The Heroic Villain 2

by Charles Dean

  Lucas knew that this wasn’t going to be an easy fight even before they began their descent. There were several high-leveled players standing around in plain view, and even from their high perch, Lucas recognized their staves based on descriptions Nick had droned on and on about. After hearing about him go on and on about them, Lucas had actually done a small bit of research into the more popular staves that people used. One was a Shadowmancer staff that was a rare quest drop for defeating a Reaper in the Western Lands and came equipped with three excellent Shadow-type spells, and the other was an Ice staff that was only sold by one of the high-level guilds in the central part of the world, near the area where the White-Wing and Silver-Tailed Were-Fox racial quests were. Lowbies would have access to a guild’s wares--not that there were a ton of true newbies these days--and that meant that anyone equipped with either of the weapons either had a good friend willing to drop a lot of money for a leveling staff, or the player was at least Level 55 to 65, the average level for that zone. The player might even be a higher level than that and just liked the staff so much he hadn’t replaced it.

  Either way, given there were already three mid- to high-level players, and he hadn’t even entered the building yet, Lucas was concerned. He couldn't shake off the bad feeling that settled in the pit of his stomach. He still had 10 points to allocate from a recent level up, and if he put those into Fortitude, he’d receive an additional 112 hit points, boosting him to 5,152. He was certain he could take these three down with just Lilith’s help, but it’d be a bit of a fight. Realizing that the 112 hit points, while a lot, wouldn’t be a world of difference in this upcoming fight, he put the 10 points into Athletics.

  I need a way to actually handle this, Lucas thought, looking at the gate. Even if Lilith and I can take down those guys, there’s no guarantee that the inside won’t be crawling with even more players. If he had Bonnie and the rest, he could plan out an intricate strategy and handle this properly. He wasn’t even sure he should trust Lilith. She was way too eager to speak and act for him, and it would be incredibly easy for her to go against his own interests. Then again, who is to say I can trust the rest of the party? What if Bonnie has been paid off? Or what if Viola has found a better story to follow, one she thinks will promote the game faster?

  “It’s time for you to go to battle and prove to the world that my brother is better than all others!” Linnaeus proudly proclaimed before simply letting go. Lucas dropped directly toward the one player out of the three that wasn’t a mage. The guy was holding a bow and looking around menacingly while the two mages chatted, and as Lucas plummeted to the ground, he could swear he heard the roguish archer actually narrating his own thoughts aloud.

  “Joaquin looked around, his bow in hand as he waited for trouble to arise. He knew that, at any minute, danger might-- AH!!” The crazy archer’s monologue was cut off by Lucas’s landing butt-first onto the man’s face.

  You have killed Joaquin. You have been awarded 1901 EXP. An enchanted yew bow and 93 silver have dropped upon death.

  “Good job!” Linnaeus shouted from the sky.

  Unlike Lucas, Lilith kept her dignity by crashing into one of the mages feet-first in the same way a fat plumber might kill turtles before gracefully landing next to him.

  You have killed Tina. You have been awarded 1956 EXP. A Jagged Snowflake staff and 7 gold have dropped upon death.

  The remaining mage looked petrified as he stared over at Lucas. “Where did you two come from?!” he screamed.

  Lilith pounced on the man and put her knife right through his throat before he could either act or ask another question and then savagely ripped it free in a spray of blood.

  You have killed Dunbar. You have been awarded 1721 EXP. A Moonlight’s Requiem staff, 1 gold, and 14 silver have dropped upon death.

  Lucas got up and dusted off bits and pieces of the monologuing archer off his pants. While happy that the archer had broken his fall and that Linnaeus had scored a kill despite his inability to directly assist in combat, Lucas had taken almost 400 points of damage, forcing him to pull out his healing scepter and patch himself up before going inside.

  “Do you want me to go ahead of you?” Lilith asked while watching him fumble at getting the last vestiges of the man’s face off his rear.

