I unwrapped it, and it was another gift.

Uncommon Cleardusk Plains Lion Hide Cloak, +3 Speed, +3 Agility, Durability 40/40

It was well-made and fairly thin and unencumbering when I moved with it on. I put it in my bag and noted to Simba to remind me to wear it when I was not working.

Today, I wanted to survey my property. With the game interface, I was able to walk my boundaries clearly. I marked off the foundation for the inn I planned to build, a fence for some livestock, and a small stable. I had been gifted five chickens, but I told a young girl in the village that if she cared for them, she could have the eggs.

I then expanded my map to the village. There were twenty-five structures in town. Most dotted the large dirt road that ran down the center. A few were slightly further out with small fields or fenced-in areas. There were 53 people in the village, including myself, twenty-two women, seventeen children, and fourteen men.

It was mostly a barter economy right now, but I hoped to change that. I needed to go out into the world and bring back goods and currency. I needed to level as well. I formed a hunting party with the village militia to hunt the plains lions. With three archers and myself, I figured we could be effective.

Then, I made plans to pave the central road through town. A quarter-mile stretch, ten yards wide. It was a project that I hoped would improve my skills and also my stats so that I could survive better. Finally, at night, I worked on my carving skills. I started carving other figurines as well, such as people, dogs, bears, horses, and cows. And that is how I divided each day evenly into thirds.

Our first few hunts went well, and I was even offered a quest.

New Quest: Lion Trouble, Reduce the threat to the village of Malcum by killing 20 lions close to the village, rewards: improved standing with villagers, 1000 experience

For the next week, my days passed. Our hunting group did well except for the day we encountered three lions together. We tried to retreat, but they pursued us. I was able to hold the attention of two of the beasts while I directed the archers to bring down the third. I was under half health when the archers were finally able to help me.

We killed 33 lions, 48 plains deer, 7 giant porcupines, and 86 badgers in the week by hunting 8 hours each day. I got 15 lion pelts for trade into my backpack, 21 deer hides, and 164 pieces of various jerky. The jerky gave 10-18% stamina and health regen varying based on the meat it came from. The giant porcupines made excellent arrow shafts, greatly improving the hunting party’s damage. I chose not to learn the bowmanship skill since I was already pushing my skill cap. The village larder was also well stocked with meat now. The new town store’s basement held the surplus. I also unlocked the leadership skill. I ended up taking it, ignoring my prior planned commitment to skill acquisition.

Leadership 1 Tier 1 Unlocked, +1 Charisma, +2% to defense and attack of everyone in your party if you are the leader, you can lead up to 5 men times your level

I managed to raise the leadership skill to level five in the week of hunting. My axe skill improved to 5, and axe: two handed to 7. That was all fine and good, but I also leveled it to 5! Ten stat points went to magic, and two went to constitution. My four skill points went into woodcraft, so I would not error again assigning to a secondary skill!

My progress on the central road in the week basically had me just hauling sand and small stones from the river. I noticed some beasts on the other bank in the trees, and I had two militia archers guard the shore. It seemed like a wise move, and I was not surprised when they obeyed. My laborer stat went to 9, and my masonry leveled to 10 as well.

I was surprised that my effort in carving also improved my skill to 9. I had planned to stockpile the carvings for sale but gave them all to the village kids to lay with.

It was a great week, all things considered. The only interesting thing for the week was the world notification that a player named Grinch had become the first player to make ‘master’ level in a skill. That meant the player had already reached level 43. It didn’t state which skill it was, but the announcement noted that he received a five-gold reward. That got me thinking that there are rewards for milestones. I asked Simba, but he was not aware of any, and perhaps they were hidden and only awarded when someone reached the milestone.

I was ready to start mixing mortar and hauling paving stones up from the river for the road. I was admiring the road so far when Gwen approached.

“Tallis! The road you are building is a great addition to the village. It will eliminate mud in our homes on rainy days and make traveling from house to house quicker. But why would you invest so much of your personal time and effort in such a project? Don’t get me wrong, the town folk are pleased. And the meat you harvested will help greatly in the coming winter.” Gwen finished and handed me a sandwich and a skin of water.

I held off on my answer and ate the sandwich. I think she knew I was not being rude; I was just gathering my thoughts. “Gwen, I am hoping to make this village strong. I hope to attract new citizens to grow and strengthen the community. I want to do my best to protect these people as well. My next two projects will be guard towers, one on the river bank and the second overlooking the plains. Unfortunately, I am almost out of lumber, and I am not strong enough to harvest trees across the river in lieu of the beasts.” I finished my response and shoved the last bite of the sandwich into my mouth. It was a grilled marinated venison with some bitter greens and sweet paste. It gave me +40% stamina regen for 2 hours.

“Yes, your efforts have attracted new villagers. Two families will be here soon. Both families are farmers. I have given them a dozen acres each to the south of Malcum. But more importantly, your efforts have spurred the current villagers to work harder. Before you arrived, everyone was doing just what we needed to survive, and now the village is working together. People feel safer, people are happier, people are contributing more. And I wanted to ask you something important.”

