Watcher’s Fate: A LitRPG Saga (Life in Exile Book 3)

by Sean Oswald

  Dave left unsaid that he would also need to recognize the authority of Emily and the moon elf rulers as well. He simply decided there was no point in poking the bear, but a fleeting glance from Emily made him realize that she had noticed what he left off. Maybe he had poked the bear after all.

  Then it was Emily’s turn to step up as she addressed the commander of the elven archers by name. “Aesa, what is the meaning of this?”

  The elf, all business, answered without taking her eyes or arrow off what were apparently their prisoners. “Lady Emiri, these three are claiming to be from the adventurers guild. My previous Lord ordered all such to be either driven from his district or killed if they refused. These types of men are nothing but trouble. They are without honor and are little better than grave robbers.”

  “And you thought that is how I would want to deal with such?” Emily asked, a stern tone in her voice.

  “No, my Lady. I was unsure what your wishes would be, so we have simply captured them and were holding them until you were done with the matter of the sacred ash.”

  Dave and Emily exchanged a look. He could still see her anger plain enough on her face, but the look said that she was willing to put it aside for the moment.

  “So what say you, Baron Murkwood, do these men seem dangerous to you?” Emily asked looking at Dave. The effect would have probably been more solemn if Mira had not snorted and Sara giggled at hearing their mother call their father Baron Murkwood.

  Shaking his head, Dave took a closer look at the men. The huge man in plate armor was clearly dangerous without his sword and helm, which were leaning against the side of the house a few feet away. Next to him was a short stocky man who couldn’t have been much more than four feet tall. He had a long black beard and was wearing what appeared to be a well-crafted set of studded leather armor. Dave couldn’t help but wonder if he was seeing his first dwarf in Eloria.

  The third seemed to be a caster of some sort. He was the most slender of the three, and his mop of reddish-blond hair contrasted with his bright blue robes. None of them had a hardened look on their face like the criminals Dave had seen in court back home. Nor did they have the dead and distant look that some Marines who saw too much killing had. If anything, they all looked amused by the situation rather than worried.

  “Do you have any insight to add to this Baron Eikhorn?” Dave asked.

  “They are clearly senior adventurers from the guild and as such have freedom of movement through any but secured areas of the kingdom by agreement between the king and their guild,” the veteran answered, and Dave could hear the unspoken ‘but’ in his words.

  “That may apply to the caster and whatever this other one is, but this one is what they call an Essence Knight. His kind is an affront to the Gods,” Mun Hagen spoke with the fervor of a zealot.

  “What’s th' maiter, git yer brains in a bunch or urr ye juist dizzy fae huvin yer hooter stuck that heich up in th' air?” mocked the dwarf. Dave saw light glinting off of gems woven into the man’s thick beard.

  Mun Hagen’s hand went to his sword as Ernst chest bumped the paladin. Eikhorn continued, “If you had allowed me to speak, I was going to say that there are some questions that need to be asked, and it's reasonable to hold them until we get those answered.”

  Dave stepped away from the others and gently pulled on Emily’s arm. Between them, they made sure to keep between the three men and their children. “So what do you think?”

  “Oh, so now you are asking my opinion?” Emily asked bitterly.

  With a deep sigh Dave responded, “I said I’m sorry. And besides, now isn’t the time for this.”

  “No, no I don’t think you did,” Emily snapped back.

  “Didn’t what?” Dave asked, perplexed.

  “Say sorry. You haven’t apologized.”

  “Well I am now,” Dave responded, his frustration growing apparent.

  “Only because I got mad. For goodness sake, Dave, I thought we were past this. We have to be able to trust each other, but you purposefully put our son in danger. And now you just want to delay that to deal with another issue,” Emily seethed.

  “Our children are in danger every moment that they draw breath. And that isn’t new to Eloria. Sure, it’s more obvious here, but even on earth, they were in danger every time they got into a car or any of a hundred other activities. You can’t bubble wrap them,” Dave responded while trying to soften his tone even as his frustration got the better of him.

