"And here I thought letting you be an advisor would be a good thing." I complained good naturedly as Arach kneeled down to let me off. The rest of my little party just hopped off of the earthshakers, barely fazed by the nearly twenty foot drop.
I started to walk toward the rather intimidating bunch of soldiers, trying to get a gauge of their average Level. The others fell in step behind me, close enough to protect me from any danger but at a respectful distance more or less worthy of my title as king. I didn't really like the formality, but as the ruler of a budding kingdom I knew it was only going to get worse.
Pushing those thoughts aside, I turned my attention back to the guards. They were, on average, about Level 15-20. There was the odd 22 or so here and there, and the captain of the guard was 45. Considering that most humans started with their stats and average base of 10 or so, and the creatures I created had an average base of 40-70 based on race, I felt that we had an advantage if it was just five on five, or even five on twenty. Still though, we were only five against over 100 heavily armed opponents. There was no way we could win, even with Shard's help. I activated Aura of Dominance to help with my budding nervousness.
"Halt!" The guard captain said as we drew near. He, and half a dozen of the higher leveled guards- likely lieutenants or some such- came forward. They collected our weapons, giving Gida and I odd glances when we didn't procure any and none were found on us, which was understandable. I wore my usual leather armor, only it was boosted a bit thanks to my being able to condense and reinforce it with extra materials. I could have been a rogue, or even a mage, though rogues had knives and all but the most powerful mages had staves or wands. Gida, with her strange, beetle-like exoskeleton, was most definitely a more obvious anomaly.
"What in the hells are you guys?" One of the guards exclaimed, blanching so profusely I could tell he was close to fainting even through his helmet as he gawked at Antuhr.
"They're Izveir. I'm human, obviously. We come from a budding settlement nearby of only a couple hundred. None of them but me and Austin here are human, but I guarantee you they've almost all got pure hearts. If we had any ill intentions, you would know." I said calmly, mentally thanking shard for the Aura of Dominance. I could see the respect and vague fear that most of the guardsmen, save the captain, had for me.
"You're always welcome," Shard drawled, "But I must admit I rather like the name you chose."
"You're a strange lot, that's for sure. But you seem alright to me. The name's Raul." The captain held out a hand, which I took and firmly shook. "Donovan. Pleasure to make your acquaintance." Raul led my Advisors and I past the wooden gate, which was hauled open just enough to allow us to enter. We quickly learned that the pudgy, liveried man was actually the town lord's manservant. The job was deemed too dangerous for the lord to do it himself, apparently.
As we stepped inside, a rather large crowd of people had gathered. In a town of this size there was no real distinction between noble and common blood, but there was a definite variation in the quality of clothes that the array of people in front of us wore. Some were in worn but well made, homespun cloth, while others wore supple leather boots and well tailored attire.
There were a few in the crowd that caught my attention, however. They were ill, judging by appearances. Two of the ten or so had unseeing, milky white eyes that roved about randomly. Most of them were pocked with weeping sores, and a few of them had lips that sagged strangely, evidence of a lack of teeth. They stayed a good ways from the crowd for the most part.
"Make way, make way, they've an audience with Lord Harver!" The chubby manservant cried in a surprisingly loud and clear voice that was easily heard over the murmuring buzz of the crowd. At his voice, and a pointed look from the guards, the throng parted to let us through. The manservant took the lead, while Raul stayed within easy reach of our group.
I kept the Aura active as we wound through the town, passing a few inns, a bakery, and even a smith's shop or two. We saw a small butchery along the way, but it was closed. Near the center of the town was a variety of small tents and the like. It reminded me of the grand marketplaces I had read about in stories... only on a much, much smaller scale. Not to say it wasn't impressive, of course.
It wasn't far after the marketplace that we saw the keep. It was a small thing by my most likely unrealistic standards at only two stories tall and around two hundred feet long and half that in width. We were quickly ushered inside to a well decorated but efficient throne room decorated with various murder holes and sturdy tables designed to be used as a barricade in case of an emergency. There was a figure on the throne, cloaked in a long black robe that was, in my opinion, rather Grim Reaper-ish. Their face was even lost in the thing's shadow. All they needed to complete the look was a scythe.
"I've been expecting this." A voice hissed from the figure. I couldn't tell whether the person was male or female, but I knew one thing. They were way too fucking cliche for my taste.
"Yeah yeah, you've probably known about us for a while. We haven't kept ourselves hidden. We're just here because it's damn fine to see some of my own people again and I would rather have you as a friend than an enemy." I got the vague sense that I recognized the strange lord, even though I knew my suspicions couldn't be true.