  “No, we need to stick together,” Lucas said. “I almost want to wait until the soldiers show up just so that we can have the bigger fight the moment I buy this plot of land and make it into my dungeon.”

  “Those Force Shields seem to be going up quicker and quicker though,” Lilith observed, pointing above them. “The girls are clearly panicked. One is just some random merc, but you said that the other was your friend, right? Do you really have time to wait?”

  Lucas looked up and then back down at the bodies. “Hastened steps can lead one off course.” He couldn’t overlook the fact that they were players. Bonnie and Viola’s deaths would bother him greatly, but it was his death that would end the whole venture. “I don’t think I have a better option.”

  “Oh? Why’s that?” she asked.

  “Because we’ve killed three of them. Someone is bound to notice, and that means that more are bound to show up. We should anticipate that, and . . .” Lucas paused long enough to look around at their surroundings. This area of the market should be bustling at this time of day, but it had cleared out at the first signs of violence. The few people who had stuck around despite the other players’ presence had scrammed the second Lucas and Lilith pulled their plumber-brother combination on two of the three men. Should I set some type of trap for anyone showing up? If I can take out a few more before I go inside, it’s for the better. But there’s also the chance that the guys inside will rush out. “No, I don’t have the materials to set up anything that would be effective. Alright, let’s go in. Lead the way,” he said, opening the door and letting her move in ahead of him.

  It wasn’t meant to be a chivalrous or a gentlemanly act. After watching her move, he just figured that she would be more capable of dodging a surprise attack. But she took his behavior and reason as the former, not the latter.

  “Why, thank you, good sir,” she said with mock grace, tipping an imaginary hat to Lucas before swaying through the door.

  Lucas was surprised to find that the lobby was actually empty save for a man behind a large counter, another cobbling shoes, and a third dressed in a butler’s suit, who was leaning against the wall beside the door.

  The man behind the counter, a large scruffy fellow with a mustache as wide as his face and a body as fat as his nose, harrumphed. He was leaning on the counter while using his left hand to prop up his head, and he lurched forward across the long, wide wooden barrier to bark at Lucas and Lilith as they entered. “Rooms are all full! Take your business elsewhere!”

  “Are you the owner of this place?” Lucas asked.

  The scruffy man, in the jowliest sound possible, shot down Lucas’s question. “Harrumph. You already want to complain to my boss? He’s right there. He heard it all and said nothing. So, I’m going to tell you one more time: Rooms are full. Take your business elsewhere.”

  Lucas noted that the man cobbling shoes in a far corner was actually the manager. “I’m not here to complain. Nor do I want a room.”

  “Then what business do you have to be bothering me? I’m busy,” the man replied without bothering to even lift his head from his hand. The strange posture left his cheeks wobbling as air was forced through his mouth at a horrible angle. “I’m only here to sell rooms and offer complaints. If you ain’t here for either, then you best leave.”

  “Well, I actually am here for rooms, just not a room. I want to buy them all. More specifically, I want to buy this entire hotel,” Lucas said, causing the cobbler to put down the shoe he was working on and look up.

  “You want to buy my hotel?” he asked.

  “That would be what I said. Just let me know how much you want for it, and I’ll pay you right now,” Lucas said.

  The midd
le-aged man with a receding hairline and baggy clothes took a deep breath, put down his tools, and stood up. “I don’t believe I said that this building was for sale.”

  “Well, just assume it is. How much would you want?” Lucas asked. “There has to be a price you’re willing to sell it for.”

  “Not to you. Your money isn’t good here,” the man insisted. He turned and spat onto the floor in the corner after he finished his sentence.

  “Why?” Lucas couldn’t understand why his money would be any different from someone else’s.

  “You think I don’t know who you are, wannabe noble? I know. Duke Edmund told me ‘bout you alright.”