  “You know that isn’t the same thing,” Emily said.

  Dave’s face took on a pained look. “There are things you don’t know about it. I really will tell you everything, but not now. Please.”

  Emily looked at him for what felt like an eternity before finally nodding reluctantly. “Fine, but I want to know just what you think could have justified this. And I want to know as soon as we are done with whatever this is here. We need to be on the same page before the meeting about the tree later.”

  “So …?” Dave asked leaving the question hanging as he gestured towards their prisoners.

  “You take the lead on this,” was all Emily said.

  “Release them, Aesa. Thank you for protecting my wife’s interests so well. I would appreciate it if you and your squad didn’t go far from our home.”

  “As you wish, Consort,” the elven archer said as she and the unnocked their arrows and moved away from the men on the ground.

  “Sir Mun Hagen, my wife and I will hear your concerns after we interview these men, but right now, I think that your presence would be detrimental,” Dave said.

  The paladin clearly wanted to say something else but swallowed it and said, “Yes, Baron Murkwood.” He then offered a salute before turning on his heels and marching away followed by the other two paladins.

  Turning to the former prisoners, Dave said, “I think that our guards shall hold your weapons for the moment, but please come into our home. I apologize that there isn’t enough furniture yet for everyone to sit in comfort, but you appear to be at ease on the ground.”

  With that, Dave signaled, and a combination of his and Emily’s guards picked up the staff, sword, and other gear that was piled up against the front of the home and followed the Nelson’s inside. “Sir Eikhorn and Royal Mage Gunidar, please join us.”

  Before they got inside, Emily said, “Mira and Balayria, will you please take Jackson and Sara to the mess tent and make sure that they eat? We shouldn’t be more than half an hour here.”

  Dave was grateful that Mira didn’t balk and instead dutifully went off with her siblings, the half orc and goblin in tow.

  Once inside, Emily said, “You know what, Rak’kar, I think between my two guards, my husband, the royal mage, and the others, I will be safe enough here, but many strange things have happened today, and I would feel better if you followed after the children and kept an eye on them. Can you do that for me?”

  The bullman snorted his ascent and said, “Your young bull, heifer, and calf shall be as though they were my own flesh.” Then he pushed his way out of the door, having to duck even with its seven-foot frame.

  There were only six seats at the table, and after Emily, Dave, Steffen, and Guindar were seated, no one offered a seat to any of the others, but the blue robed mage sat down uninvited. “I have to say this is not what I expected from a backwater barony, but what’s up with the pet goblin? And you do know that minotaurs are dangerous, right?”

  “I’m going to turn this over to Baron Eikhorn, but just know that you aren’t here to ask questions. Answer him completely or minotaurs will be the least of your concerns.” Emily looked at Dave, taken back by the harsh tone and threatening words.

  “Thank you Baron Murkwood,” Steffen said while taking charge of the interrogation. “So I take it that you will be speaking for your group. Well, introduce yourself and your comrades. Give us your names, classes, and purpose for being here.”

  The blue robe man said, “Very well,” and launched into his answer.
He seemed to almost be laughing as he spoke. “First, we are a search team for the guild. All three of us are platinum level adventurers, and we heard word that a new dungeon had been found in the north of Albia. So guildmaster Flores dispatched the three of us to find out if it was true and see if we could rank the dungeon. Imagine our surprise when we got here and found out that there is not only one new dungeon but two.”

  “This is much as I expected, but you have failed to give any personal information about yourselves,” Steffen said.

  “Oh yes, because it’s a state secret. No, I just answered what I thought was the important part of your query first.”

  “Just answer, I would like to know who I am speaking to before anything else,” Steffen’s response was growing sharper in proportion to the sarcasm displayed by the supposed mage.

  “Fine, why do you noble types always have to be so stuffy? My short comrade over here with the beautiful beard is Ro’Billo, and no don’t ask. He doesn’t give out his clan name, something about them not agreeing with him leaving the dwarven kingdom to join with lowlanders. His class is Treasure Hunter, so you can see why he would be useful on a search team.”

