My hope was that this would cause a degree of real chaos. Was there some way to create even more trouble? I pondered, looking at the sealed letter in my hands. I couldn’t just go into this half-cocked. I’d need to confirm that Henderson would react in a way that would give me an advantage. But I couldn’t just walk in and request a meeting with this man, not if I wanted Tanders to believe that I was still on his side.
So, I rose from my bed in the middle of the night and made my way to the one place where I knew the answer to my problems would be: in the Tavern. Sure enough, there he was, Alamander, sitting at the bar, drinking the night away. I much preferred the wizard when he was sober, but I suppose that this would have to do for now.
“Evening,” I said, sitting next to the illusionist. He had conjured up several tiny green goblins who were busy fighting each other with spears.
“Well hey there,” Alamander said, waving his hand to make the goblin men vanish. One remained, however, and began barking angrily at the wizard, apparently mad that his friends were gone. “Oh hush it, I have company,” Alamander growled at the illusion, picking it up and dropping the goblin into his mug of beer, causing it to fade away.
“Friends of yours?” I asked.
“Figments!” Alamander said. “Little toy illusions that I like to create when bored. Which is all the time.” He paused to take an extremely long drink from his tankard. “What can I do for you?”
I looked at the rosy-cheeked wizard and shrugged. “Do you know of a Henderson Aims?”
The name caught Alamander’s attention and he sharply placed the tankard on the table. “Why? Is he here?”
“Relax,” I said, putting a hand on his shoulder to calm him down. “I just want to know about him.”
Alamander snapped a finger, creating an image of a tall, grizzled man, with thick arms and bulging muscles. “Henderson Aims,” the wizard said, “is one of the most unpleasant people I’ve ever had the displeasure of meeting.”
“Is that so?” I asked, my voice rising a little with excitement. This was the exact information I needed to know.
“Oh yes. He’s the one who fired me, after having his thugs give me a judicious beating,” Alamander continued, conjuring an image of several men kicking his own body while Henderson laughed over them. “A short fuse and a hot temper. He’s the one who handles all of the uh, trade disputes, as they call them.”
“I’m guessing that’s a euphemism for strong-arming people,” I said, watching as the Tradies continually kicked Alamander’s illusionary body strewn out on the bar. “Did they really kick you for this long?”
“Probably longer, but this was the part I was conscious for,” Alamander said. “Why do you want to know about him?”
I quickly explained the situation to the illusionist, who seemed to get a real kick out of my plan. “Well, aren’t you a ruthless bastard!” he exclaimed, slapping the table. “Are you really just gonna give up ten thousand gold?”
“Ten thousand gold pieces that came from honest people who get savagely beaten if they don’t agree to their terms?” I asked. “It’s easy to pass up blood money.”
Alamander shrugged at that. “Not when you’re broke as hell.”
“If you’re the kind of person who’s only moral when you’re rich, then you probably won’t ever be moral, even if you get your riches,” I replied.
“Hey, morality never fed me a loaf of bread, but I digress,” Alamander said. “Do you know what’ll happen when he gets that letter?”
“What?”
“He’s probably going to immediately depose Tanders,” Alamander replied. “And Tanders won’t want to move from his cushy position.”
“What happens then?”
“The Board doesn’t care for internal disputes much, it’s bad for business. But they don’t move quickly either. Most local chapters try to avoid getting them involved, on the account that the Board usually just cleans house and brings in new blood to run all of it.”
“So they could potentially be fighting for weeks without intervention.”
“Weeks? Hah, more like months,” Alamander said. “Trust me, I’ve seen more than a few of these struggles. As long as they are able to send their guild dues to the Board’s headquarters, they’ll fight for quite some time.”
“I take it these scenarios aren’t rare then?”
“Well, when you put a bunch of thugs and goons in a business that rewards them for acting violent and without mercy, don’t be surprised when their idea of climbing the ladder is violence and war,” Alamander said. “But this could backfire.”
I slowly nodded. “I am aware of that fact. If Tanders wins, he’ll know I was the one who betrayed him.”
“And if Henderson wins, he might realize that you manipulated him,” Alamander said. “Don’t expect gratitude. They are only kind to their own.”
I glanced at the illusion that was stuck on repeat. “You call that kindness?”
Alamander finished another beer in one gulp, slamming the tankard on the table. “Oh, absolutely. They would have just murdered a non-member.”
Chapter 19
Alamander had taken the letter and agreed to do as I instructed. He would travel to Igithor, render himself invisible and breach Henderson’s office, leaving the letter with an anonymous note. The note would explain that this letter had been confiscated from a traveler who was passing through one of their checkpoints.
The illusionist had sworn to me that he would be able to achieve this job, as Henderson had a private stash of whiskey that he often liked to swipe from. Getting in and out of the chapter headquarters would be incredibly easy. I assigned him the task and sent him out, hoping that he would be successful. If we pulled this off, not only would Henderson Aims have the evidence necessary to fight Tanders for control, my name would also be kept out of it. Tanders would be too busy trying to secure his position to ask me what happened. And if he did, I’d merely claim that it went missing one night.
