Noble Farmer

by A W Sheffield

  “If my wife says yes.” I stated dumbly.

  “She will, for polgomy is worldwide, even here in the MRA. As a matter of fact, you would be an imbecile not to incorporate the others into your harem. Of course, I speak of the Lionkin and the Sage. I know you humans do not share in the tastes of your own sex, a pity. For I’ve heard…”

  “None of that now, I like females, and females only.” I cut her off with authority in my voice. I had nothing against those who did, to each their own, I just wasn’t attracted to other men.

  When I told her as much, she looked away from me. “Then you limit the power of your harem. While I can best most males in a fight, there are some who are truly talented between the sheets and even stronger fighters.”

  “No, I’m good thanks.” But I considered her words all the same, not the being gay part, but extending the offer of marriage to Avashay and Belenae. “Did you discuss this with them, the other two females I mean.”

  “Of course.” Our conversation was cut off when a large burst of green light flashed in the night, the sounds of more than one scream echoed. “We will finish this discussion later, it is time you took your place, Jaeger.”

  I didn’t like the idea of hiding while others fought for me, but there came a garbled sound to our left, that meant the enemy was closer than I had expected. I wished her luck at the entrance of the Keep and headed inside to a series of windows that overlooked the front garden. I was to be the sniper, but when I had told Torga I was shit with a bow, she merely said, “you can only do what you can. Try to limit their movements as long as you can. Our advantage comes with the sun.”

  I didn't know what she meant by that, so I assumed my position anyway. With an arrow nocked, I waited in the shadows. Cries made their way up to my position, from all around. The battle had started, Belenae made good on her promise, for the north was the loudest of all. There was a strange crackling of laughter I could hear from time to time, normally followed by a burst of light and screams. Whatever she was doing, it was working. I hoped.

  Then I saw one, he was creeping toward the entrance, low and slow. With a sword in his hand, he made his way carefully, gingerly even. Soundless and stealthy. Then I saw his head jerk backward and a blade appear as if by magic. In the moonlight Avashay appeared behind him and with a single motion, drew her blade across his throat. Smooth was her action, so routine, I was caught off guard when she disappeared a moment later. Had I not been watching, I would not have witnessed the smile upon her lips as she killed the Elf. “Bel isn’t the only one getting her revenge tonight.”

  A few moments later, I saw more movement from the shadows, this wasn’t a mere death squad. Whoever was coming after me pulled out all the stops. I didn’t even try to count them, my mind switched to a mindset I had not had in a long time. One that had made after months of being broken down in basic training. A mindset of kill or be killed. Never had it made itself known so prominently and I didn’t even try to fight it. My focus became steel, my bow moved on its own accord, and like the many hours of training on the rifle ranges, second nature. I didn’t aim, where my eyes focused, the arrow went.

  They were not bullseyes, not even close, but that was not what the military trained for. I was not a sniper, one shot one kill, I was a soldier. To wound was to perform, why kill one man when you could wound him and bring about fear to others are him. His cries of pain would chip at their very resolve, wound enough people and they would weaken, even run. That was my plan, to make them turn and run, I would make a statement this night, Jaeger Persik was not someone to fuck with. And my bow said just that.

  Chapter Seventeen

  I was fluid motion, pulled an arrow from my back quiver, nocked, sighted on a target, pulled and loose. Over and over again, arrow after arrow, the cries of pain from more than twenty elves felt my wrath. How dare they come at me! Faster and faster, until my endurance bar was almost depleted. I would wait when this happened, allowed it to recharge. All the while scanning the darkness for more targets. It was surreal, like it was someone else that was going through it all and I was watching from their eyes. A weird, fucked up movie, only with the sight, smell and the horror of actual battle. There was no aspect of fantasy, no epic music that played in the background. Only the song of the wounded and the dying. It made my blood boil to the point my body was on fire, I craved it, I wanted it, I needed it.

