Nova Terra: Liberator - A LitRPG/GameLit Adventure (The Titan Series Book 5)

by Seth Ring

  “I am sure the two of you will get along great. Bothswern, why don’t you and Earl Greymane go and discuss the details of your force. I am assigning the 6th Ironhold Battalion to your command, as well as a company of my personal Storm Guard. You’ll be directing them personally.”

  “Duke Carlton...” Earl Blaige finally stopped eating his sandwich when he saw that the duke was completely serious.

  “No, no arguments. You came, which means you are under my command. I’m going to be giving you a mission that I cannot afford to have fail, so get your head in the game, kid. You have a lot to live up to, but I’m confident that you’ll do great. Now leave and carry out your orders.”

  Realizing that the conversation was over, Thorn saluted Duke Carlton and followed Earl Blaige out of the tent.

  “Ehem, sir? The Iron Wolf Army is ready for inspection.”

  Spinning around, Bothswern Fitswirth Blaige glared up at Thorn, the sheer intensity of his gaze causing Thorn to twitch. Suppressing the desire to take a step back, Thorn forced himself to meet the Earl of Scorchfrost’s glare calmly until the fat young man sighed in defeat.

  “Alright. Bring them to my camp, I’ll inspect them there.”

  His shoulders slumped, Earl Blaige trudged off toward his camp, his feet dragging in defeat.

  “Wow, I almost feel bad for him,” Mina said, shaking her head in amazement. “What on earth is so bad about being a general anyway? And aren’t you supposed to be impressing the duke? Why would you give up this great chance?”

  Leading Mina and Corvo back toward the Iron Wolf camp, Thorn waited until they were out of earshot of the duke’s tent before replying.

  “Actually, the duke didn’t want me to be a general.”

  “What? No way, he insisted.”

  “Sure, but that was just because of the political pressure that was put on him. I did some digging before we came and Duke Carlton is a proper military man. He hates people who jump rank. But the nobles who are supporting me pushed him into it.”

  “Yeah, they completely overplayed their hand.” Corvo scratched his nose as he spoke. “Plus, he likes to promote those who have served him as a reward. Earl Blaige is the son of the duke’s best friend and he has been trying to get him to serve for a long time.”

  “Exactly. That, combined with the fact that Earl Blaige happened to have gotten great grades at the academy and is recognized as a competent commander, it just makes more sense for me to push him to the front. Even though I could impress him as a general, I haven’t done my time, you know? I can still impress the duke by serving Earl Blaige well. In fact, not being a general means I’ll be fighting in the front lines, so this makes more sense.”

  It took a moment for Thorn to realize that Mina had stopped walking and was staring at him and Corvo.

  “What?”

  “How on earth do you guys know this stuff?”

  “Hah, you know all that money I spent? We picked up as much info going into this as possible. Trying to make sure we’re not walking into any traps.”

  “But hold on, that doesn’t explain how you knew some of those details.” Mina frowned.

  “Well, let’s just say I’m not the only one around here who cheats.” Thorn winked at the Ice Witch as he patted Corvo on the shoulder.

  “Thorn!”

  Turning around, Thorn saw his aunt leading a group of beautiful women toward him. Her eyes ran carefully over him, seeming to search for any injury on his body or discomfort in his expression.

  “Hey! Thanks for coming.”

  Thorn wrapped Athena in a big hug, lifting her easily off of the ground. Slightly surprised, Athena quickly returned the hug. Putting her down, Thorn nodded to the other members of the Society of Roses.

  “Hello, everyone. You’re all looking as lovely as ever. How was the trip over here?”

  “Hey, Thorn.” Bluefire greeted the Titan. “Sorry we’re late. We ran into an issue.”

  It was only after Bluefire spoke that Thorn realized that the members of Society of Roses looked like they had just stepped out of an intense fight. All of their armor was damaged to some extent and every single one of them bore some evidence of wounds. He had been so excited to see his aunt that he had not even noticed, but as he looked at her now he saw the same damage on her armor. Frowning, he looked over her carefully.

  “What happened?”

  “Oh, just some trouble with some bandits.” Athena waved her hand. “Nothing that you need to worry about. It will change our plans somewhat, but it's nothing big.”

