by Cobyboy
When King Louie II died, most of the men under the tutelage of the previous regime, including the men in his troops, perished. They were replaced by the new generation of knights. However, these knights were as arrogant and self-centered as the king they were serving; Obnoxious, just truly obnoxious.
A tall, pale-skinned guy beside King Louie the 3rd whispered in his ears. The next instant, shocking words came out of the king's mouth.
"…And as this is the case, your return is a disgrace to the knights. Please die for me." The king raised his hand as a command to summon an executioner!
Marvin gasped, taking in a cold breath of air, refusing to look up and believe the words that the king muttered. Beads of sweat dripped profusely from his forehead.
Holding an apple that he grabbed from the fruit basket in the ornate table beside the throne, "Let's do the execution first thing in the morning? Eh, no, late in the afternoon?" The king mockingly pondered. "You know what, let's just do it right here and now." A devious grin appeared on his face.
'Textbook as*hat, that's what this kid is. Tsk, this is going overboard…'
A burly man with a metal round helm wielding a blunt, yet gigantic, ax in his hand approached Marvin, who was still silently kneeling without muttering a single word.
The other royal knights and subordinates within the throne hall did not dare say anything during the entire process. For them, going against the king's order is just digging your own grave. The king himself was an existence at the peak of Expert-class. Even with his youthful age of only 25, no one dared to go against such peerless talent, especially when it's a king.
As the executioner got closer to Marvin, a sudden voice interjected. The entire aura of the throne hall changed in the next instant.
"Your Majesty…" Feihren calmly interjected as he rose up and slowly walked toward the king! Everyone was shocked by this incident.
'General's Aura >>> Activated'
'Supreme Gaze >>> Target: King Louie Rudyard III'
King Louie the 3rd directed his gaze to the sudden voice that interrupted the execution. 'Who dares go against my command?' Surprisingly, it was this coward of a "general" that dared to speak. But as his gaze landed on this man, a suffocating killing intent flooded his consciousness, as if the air he was currently breathing had solidified in his throat.
The royal guards nearest the throne attempted to apprehend Feihren when a sudden pain was felt in their heads, stopping them right in their tracks. Heavy breathing could be felt by every royal guard that attempted to move, and some of them already knelt as if they had run a hundred kilometers within a few minutes! The aura simply feels exhausting!
The others just stayed frozen helplessly.
A faint voice continued, "Isn't this a little too much Your Majesty? I went through the trouble of saving this young man over here. Can you muster enough respect for me to spare him?" A sneer appeared on this man's face.
As Feihren neared the throne, a sudden voice yelled "Insolence! How dare you act that way in front of the king!?" A mystic orb with blue radiance spun inside the palms of the pale man as he bravely charged towards Feihren. But the next instant…
*Thud!
A loud fall could be heard as the thin man's figure rolled from the platform to the floor. 'Wha? Seems like the mini-stun was so effective? Or did he just trip on his own? Well, that's unfortunate… And painful' Feihren mockingly laughed.
With only a few feet between Feihren and the king, he asked.
"Shall we go now Your Majesty? We'd go now and this would in no way affect your great self, right? Am I wrong Your Majesty?" Feihren turned back as he glanced at the man that was still face down at the bottom of the platform, and the unmoving Marvin, as he approached and calmly said, "Let's go, we don't have any business here."
Marvin was dumbfounded. He just stood meekly and went towards Feihren as they walked out of the hall.
The scene was remarkably similar to how a child would be scolded by his mother and his father would come and save his as*.
The entire throne hall kept silent until the entirety of Feihren was gone.
[1] Battlemage: A highly respected class in the world of Nuwiell. It was a noble, battle-ready class for soldiers specializing in area of effect magic, whether it was meant to help or harm.
Chapter 9: Coboro Village
Feihren looked back at the status pages for the two people he scanned within the hall. A hint of dismay appeared on his face. He was unsure if he should laugh or cry.
...
"Louie Rudyard III" (3-star Beginner-class)
"Title: 41st King of Wolfenstein (?)"
"Base HP: 120"
"Base Damage: 5"
"Equipment: [Royal Garb] (Rare)"
"Equipment: [Pendant of Lesser Deceit] (Rare)"
...
"Charles Rudyard" (1-star Expert-class)
"Title: 41st King of Wolfenstein
"Base HP: 900"
"Base Damage: 110"
"Equipment: [Dark Baron] (Rare)"
"Equipment: [Pendant of Greater resistance] (Epic)"
...
A puppet government. A pathetic puppet monarch living a boisterous youthful life as all the power is actually owned by someone else. This is pathetic, just simply pathetic.