  Before the blue robed man could continue, Emily chimed in, “No, I’m sorry I am not familiar with the treasure hunter class. Could you explain a bit more?” Her question caused everyone in the room to look at her, Steffen in annoyance for interrupting his interrogation and Dave in grateful curiosity because, while he had read a book once about a treasure hunter, he wasn’t sure how it would work in Eloria.

  “You wanna explain for them?” the adventurers’ spokesman asked the dwarf.

  The dwarf simply answered, “Nah, pal. Yer daein' a richt braw jab o' it. Ye juist keep gaun.”

  “Well, I will just keep it simple for you. Treasure hunters are a rogue based class who have a basic build set around Agility and Dexterity. They are good, like most other rogue classes, for finding traps, sneaking, and scouting, and even for dealing some surprise attacks against any monsters we find in the dungeon. They also get some divination magic that makes them even better at finding and appraising stuff whether that be traps or the goodies. What really makes them shine though is their class skill: Disassemble. As I understand it, the skill is Luck based and when it works it can be rather spectacular. It allows them to break items down into their base components. This can be useful for opening locks, taking apart traps, or getting gems out of a cave wall. I’m sure even you nobles can think of some useful ways that such a skill might be used.” He turned and looked at the dwarf briefly before continuing.

  “Now there is a bit more to it than that, but since this is our first date, I would say that’s quite enough getting to know Ro’Billo.”

  “Thank you,” Emily said at the same time that Steffen said, “Please introduce the rest of you.”

  “So now that you know the little guy’s name–” Apparently calling Ro’Billo the little guy earned the speaker an elbow in the side.

  Coughing, he continued, “So this prodigious specimen in the plate armor isn’t an ogre, even if he looks to be that size. His name is Kev …”

  This time he was interrupted by the big man who pounded a meaty fist down on the table. “That isn’t my name. We agreed you would call me War Monster.”

  “Sorry, I forgot. You know this is a formal situation, so I was thinking we would use your proper name.”

  “I gave up that name. Just leave it at War Monster.”

  “Well War Monster is an Essence Knight, and to preempt any follow-up questions, I will try to explain what his class does. He fills the tank role in our little threesome but is also a sort of healer. He is able to use Essence Magic, but while he can’t actually cast normal healing spells, he can cast other spells of that school. Specifically, he is good at draining the health from an enemy and using that to heal himself or others. It’s nowhere near as efficient as yourself, Daughter of Shanelle, or even perhaps some paladins, but it does come with the added benefit of helping make the monsters dead at the same time.”

  “Oh, so is that why Sir Mun Hagen and the others were so up in arms about him?” Emily asked.

  “That and the fact that he thinks he is an ogre,” the robed man said while swiftly ducking to avoid a slap to the back of his head from War Monster.

  “You know that you aren’t an actual ogre, don’t you? If you had ever seen one of those beasts, then you would know what a real monster is,” Baron Eikhorn said sharply.

  This time speaking for himself, War Monster said, “I know better than just about anyone what an ogre looks like. I was barely more than a child when a goblin raid with an ogre in their group attacked my home. My pa died trying to fight it, and my ma died getting me and my sister onto the horse. I was barely strong enough to control the scared horse but managed to get me and my sister all the way to the walls of Breslau. Anyway, enough of the sob story. I simply determined then and there that if I was going to turn myself into the best imitation of an ogre possible, it would be me who is the monster when we meet face-to-face.”

  Baron Eikhorn’s face grew red. “I am sorry for your loss. I wish I could say that it was an isolated incident, but far too many farms are raided every year no matter how hard we try to stop it. Is your sister well?”

  The large man looked down at the floor before answering, “I eventually joined the western army under your command. I served my four years but found army life wasn’t to my liking. The best thing that came out of it was that my sister met and married one of the men I trained with. He was a good enough chap. You may even know who he is. The last letter I had from my sister over a year ago was that he had been promoted to Captain.”

