Frowning for a moment, I want to hesitate, but know that I would be doing myself and these kobolds a disservice if I didn’t accept them.
“I would accept you as willing vassals in my lands, the Glade of Everhein, which you currently reside in,” I say, while keeping eye contact with the chief. “You would also receive the protection that comes with residing in my lands.”
“Then I, Chief Knoxley of the Swiftfoot Clan, accept your rule,” states Chief Knoxley formally as he kneels in front of me. Within seconds, every other kobold I can see is also kneeling.
Quest Completed: War with the neighbours II.
Rarity: Unique.
Details: Elder Sylan wanted you to rid the Glade of the kobold menace. You then decided to save them from absolute destruction by the Giant Rat King. You met the condition of the quest and removed the threat of the kobolds by making them allies.
Reward: Life debt from Chief Knoxley of the Swiftfoot Clan. Allegiance to the Venatores Guild.
Reputation with Swiftfoot Clan: Exalted.
Additional Reward: 250,000 XP.
You have gained 320 vassals. Current vassals: 825. Gain more vassals to help protect your Duchy.
Congratulations! You are now level 28.
You now have 4 unused Attribute Points to distribute.
“Rise, please, Chief Knoxley,” I say, motioning with my hands for them to get up. I still feel embarrassed, even though it is just a game, when stuff like this happens. I almost didn’t even realise I levelled up.
“Yes, Lord Sybaal.” Everyone rises with Chief Knoxley as he does as I request.
“It would probably be a good idea to put out the fires of your homes,” I say mildly, pointing around me to the burning huts.
Chief Knoxley doesn’t even look around. “The fires will burn themselves out soon enough, and they aren’t anywhere near the hall, so we will just rebuild when they finish. None of the wood is salvageable now anyways.”
“Right, then,” I say, at a momentary loss for words.
“There is something we need your help with, though, if we are to be protected when you leave,” says the chief seriously.
“Oh? What might that be?” I ask, finding my tongue again.
“There are a horde of goblins on the other side of this mountain, though still within the Glade. They don’t travel here through the forest, but they do attack us through the mines,” the chief says sadly. “We don’t want any trouble with them, but they won’t stop stealing ore and attacking us while we mine.
“They are even the reason why we were attacked by all these rats. They exploded a section of the main cave we share, and that opened a tunnel that wasn’t there previously. When we went down it because the goblins were too scared to, we were attacked by these rats. You know the rest of that story. Please protect us from the goblins, as we only want peace with them.”
Quest: War with the neighbours III.
Rarity: Unique.
Details: Chief Knoxley requests your aid as his sovereign for protection against the goblins.
Conditions: Protect the kobolds from the goblins.
Reward: Unknown.
Accept quest?
Yes/No
Chuckling, even someone as blind as me on occasion can see where this is going. Let’s just hope I don’t have to crack too many heads to get it done, considering the goblins sound like a more aggressive race.
I accept the quest. “Of course, I will protect you all. I will even give you a gift that will enable you to better protect yourselves. It will sound a bit silly to begin with, but I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it rather quickly.”
Chief Knoxley snorts. “Been boss for less than five minutes and already giving out gifts? I can see this being a very lucrative partnership.”
Without further ado, I drop from our raid for a moment. I then send him a raid invite and go through the same motions as I did with the nymphs before. I move his hand in the air precisely right till he goes stiff as a board.
“This is how we view the world, Chief Knoxley. It may seem a little different than before, but I can show you a way to make it seem less complicated,” I say with a gentle smile.
Then I go into detail about the tutorial, though before I have him start that, I get him to begin adding new kobolds to the fold. He tells them what to do to start the tutorial, and I let them go, off to enlighten the rest of their clan.
Epilogue
An old man lifts his head up from the pillow he is resting on as he feels an echoing thrum of power wash over him. Concern fills his tired bones as he levers himself into a sitting position on the side of the bed.
“Mmm?” a sultry voice mumbles in protest as her arm falls from the old man’s body onto the rapidly cooling sheets. Her sleepy voice speaks up as she gropes around for him. “Belvar, go back to sleep. Cuddles.”
Belvar looks down at the love of his life lying curled up under the blankets. It’s cold in the depths of their home, a mountain fortress built by ancient dwarves.
He sighs wistfully, and with a sad heart, he takes her questing hand in his. “My love, the time has come. The Beacon has been activated. I have waited four hundred years for this moment, and even though I would rather spend eternity here with you, I cannot. If I fail, this world will cease to exist.”
“But why you?” the woman asks quietly. A slow tear trickles out of her closed eye and pools on her nose before falling to the pillow below.
“Because I volunteered. If I hadn’t, then our progress would never have made it this far, and I would never have met you. That, my love, is something I will never regret,” the old man responds, his lower lip quivering despite his wishes to stay strong in the moment.
“I wish there was some other way.” The woman sobs softly.
“So do I, Amity. So do I.” Belvar gently squeezes Amity’s hand and then places it on the bed before getting up with creaking joints. He puts on his gear slowly, and with a lump in his throat, he makes his way out of the fortress, leaving the quietly sobbing woman behind.