Gwen took a deep breath, about to say something important. “We held a meeting last night while you slept, all the adults in the village. We want you to take on the mantle of Malcum’s governor.” She finished with an even tone and was serious the entire time. Her bright blue eyes looked at me expectantly.

“Gwen, I do not wish to take the village from you. I…” I started, but she cut me off.

“Non-sense. I am getting on in age, and you have done more in the weeks you have been here than I have managed in the last two years. After losing the men across the river, I have been unable to attract new settlers, and our population was dwindling. Please accept.” It was almost a pleading request.

It was a lot of responsibility. I was just beginning to think of these computer A.I.s as something more than programming. My ultimate goal was to get back to the real world. I needed to amass a lot of wealth to do so. I was hoping this village would serve as a strong base for my operations, but I planned to leave regularly to search. “Gwen, I would be happy to govern your village, and I promise to do my best to provide a good quality of life for the people.”

A notification came up.

You have been named the governor of Malcum by a unanimous vote of the entire village. Having accepted this position, you are taking on the responsibility of the populace. The title of governor is changed to the title of Lord due to the fact the populace’s loyalty to you is at 97%. A new menu to manage the village of Malcum is now available in your interface. Experience Reward: 50,000 (note as you upgrade your village, you will earn more experience)

Congratulations, You have reached level 6, you earned 6 stat points and 2 skill points

Congratulations, You have reached level 7, you earned 6 stat points and 2 skill points

Then, a world message appeared.

A player has earned the title of Lord. He is the first to gain rule over a population in the game of Open World. He has been rewarded with 5 gold medals for his accomplishments.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

You have earned the right to rule: Accolade Right to Rule I, 100 experience

You have earned the right to rule: Accolade Right to Rule II, 200 experience

Well damn, levels, money, and world acclaim. Works for me. Gwen then produced a dark, worn wooden box and handed it to me. I opened it to see what was inside. There were some parchments and coins. The parchments were for the village. As before, one was a map, and the second was a proclamation naming me governor of Malcum.

There was only one gold, 23 silver, and 167 copper in the box. Guess the village was poor. I would have to remedy that. The five gold coins from my achievement were already in my bag of holding, having appeared there instantly.

I allocated six stat points to magic and six to stamina. My stamina was causing an issue as it was low. The constant meals balanced it out for now, but if I was adventuring alone… All four skill points went into Masonry.

I didn’t notice as I read the map and proclamation, but the villagers gathered around me. I was taken aback when I looked up, and they started clapping with smiles on their faces. The map and parchment dissolved and integrated with my interface.

I guess I needed to say something. The game was subverting my introverted nature. “Thank you for this great honor.” I paused. “I will make sure to protect you and do my best to provide for you. We will build Malcum into a thriving community that will be a haven for you and your descendants.” That was enough, and I was a man of few words. They clapped loudly and moved off to prepare a celebration. I went to the house with Simba following.

At my kitchen table, I sat down and opened my new interface. “Ok, Simba. Guide me through this.”

The general screen had the village stats, and there were a bunch of tabs. The village stats:

MALCUM

Population: 53

Size: Village

Wealth: Extremely Poor

Ruler: Lord Tallis

Sovereignty: None

Banner: None

Exports: None

Imports: None

Simba explained. “You can select the population to see a breakdown by race, sex, and ability.” I selected it and saw we had many people with novice skills but only a few experts. We had five experts in cooking, two in tailoring, one in life magic, and one in farming. That was pretty weak.

Simba added, “People can also hide their skills from you, so your list may not be accurate. The size of your village is determined by population. When you reach 500 people, it will be upgraded to town. If you fall below ten people, it becomes a settlement camp. If it reaches 0, it becomes abandoned.

The tiny cat seemed to take a break to lick his feet. I opened the map tab to see what I was dealing with. The map displayed a village that was familiar to me. A shaded green area around the village extended about 200 yards from the farthest building. The outlining farms barely fit in the green shade. Then, a yellow buffer of 400 yards surrounded the green; the rest of the map was tinged red except for the road south, which was a darker green.

Simba looked up. “The green and yellow are your village’s area of influence. The green area is considered a ‘safe’ zone, while the yellow is not. Increase the number of guards or build buildings with security ratings to reduce the yellow area. To expand your influence, you must increase the population and build more buildings out of the village center.”

I noticed that the river was also red and was concerned about this. As if reading my mind, Simba added, “Any area of your control that touches a red region can be attacked by wandering monsters and beasts.” Shit, so the entire river was a potential avenue for an attack. “You will need to build docks to change the river area to green, and the far shore will become yellow when you do,” I mumbled, thank you, to Simba.

Hmm. Maybe I could build a building across the river to get some of the forest into a green zone to gain lumber. “Yes, that would work.” Simba added, intruding on my thoughts. Now finished cleaning, rolled onto his side, closed his eyes, stretched, and yawned but continued.

“Your wealth is reflective of the ruler of the village. You.” Six gold makes me extremely poor. Got it. “Sovereignty is the nation you belong to. Currently, no nation claims this village, so you have none. This is good and bad. It means you have no taxes but also no allies for protection. Your banner is the village’s flag. It is usually the crest of the ruler.” Cool, I could make a crest!