But none of this mattered for Feihren. He thought he could establish something here in Wolfenstein, maybe even gaining a good grasp on how this world works. As a player and a military man he craves for a true adventure, but it seems like this isn't the right place to start having one.
...
"Would you like to come to our village? It may not be grand or anything but it is quiet and peaceful out there." Marvin's tone drastically changed from casually talking to Feihren to a much friendlier approach.
"A village? Does it happen to be in the easternmost part of this kingdom?"
Feihren was eager to go if it would be on the edge of the kingdom, in the agricultural lands. He was hoping that the security there was lighter, giving him freedom to go in and out to different places without alarming the kingdom itself.
Not that they would pay that much attention to him, but it would remove the hassle of a thorough inspection.
"Yes, it is! My father is the village chief there"
"Ohhh, a fancy kid yourself ey?"
"No no, not really. The agricultural lands in Wolfenstein are not really prosperous"
Sadness can be seen hiding in his eyes.
Feihren patted his back to encourage him, and smiled, "What are we waiting for? Let's go!"
...
It took the entire half day before they finally arrive at the eastern side of the kingdom. It was evening by the time they had entered the village
'Coboro Village'
"Father!" Even though he was running oddly due to his injury, this did not stop Marvin from rocketing towards, and hugging, an old man by the central area of this tiny village.
This was Sherwin Mendi, the village chief. Even at the age of 87, this guy seems to look active, even with his dwarven stature.
'Dwarves?'
Feihren thought as he started inspecting the people within the village, 'Dwarves! They are indeed dwarves right?' Feihren was not ignorant of the popular races within role-playing games, as Gaia's Paradox could be considered among them.
He was obviously excited, because one thing is inseparable when one is talking about dwarves…
'Blacksmithing!'
The gun creation system back in Gaia's Paradox was somewhat... crude. Gun customization and ballistics engineering have always been as easy as leveling it up more and thus increasing 'Proficiency'.
One only needed to farm for a blueprint with either guns, parts, or bullets drawn on it and create whatever it is multiple times to increase the level of 'Proficiency'. This aspect of the game bored Feihren for sure.
He had a high level on his Sub-Class "Alpha Gunsmith" which, when it was at its highest proficiency, can create any complicated guns/ parts with the
highest rate of success. But even with that, he was not entirely sure how the entire 'creation' process would be in real life. After all, the most proficient thing he can do in his life was lead and fight, but he was not sure how good he would be in the other aspects that are shadowed from the game.
Having dwarven engineers to assist him in this world was a great prospect for Feihren.
There were 2 main things that are of concern for him at the moment.
First was the finite amount of ammunition he has. He had no idea if ballistic creation could be possible in this world where technological advancement was apparently slowed.
The second was the limited durability of his custom-grade weapons. He still prefers his custom weapons over the deity class ones he has been using. Deity grade weapons were indeed strong, but Custom grade weapons are just so practical to use. He designed each of one of them to be as efficient as any weapon of the same type could be.
Following Marvin, Feihren advanced towards the center of the town as he cheerfully greeted the people wandering around.
Marvin introduced his Father to Feihren. They were indeed of the dwarven race! Marvin was basically a demi-human, but it seemed the bloodline of his human mother was strong. Yet Marvin was pretty sure he was and always will be part dwarven, and he was proud of it.
Feihren was then introduced by Marvin and he explained the circumstances both had encountered from the woods to the throne hall.
The dwarven people around gasped in disbelief, eyes filled with respect towards this person.
He was a brave person for standing up against that stupid young king, but a hint of kindness could clearly be felt from him, as if he's a caring senior to the juniors around him.
After clarifying that the village was indeed of the dwarven race, Feihren had a niggling feeling to ask the village chief about one of his problems. He was really curious if... He placed a black case in front of the village chief and politely asked, "Sir Sherwin, do you know of these?" He opened the case exposing the exquisite looking rifle that was encased within it.
Engineering flows in the blood of the dwarves. Instinctively, Old Mendi carefully inspected the huge wand-like object in front of him, with a thought he let out a single word.
"Guns?"
Feihren's face was suddenly filled with questioning remarks 'Guns? Do they actually exist in this world? But...'
Chapter 10: Enemies ON ALL Sides!
A room in Wolfenstein castle.
"Damn it! Damn it! Who does he think he is? Barging in and humiliating me?!"
"Shodan bastard! Who was he really anyway?! Feihren? That bastard will pay!"
Gritting his teeth because of the seething anger, the young king Louie is seriously infuriated due to what unfolded a few moments ago. What happened confused both Charles and Louie.
They had stayed in the same room since that incident that happened in the throne hall.