  “And might I ask his name?” Steffen asked.

  “Martin Raddick. I’m hoping for my sister’s sake, and their two youngens, that he survived the war, although I heard it was pretty bad along the western border.”

  Dave jumped in then and said, “Well, I think he is on some special mission for Baron Eikhorn, but less than a week ago, I saw him. And while injured, he was relatively safe.”

  “I guess that is as much as any of us can expect in this life. Eloria is conflict.” The last part he said as if it were a common chant between the three of them, and both the other men nodded in agreement.

  “It is a shame that the western army lost a man such as yourself to the adventurers’ guild, but each man has to carve out his own path.” As Eikhorn spoke, both Steffen and War Monster nodded at one another.

  “That leaves us with just the mysterious spokesman of the group. Please introduce yourself,” Emily said.

  With a smile he answered, “As the lady wishes. My name is Tode Yuso, and I am the de facto leader of our little group. Although I should be clear it is our task to find dungeons for the guild and then negotiate for access to those dungeons. It is not as though the three of us try to clear dungeons on our own. In fact, we are often tasked with taking new guild members through dungeons or even with recruiting for the guild from locals.”

  “I am certain that Baron Murkwood will be happy to discuss guild access to the two dungeons upon his land, but you still haven’t answered the simple question of what your class is,” Steffen replied.

  “Oh that. Well, it’s really rather unfortunate. Paladins don’t tend to like essence knights, but lots of other people are uncomfortable with my class. And really for no reason, it’s just another example of Eloria’s unfair naming system.” For the first time since arriving, Tode seemed hesitant.

  “Just speak the truth, we don’t punish people for speaking the truth in Eris’ Rise,” Dave said.

  “Normally, when we are searching a noble’s land for a new dungeon, most of which I might add turn out to be nothing more than a minor monster infestation in a cave or ruin rather than true dungeons, I introduce myself as a wizard.”

  “I sense a ‘but’ coming,” Emily said.

  “Well, yes. Call me stupid if you must, but there are two reasons that I want to be upfront this
time. First, we are fairly certain from our investigations so far that you have two actual active dungeons, and Baron Eikhorn has essentially confirmed that. So, I don’t want any deception, no matter how well-meaning on my part to result in a breakdown in our negotiations.”

  “And the second reason?” Emily asked, her patience wearing thin.

  “That would be you, Daughter of Shanelle. The people of this village, and even some of the rumors we heard from other villages as we traveled closer, all suggest that you are more than just a priestess. I have no idea what a true Chosen would be capable of doing. The old legends say that they could look into a man’s very soul,” Tode said.

  “I don’t know about looking into anyone’s soul, but I’m sure that both my husband and the royal mage can cast divination magic to reveal more about you if you aren’t willing to speak the truth,” Emily said in what Dave thought was a rather snarky tone.

  “Fine, my class is called a Mind Chainer …” Tode stopped speaking as all of the guards drew weapons simultaneously, and Ernst moved to pull Baron Eikhorn back.

  A slow, low laughter erupted from Gunidar. “This is just priceless. Don’t worry, I checked all of their classes before we ever came in here, and I’ve also been monitoring to make sure he isn’t casting any magic. I am the top wizard in the entire nation, so I can say with a fair degree of certainty that he hasn’t used any magic since I first laid eyes on him.”

  “What on earth were you thinking? You should have warned both myself and the Nelsons ahead of time,” Steffen said.

  “Honestly, what I was thinking is that you have gotten a bit uppity. I am not the noble mage. I am the royal mage. I answer to the king and no one else, yet you have tried to order me around as though I were some common foot soldier.”

  The chaos in the room whirled from being focused on Tode to the palpable tension between royal mage and baron.

  “You are so full of yourself …” Steffen began before Dave slammed his hand down on the table hard enough to send a crack running down its heavy oak top.