“The top tab shows your buildings and their health, efficiency and you can select each one to see who owns and lives there.” Simba waited while I went through the buildings. Almost all the buildings with people had over 95% health due to my efforts. Half the buildings were abandoned, though.

“The next tab is your administration tab. You can set tax rates, laws, military service requirements, tariffs, restrictions, and policies.” It was very confusing, and I thought it best not to alter anything just yet.

“The next tab is for you to manage your military.” I opened it and knew I had minimal guards. They were all listed as militia, and I knew they all worked other jobs besides rotating to guard the village.

“The next tab is for diplomacy.” It was completely grayed out. “You do not know of any other population centers yet, so there are no options.” Huh, needed to correct that soon.

“The next tab is for trading, but since you produce no goods and import no goods, it is also grayed out. The final tab is for recruitment of new villagers.” I clicked on it, and a list of NPCs was displayed. I scrolled down, and there were thousands!

“Recruiting new villagers is done weekly, well weekly, in real-world time, so 28 days game time. Your recruitable number is equal to your village size, modified by your quality rating. Quality ratings range from -10 to +10.”

I started checking…Let’s see here…village size modifier for me was one, and my village quality bonus was one. So, two auction selections? Didn’t Gwen have more than two new village farmers coming?

“Some recruits will have families with them,” Simba added, answering my question. “And to answer your next question, the repairs, and new town store just brought your village up to quality up to 1 from 0.” So if any size city or town falls to 0 quality it would not be able to recruit new citizens.

“Recruitment happens every 28 days in the game. Or every week in the real world. You can bid on a number of NPCs equal to your allotment. You can outbid anyone up until one hour before the auction ends. If you have any available slots left, you can use them to bid on other NPCs during the remaining hour. When the auction ends, your NPCs will travel to your town square and integrate into your village. If you have a translocation stone in your village, they will arrive immediately, otherwise they will take up to a period of time in the game to arrive.”

Simba cleaned himself for a good five minutes before continuing, “There will also be a chance they could be detained or killed on the way.”

I was playing with the sorting options for the NPCs. Each NPC had the following details, name, age, sex, race, family, temperament, primary skill, secondary skill, and tertiary skill. Some had no skills listed, some had one skill listed, others had two skills, and others had three skills. Skills were noted as Novice, Expert, Master, and Grand Master. The only Grand Master was 79-year-old human male in chaos magic. He was also a master in both destruction and darkness. I didn’t think he would be able to help me grow my little village.

The question is, what did we need most in Malcum? One of the abandoned buildings was a smithy. We had no blacksmith in town. I filtered, and there were seventeen master smiths. Two had sanguine temperaments, which meant they were optimistic and social. One was a beastman: cat with a family of 3; the other was a Centaur with no family.

I bid one copper on the beastman. The entry was highlighted, and the countdown timer showed next to his name: 20 days, 4 hours, 23 minutes, 11 seconds. I guess that is when the auction had one hour to go. Since I was the first player to gain access, I was the only one bidding.

Simba intruded, reading my thoughts, “Yes, only players bid. The remaining NPCs are assigned randomly to cities based on need.” I was holding out hope no one else would unlock this in the next 20 days. So my other recruit. I sorted for master and sanguine personality. I then deselected some of the races; undead, shades, goblins, kobolds, and orcs. I still had 943, which matched my criteria!

Ok what did we need most? A lot of the list had weapon skills. That would be a smart move. I was not sure how much racism played with NPCs in Open World. My entire village was human, and the elf trader was the only other race I encountered. The village seemed very amiable towards him, so maybe there was no racism? Maybe I should add more beastman:cats to help the blacksmith’s family adjust? Did a game A.I. even need to adjust?

I was waiting for Simba to answer my question, but he seemed asleep. I narrowed my search to just masters of the bow. Why were there so many masters to recruit, and Malcum just had two farmers who were novices with the bow?

Simba muttered, “Because after players get their pick, the remaining pool of NPCs is drafted by the settlements under A.I. control based on their population and quality. Meaning Gwen essentially picked close to last.”

Huh, that made sense. And now I was picking first! The best new NPCs went to the strongest locations. But then I would be throwing a wrench into the system. There were no catmen master archers with sanguine personalities.

There was a giantkin: storm, which intrigued me. He had the secondary skill of fletcher at the expert level and the tertiary skill of blade: two-handed at the expert level as well. No family, though to increase the population. But this…Galana, oh, it was a female, was only 28. She seemed an expert fighter with ranged specialization.

Also, being a master in the bow, she could probably train others. I bid one copper. Looking at the clock, I saw that I had spent nearly four hours in the interface. Now I had to wait 20 days, but I was going to try my damnedest to raise my quality before getting the auction ended to get a few more bids.

The party was in full swing, and I went out to join it. Had to bond with my people!

PLEASE NOTE THIS STORY IS ONLY POSTED BY THE AUTHOR TO HIS PATREON, ROYAL ROAD AND SCRIBBLE HUB. IF YOU ARE VIEWING IT ON ANOTHER SITE IT HAS BEEN STOLEN WITHOUT HIS PERMISSION.