  Then the rush came, the elves had given up on playing sneaky sneak, it was an all-out free for all to take the Keep. Torga was up for the challenge and met it head on. With each swing of her blade, one or more elves fell. Her dance was so precise, each step had meaning. There were no wasted movements, she was a force of absolute death. I took in the moment, when I chanced a glance her way, I knew then her words from before. If Vexi was this good, I would never be able to fight her one on one, not with a sword. My words had been to counter her, I would get my vengeance against the bitch. Though after seeing Torga up close and personal, going all out, I needed a plan for Vexi, or I was dead.

  With my endurance bar near seventy five percent, I started to rain arrows back down on the elves. Torga was awesome, amazing even, but she needed help. It was damage done versus endurance drain, a race to see who won out in the end. The Elves were pressing her back by their sheer numbers alone. And if we didn’t turn the tide soon, she would be over run.

  I reached for the next quiver, and when my hand gripped nothing but air, I knew we were in trouble. I had brought six quivers of arrows, two hundred fifty arrows in all, and each one of the quivers were empty. “Fuck.” I stated. I cursed myself a fool, while I had thought that many arrows would be overkill, that there was no way the Elves would send that mean soldiers, I had been wrong.

  “Milord, what is wrong?” Brandon’s voice squeaked from the shadows.

  “Brandon, what the hell are you doing here? You're supposed to be hiding!”

  His face emerged from the shadows, slightly outlined by the fading light of the moon. “The elves, they are inside the Keep. I came to warn you, but you were...I don’t know what, you couldn’t hear me.” I swore. “What’s wrong, how can I help?” He didn’t wait for me to answer him. “Arrows, you need arrows. Right. I am on it.” Before I could say a word, he was gone. Fast and silent, and I was amazed by how he could manage both at the same time.

  To my horror, I watched him bound from my place at the windows, a parkour genius. Then he turned toward the incoming elves and Torga. “No, Brandon...DON’T! But the words never reached him in time as he leaned forward and his legs churned. I was helpless as this boy was about to get himself killed, all so he could help me.

  Just as he reached Torga, he started to jump from foot to foot, elongating his stride by ten to twelve feet. An elf saw him coming and disengaged Torga and readied to strike down the Deerkin. Brandon leaped, folding his knees under him and laying out with his arms tucked by his side. I watched in horror, as the elf swung his sword at him, the inevitable was about to happen. Brandon tilted his head back with his chin pointed back toward me. It was like time froze completely, as I watched the blade pass over him by mere millimeters. Then his legs kicked out and both taking two different elves in the face. His momentum was so great that once the sword had missed him, he seemed to crumpled into the shock of the kicks. But instead of riding the falling elves down, he somersaulted and performed a front handspring.

  It was like the elves did not see him, or they were too transfixed on Torga, but in a blink of an eye, the Deerkin was jumping and spinning around them. “Fucking eh? How the hell was he ever caught!”

  My answer was not one I had been expecting, it came in the form of a massive blast that shook the very foundations of keep and sent everyone sprawling to the ground in a massive of tangle of bodies. I, on the other hand, was slammed against the wall and rebounded off my perch. I fell to the ground with a heavy thump that left me dazed and confused. “Persik, you rodent.” The voice reverberated off the walls of the Keep, a voice I ha
d never heard with such anger, such rage before. “You should know when you are beat, you should know when you are amongst your betters.”

  It took me a full minute to recover, and when I tried to rise, I had multiple broken bone icons. “This is where you belong, on the ground before me, groveling. A pity, you must learn this lesson just before you are about to die.” Somehow, I managed to make it to my feet, my left side throbbed with a thousand string bees. When I looked up, we were the only two in the main hall, for the doors had somehow been shut closed, and even Torga was nowhere in sight. Only Lathura.

  She descended the stairs, her eyes glowing purple and her hair floating like it defied gravity. “Now meet whatever heathen god or goddess claims you as their spawn.” She came to the landing, where she stopped and started to chant, her eyes glowed brighter and her long, luscious platinum hair took on more life. Waving wildly above her head.

