Isekai Magus: A LitRPG Progression Saga

by Han Yang

  After Asha found the bernox dead from an unknown foe, I pulled our forces back to ready for a hasty retreat. No army burst from the depths, allowing us to stay for the duration of the portal. Our time was filled with mundane tasks, and the three foxes became two after a bear ran off with one.

  The Zorta collection never slowed, though. Each day we managed to average over a hundred. After my expenses, setting some Z aside, and paying off a good chunk of the debt, we deserved a break.

  Jark arrived and said, “Just got done talking with Nessio’s financier. We’re down to seventy Z, and we’re done with our debt, including the mandatory interest.”

  “Fantastic,” I said, setting my tea onto an end table. “And our spending power?”

  “Forty Z and a whole lot of gold and gems. I started trading Selma’s folks’ meat, hide, and other things for gold. They’re loving the exchange. I also think it’s helping her stomach the decision,” Jark said.

  “I thought she wanted the trade treaty,” I said.

  “Rumors, all I have are rumors,” Jark said defensively, attempting to warn me of information.

  Tarla snickered and said, “You and Lelu are handling most of the trade. If anyone knows, it’s you.”

  “Alright, I just don’t weigh it as fact. Basically, the spiderlings who trade us are always sour they aren’t dancing over our corpses,” Jark said with a snicker.

  “That is how I look at it,” I said, rising to stand by the balcony’s edge.

  I gazed over the city, seeing a trail of workers coming and going from Caitlyn’s church. Dogs loitered around the main entrances to the town, waiting to bark at intruders or detected digging. The populace seemed happy as the warm, magical sun beat down with a radiant warmth.

  The main gate that led up to the upper gate’s landing remained sealed. However, the winding tunnel was open, additional dirt being carted up. That upper processing area was being converted into a farm field. The sound of the waterfall splashing down soothed my soul, and I felt at home.

  I loved the grand view and the openness. The sheer size provided a unique comfort.

  “You okay?” Bell asked with a snicker.

  “I’m allowed to enjoy Nordan for a few moments without death and politics. But back to it. The dwarves are likely pushing her hard. Zozo’s Hold is probably more powerful than Selma is, and when you add a new threat on a new front - which is us - she grudgingly accepted a trade deal instead of a peace treaty,” I said with a shrug.

  “Yeah, I think the fact she didn’t accept the additional Tela tunnels and caverns was surprising,” Tarla said.

  Asha arrived from the courtyard staircase. “Got a moment, Boss?”

  I held up a finger, seeing Nee bossing around a beast master who dealt with puppies.

  “Nee, get up here,” I commanded. I turned to Jark and said, “Sell everything we can to get me more gold. Tell the spider queen’s traders we want Zorta first but value gold at the same rate. This means they’ll be trying to offload and acquire gold, which is cheap in this area. Then we’ll sell it for Zorta in human cities. Our next mission is going to be a trade mission. Getting lots of gold matters.”

  “You got it, Boss,” Jark said, heading for the exit.

  Nee finished giving her orders and hustled up the same stairs that Asha used.

  “Alright, that means I can train after her report. What have you got for me Asha?” I asked.

  “I wanted you to find the right ram or mare, especially if we’re taking a trip to a human city next week,” he said.

  “That is part of my desire for trade. I want a unique mount I can trust. The rams are reckless, Charlie is a demon, and the mares are too small for all my heavy armor. I’ll use a mare for now, but I want another epic mount that I can rely on. Anything else?” I asked.

  “Karo has requested something to read,” Asha said about our prisoner.

  “I’ll handle it,” I replied. “Again, another reason to have a trade run. We can level everyone’s intelligence and wisdom if we open a library. That building should do.”

  I pointed to the old town hall.

  Nee arrived, and Asha bowed in respect before heading back to training. I’d join him soon, feeling the need to burn off some energy.

  “How can I help you, Boss?” Nee asked.

  “Are the needs of the goblins being met?” I asked.

  The small humanoid plopped into the seat beside Tarla. Taking out her paper and pencil, she licked the charcoal tip with a grin.