  “Corvo?” Thorn’s eyes never left Athena but his voice had gotten cold and hard.

  “Thorn, it’s really not a big deal,” Athena protested.

  “The Society of Roses was attacked by three hundred players on their way to the Ironhold Duchy. Nearly full wipe for the Society of Roses but they killed all three hundred. Looks like an ambush by a mercenary group that Ragnarok are sponsoring called New Dawn.”

  Finishing his report, Corvo minimized the window he had been reading from only to find everyone except Thorn staring at him. Bemused, he gave a lopsided smile and shrugged.

  “What? New Dawn is a front for Ragnarok?” Athena’s eyes narrowed and she glanced at Bluefire. “How on earth do you know that? Do you have proof? Bluefire, do we know anything about that?”

  “No.” Bluefire’s voice was flat as she stared intently at Corvo. “We knew that they were targeting us, but we thought that they were part of Tower of Immortals.”

  Shaking his head, Corvo pulled up the report and, after a quick search, added some information to it. Passing it over to Bluefire and Athena, he shrugged again.

  “Looks like New Dawn is a cover for a lot of the people who were purged after Ouroboros left Ragnarok. Sylith is their backer. The misdirection is because there are a few high level plants in the Tower that work for Sylith too. Well, partly for Sylith. Turns out they’re pretty mercenary and my boss has deep pockets.”

  Her eyes flickering back and forth, Bluefire read through the information that Corvo had given her and whistled in amazement. Suddenly she stopped and stared, her eyes resting on a list of all of the members of the Society of Roses who had been killed.

  “What?! How did you..”

  Patting her arm sympathetically, Mina chuckled.

  “I have it on good authority that he cheats.”

  “Something like that.” Corvo smirked.

  “Why didn’t you call me?” Thorn’s face still wore a frown as he looked down at Athena.

  “Why? What were you going to do? We crushed them way too fast. They were dead way before you could have arrived. Besides, we are more than capable of handling this. As Bluefire said, there has been a bit of a change of plans. With most of the Society logged, we won't be able to fulfill the contract we have with you. Besides, we’re going to be busy crushing some mercenaries over the next few weeks,” Athena said, her eyes hard.

  “Actually, we’ll be doing the crushing,” Bluefire stepped forward and rested her hand on Athena’s shoulder. “You will be accompanying Earl Greymane to Rasyn.”

  “What are you talking about, Bluefire?”

  “We talked and all agreed that you need a vacation, Athena.” Bluefire gestured to the other members of the Society of Roses behind her. “You have been looking forward to playing with Thorn for a long time now and we are not about to let some scumbags with an agenda derail that. Spend some time with Thorn and we’ll deal with New Dawn.”

  “That’s a great idea.” Thorn nodded. “Corvo, give the Society of Roses whatever help they need.”

  Hesitating, Athena looked at Thorn whose frown had been replaced by a smile. Seeing the excitement in his eyes, Athena sighed.

  “Are you sure about this?”

  “Yes, extremely sure. If we can’t handle it then we’ll let you know. But we are the Society of Roses, Athena. If we can’t handle this we don’t deserve our rank as the best mercenary group. You’ve taught us well, but now it is time to let u
s do what we’ve been trained to do.”

  “Fine, fine. I get it. I’ll go with Nova Luna. It’ll be nice to just take orders for once.”

  “Great!” Thorn’s grin widened even further as he slapped his hands together. “Well, we’ve got to get to the general’s camp, but Bluefire, anything you need just ask. Corvo has the details, but we’re happy to support you in any way.”

  “Thanks, Thorn,” Bluefire replied, wrapping her arms around Athena. “Have fun, Athena. Try to treat it as a fun trip, okay?”

  “Yes, mom.” Athena rolled her eyes in mock annoyance as she returned the hug. After giving each of the members of the Society of Roses a hug, Athena turned to Thorn and the group made their way toward the Earl of Scorchfrost’s camp.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  All of Thorn’s worries about not being able to find the Earl of Scorchfrost’s camp were blown out of the water before he had gotten even halfway there as the camp was completely surrounded by Iron Wolf players. Hasta had brought them to meet Earl Blaige so that he could inspect them before they all reported to the parade ground where the mages were preparing the Aether Gates.

