by Kevin Culp
Sometimes, I would wake up and be sad that I was still stuck in this world, but when I saw Christina I was never sad about it anymore. Truthfully, even if I was in a coma, I was having a blast. I wasn’t sure how I would deal with it if I had to get in to combat again, but part of me knew that I should experience it more because Archaeus would want to go on quests that would require combat.
I thought about doing some traveling. Part of me didn’t want to leave here. The comfort of knowing that Christina was there for me, mixed with the confusion of everything that was going on made me just want to stay in this town until I woke up. On the flip side, with how vivid this dream was, I would probably lose a lot of nerd cred being in a world as my tabletop character and just settling down in a town. It had only been about a week though, so I supposed I could at least stay here for a little while longer.
Chapter 7
It was a pretty normal day, well normal for someone trapped in a dream world as their tabletop character. I had woken up, prepared my spells for the day, and ate breakfast. I went downstairs, and Christina greeted me like normal. Her father glared at me, like normal.
I walked outside and noticed that Zeus didn’t come running. Christina told me the day before that her uncle had asked if he would be able to help with some heaving lifting at the farm. He was probably as strong as ten mules, and they didn’t even have one at the moment. I told her it wouldn’t be a problem, but that I still wanted him to accompany her there and back just in case something happened.
I wandered over to the tanner and walked inside. I had visited him three days ago and let him take a look at Zeus and his saddle and asked if he could make some saddlebags for him. He had agreed and told me he probably had all the leather he needed, and I should be able to pick it up today.
“Hey there, Archaeus, how are you?” He greeted me kindly.
His name was Stephan, and he was honestly what I would typically imagine when thinking of a fantasy world blacksmith. I would guess he was in his early thirties and had a full head of shaggy brown hair and a large beard. He had muscles on muscles almost on par with Archaeus himself. He typically seemed to be wearing thick gloves and a short-sleeved tunic with breeches. He was always smiling.
“Did you finish my saddle, Stephan?” I asked.
“Sure did let me grab it out of the back.”
When he came back, he was carrying an enormous set of saddlebags. I mean Zeus was probably even bigger than a Clydesdale, but this still surprised me that he would need something like this. It looked simple yet well made. It was basically just two large satchels with a length of leather connecting them and two large straps that I guess would run underneath Zeus.
“I’m sure this will be a big help. Thanks for making it so quickly.”
I handed him a platinum piece and headed back to put the saddlebags in my room at the tavern.
When I came back down, I noticed that people in the tavern were all getting up and going outside. After putting away the saddlebags, I followed after them to see what was going on.
Once outside, I noticed that this was the closest I had seen to there being a crowd in town since I had been here. I mean, in such a small town it’s not like you could even get a crowd that would fill the streets or anything like that, but if I had to guess I’d say there were easily twenty to thirty people on the streets.
I looked in the direction everyone was staring and saw a carriage drawn by two horses with four soldiers fully equipped with spears, shields, and full plate armor walking upfront. They were walking slowly as if trying to make a royal procession out of it. It was kind of an awkward sight of exaggerated importance in my opinion. If this person was so important, I’m sure he would be traveling with more than four soldiers.
I noticed Christina was standing next to me. “What’s going on?” I asked her.
She didn’t look happy. “It’s Baron Lyndmire. He is the noble that ‘oversees’ our town.”
The way she said “oversees” didn’t sit right with me. I could already guess the type of circumstances that were at play here. This Baron Lyndmire was probably the type of noble that really didn’t have much power but exerted it wherever he could get away with it. I could imagine him imposing huge taxes and maybe even taking advantage of young women in the towns he had power over.
“He must be running out of money again. He doesn’t really force us to charge regular taxes, but when he comes to town, he expects us to be able to pay him exorbitant amounts of money, so he can continue his life in style.”
The carriage stopped in front of the blacksmith’s shop, and one of the soldiers moved to open the door of the carriage. The man that emerged really was a sight. He was short, probably no more than five and a half feet tall, and extremely plump. It looked like he had a bad comb-over of gray hair and an over waxed handlebar mustache.
He walked into the shop and reemerged after a few minutes. A large bag, presumably full of coins, now in his fat and greedy little hands. He climbed back into the carriage and the soldier closed the door. The procession began again.
After stopping at Gadrick’s Place, he came to a stop in front of the tavern. Christina had already walked back inside. I didn’t want to cause trouble, so I let the man walk past me and into the tavern. He reeked of what I could only assume was supposed to be some kind of overused cologne.
I watched the exchange as Christina handed the man a large bag of coins. “Hmm, this feels a little light, and knowing you two it’s probably loaded with copper.” Even the way the man talked felt greasy and got under my skin.
He dumped the money out onto a table and seemed to be counting. There were a ton of coins there. Most of it seemed to be silver, but there was quite a bit of copper and gold there too. He picked up one coin and looked it over methodically.