"It is unwise to ruin the amusement of one such as myself." The voice nearly spat. Back home I probably would have shit my pants at the display, but here? This was definitely my element, not to mention the Aura of Confidence's intoxicating feeling of power. There was definitely something familiar about that person though. Finally, it clicked. Dark robes, strange sickly people among the citizens?
"No. No fucking way in hell." I said, dumbfounded as the realization hit me in full. The whole room seemed to fade away as confusion took place of my astonished apprehension. After a time, I worked up the good sense to speak again.
"Nico, what the fuck are you doing here?"
Chapter 8
"How are you still alive?!" Niko and I shouted in unison.
"You first, given you're a feudal lord now and whatnot." I said, mostly to give my scrambling thoughts time to catch up. I had seen him die before my very eyes. But then, didn't I also die? The world was becoming more complicated by the day.
"I- uh. Well... after the whole dying bit things got a little fuzzy. We were already in the underworld, so where was my soul supposed to go? I remember spending what felt like forever with a creature dressed in the same robes I'm wearing now. It didn't seem to notice me at first; It was too busy sorting what I can only assume were souls of the dead. You know how it goes, some go to the fiery depths and some go to the lofty heights.
"Anyway, when it finally noticed me, it went berserk, saying something about how my very existence was forfeit for violating its laws. I killed the bastard, and took its robes. They give more than a few nice stat boosts. After the thing died, it felt like my head was about to pop. Soon after I just sort of woke up here in another body. Apparently the old lord had just passed away of some disease, and they were about to lay him to rest. It was quite the surprise when the guy's corpse started moving again. The poor priest nearly had a heart attack, but other than that they've taken it well. Best part is, we haven't heard word from any ruling power in months so I'm basically the head honcho."
Damn. I've spent the last few months building a community and he's dropped right into one. What a drag.
"So... that's crazy, but believe it or not I think I've got you beat." I quickly went over everything that had happened since he sacrificed himself for me, glossing over the unimportant details. He made no comment or even any show of emotion through my story, even when I mentioned the entire planet slowly rotting. And he still hadn't taken off that damn robe, so I couldn't even see him.
"Well hell. Looks like we're both kings then, huh?' I said to Niko, ignoring the shocked looks my advisors were giving me. I had never really told any of them about my past, and even now they only knew part of it. Not even Niko knew my whole story. It wasn'
t that I had any real reason to keep it secret, I just never saw the point in telling anybody.
"Looks like it, old friend. I sure wish Felix was here though." He replied, finally showing a hint of sadness in his otherwise emotionless tone. He talked the same way as he used to, but something was off. I guess dying will do that to a man. I can't imagine how different I must seem to him now.
"He was a good friend. But at least you're back, right? And I assume it's safe to assume that we're not going to war?" I asked. The question was phrased rhetorically, but I feared Niko was not the same man inside as he used to be. It never hurt to be safe.
"I don't see why not." He said, "I would offer you some manpower, but I think it'll take time for my people to get used to yours. I know it will for me, at any rate."
After that, setting up the plans for a trade route was fairly simple. I would send Gruffs to clear a path through the trees, while Niko would send a few mages to make the actual road. Once it was established, trade caravans could make the trip in two or three days without pushing themselves. Of course, they wouldn't be able to set the same pace that my advisors and I had kept to arrive as soon as we did.
On our way out, I sent Austin to a few local breweries with a pouch of gold and instructions to get any information on the brewing business as possible. I had a vague idea of the process involved, but nothing solid enough to start making my own alcohol with unless I wanted to start a jury rigged moonshine still. (Perks of living in a small town before I was brought to a different reality)
As soon as Austin came back, arms laden with sheaves of meticulously written notes and even a few journals, we set off back to the Clearing. Murlough went ahead to inform the rest of the Izveir that all was well and a good friend of mine was ruler of the settlement. He was also in charge of gathering volunteers for the expansive road project.
Volunteers. Hopefully that will change soon. I thought to myself. We were on our way back to the clearing, though at a much more leisurely pace than before. Dozens of ideas for future projects whirled through my head. After the brewery was up and running we'd need a coin mint for currency as soon as possible. Not to mention the ever looming end of the world.
But those were matters for another day, and I for one had no intention of cracking under the stress already. There was plenty more to be done, sure, but from what I could tell we might have years before anything worrisome came to pass.
The trip home blurred as I became lost in my thoughts. Before I knew it, we were nearly back to the Clearing. There was a small retinue of Watchers formed outside of the walls to welcome us back. I appreciated the effort, but we had been travelling for hours with no sleep and I wanted little more than to find a soft bed and lay down for a while.
There was work to be done though. This ruling stuff wasn't quite all it was made out to be, but I still loved it. "Come on Arach, let's check on the brewery. With any luck we'll have a few batches fermenting in a few hours.