  The map Thorn had of the duke’s military encampment indicated that Earl Blaige’s camp only took up a small sliver of land tucked between two much larger camps belonging to different barons. Though he was legally allowed to bring the same number of soldiers as Thorn, Earl Blaige seemed to have brought a measly five hundred soldiers with him from the town of Scorchfrost. After arriving with a tiny force, he said nothing when the surrounding camps annexed his space.

  The earl’s camp was currently packed with masses of players. The ease of player inventories had freed them from carrying their gear visibly, but according to what Thorn saw in the army-wide group channel, the entire Iron Wolf camp had been packed up in less than half an hour and the whole ten thousand player force had walked through the camp to crowd around Earl Blaige’s camp.

  As Thorn pushed through the crowds of hurrying soldiers with Mina, Corvo, and Athena, he began to spot the colorfully armored Iron Wolf soldiers standing around. Curious, he wove around a group of soldiers and tried to get closer to Earl Blaige’s land. A small Iron Wolf squad spotted him and stood up straight, their chest-thumping salute ringing through the air.

  “Hello, Lord Greymane!”

  The players' overly enthusiastic shout brought a smile to Athena’s face even as Thorn grimaced. Carefully schooling his face into an impassive mask, he returned the salute and walked past them. Unfortunately for Thorn, the Iron Wolf soldiers’ shout had alerted all the nearby Iron Wolf players who turned toward him to look. Seeing their employer towering over the crowd, they began to join in the saluting, creating a chain reaction as the sound continued to spread and new squads joined in.

  Nearly overwhelmed from the cacophony of ringing metal and shouting voices, Thorn finally couldn’t stand it anymore. Clearing his throat, he opened up the Iron Wolves channel and selected the send all button.

  “At ease, soldiers. Please clear the way, I need to get to Earl Blaige.”

  Quieting down, the smiling soldiers all got out of the way and soon Thorn and his group were standing in front of the young earl. Earl Blaige was standing in front of his tent with his officers having a lively discussion. As he approached, Thorn realized that the earl was primarily arguing with the cold-faced captain who had introduced herself at the banquet the night before. Stopping at a respectful distance, Thorn waited for a good moment to present himself, but before he was able, the earl spun around.

  It was as if the earl was a man obsessed. His eyes gleamed with a nearly fanatical light and his pudgy face was flushed bright red. Without waiting for Thorn to open his mouth, Earl Blaige rushed up to him and grabbed his massive hand.

  “You’re travelers? You have an entire army of travelers? How did I not know this? Why didn’t anyone tell me this?!”

  “I did tell you, at least three times!”

  Strategically ignoring Captain Falcher’s outburst, Earl Blaige pumped Thorn’s hand up and down. Rather, he tried to. Finding that he could not move the Titan’s hand at all, the fat earl gave up on his attempt and just patted Thorn’s thick arm.

  “You have an entire army of travelers! This is the greatest thing ever! Hahaha, we were absolutely doomed, but you just made victory possible!”

  Gently extricating his arm from the earl’s greasy fingers, Thorn spoke softly so as to avoid upsetting the obviously crazy earl.

  “Uh, just because we are immortal doesn’t mean that we can win in a fight against an entire army of Orcs. We still die, we just come back after a day.”

  “Die?” Confused, Earl Blaige cocked his head to the side. “Why on earth would you die? No, no, we don’t win by dying. That’s the stupidest idea I’ve ever heard. No, we’re going to split you up! Come on, we need to hurry to meet up with the duke. We need to talk to him before any of the armies start to leave!”

  Breaking into a waddling run, Earl Blaige began to run out of the camp toward the marshalling ground where the duke had ordered all of the armies to present before they set off for Rasyn. With every step the earl’s body jiggled alarmingly, and after only a few steps he began to wheeze, but despite the obvious strain the earl continued to struggle forward. Exchanging a glance with Captain Falcher, Thorn was met with a cold shrug.

  “Get the rest of the camp packed up and head toward the parade ground,” Captain Falcher said over her shoulder to the soldiers who were standing around. “Earl Greymane, my lord runs slower than most people walk, so, as degrading as it is, if you would not mind assisting him to the duke’s side, we would all be spared embarrassment.”