Unlike Louie, Charles was calmly leaning on a wall, silently thinking, with his eyes shut as if he was asleep. Charles Rudyard, the True King of Wolfenstein, is the total opposite of his idiotic cousin. He was only 12 years older than Louie, though he believes he is way wiser than this cousin of his.
5 years ago, Charles' father has perished due to an unknown disease. This was the story that the masses were fed. However, Charles had found out that the noble faction within the kingdom was the one who plotted the murder of his father.
His father was a caring person to commoners and nobles alike. He was the one that pushed for taxes to be lowered so as to help the poor on the eastern side of the kingdom. This caused the uprising from the nobility faction. In all honesty, reducing the taxes would never affect the royalty faction, but would directly hurt the 'greed' that the people from the noble faction were trying to quench. Assassination through slow and gradual poisoning made the death appear as if he died by a disease.
Louie's idiocy was definitely inherited from his father, whom was a joke of a king. After the death of King Louie, Louie the 2nd had never provided any good contributions throughout his 7 years on the throne. He slowly led the entire kingdom to become gradually weaker. He was a puppet of the noble faction who had no spine to stand up on his own, no vision, no life perspective, no long-term goal or direction, a definition of an idiotic leader.
The death of Louie the 2nd was actually plotted by Charles. Surprisingly, Louie the 3rd has initiated the assassination.
As to his reason, he had his own goals which Charles didn't bother with. It was inconspicuous as to how this cousin of his to want to resort to such methods, but assassinations within families were not uncommon within this world, a power struggle has always been played through survival of the fittest. You'll lead if you're strong, you'll live if you're smart. After the death of his father, Louie the 3rd held the entire royal faction as Charles seized the opportunity to take a hold of the entire noble faction who is in chaos at that time.
Louie was just a figurehead, an image of a king. But in all truth, Charles just wanted the betterment of the country, though he does not believe that supporting the commoners can cause any good for the country. The more slack one is given, the less he'll work. Everything can be done better through straightforward decisions, as such…
"I have heard that after leaving the castle, they took the route going to the east, I believe that Marvin would return to his family and would settle there for now. As for that Feihren guy, we'll see if he also stayed there."
"I'll handle drawing these rats out…"
Charles seemed to have found a great solution. For years he had learned that pressuring people had always yield great rewards, as for nobility pressure the people on their lands, It was a piece of cake.
...
Meanwhile in Shodan Continent,
The Ranustin Kingdom, holding the most prominent position within the Shodan Continent, is starting to stir up trouble. Within the past 3 years, they have gathered the other powerful kingdoms within the continent with one goal in mind, to seize the entirety of the Old Jujelei Kingdom. This would be including the territory that the Wolfenstein Kingdom is currently residing on.
Being at the edge of the Blaz Continent, it has always looked easy to conquer this small yet rich kingdom. But because of the natural geography shielding it, a huge amount of resources would have to be expended should one attempt to wage a war against them. If they took the direct route in the north, they would face many perilous days as they needed to cross multitudes of gigantic mountains before reaching Wolfenstein.
Talking the Southern path would be a roundabout path, and would end up turning into an even longer travel time. They would also have to cross the Jujelei River, which was fine when only a few people would cross, but thousands? Hundreds of thousands? It would take weeks, months even. But now, a new intelligence report arrived that would change the outcome of the long dormant plans.
According to the newly arrived scouts and spies they had sent there a few years ago, the agricultural lands of the Wolfenstein Kingdom were now their best bet in having a much smoother travel for the war. The eastern district of the kingdom was now occupied by the Dwarven race. The dwarves had legitimately acquired the lands through the agreement of King Louie II. In exchange for giving them the lands, the dwarves would help them in metal works and maintenance of the agricultural lands.
When the regime of King Louie II ended after he perished, the agreement seemed to have weakened. Some of the nobility is slowly taking charge of some parts of the land and raising disputes. As such the eastern gate now has few people guarding it. More good news was that parts of the mountain that were once occupied by the Dwarven race have collapsed and the mining caves imploded because of having nobody to maintain them. This created a seeming straight path in the middle of the towering ranges. And it's a few hundred meters wide! Enough for a good number of their troops to pass through without alarming the enemy of their presence!
It would take around a month for war preparation and another 2 for the entirety of the
ir forces to arrive at the mountain range.
...
Late evening in Coboro Village
A peaceful atmosphere surrounds the village, with crickets chirping in a harmonious manner.
Two figures could be seen still chattering in the middle of the village.
"How do you know about 'guns'?" Feihren inquired with a serious look in his face. He had thought, up to this point, that guns would be a unique existence within this time-forgotten world as it has very low technological advancement, but it seems that the term "Guns" does exist here.