The end of the fourth week was growing close. But overall, things were looking good for Tine. The Satisfaction had finally increased to +10, thanks to Elean’s discussion with the elders about a new housing development. She had completely forgotten about the judgment and only spoke praises about how I respected the eldership. The Happiness ranking was high as well, with a luxury building now in full swing.
As I reviewed over the numbers, watching the little town from above, I heard a loud ding noise, followed by the words Level Up hovering above the village itself. Was this it? The village had finally increased in level? It must have been with the Satisfaction finally going into the positives that enabled this to happen.
I quickly engaged the overlay and prepared to upgrade the village. There were a few options to choose from. Each meant to increase the specialization of the village.
Prosperous: Increase the village’s wealth by 100%.
Militant: All villagers may be converted into soldiers without satisfaction penalties.
Resourceful: Adds +5 to all resource production.
Forward Thinking: Allows for one free government change.
These four benefits were quite attractive, each in their own way. I was pulled almost immediately to the Forward Thinking bonus, but considered what the short-term value of such a thing would be. I needed gold, hard cold coins so that I could build our first real trade route. Changing the government might be useful later on, but right now I had the elders thrilled with me.
Instead, I looked at the Prosperous option. Doubling the village’s wealth meant that I could implement a taxation policy that could go towards the roads. The base wealth of the village had already increased to 300 gold per month, since the appearance of the Tavern meant more outsiders were arriving to spend their gold in the local economy. While this gold didn’t go directly to me, it did pass to the villagers, entering their economy. This extra gold could be taxed, and with the Prosperous ability, I could tax quite a bit without irrit
ating them.
After a moment of thinking about it, I decided to go with my gut and take the Prosperous feature. A shining light came across the entire village and, much to my surprise, our border expanded outwards. Now, it was covering more territory, including part of the woods, towards the village of Reed. With the expansion of the border came new resource tiles. A large log symbol floated above the woods that were now in my territory. These logs were quality lumber, which would enable me to place a Logging Camp at a discount.
In addition to the logs, we now had access to a large lake that had a fish symbol over it. Meaning I could build a Fisherman’s Shack in order to generate daily fish. The extra variety in food would give an increase in Happiness in the village, while also adding to the menu in the Tavern.
With the expanded border also came a new slot for an advisor. Originally, there had only been one section, and that was reserved for Mayor Hemmings. Now, the empty slot allowed me to choose which type of advisor I wanted to hire. There were many different kinds and it was a bit unfortunate that I could only pick one. I narrowed the choices down to about three different advisors: an economic advisor, a judge and a diplomat.
The judge would help me avoid running into major disputes within the town. Ironically, it was Farmer Leopold who was the suggested candidate for the judge, as he was the most venerated and an elder. By having him in my employ, he would be able to handle cases on his own, and in difficult decisions, provide me with key advice.
A diplomat would grant me key insights into how to handle different factions and other villages. They were able to provide me with all the necessary information about a town even before visiting, as fact-finding was part of their skillset. This would prove invaluable in setting up my first major trade route. I would know exactly what I was walking into when reaching other settlements, saving valuable time in negotiation.
The last option was the economic manager. Truthfully, I felt silly looking at an advisor who was going to do the exact same job I had been doing. But there were some more benefits to having an economic advisor, namely that he would be able to suggest trading partners, as well as aid me in the task of choosing the right taxation policies for the village.
Still, the idea of entrusting my one true passion and joy to someone else didn’t quite sit right. I really enjoyed the granular aspect of finding the right trading partners, and experimenting with the numbers. I considered him for a short while, but ultimately decided against having an economic advisor. The slot was just too valuable for now.
Instead, I opted to go with the diplomat. Creating my very own major trade route was of the utmost importance. With the plan to disrupt the Tradesmen in place, time was of the essence. A diplomat would greatly speed up my negotiations and give me a natural advantage in dealing with these other villages in the west.
The diplomat’s name was Teresa Sendak, and she had been just a peasant a few moments ago. Now, with the energy of the Great Picture beaming into her mind, she would become aware of everything necessary to aid me in my endeavors. I watched as the blue light came from the sky, hovering over her, empowering her with the secret knowledge. I was becoming increasingly jealous of this process, that one could just have a single zap of magic and become an instant expert on a subject.
Once the process was done, her image appeared next to the Mayor’s, and at once I became aware of her voice.
“Ohhhhh, so that’s how it works,” she said. Her voice was soft and kind, with a mild curiosity of what was going on. “I always imagined something entirely different.”
“You can see what I can see?” I asked.
“Indeed,” Teresa replied. “Thank you for the promotion, I won’t let you down.”
“I’m sure you won’t,” I replied, glancing over more charts. With her new presence, the diplomacy section had greatly expanded in information. I could see exactly what the other villages I had made contact with were looking for in a deal. Liza, for example, had a strong need for Iron. Peters had a need for Food. The Mercenary Lodge wanted better weapons. Each need had a distinct color, indicating how badly they wanted each resource.