  Duke Edmund again. Lucas had to stop himself from punching the guy. He needed the building if he was going to take it over and make it into a dungeon for his troops. He had to acquire the deed. “Look,” Lucas said with feigned patience. “Just tell me what the cost is. I’ll give you that money right now, and we can all go on our merry way.”

  Lilith was watching intently, but she didn’t say anything. She had even put away her dagger and was focused on studying Lucas’s actions, concentrating on his every move and word.

  “I don’t think I need to say it again, you little brat: I ain’t selling. I don’t care how much fresh, new-blood money you bring here. I ain’t taking a copper from you.”

  “You heard him, so perhaps now you outta git,” the fat, mustached man added.

  Lucas took a deep breath to calm his nerves, but the situation was tense. Time was of the essence, and this guy wasn’t budging an inch. He wasn’t even putting down a single goal post for Lucas to negotiate with. His stance was firm, and it was one that would cost Lucas if he tolerated it.

  I really didn’t want to have to take this by force, but if you’re going to get in the way of me saving my friends--Lucas wrung his staff so tightly that his knuckles started to turn white--then you’re not leaving me with much of a choice. “Alright,” he declared. He hated the fact that he couldn’t just use Meddling Minds to force the sale. “I think I’m going to offer you this one more time: I’ll pay you the value of this place, not a penny more, but you are going to sell it to me right now.”

  Lilith tilted her head to the side, and a smile crept its way across her lips at Lucas’s declaration, but she didn’t move. She was still the observer.

  “I think what's going to happen is that you’re going to march your pansy butt outside and take that money down to the gutter where you Hessians belong. I ain’t selling the property to you, so git!

  The mustached man didn’t even bother with more than one word. “Git.”

  “Though . . .” the owner continued, giving Lucas a little hope that reason could be had. “Maybe you can leave that little tart of yours for me and the boy to take turns on. I bet she squeals real good.” He winked at Lilith while openly letting his eyes roam up and down her body, even licking his lips disgustingly.

  “Yeah, I think we’re going to have to make you leave her here. She looks like the type of girl I could enjoy all night,” the mustached man said. “Lock the door, slave boy. I think I’ll enjoy her more if this would-be noble is here to watch.”

  Lucas couldn’t understand where their confidence came from. No matter where he went or whom he was with, he kept running into people like this: people who wanted to prey on those they thought were weak, those they thought they could take advantage of and force themselves on. Lucas had been intent on a peaceful negotiation before, but the only thing going through his head now was how much he wanted to hurt these two. It was the same as his feelings about what happened to Liu. He couldn’t stomach it then, and he wouldn’t allow it now either. If the people who kidnapped those two laid even a single hand on them, I’ll make them beg for death. This is what it comes down to. I am a villain, but I’ll never be as disgusting or evil as people like this. I should play my part more enthusiastically. Anger coursed through his veins at the image of either of his friends suffering under the hands of scum like this. He hoisted his staff and began channeling the spell he wanted to see most, Scorching Skull, and he couldn’t help but grin as he watched a trio of flaming skulls fly across the counter and consume the fat man.

  “WHAT IN THE--?!” the owner tried to shout defiantly, but Lucas had already leapt over the counter, cleared the distance between them, and smashed the end of his staff into the man’s face, cutting off his outraged reply.

  “Duke Edmund is going to kill you! You hear?!” The owner spat out a mouthful of blood, but Lucas just ignored it as he smashed his face yet again.

  “I might be dead one day, but if you don’t get me the deed for this hotel, you’re going to be dead right now,” Lucas declared. “And trust me: I’m going to take my time and enjoy killing you. I’m going to rip off every single one of your toes and fingers separately. I’m going to cut your hands into small pieces and force-feed them to you, and then I’m going to keep going. There are so many fun ways to kill an uncooperative person, you know?” Lucas barked a laugh in the old man’s face for dramatic effect. “I just can’t make up my mind. They’ll all be so much fun. Trust me. At least one of us is guaranteed to enjoy the coming activities.” Lucas didn’t actually want to torture the man at all, but he was determined to play his role. Also, if it came to a decision between this man and any of the people under him, Lucas would do what needed to be done, but really he just wanted the owner to hand over the deed so that he could have his new dungeon and get on with what he needed to do.