Belvar clutches the medallion around his neck, feeling out the source and direction of the Beacon. He is thankful that he found the medallion, as if he hadn’t, everything would have been for naught. After all, the entire reason he was stuck here for four hundred years was to find the blasted thing.
A wave of tiredness sweeps through him, and he stumbles before catching himself. Gritting his teeth in fierce determination and with a heavy heart, Belvar begins his final journey.
Twilight Hatchling
BOOK TWO
Prologue
“Can you handle it?” asks a deep voice, smoke curling lazily from his mouth.
Vicky sneers contemptuously at the hulking form sitting within the shadows behind the desk. The office she is in is kept perpetually dim, and while she can’t see the man’s features, she knows who the voice belongs to without a doubt. Vicky knows that she is one of only two people allowed to enter this room.
Visitors and his staff are no longer allowed to bother him, as he delegated all of his responsibilities to his underlings after the release of DSR2. He is the owner of the corporation, after all. There are too many things he needs to accomplish within the other realm for him to idly entertain guests on this side now.
Recently, a glitch had interrupted their plans, and the Beacon was activated early, but she was confident that she could steer her former lover onto the proper path.
“Yes, Father,” Vicky sniffs haughtily. “Everything will go according to plan. I will see to it personally.”
1
By the time I have finished showing Chief Knoxley through the tutorial, I notice that it is a lot clearer in the village, and I can't work out what’s missing till I see Ezekial looting and skinning the rats. After they were skinned and finished being looted, they immediately disappeared, hence the lack of mess.
Wandering over to the rest of the group, who are chatting amongst themselves with the nymphs, I see that they have all also lev
elled up to 17 during the horde of rats. I bet they are happy to have come with us indeed.
Kazzrak gets to his feet when he sees me coming.
“Ah, finally finished, are you?” He smiles, gesturing to the mine entrance, and gives me a wink. “I think it's time we did some exploring. This buff ain't going to stick around forever.”
“Hmm, very true,” I say, looking over at Ezekial as he is just finishing up. “When Ezekial is finished, we will head in there. I want him to scout for any stray goblins.”
“Goblins?” enquires Eloise with a surprised voice. “I didn't realise there are goblins here. Nasty little creatures, those. Worse than kobolds. At least doubly so.”
I raise an eyebrow at her silently, and she has the grace to blush when she realises why.
“We shall see what comes of our meeting with the goblins when it happens,” I say with conviction.
Ezekial walks up to us then. “Well, I'm done with skinning for a while, I think. I have 632 pieces of leather of varying sizes and grades. Thankfully I can stack them by type to a max of 600 per bag. There was quite a lot of junk on the rats that I'm sure can be used for one craft or another.”
Ifalna whistles. “That's a lot of leather.”
Ezekial just grunts. “I left all the junk and some of the leather that I can't fit with the chief, and he says he'll store it in the hall till they build a storage hut. I did find a few things that are interesting though, from the seven different rat bosses we killed.”
He then proceeds to lay out the different items on the ground so that we can all inspect them. I lean over and take a look at the several rings, pieces of armour, and weapons littering the ground. There are twenty-one pieces altogether.
Everything is of a lesser quality than what we have currently. Six of the items have a lesser quality enchantment, while the rest of them have the same level of enchantment as Ifalna used. The only things that would be useful to us are the rings, since we don't have many of them.
“How about we just give all this to Eloise and her group?” Kazzrak suggests, looking forlornly at the mine entrance.
A horrified look crosses Eloise's face. “Oh, gosh no! We couldn't take your loot. We didn't do enough to earn it at all.”
“Eloise, the only items here that are better than ours are the rings. And that is only because we don't have many. Everything else we wouldn't equip, so there is no point in selling,” Ezekial says gently.
“Besides, we normally divvy up the loot equally between everyone who participated,” agrees Ifalna.
“How about this,” I begin. “My group and I will pick a single ring each and then not take anything else for ourselves. You will all then each pick a piece of loot in turn and keep to the same order until everything is gone. If you can't use the gear or it isn't in line with your class, then you can't choose it.
“Oh, I'm also going to be picking for Knax,” I continue. Reaching over, I pick up a Fine Ring of Intelligence, which I equip and soul bind it to me.
Eloise finally acquiesces and the others agree as well.
We each pick up a ring and then take a step back to visibly show that we are no longer in the running.
One after the other, Eloise and her group pick a piece of gear, and then I choose one to be set aside for Knax. Everyone else gets three pieces of gear, which is nice when it evens out. Maybe that has something to do with whatever governs the loot.
I was able to snag Knax a chest piece, a pair of boots and a wooden quarterstaff, all with plus five Intelligence. I thought the boots were a nice touch, considering how I first met the kobold.
Thinking of the little fella, I look around for him and notice he is sitting by himself with his back to a burnt-out husk of a hut. He seems to be quietly sobbing to himself.
Walking over to him, I squat down in front of him. “Hey, Knax, you okay?”