“Who comes into a cheap tavern like this and spends platinum? I bet you peasants found some poor traveler to steal this from, didn’t you? I don’t condone theft in my domain, so I’ll be keeping this and you owe me ten more gold to replace it plus an additional ten as a fine for your crimes.”
I would have never imagined that the simple act of spending platinum in a tavern could cause trouble. Not that this was in any way my fault. It was just pure extortion from a corrupt politician.
“We didn’t steal it. It really was from a customer, and you know we can’t afford to give you another twenty gold. We save up all year and barely scrape by paying your stupid taxes when you show up.” I don’t think I’d seen Christina get angry for real yet. Even with that Joseph guy, she seemed to be annoyed but not angry.
“If you are saying you can’t pay it, then I’ll just have to take you as payment. I could use another concubine after all.” He licked his greedy lips more like he was staring at a delicious steak than a beautiful young girl.
God, this guy disgusted me. It almost made it worse how cliché all of this was. A noble that controls a land extorting money from its people and taking their daughters when they can’t afford to pay. Truthfully, stopping something like this is probably one of the biggest staples in fantasy world stories for a hero to make a name for themselves.
I caught myself walking into the tavern, but I wasn’t trying to move. Archaeus must have been taking over, “Excuse me Sir, but I understand you are saying these two aren’t paying their taxes in full is the problem here correct?”
He turned and looked at me. His beady eyes were murderous. Clearly, he didn’t like the interruption. “I don’t recall addressing you, peasant. Are you associated with these individuals?”
Christina was looking at me and shaking her head, but I continued talking. “Forgive me, I should have introduced myself. My name is Archaeus Alexander Velnir, and I am a traveling Paladin.”
He spat on the floor. “Traveling Paladin? You come into my domain with these fake titles and speak to me without being addressed?”
“I apologize to have offended you, but it sounded as though your problem was payment, so I thought I could remed
y that,” I pulled out two pieces of platinum and held it out to him.
He took the coins greedily then said, “I will remember your attempt to bribe a nobleman, but they still owe me twenty gold, and I am keeping this as a recompense for your rudeness.”
Man, this guy infuriated me, but I wasn’t certain what more I could do. I had a thought.
“Sir, might I ask if you would be willing to sell this town?”
He burst into laughter. “Sell this town? The fact that you have the gall to ask that knowing full well you could not possibly afford such a thing.”
“Well, if you don’t have the right to do so, then perhaps I’ll have to venture to the capital and petition for rights to it with the king.”
He looked at me with pure hate in his eyes obviously infuriated that I would question his authority over a territory. A fake smile crept over his lips. “Well, since you are so interested in this town, I suppose I could part with it for four thousand gold pieces.”
“I see.”
He looked at me as if he were triumphant. “Right so since you cannot afford such a sum…….”
I cut him off. “Let me go upstairs, and I’ll get you the money.” I moved to head up the stairs, and even Christina’s jaw dropped.”
The plump man looked like a teakettle about to blow its top, “You insufferable tool. Obviously, this was a joke. Peasants don’t pay a lord taxes simply due to rights to the property. They pay so that someone will protect them from bandits, orcs, and monsters. You are not capable of offering such protection.”
“Well, I don’t know about all sorts of monsters, but I would be willing to place a wager on my ability to protect these people. How about this, I fight against all of your best knights, as many as you want all at the same time? If I win, you forgo any claim that you have to this town and pass it to me. If I lose, you keep the town, and I pay you the four thousand gold. Does that sound fair to you?”
He looked at me as if I was prey that had somehow managed to trap itself. “This sounds like a fair enough wager to me I suppose. You’re giving me a great opportunity to prove why the people need me to protect them and paying me to do so. I will return in one week with my fighters in tow, so I suggest you prepare yourself for death.”
He started to walk away, and I stopped him. “Leave the gold for now. Also, be sure to bring whatever documentation is needed to sign over the town to me should I win.”
“Oh, but of course. I would hate to take any of my winnings prematurely.” He threw the bag on the ground in such a way that all the coins spilled out across the floor.
Once he had left, I leaned down to start gathering up the coins, but someone grabbed my wrist and stopped me. I looked up at Christina. She was crying.
She slapped me. “You idiot, do you realize what you did? You don’t know anything about the fighters this guy has. Some of them might as well be monsters in and of themselves, and a duel for them is to the death.”
I looked her in the eyes. “I promise you that I have no plans that involve dying. However, I will make sure that that man never messes with Freid again.”
She walked off, and I leaned back down to gather up the coins.
Her father got down next to me and began to help. “Well, I guess win or lose, one of my problems is gone, huh.” He said it sarcastically, but I actually felt like there was a tone of concern in his voice. “Don’t die though if you can avoid it. I’m sure that you dying is probably the outcome that would hurt Christina the most.”
I grunted at him in affirmation.
Really, I wasn’t that afraid. So far, this world had held true to pretty much all norms of a fantasy world. The average soldier working for a noble was probably level 4 or 5 at most and many of those were NPC classes. Even if he had a champion, I would be hard-pressed to believe that it was more than level 10 or so. I was a level 20 paladin, so I could probably fight an army of level 10’s and barely break a sweat.