The brewery was a short, blocky building that was only about eight feet tall (Antuhr would definitely have to duck to get in there). Inside, the only marked show of progress was a staircase leading down into the floor. A pair of Crafters were checking the buildings foundations one last time. They waved me downstairs with barely concealed grins. What the hell is going on?
I was nearly to the bottom of the stairs when a voice hurriedly stopped me. "Wait wait wait! We've got a surprise for you milord. Close your eyes and hold out your hand." I obeyed, but was wary of something. My worry soon faded away as a rough mug was placed into my hands. "Go on, take a sip." Another voice prodded me. I did so, and my eyes shot open in surprise.
"Already? How?" I asked, dumbfounded. The brewery and kegs were barely built, and they'd already fermented a batch? Not only that, but it was surprisingly good. It tasted strongly of berries, with a hint of something nutty. It burned as it went down, making me think it was something a tad stronger than medieval ale.
Suddenly, I realized that there was at least a dozen Crafters and even a few Weavers down there, all staring at me. "This stuff is great!" They all cheered, patting each other on the back and even lifting the Weavers in the air. One in particular blushed fiercely as a female Crafter spun him around before planting an enormous kiss on his forehead. It's good to see them all being happy. It's worth the struggle.
"Alright, alright. I appreciate the brew, but I do have one question. How did you make it so quickly?" The room's noise died down, and everyone turned to look at the Weaver I noticed earlier. His name was Buric, if I remembered correctly. He stepped forward, slightly nervous at the sudden attention.
"Well, the Watcher's can't eat meat, milord. You created the majority of us with that capacity, but their organ systems are more akin to that of the beetles you used to create them. You've been too busy for them to put the problem on you, so they went and gathered fruits and the like on their own a while back and asked me for help growing more.
We used some of that fruit, and with the powers you've given us we fermented it extremely quickly. It only took an hour or two, but it was very mana intensive. For the next batches we've decided to just let it go naturally."
Formalities out of the way, I took a quick look around the place. There were eleven tightly bound wooden kegs lined up in two neat rows. The twelfth was off the side with its lid partially pried off. There were many other empty kegs sitting off to the side just waiting to be filled. Even with as many Izveir down here as there were, it wasn't too crowded. Needless to say, the underground level was much larger than the above ground level.
"You know, I just spent almost all of my money on guidelines to starting and running a brewery. I guess we won't be needing those any more. Cheers, to your ingenuity and a fine brew!"
◆◆◆
"Somebody please tell me why it was a good idea to start making alcohol." I moaned, groggily raising an arm to cover my face from the harsh sunlight that beat down on it. Wait a sec. Sunlight? And am I laying on grass?
"Mornin' boss. You feeling as bad as I am?" A familiar, female voice said. Gida and Austin lie a few feet away from me; Gida on my left, Austin to the right.
"Probably worse, if I'm being honest. You should see the debuffs I've got. A Goblin Runt could probably do me in right now."
"Bah! You're endurance is too low." She chided with a wink, sitting up as she did so. "I'm actually feeling pretty good, believe it or not." She stood up, and I couldn't help but laugh as she fell back to her knees and began to retch.
"More endurance doesn't seem to be helping you a whole lot." I said, reveling in the small victory. Until, of course, the foul smelling liquid started to trickle toward me. Gida fell back to the ground giggling as I yelped and nearly tripped over Austin's sleeping form in my haste to get away.
Fortunately, our little group wasn't the only one. Another two dozen or so figures were sprawled about the Clearing. The remnants of what was an enormous bonfire still smoldered. Last night had started out innocently enough; We wanted to share the first keg around the clearing. After a little too much to drink, however, we had the great idea to magically ferment more and more of the alcohol. Several kegs of the potent stuff later, and most of the Clearing's residents were either passed out in the open or sleeping off their hangovers in the longhouses.
Gida, already seemingly recovered from her moment of nausea, made her way over to me with an amused expression. "Good luck getting them back to work any time soon." She said before clapping me on the shoulder and starting toward a small, sleeping form that could only be Murlough.
The rest of the day went fairly smoothly. I woke a few Gruffs and sent them out with axes and a contingent of Bark Spiders to watch their backs. As usual, the spiders were instructed to bring the bodies of anything they killed back to the Clearing. Meanwhile, i found some food and a nice place to rest and sleep away my hangover.
When I woke, something large and furry was resting painfully on my chest. What the hell? The pressure was hard enough to make breathing d
ifficult. I tried opening my eyes, tried moving, but my body refused to respond. After what felt like hours of barely getting enough breath to stay conscious, the thing got up and left without making a sound. As soon as it was gone, I could see and move freely again, though my vision was tinged with red.
Lord of Creation Page 15