His wet, vacant look begins to focus on me, then he blinks a few times, and the clouds disappear from his eyes, tears running down his face. “I-I'm not sure.”
“What's on your mind?” I ask gently.
Closing his eyes tight, it looks like he tries to speak a couple of times before he manages to get it out. “My little brother died in the fire. He was so small and must have been so frightened; he didn't leave the hut behind me when the others did.”
My mouth slowly opens in shock as I look up in horror at the burnt husk of a hut behind Knax.
“I told him to stay inside. I told him it was safe.” When he opens his eyes, I see Knax's soul tearing itself apart behind them as he shares his torment with me. “I killed my little brother. It's all my fault!”
My mind immediately reverts once again back to the happy memories of when I was a child, playing with my own little brother, Sebastian. Then my heart wrenches sideways as I remember hearing how he died with my parents and I was left completely alone.
Those feelings mix together with my memories of young Achmed and how my squad and I saved him and his family from the now dead terrorists many years ago.
Without thinking, I snap Knax up in a bear hug, tears streaming down both of our faces as we take solace in each other. Right at that moment, I make the decision to protect this young kobold like my own kin. Like the brother I couldn’t protect. Something I had forgotten was missing fills in a portion of my heart in this emotional moment.
“I lost my little brother when I was younger too, Knax,” I say gently after he quietens down. “Lost my parents at the same time, so I know what it feels like to be all alone. But just know that you aren't alone anymore. I’m someone who helps kids like you whenever I can.”
“I'm not alone?” Knax sniffles hesitantly.
“I know I can't replace your little brother, but I'll be your big brother if you want? Up to you though. I'm going on lots of adventures and making a lot of memories with my family over there,” I say, nodding my head over to where the others are laughing and carrying on.
“I'm too different to be your brother. No one would believe me,” whispers Knax, peeking his head out from where he is hiding in the crook of my armour.
“Nonsense! I for one don't care what other people think. I only care what you think. Do you want to take on this responsibility?” I ask him solemnly.
After thinking it over for a moment, Knax's eyes clear and begin to brighten again as he nods once. “Yes, I accept you as my big brother, Duke Sybaal.”
Congratulations! You have a new relative! Though not related by blood, you have deemed this quality as unnecessary to have a brother bond with Knax. You both are now bonded as brothers and will be able to sense the other's location. The longer you stay near each other, the more your bond will grow.
“Well, no turning back now, little buddy. And quit it with the duke stuff. Sybaal or brother is fine,” I say gently with a wink.
Looking around again, I see that everyone is giving us more than a few glances. “So, are you up for some distractions? We are going down into the mine and wouldn't mind a tour guide if you would like to accompany us?”
“A tour guide? Yeah, I can do that,” he agrees, taking one forlorn look at his ruined home before firming up his resolve. “I can show you where all the best ores that we farm are. They respawn each hour, so there will be plenty down there. Especially since we haven't been down there for a few hours now.”
“Wonderful.” Then I smile and grip him by the shoulder, pulling him to his feet as I get up. “I also have a surprise for you.”
When I am sure I have his attention, I pull out each item of loot and give them to him and watch his eyes get wider and wider.
“These are what you looted from the rats? So powerful. We don't have any enchanters, so we cannot enchant any of our gear,” he says with awe.
“And now they are yours,” I say with a grin.
“Really? Are you sure? What about the rest of you? Why am I getting gear and they aren't? Am I just a guide for the mines? Or does this mean you will be letting me join your raid if I'm getting loot?” K
nax fires off each question at a million miles an hour.
“Whoa there, Knax. Slow down,” I say, holding up my hands to the excitable kobold. “The gear is yours. Yes, I'm sure. We all received items, and this is what I selected for you because you helped us kill the rats. I would like you to guide us through the mines for the next twenty or so hours. That way we can get as much ore as possible.
“Then we will take a break to rest before going back in and finding where the goblins live. I'm going to see if they will want to join us as allies. I don't want to have to either kill them or remove them from the Glade. I'd like you to come with us. If we think you are capable, if you prove to us you aren't just going to get yourself killed, then we may accept you into our raid properly when we eventually leave this place to explore the world.”
The little guy literally starts hopping up and down and bouncing around. “Wahoo! I get to go on adventures! I will be the best mage you have ever seen. I swear it! You'll see. And I don't mind the goblins much. They never find me when I'm mining ore.”
Guess he really did need a distraction.
“Haha, well, let's get going, shall we?” I say with a smile and shake of my head. We rejoin the rest of the group, and I inform them of the situation that Knax is coming with us and there is a possibility if they prove themselves capable, we may accept them to come on adventures with us regularly.
“We can join your raid? That's an option?” asks Eloise incredulously.
“Only if you wish to and if you prove yourselves not to be a liability,” I clarify. “You must also follow every instruction to the letter that one of us makes. Otherwise all bets are off. We can't have you thinking you know what is best in the raid until you are ready to learn how to lead yourselves. Giving advice is fine, but we call the shots.”
Dream Stream Reality: Publisher's Pack Books 1-2: (A LitRPG Adventure) Page 26
