by Charles Dean
Ah, so it’s not entirely racial. It’s also class based. Lucas didn’t know why, but for some reason, that was actually a point in the old woman’s favor. At the very least, a person could change their status and class. If nothing else, Lucas had proved just how quickly someone could rise from a nobody to the rank of Baron.
“And you would think that your kind,” Lucas said calmly, pointedly looking down at the ring on her finger, “would learn to talk better to her superiors.” He waggled his own fingers as if showing off the jewelry he had acquired.
“Don’t believe I didn’t see it, child. I know you outrank me, but that barony is on Hesse, not here. A baronship on Hesse is worth no more than a few bags of gold in the capital. Any halfwit layabout doing nothing more than drinking his life away could acquire it. Why wear it with so much pride?” the woman chortled, her wrinkled jowls shaking back and forth like the jiggly bits on an uncooked turkey.
“Grandmother Penelope!” Dennings, who had been previously fully engrossed in whatever sweet nothings were being whispered back and forth between her and Rowland, interrupted the two. “Will you stop acting like he isn’t still nobility? He is both a nobleman and a man who saved your daughter’s life. Or is my life not worth at least a few kind words? Now, you make nice, or else I will tell Grandfather that you are giving his desserts away to the butler.”
Way to go, Dennings.
“Fine.” The woman who had been staring daggers at Lucas a moment ago softened quickly. “But I didn’t lie when I said that there is no place for his kind to acquire land. I know people who are still selling land personally, and they certainly won’t do so to a Hessian. I can certainly understand the desire to establish roots properly with an estate and staff when you arrive, but it simply isn’t possible. With the state of the war lately . . .” The woman’s eyes flitted up, and she quickly scanned the room. “Well, let’s just say that there are a lot more people in the capital than the countryside for a reason.”
“She means the Imperium has lost significant amounts of its already-meager territory, so everyone is scrambling for houses and manors in Dover, where they think it will be safe,” Liu clarified as she stepped up. “The affluent nobles don’t want to risk owning land by the borders as they fear that an enemy faction is going to move in at any moment, and it’ll be their land that is lost first--along with their lives too.”
Penelope’s face twisted up like someone had just forced her to chew on a raw lemon. “What the Hessian Lady says is right.”
Liu smiled amusedly, seemingly delighted at the woman’s sour expression. “It doesn’t help that Hesse has been incredibly stable and prosperous as of late, despite the fact that there are less than ten nobles there at any given time--all of whom lack the ‘social graces’ of those in the capital. Thus, the Imperium within Kent treat the Imperium on Hesse like the British treated the Americans during the colonial days.”
Lucas nodded along with Liu’s reasoning. He appreciated that she was trying to defuse the situation with logic, but he still hated the way he was being treated. “So, there is no solution then? Because if there is no way for us to get territory . . .”
Penelope sniffed and somehow managed to look slightly smug. “Well, it’s not like there aren’t any places to go and get land, just no reputable source that a Lady such as myself would ever use.”
“So, where can you get land?” Lucas pressed.
Penelope huffed as if she were being put out by having to explain things and as if it were taking a great toll on her to do so. “There are only three places that always have land available: the merchant’s quarters, the soldier’s quarters, and the school. All of them will have something for someone. Soldiers keep dying, merchants will sell even their soul for a copper--so you can bet they’ll add in their home too--and every new year there is a new batch of students, so there are always new places to rent or own at the academy.”
“Thanks,” Lucas said. “You’ve been surprisingly . . . helpful.” He’d basically found out everything that he had come for, so he didn’t see the point in staying any longer, so he turned to leave. Everyone there had already judged him the moment he walked in the door, and trying to get information out of someone who was a complete and utter stranger would just be a waste of time. Plus, he wanted to leave as peacefully as possible.
Halfway to the exit, one of the older nobles stepped out in front of him, blocking his path.
“That’s good that you’re smart enough to know where you don’t belong, but do try not to come back again,” the man said. He was about the age of Rowland’s father and wore a Knight Ring. The way he puffed his chest out and hooked his thumbs into the waist of his trousers made it obvious he thought that he could look like a hero to his friends, a big man that could say or do whatever he wanted.
“Or what?” Lucas asked with a slight edge to his voice. “What’s going to happen if I don’t?” He stalked forward until he was inches away from the older man. The man was a good two and a half inches shorter than Lucas, and with the fellow’s weak, doughy figure, Lucas had no problem physically intimidating him.
“I’m just telling you what’s best for you, Hessian. Why don’t you just get back on a boat and go back to where you came from?!” The guy looked over at the group that he had just separated from, and a giant self-satisfied grin spread across his face.
Lucas reached out, grabbed a handful of the man’s shirt and hoisted him off his feet into the air. “You think you’re better than me?” Lucas asked in a low tone. “You think you have the right to talk to me? Like you’re someone? Like you’ve ever done anything? You’re garbage!” By the time he finished, his voice had grown from a low and threatening growl to a roar.
“Guards!!” the man shouted. “L-let me down!”