  “I have a few requests, but most center around upgrading skills. There are some family members sad to hear their dead relatives will not be coming back. However, death is common among goblins. What is not common is that our children are healthy, our bellies are full, and our threats minimal. Overall, everyone is extremely happy. It wouldn’t surprise me if there is a goblin encampment forming near the air vents,” Nee said, pointing to the ceiling.

  “Ah, yes, another topic for another adventure. There’s hidden exits to the surface. Asha will be going through one soon. If and when an opportunity presents itself, expect to march to war again,” I told her, and she nodded.

  “We continue to train, but we are all at minimal skill levels, merely awaiting Zorta to unlock more power. A hundred will bring your army from ones and twos to seven and eights. As for our tribe, we just crossed the two hundred goblin mark with births,” Nee said proudly.

  “Glad to hear your needs are being met and the young are healthy. How’s the animals?” I asked.

  “They’re a lot of work. Good kind of work, though. The puppies are growing bigger, the rams are content, and Charlie is an asshole,” Nee said with a sassy snort.

  I chuckled while Bell gasped.

  “Not taking it back, he is,” Nee said, firming her tone.

  The goblin was powerful in her own right. Bell glared at her.

  “The requested items besides Z?” I asked.

  “Mostly for crafting. Raw metal for tools, tools to make tools, and then timber. We prefer wooden homes over stone. Maybe we could make one of the empty expansions a forest. We did replant trees someone pushed over. The goblins would love that.” Nee mused it over and added. “But, we’re really happy already.”

  “A buffer forest between Selma and us would be nice, especially if we invest, say, twenty Z into the goblins,” Tarla said.

  “Consider it under consideration,” I said to Nee. “Add it to your list and tell Yermica that I want a similar report by week’s end with a trading list at the ready. Not that she answers to you. Keep up the good work.”

  We watched Nee head down the ramp for the estate’s courtyard.

  “I’m coming with you on the next mission,” Bell said. “I…” She glanced down at her neatly folded hands in her lap. “I’ve grown into more than a barmaid, clearly. When I expressed my angst at being safe while you adventured, Caitlyn said she wanted me at your side, fighting with you.”

  “Of course. If you come, who's in charge here, though?” I asked.

  “I’m the Lady of the Estate, it should -”

  “I’d be dead without my fire mage, regardless of our affectionate love,” I said.

  “When we revive Jark, we can use him as the stay behind leader,” Bell said, giving what was likely the best answer. “If you truly trust Nessio, and I think you should, then we have little choice. Both Tarla and I will go with you. The question becomes where do we spend our gold? And will pretending to be nobles get you inside without an inspection?”

  I shook my head, not letting the thoughts bug me. Worst case, I’d stay outside and not trade.

  The sound of swords clashing against each other called to me the way the library used to. Glancing down, I saw Asha waving me over for a sparring match, and I grew giddy to lose. I knew I was changing. Taking another week off to adjust would only help us all.

  CHAPTER 44

  Town of Seqa

  “Why am I here?” Karo asked, his deep voice echoing in the church.

&
nbsp; Nessio had just left, earning a few hundred Zorta from her week long excursion. The spider queen was ecstatic from her mild adventure and had even brought home a lot of saplings. Her own goblins likely requested the same thing as mine - a new forest - and we certainly had the excess space.

  Bell dialed up the portal. A golden hue drowned out the ambient light until it brightly illuminated the space.

  “You may know the region we have open,” I said. “And you’re likely coming with me. Don’t worry. Mini won’t hurt you.” I paused with a grin then added, “If you behave.”

  “Captain Estracron can likely hear that you named him Mini,” Karo said with a gruff tone.

  I waved his nonsense away with a flippant flick of the wrist. The lidka loved to socialize and was baiting me into a reply. I needed to focus.

  When the map generated, I groaned.

  Islands. The left side of the map had a whole lot of islands with a massive port city on one of the islands.