After gathering up all the money on the floor, I got up and walked outside. People that were still out on the street stared at me. I walked to the blacksmith’s shop.
Something I had found kind of amusing since I got here is every time I was playing a tabletop game we tried to subscribe apt names to a blacksmith’s shop or alchemist’s, but here it wasn’t like that. If someone wanted something, they just went to the blacksmith not “Wee Belorium’s Weapon Emporium” or anything silly like that.
I hadn’t been to see the blacksmith yet, which was kind of ironic since it was something I actually had training in that I would be interested in trying to use. I walked inside, and the first thing I noticed was the smell of alcohol. I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but I heard hammering in a room in the back and just walked on in.
The forge was a small stone building with a built-in furnace. Several plates that seemed to be molds for common tools decorated the walls, and an anvil sat in the center. The most notable thing in the room, though was the person working next to the anvil. She was short, probably 4’2,” with crimson red hair and a powerful build. I wouldn’t necessarily describe her as muscular, just well-built and quite wide but not exactly fat. She was a female dwarf.
She was the first dwarf I’d seen since ending up in this world, and she was a sight. My friends and I always joked about female dwarves having beards, and while she definitely didn’t have a beard, I wasn’t sure if the black on her arms was grease and soot or thick hair. She looked up at me.
Her voice was like gravel dropping through a metal pipe. “Oh, it’s you.” She didn’t seem surprised to see me. “They say you’re dying next week.”
“Well, when have you ever expected gossip to be true?” I mused.
She actually seemed to chuckle at that.
“I need to make a weapon and was wondering if I could borrow your forge.”
“No one touches my forge but me, and it looks like you’ve already got a better weapon than anyone in the kingdom can make.”
“You can tell that just from a glance?” I questioned.
“I’ve seen you out there swinging it around a few times, but we dwarves can practically smell a masterpiece when it comes to metal and stonework, and that blade is one of a kind. Your armor is too for that matter.”
“Well, thanks. I suppose they aren’t bad pieces of equipment, but I need something to use that I can avoid killing people with.”
“If you are worried about killing the baron’s men don’t be. I promise they won’t hesitate to kill you.”
“That’s part of the point though. I don’t just want to win. I want to win with a handicap that shows the baron that fighting against me is pointless.”
“Well, you’re either brave, stupid, or both.” She reached down and grabbed a jug that I could smell from here and took a swig. She held it up to me as if doing a toast, “Here’s my brave and stupid.” She took another drink.
“So... Will you make me a weapon?”
“Money talks kid. I’ll do about anything for the right price, other than be your girlfriend for the night.” She winked at me.
I discussed with her what I wanted and gave her five gold to complete the work. When I left, it was still just after lunchtime, and I was starting to get hungry so I went to the tavern. I went inside but didn’t see Christina only her father. I sat down at the bar.
“Can I get some lunch?” I asked him.
He didn’t say anything but went to the back and came back with a bowl of stew and a cup of water. It was very bland. I don’t think Christina had made it.
Once I finished eating, I went upstairs. I was about to walk into my room when I heard someone crying. Christina had told me that her room was next door to mine, but I guess I had never thought about it. I knocked on the door.
There was a pause before she responded, “Who is it?”
“It’s me, Archaeus, can I come in?”
There was some shuffling around inside the room. “You can come in.”
I opened the door, and it was a ro
om almost identical to the one I was in with a few exceptions. There was a wardrobe in the corner and she had a second nightstand that had some drawers on it. The mirror she had loaned me the night we met was sitting on the nightstand next to where she sat on the bed.
I was surprised to see that she was wearing a cute dress that I guess would be described as a sundress. It may have been very slightly too small for her, but it looked good on her. Even by modern standards, I think it would be a relatively cute dress. It was made of cotton and was pink with a pleated skirt and short frilly sleeves. I was kind of surprised that Christina would own something like that both due to practicality and cost. Dyed clothing was expensive in this world. I had only been to the tailor once and bought a basic set of spare clothing, but it was easy to figure that out.
“You know I’m going to be okay right, Christina?” I looked her in the eyes. “I’m a lot stronger than even what you have seen so far can show.”
She seemed to be trying not to cry. “I know you’re strong Archaeus. I don’t doubt that you’re very strong, but these people are ruthless, and how do you know you aren’t underestimating them?”
I was searching for the right words to say hoping Archaeus would help me out, “I guess I can’t promise that I’m not making assumptions and underestimating them, but if I sat back and watched that guy do whatever he wanted, then I couldn’t forgive myself.”
“It’s a good thing that you are trying to help people Archaeus, but there is no backing out of this now. He is going to hold you to this no matter what.”
“I don’t intend to try to back out of it, but I will make you a deal. If you stay in my corner and cheer me on, then when I win, I’ll ask for your permission the next time before I do something stupid.”
She laughed a little and looked at me. “That’s a deal that I will hold you to, and you better not break it.”