  Sure enough, when Thorn glanced at Earl Blaige’s back, he realized the poor young man had not even made it ten feet. Though his arms were pumping and his breath came in bellows, the earl’s legs simply did not move faster than a slow walk. Turning his head away to try and hide his laugh, Thorn messaged Hasta, directing him to lead the army to the parade ground with Captain Falcher. Having gotten himself under control, Thorn looked back up to find everyone around him still shaking with silent laughter.

  Biting his lip, he put his helmet on and took a few big steps forward, easily catching up with the struggling Earl Blaige. Reaching down, Thorn grabbed Earl Blaige by the back of his uniform, intending to lift him into the air, but the sound of ripping cloth made him rethink his plan. Looking around helplessly, Thorn saw nothing but laughing faces causing him to sigh in defeat. Earl Blaige was so focused on trying to run that he was completely oblivious to the commotion around him until he felt the earth fall away from his feet. Jerking his head up, it took a moment for it to register that Thorn had picked him up.

  Hoisting Earl Blaige up onto his shoulder, Thorn was thankful that his helmet covered his face completely, allowing him to hide his face which was almost as red as the puffing earl’s.

  “Please excuse me, Earl Blaige,” Thorn said, doing his best to keep his eyes straight ahead as he took long strides toward the parade ground outside the camp.

  “Oh, my, this is much better.” The young earl breathed a large sigh of relief as he wiped the sweat from his face. “Thank you. Haha, I’m not suited for quick motion so this is a much better option! Quick, we have to get to Duke Carlton as fast as possible!”

  Speeding up, Thorn quickly left the camp, a massive force of players streaming out after him in a giant wave. The armies of the Ironhold Duchy were milling around the parade ground, slowly assembling into their various groups. Each was dressed in the colors of the force they were from, and the parade ground slowly grew more orderly as the soldiers gathered around the flags that had been raised.

  Spotting the flag that had been planted for the Iron Wolf Army, Thorn directed Hasta toward it while he carried Earl Blaige through the crowds to where the Ironhold Duke stood. Dropping the earl to the ground, the two of them walked over to the duke and the generals who surrounded him, as fast as the young earl’s legs could take him.

&nbs
p; “Earl Blaige, where are your troops? We are going to be leaving shortly.”

  “Hmm? My soldiers? Um, they're coming, but this is too important to wait,” Earl Blaige said as he pushed past General Thiera. Nearly pouncing on Duke Carlton, Earl Blaige grabbed his arm and shook it up and down.

  “We can win! We can actually do it! They are travelers, so we’ll be able to win!”

  Duke Carlton stared blankly at the fat and sweaty red face that had shoved itself close to his nose. A glance at the generals around him reassured him that none of them had any idea what the earl was talking about at all. Turning to Thorn for guidance, all he got was a shrug.

  “Bothswern, what are you talking about? Just because the travelers come back after a day doesn’t...”

  “Doesn’t mean that they can win against the Orcs, yes I know. The big guy already said it.” Earl Blaige interrupted the duke impatiently.

  Loosening his grip, Earl Blaige began to pace back and forth, gesturing wildly as he spoke, his spittle forcing the surrounding people to dodge out of the way.

  “Why are you all so obsessed with fighting? Is the only way to beat someone by direct conflict? No, the power of the travelers is not in their immortality, that is only secondary. The real power in war is not force but communication! Imagine what is going to happen when we get to the island. Each of the three forces will forge their way inland, following the plan that was set up and trying to meet their schedules. But what do we do when we find ourselves in trouble? What do we do when we are held up?

  “The means of communication that we have require two mages with active circles. But how well does that work? It doesn’t work at all! We always have problems with communication. If the mages are not in safe, stable environments their spells won't work reliably. If their spells don’t work reliably, how are we supposed to be reactive? What happens when one of our armies gets ambushed? The mages can’t just stop in the middle of a fight to set up their spells!

  “But now, we have a solution! The travelers are not only immortal, but they are naturally connected! By spreading them throughout the various forces we will be able to instantly communicate with each other! Just imagine, we can run an instantly reactive campaign! The sort of response times that generals dream of! We can coordinate! We can adapt! We can outmaneuver the Orcs and crush them with the weight of our tactical prowess!”