“Not till I’m done with you! You need to know exactly what you are, exactly how worthless you and your bunch of tea-drinking socialites are. While you were sitting here on your non-existent, delusional laurels, chatting among each other and wasting your family’s wealth and good name like the low-life wastrels you are, I was conquering. It only took me days to gain the rank of Baron, yet your gray hair tells me you’ve spent an entire life and not moved so much as a rank beyond what you inherited simply for being born.” Lucas released his grip on the man’s shirt, shoving him backward and letting him drop the few inches to the floor.
Then he turned to look out at the rest of the group and began laughing. “You are all pathetic. High court? It’s more like a coven of craven castaways, pathetic cowards huddling together in the corner as you pray the big bad wave of enemies outside doesn’t come knocking. God forbid one actually show up and force you to do more than struggle to stand on the tallest part of a tiny island. Even here and now in such perilous times, you sad people clutch at your pride, abandoning any hope of victory. You don’t even try to defend yourself or the Imperium name, you spineless curs.
“Well, you’re right about us Hessians, and you’re right about me. We shouldn’t be here. We shouldn’t surround ourselves with lesser men and hope for greater glory. I’m going to leave today, just as you said, and I won’t come back until someone begs me. Unlike you and the rest of your filthy lot of fools, I am a winner. I’ll show you exactly how I became a Baron of Hesse. I’ll teach you how I united the four rebel towns of Hesse through force.”
Then, as if just to spite them, Lucas added one more thing. “And when you come to me, clutching at my ankles and trying to pull me down into that decrepit sea of filth and regret you wallow in, I’m going to beat you down too. Don’t be shy and back down. All of you can and should come at me. Pull your tricks and weave your second-rate schemes. At the end of the day, I will remain undefeated!” Lucas practically shouted the last line. He didn’t know why, but he felt alive as he scolded the pack of old men who had all but ignored him the second he walked in the door.
Well, that felt good. Not like it will do an-- Just as Lucas started lamenting that he had challenged everyone for no
point at all, just making his life harder, he was reminded of the fact that the system could generate quests based on a player’s circumstances. All he had to do was create a need, and then the system would be prompted to generate a corresponding quest. He had manipulated the system in order to gain entry into the Imperium as well as control over Hess, and this time, Lucas’s challenge had apparently created the quest for him.
Quest: Unvanquished Contender of the Imperium.
Your challenge has been heard by the elite of the Imperium. After hearing your proclamation challenging their very right to exist, the nobility has decided to hate you with all that they have, but the king admires your spirit. He sees in you a chance to change the fate of the Imperium, but your claim far exceeds what he believes you are capable of. He will neither offer you any assistance nor risk spending his own resources, but he has left you to your own devices. For this reason, the king has given you the right of self-defense no matter the circumstance. This right extends to extinguishing the assets of those who try to defeat you.
The titles and lands of those who challenge you will be forfeit if they lose. This condition supersedes all prior existing claims to the property.
Warning: As a member of the Imperium nobility, there is a faction bounty on your head. Should a member of a non-Imperium faction kill you, they will gain significant Reputation.
Warning: Your challenge has created a growing bounty on your head with the nobility. It will increase with both time and actions. Current bounty: 5 gold.
Warning: Due to the nobility’s extreme hatred of you, individuals who kill you will not suffer a Reputation penalty with the Imperium.
Warning: Quest will fail upon death.
Warning: All Reputation gains will be forfeited upon death.
Warning: Titles acquired will be forfeited upon death.
Warning: Lands acquired during your playthrough of this quest will be forfeited upon death.
Warning: Loot and currency acquired during the existence of this quest will be forfeited upon death.
Warning: Levels gained during the playthrough of the quest will be lost upon death.
Warning: NPC relations and contracts will be nullified upon death.
Warning: Failure to complete this quest will revoke your citizenship as a member of the Imperium as well as the citizenship of those who sponsored or are sponsoring you.
Quest Bonus: The common people and those who have returned from the Imperium’s lands in Hesse will hear of your challenge to the nobility of the Imperium. As your actions reverberate through the Imperium, you will be seen as a rallying point and a beacon of hope. The more foes you defeat, the more your Reputation will grow and the more likely non-Dover-born members of the Imperium, as well as common Dover citizens, will agree to requests and contracts.
Lucas was a little startled by exactly how brutal the consequences were. If he died, he wouldn’t just lose a level, time, and a bit of progress. He would be prevented from ever taking part in the Imperium dungeon-building that had already become his ticket to success. Not only was it fear-inducing, but it added an extra weight onto his shoulders that he wasn’t used to. Although he had taken numerous deaths throughout his time in the world, it was only recently that any of them had any actual meaning. Previously, the biggest issue was the pain that occurred before the death and the annoyance and cold, void-like feeling that came with the death sequence. Now, however, the game kept attaching rather significant consequences to any potential death he might take. The stakes were constantly being upped with every move he made.
While he was reading out the list of penalties, he heard a clapping start from the entrance to the room.