I grinned at the sight. Everyone wanted something, and while I didn’t have all of it, I certainly knew how to get most of these resources. And when I got my hands on them, well, Tine would be level 3 in no time.
Chapter 20
Today was the last day in the month. The arrangement with the townspeople had been simple: I would prove that I could do just as well as any champion, and if I failed, they could kill me. Even though the town was bustling with incredible prosperity, even though there was a great deal of smiling faces in the crowd that had gathered in front of the town hall, I felt nervous. It would be the word of Leopold alone that would absolve me in their eyes. There was a slight panic in my stomach, because while I had promised to build the new house, the elders had not come forward with what they were looking for yet. What if they thought I was supposed to get back to them?
Yet, I stood tall before the people, waiting for Leopold, who sure was taking his sweet time to approach me. This was the moment of truth. The old farmer slowly made his way to the front of the crowd, looking up at me with a stoic face. He would not reveal his intentions to me just yet. We locked eyes and, for a moment, everything stood still.
“Well?” I asked, clearing my throat a little. “Have I done right by your village?”
Leopold looked at me and then back at the crowd. A few mercenaries who came to visit the Tavern were also in the crowd, hoping to see some kind of violence for the day’s entertainment. Leopold slowly nodded his head. “You have given us better food, and an excess of it,” he said. “This will go into our stores and provide for us during the winter.” He paused, allowing the crowds to clap and cheer because of this accomplishment.
When the applause was finished, he continued. “You have grown our farm, given us barley and beer, one of the greatest gifts of the gods.” Upon his mentioning the word beer, the townsfolk all began to cheer and clap once again until he raised a hand to silence them. “And most importantly, you have kept your word. Our village has prospered. The bandits have been tamed, our territory grows and we have visitors who come to spend their gold in our tavern. You did all of this in a month.” Leopold turned to face the crowd. “Who wants to see what he can do in a year?”
And with that, everyone cheered in unison. As they all shouted, whooping and hollering, I felt a tremendous weight lift off of my shoulders. I had been working for nearly twelve hours a day, nonstop, trying to get Tine in working order. Any time I felt a need to rest, I was spurred on by the hopes of this moment. The moment that the people no longer looked at me with suspicion or anger. With Leopold’s approval, that moment had finally arrived. I would be looked at as the Champion of Tine, respected and revered.
Leopold raised his hand again to silence the people, who took longer to simmer down at this point. “Then, with the blessings of the rest of the elders,” he said, “I have seen fit to deem this man to be our legitimate champion. For he can access the Great Picture, and he has the power to bring resources to us for our benefit. He shall stay and watch over us.”
“But what of the gods?” one of the peasants shouted from the back. It just went to show that no matter how hard you work, there’s always someone in the crowd who wants to see your head on a literal pike.
“From what I can tell,” Leopold said, “if the gods haven’t struck him dead yet, they’re fine with it. I mean, I’m not a priest but that makes sense, right?”
The crowd all murmured in agreement to that sentiment. I wondered how much of that were true and then thought about what the benefits of erecting a church would be. Perhaps having a priest or priestess in the town would be helpful when dealing with these divine beings. Or maybe it would only attract the ire of the goddess who had dropped me here. I decided to put a pin in that plan.
“And so, let us commemorate our new champion with a special feast,” Leopold said.
“One meant to honor you, Great Charles. You have served us tirelessly for a month, so we shall serve you tirelessly for the week!”
“That sounds wonderful,” I said. Was this finally a chance to rest? I would like nothing more than to recline around a feasting table, with all of these wonderful people, but…I still had a million things to do in order to open that trade route. I’m sure they wouldn’t mind if I brought the Great Picture with me to the Tavern, right?
And so, the First Festival of the Champion began for Tine, with the people erecting banners in my honor across the town. Delicious assortments of foods were cooked, tables were placed in the common area under a big tent, and I was urged to sit and rest, unable to participate in any of the work to make for the festivities.
I tried to participate in the celebrations as much as I could, but mentally, I was far away. There were still too many concerns before I could relax, and more importantly, before the village could be considered truly safe. We had a small window of opportunity, with causing disunity between the Tradesmen. If only I could get that trade route going, it would allow for us to afford to build a wall around the center of the village and even the creation of a castle. Such structures would be where the population could retreat to in times of war. Safety of my people was number one, all else came second.
Now that I no longer had to worry about my own life, I was free to worry about the inevitable consequences of my decision making. Liora seemed to be absent of one grand king, rather it was made up of many independent villages and cities. The few kingdoms that did exist were created by champions who achieved such a feat through conquest. If we continued to grow in prosperity, we would eventually attract the attention of some conquering force. Or perhaps the Tradesmen would finally come for their revenge. Either way, we needed to be prepared.
By the third day of the festival, I could tell people were becoming just as tired of it as I was. We didn’t have much more resources other than wild boar and beer, and that had been the mainstay for the first two days. There was no real entertainment, and the few games they had invented were boring after being played over and over again. They all seemed to like the idea of a seven day festival, but without the right resources, it wasn’t as fun as they had all imagined.
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