  On the right side was hopefully a mainland. Based on the tiny roads going off the map, I figured that’s what it was.

  “This can’t be human,” I said, pointing to the lower elevation sea city.

  “Nope, and they’ll not have much to trade besides fish and fruit,” Karo commented.

  “If we select anything on this side of the map, it's a boring week of sitting on an island and using the skeletons to catch prey,” I said. “This one seems uninhabited.”

  I pointed to the second biggest island.

  “Wait, that’s likely a human city.” Bell pointed to the right side of the map.

  She zoomed in, zoomed in again, and a third time.

  I saw a high cliff face and then a human city.

  “Is this Tarb?” I blurted, wondering at the odds.

  Or was it divine intervention.

  “Nope,” Bell and Tarla said at the same time.

  They glanced at each other, and Tarla signaled Bell to proceed.

  “King Karn’s realm is about five times further to the ocean, but I can see the reason why you would assume. It’s human with three portal points near the walls,” Bell said.

  “That’s great and also bad,” I said.

  “Only if you go,” Karo said.

  She had a point. I held in my smartass reply, seeing a blue icon further south of the city that rested close to the big island. I folded my arms, thinking. After a few rotations of the map by Bell, I walked around the table to the control point.

  I zoomed in on the southern spot.

  “Decent forest density, a nice place to build a raft for the island, or just have the minions wait,” I said.

  Asha shook his head. “This is a heavily hunted area. We have to go to the island and then cross.”

  “I hate that idea,” I said. “There’s a thousand things that can and likely will go wrong. My father had a saying. ‘Don’t cross the rickety bridge to save a day’s travel.’”

  “I thought Earth was advanced. Why would you have dangerous bridges?” Tarla asked.

  I rolled my eyes. “It is, but that was just a saying. Look, Karo has a point. This changes if I don’t go. All the problems vanish,” I said.

  “And so does our protection,” Bell said.

  Tarla hugged me from the side. “It can wait. Not every cycle will be perfect. How about we sell this one to Nessio cheap or just spend a week on the island.”

  “Free maybe, yeah. Why don’t we make it an open island adventure? Tax those who go,” I said, liking the idea more and more.

  We debated the merits and did exactly that. After spreading the word to everyone, Nee led a team of five goblins and two hounds onto the second biggest island. We sent the Dwarven teams, troll teams, and even a set of gnomes.

  The reception was lukewarm until Nee herded two dozen turkey-like birds into the church randomly. The damn things counted as returns. And when she came back with a dozen sea turtles next, we sent Yermica in to get her to come home. Growing pains. At least our river had sea turtles that didn’t die.

  After seeing five little goblins raid some decent stuff, we allowed up to ninety percent of portal allocation. The rest of the crews brought back fruits, seeds, dead fish, and small game animals they had caught. Most importantly, they all returned alive.

  It was a small miracle and a moral boost. During the week, I focused on two things. The first was finding a way to the surface. Nessio finally guided me to a secret door in my estate. Asha traveled the tunnel with me, using a troll skeleton to go with him.

  After heaving a fake boulder door open, we painfully scouted the area over two days. The situation at the gates was great. No centaurs remained, and only the signs of a few fires were left behind.

  Seqa Valley was a different story. The forest was teeming with centaurs, and we only went so far away from our private entrance. After seeing enough, we covered our tracks to retreat to safety.

  The next few days were boring reports from the town using the portal until, finally, we came full circle to being able to select a portal again.

  When the portal turned off, we found ourselves around the table, excited for a new summoning region. The magic swirled to life, the portal flicked to on, and we stared at a different landscape.

  This time, a massive lake swallowed the bottom quarter of the map. The area above the lake was low lying grasslands that crept up in elevation toward a mountain range.

  “Looks great for a centaur herd,” I said.

  “There are many variations of strivians who live on the plains. This looks like the home of the horned darthians for instance, or the trigans,” Karo said and Tarla thumbed her mythical creature book.

  “We can work with this,” I said in excitement. “Finally, we can see if trading is a viable route over just constant killing.”