“Well said!” someone cheered enthusiastically from the entrance. “Perfectly said! Brilliantly, perfectly said. I would expect nothing less from the great Lucas, a man who even at his start dares challenge all order to become a villain of the world!”
Lucas turned to see who was making such a commotion, and he discovered a young woman dressed the same as all the other Imperium servants. She was the only one so much as making noise, much less clapping, as everyone else seemed to be befuddled by the entire display. The crowd seemed to waver on the edge of anger and irritation for a moment--more than a few huffed and began making indignant remarks as Lucas’s monologue came to a close--but they were startled into silence by this woman’s applause.
One of the nobles nearest the girl voiced the question that seemed to be on the tip of every nobleman’s tongue. “Who the hell brought such an unruly woman to court? This is a disgrace!” the old man harrumphed so loudly that Lucas had no doubt he could be heard outside as well.
“I don’t recognize her; she certainly isn’t one of mine!” someone scoffed defensively.
“She doesn’t have a crest, either! Guard, check her credentials immediately. Find out which house let this ill-mannered, irreputable, low-born woman into the court. Even the crude Hessian baron’s people knew not to disrupt the court with such behavior,” the woman next to the old man said.
One of the guards at the entrance recovered himself and quickly moved to intercept the newcomer. “Excuse me, ma’am,” he said firmly. “You’re going to have to turn over your noble house’s colors and tell us whom you belong to.” The man then stood there with his hand out and palm up as if he expected her to produce documentation on demand.
The woman was plainly wearing a servant’s outfit, and she didn’t appear to be fazed at all by the guard’s demands--someone who should have sufficiently outranked her enough to cause her to jump immediately at an order. “Of course! I’m sorry to have caused a disturbance,” she said, smiling sweetly back at the guard. “It’s right here, so just give me a second.”
“No problem,” the guard muttered, looking a little flustered. And Lucas understood why. The woman was beautiful. She was so enchanting that she could even outshine Viola, or at the very least give her a run for her money.
She reached into her pocket, but instead of producing papers, a medallion, or a symbol of any kind, she quickly stepped past the guard’s outreached hand and jabbed a knife directly into his jugular while simultaneously slipping her free arm around the guard’s waist, pinning his sword arm against his body and preventing him from drawing the blade. She then twisted the knife to the side and ripped it free by dragging it across the guard’s throat in a horrible slashing motion. Her movements were so clean and beautiful she looked like a blur as her blade cut through the guard’s throat.
The guard tried to back away, but she firmly held him in place, refusing to let him go. The blood spraying across her from the open wound didn’t seem to faze her at all as she repeatedly jabbed the knife into his throat time and time again.
He gargled something at her that Lucas could only assume was “Let me go” or “Stop,” but all it did was pump forth another violent shower of blood. The other guard at the door, who had thus far been startled into inaction, finally pulled out his weapon and moved forward to counterattack.
Out of nowhere, however, a voice boomed across the room that stopped the guards. “She is not to be treated as a criminal within our courts. A party member of Baron Lucas is not a sinner that my guards should die trying to apprehend. Stand down!”
Not only was the second guard stopped dead in his tracks, but he also fell to a knee. Then, en masse, everyone in the room shifted to see who the speaker was and quickly began following suit. Even the haughty nobles all bowed their heads in deference to the six-foot-five-inch tall man.
The quest Lucas had just prompted the system to generate had come with the backing of the king, and Lucas couldn’t imagine who else would be wearing a crown. As such, he wasn’t willing to risk offending his pseudo-sponsor. Lucas didn’t want to look too out of place, so reluctantly he quelled his obstinate nature and bowed as well, although he only dropped as low as Liu so that he wouldn’t accidentally cause offense. He could be defiant once he had established a new dungeon, or at the very least, once he had levels. Unt
il then, he knew that it was against his best interest--and suicidal--to offend the man.
Thankfully, the rest of his group was smart enough to follow his example after they saw him bow. Well, at least that won’t create a problem.
After making their show of respect, everyone raised their heads and quickly turned their attention back to watch the scuffle that was still going on. The guard had collapsed onto the carpeted floor unconscious, and the woman was straddled across on his chest, intently peering up at the royal. She reached behind her and pulled a healing scepter from her backpack, but when she didn’t receive the reaction she wanted from the king, she put it away again and waited on the guard to bleed out.
“Based on her attack, she seems to be our level,” Nick noted quietly. “She let the guard bleed out rather than kill him outright, sort of like what Katie did to the player outside the city.”
“Yeah,” Bonnie agreed. “She didn’t do enough damage to even come close to killing him outright, so she had to find another means. What a ruthless way to kill someone.”
“But why . . .?” Viola asked. She trailed off as if in thought and then started muttering to herself in her sing-song, role-play voice. “This pernicious woman, a villain, villain, smiling damned villain! My books-- A meeting, I must set it down that she could smile, and smile, and be the villain!”
“I think she’s got a new fan,” Nick noted.
“Ha! Her eyes veer from Lucas but still not to you,” Bonnie teased, snickering at Nick.