  There was no long dialog like in the movies, no chance for me to recover, the bitch was about to fry me. All in my favorite clothes, the clothes Aylana had made specially for me. There was a moment of realization. I would come back, but these clothes...would not. With grim acceptance, I pulled them off as quickly as I could. “What...what are you doing? Stop it,” She said the words between her cadence of power Her eyes looking over my nakedness with disdain. But I didn’t listen, through the pain of broken bones, I showed Lathura my birthday suit in its full glory.

  As I stood before her, I could see the arcs of white lightning dance from her fingers and I knew this would not be fun. FUN! “Fuck it.” If this was going to be the way to achieve my first death, then I was going to make it memorable. Hell, I was already halfway there. I could not get to her in time, could not defend myself or go for cover. There was none within the main hall.

  My right hand reached down and took hold of my manhood. “Behold the Jaeger Copter!” With a twisting of my wrist, I got my little man spinning, faster and faster until it started to hurt slightly. “Bow before its power, copter, copter, it’s my Jaeger Copter, copter, copter.” I really got into it, hips and all, my knees bouncing to my song despite the pain. It was a full body display, one that I hoped would haunt her for the rest of her life. Her eyes were transfixed on my twirling member as it spun faster and faster.

  “What are… no stop it, stop it NOW!” But as she said the words, I saw the lightning on her hands grow to crazy proportions. Her eyes which had been locked on me like narrow slits of death, grew wide with panic. Her hands shot out toward me, I had never been more prepared for death.

  “LONG.LIVE.THE.COPTER!” I made a motion with my hand, simulating the release of an orgasm and squeezed my eyes shut. Ready to be filled with pain and death.

  There was an explosion, the smell of ozone and burnt hair filled the hall, but I didn’t feel a thing. Wait, how am I still alive? I opened one eye, still ready to receive the pain of death. I didn’t see Lathura at all, she was gone, a black char spot with her outline was on the wall from where she had been standing. When I opened both eyes, I looked around and saw the remains of her charred and smoking body. She made a pitiful sound and I went over to her.

  Her skin was completely black with third degree burns, one eye was nothing more than a milky liquid and the other was not much better. Her breathing was labored and I knew there was no saving her. Not that she would want to live, not with how she had been before. I hurried over to my belt and pulled my dagger. This was not a kill because of what she had done, this was pure mercy. Something I hoped someone would do for me if I ever shared her fate. I made it quick, painless, and wiped the thickened, clotted blood from my dagger.

  When I thought it was over, that was when I heard it, the low chuckling that sounded from a distant corner of the hall. “OH.MY.GOD, you, Jim Corwell, are fucking hilarious.” He came from the shadow, doubled over with laughter.

  “Henry?”

  He dropped to his knees, unable to control himself. His virtual body started to cough, and soon he was desperately trying to get air into his lungs. He held up a hand for me to wait, and then I saw a burst of energy came from his body. All the laughter and coughing stopped immediately. He rose to his feet with a smirk, “Sorry, but that was too good. Oh, man, in all my years in the company, I have never seen anything like it. Genius man, pure genius. Who would have thought that would be a good idea to interrupt a spell casting. You must have shattered her focus to pieces.” He straightened his suit a moment and padded over to me. “We have much to discuss, Mr. Corwell.” Just like that he was all business. “But first, please put some clothes on, for crying out loud. It’s hard to take you seriously with your tallywacker just dangling out in the wind.”

  After I had dressed, I checked on Torga and dragged her inside. Brandon showed up along with the other two women. Henry had disappeared by then and I had them all move to the second story and we barricaded ourselves in until morning. When everything was done, I found Henry in my quarters, lounging on Aylana’s divan.

  “Sup?”

  “You tell me,” I said as I took a seat on the corner of the bed.

  He pushed himself into a seated position, all the mirth from before gone from his features. “I guess I have too, but before we get into it, how was your first month in the game? I have been keeping an eye on you, and you have definitely not been idle.”

  “Okay, I guess, started out shaky, didn’t like the whole enslavement thing very much.” He nodded. “And I could really do without all the politics.”

  “Ah, the hardships of nobility. Comes with the Nobleman’s package. All part of the Roleplaying aspect. Aside from that, any questions on game play or fight mechanics?” He was all business.