  “You're just tired of watching others have all the fun,” Asha said with a smirk.

  “We really need some new tools, seeds for our fields, some fine blankets, a proper mount, and even some new mages would be nice. Oh, and books!” I said, rubbing my hands together in excitement.

  Tarla passed around the tome containing documentation on strivians. I saw two pencils holding specific sections open. When it was my turn, I flipped the pages, seeing a deer-man and a tiger humanoid.

  “You know these races?” I asked Karo.

  “Indeed. And they’re very symbiotic and civilized. Don’t get me wrong. They’ll kill humans without a second thought, but to my kind, they’d be warm and receptive. The darthians are the farmers, and the trigans the warriors. They will not trade with you, because of your race, and me showing up with gold wouldn’t help,” Karo said.

  “That was your chance to con us,” Jark said with a scoff.

  “Yes, but you’re missing a key factor. I reek of humans. They’d accept me in and then slay me for being a spy,” Karo said, glancing down at Jark with distaste.

  “Alright, we cannot mesh with them?” I asked. “Can we kill them?”

  Karo pointed to the book, and I began reading out loud. “This says Darthians are extremely fast, avid hunters via bow, and fantastic farmers. Their aim is rumored to best the elf. Interested they don’t call you an elva,” I said, getting distracted.

  “Elva and elf are different, but alas, not by much. The book will say the trigans are also fast with amazing eyesight, smell, and hearing. They truly are apex predators. Let’s zoom into the first human city,” Asha said.

  We shifted the map to the zone of rising elevation. He continued to zoom in until only a ruined mess of a city remained.

  Taking the map further from the plains revealed two more fallen cities before a final human city stood proudly. The footprint of the city was massive, using two ridgelines to shore up its left and right defenses. A massive wall closed off a valley so large there was even a portal inside the space.

  A tremble shook the church, startling us.

  The small doll that Bell used to summon Caitlyn blossomed with a purple glow as it grew. A minute later, the
goddess stood as a female lidka. She walked over to smack Karo’s butt.

  “Hey handsome,” Caitlyn said with a mischievous grin.

  Karo fell to his knees, diving down to kiss her feet repeatedly.

  “Ah, I do love it when they properly respect you. This fool has been crying for divine help, not realizing he was in a really good situation. Arise my minion,” Caitlyn said in a boorish tone, tiring of his groveling. “Do not take the portal inside that wall. It shouldn’t be an option. That is a message from my boss, and all I came to warn you about. And oh, you can trust this idiot. The moment you can’t, I’ll let you know. You’re one of mine now, Karo. Serve me well and be rewarded. If he learns to obey, I’ll trade his life for Jark’s death.”

  She vanished, the stick doll floating back to its resting spot.

  Karo stood there in stunned silence, confused and baffled.

  I cleared my throat for his attention and said, “She needs another champion for Ostriva. So dramatic. She could have explained it better, but likely, you’re on the short list. Leave the church freely as a patron of Caitlyn, and if you cause any problems, I’ll flay and heal you.”

  “Yes, Necro Lord Damien,” Karo said proudly, leaving the church.

  “Six hells below! Yes! I want that deal,” Jark exclaimed.

  “Yeah, we all do. I need a banker anyway,” I said with a sigh. When he was well outside the church, I muttered, “Almost turned him into a minion. Kinda glad I didn’t.”

  Asha shrugged defensively. They had mentioned a few times over the last two weeks that we could use him in our army.

  I went back to the map, adjusting the image. When I followed the terrain further north, three smaller cities remained standing. Their grandeur and might couldn’t compare to the main bastion that fought the south.

  One of the cities rested closer to a busy river with expansive farm fields and mediocre defenses. The other was at the foothold of the mountains with sturdy walls. A third city, the one furthest north, rested on a lake that went off the map’s borders.

  “If we used the portal inside the human capital, it likely would have been discovered,” Bell said, wagging a finger and adding, “I would assume that would anger the local god and be flagged as a rule violation. A portal can’t be spawned inside a city’s limits.”