  “You wouldn’t dare,” the man said, spitting a mouthful of blood onto Lucas this time.

  “This is the part where you say that, put up a tough fight, and then I relent. Okay.” He let the man think he had a victory for a moment before smashing his face again with his staff, knocking him onto the ground. Lucas then walked over to counter where the man had been working and grabbed one of the tools that was next to his chair: the cobbler pliers. “I have to be honest,” Lucas said, doing his best to sell himself as the most twisted person possible. “I really hoped you’d be this tough. Usually, you see, people cave at the threat alone. If you’re lucky enough to find a tough guy, it’s always annoying. Because you break two toes, and they start crying, begging, and their willpower just fades out the door. But you! You, I can tell, are different.” Lucas took his staff and knocked the guy across the face before sitting down in the chair across from him. He wanted to make sure the guy wouldn’t resist.

  “You’re going to be the one that lasts the whole nine yards, aren’t you? After all, you wouldn’t dare relent to a filthy Hessian, right?” Lucas dropped his staff onto the floor next to him and then picked up the man’s hand. “I mean, you could just give me the deed, and this could all stop . . . but you’re not going to. Because you want this just as badly as I do.”

  “Don’t . . . Don’t do it,” the man whimpered, watching as Lucas clenched his left pinky between the plier’s prongs. “D-don’t do it!”

  “I have to ask . . .” Lucas looked over at Lilith and thought about how he had been taunted moments ago when they threatened to take advantage of Lilith. “Are you going to enjoy this more because she’s watching? I think I will.”

  Before the man could answer, Lucas squeezed down as hard as he could and twisted. There was a loud crack as the cobbler’s finger was broken right at the first digit. The man shrieked a horrible, high-pitched squeal and started pulling away as hard as he could, trying to escape. But Lucas refused to yield. The guy’s attempts only made things worse as he constantly jerked his already-injured finger back and forth, exacerbating the injury.

  Lucas just held firm, and when the pulling stopped, he moved the plier from the pinky to the ring finger. “You can make this all stop. I’ll even forgive you for joking about what you’d do to my female friend over there. I don’t want you to make it stop, mind you, but you can. A deal is a deal. If you give me the deed, this all goes away.”

  “It’s . . . It’s in the safe under the counter. The combination is 404!�
�� the man cried, tears streaming down his face.

  “Lilith, could you check it out?” Lucas asked.

  Lilith pouted. “I’d rather keep watching the show,” she said regretfully. “You’re absolutely magnificent to watch work. But fine. All good things come to an end, I suppose.”

  Lucas couldn’t help but admire how good her acting was. He really believed she wanted to watch him torture the man. Lucas hated him. He wanted him to suffer. However, there were some actions Lucas believed a person just shouldn’t ever be comfortable with, and this was one of them.

  “Well?” Lucas asked as he watched the turnstile safe with numbers on it under the counter open. “Is there a deed in there?”

  “Yeah, it’s here,” she said, passing the deed over. “What a disappointment.”

  Dungeon Master Notification: You have inherited a territory large enough to be qualified as a dungeon. Would you like to designate this territory as a dungeon?

  Lucas didn't hesitate as he hit “Yes,” turning the hotel into his own dungeon.

  Dungeon Master Notification: The territory has now been designated as a dungeon. Monsters, soldiers, and other contracted guards will now be obligated to fight for you, their master, within the dungeon.

  Dungeon Master Notification: Your territory was currently occupied by enemies during the conversion process. Until rooms are cleared of enemies, and the conversion can be completed, the rooms will be locked. This will prevent customization, trap placement, and troop deployment. Uncleared rooms will not appear within your dungeon master maps.