  “No, I seem to be figuring it out as I go. But I do have a question, what is the point of having a class when I can learn everything naturally?” The question really had been bugging me for a while now.

  “Power and greater weapon skills, mainly. Yes, you can learn each weapon, become proficient enough to dominate NPCs, but should you go against a warrior of the sword class, well, you’re going to get your butt handed to you. It’s what makes Players greater than NPCs. And if you chose to run a dungeon or perform a raid, well, you’re going to need those skills. Everything has a reason or a purpose in ALOW.”

  “Good enough for me. How do I choose a class?”

  “You will have the option of class when you become Tier Two.”

  “And when will that be?”

  “That, my friend, all depends on you.” He stood and stretched. “The game’s AI, dictates when each player has reached the right about of knowledge about the world and once that happens, you will earn the right to make it to the next Tier. Hence why you don’t see a lot of Tier Five’s running around or why you don’t have to be max Tier to take part of all that ALOW has to offer. This is no keyboard head slam game. You get out what you put in. Make the effort and you will climb the Tiers. Sitting around all day in luxury, is a sure way to stay Tier One for the duration of your treatment plan.”

  “Oh, being stolen from my own land, enslaved and forced to be someone’s camp bitch wasn’t good enough? Then how about going head to head with a sadist elf mage?” I was beginning to lose my cool with this game.

  “Touche.” He said with a smile. “While you are a special case, and have a knack for survival. You must really ask yourself, what is it that you learned about the world during that time? Anything really? You used the skills you knew from your life on Earth to help you, did you use any of the skills you learned here?” He shook his head at me. “Sure, you shot a few arrows, swung a sword a little bit, even killed a few people. Freed some slaves, earned the respect of a few. But what, James, what have you actually learned? Nothing really. I am in no way trying to insult you, I am just being real here.”

  He sat back down, “other players who started the same time you did, are already Tier Two, why? Because they engrossed themselves in the game, went on adventures, learned the lore and helped out their follow
peeps. They studied one class, sought out how to better themselves, and made it happen. That, Jimmy, is the key to this game. Goals. I bet you don’t have a single one in your head.”

  He was right, I didn’t. I was like a leaf in a strong wind, I let others dictate what I should be doing and where I should go. No, it was time for me to put my foot down and look at my own aspirations for once. “I like that look in your eyes. You are going to make a name for yourself.” His smile grew, “maybe I can help you with that, maybe put a little money in your pocket as well.”

  “How?”

  “ALOW has been having trouble selling the new Virtual Reality server to the masses. Once people are done with their treatment, they turn away from the game. We want to bring them back, to play on the non-treatment servers. Those who have never experienced the game before, look to other games. Well, there is money to be made in this area, and ALOW wants a cut. All from the comfort of their own homes with VR goggles...well, our Cranial units are more than VR Goggles... You, being who you are, can help, a mascot if you will, of sorts.”

  “You want me to be the face of ALOW?”

  “GOD no, nothing of the sort. But what you did down there, well, that could bring in a certain crowd and with your permission, I would like to release a spoof version of it.” I was confused and it seemed to register on my face. “You were being recorded, in fact, more than a couple times. About one hundred over all. Mostly dumb stuff, but that is what I am after. Stupidity, a way for people to throw off the concepts of Society and just be themselves, your dance party for instance, definitely would make a funny as hell spoof. It will also get your name out there. Might open up some doors for you. And sure, that touching moment with your wife, it shows how real the AI is, there are a lot of lonely people out there after all.”

  “I don’t think I want that kind of attention.” I told him.

  “Blah, most of the good stuff will be saved for the real world. Of course, I will have to make you your own home page, if you get enough likes of course. But what you are failing to realize, Jimmy my boy, there is a lot of potential to make some serious money here. For every video, you will get cut, and I was even thinking of making one of those, “type in this code, JAEGER, and earn something. I don’t know what really, I still have to pitch this to the bosses. But what do you really have to lose? It’s not like any of your peeps in game will ever find out. Just a few video gazing idiots. You won’t notice a thing, I promise.”