A Trap for the Potentate

by Michael Atamanov

  But as for the offer to go out for lunch or dinner the girl made immediately thereafter, I refused. Tina was clearly crestfallen and started suggesting other options of how we could spend time together. But I was firm in my decision and didn't want to get to know the director's new assistant any closer than work required. My new acquaintance just didn't understand that her activity might be strongly upsetting to another employee of this corporation, who had the power to not only fire Tina from her new job, but also to make lots of other problems for a romantic rival.

  * * *

  However, these “other problems” started much earlier, in just fifteen minutes, and with me. The electronic key to call an elevator to floor three hundred thirty-three of the Castle didn't work, and I couldn't get into my place. What the hell?! I tried it a few times on the panel of the high-speed passenger elevator, and also on the panel of the more sluggish freight elevator, but the data reader was stubbornly refusing to accept my card and confirm my ability to access the isolated floor. There was no way except the elevator to get to that floor of the residential skyscraper tower, which Kira owned in its entirety. And only Kira herself decided who got the right to access it and who was not allowed...

  Could my girlfriend really have gotten offended and cut off my access? An inner voice was telling me yes. Yesterday evening, when we'd parted ways, we had technically been fighting. She clearly didn't believe me about the phone call from Taisha and asked that very question to the In-Game Security Service of Boundless Realm, which had brought it all the way to the leadership of the corporation, including the president. What could I say? From there, it was clear. The corporation had told her no, and now she thought I was a liar and had cut off all contact. It was harsh, but completely in my girlfriend's spirit.

  Although... despite all the facts on the ground, I couldn't believe Kira had decided to part with me once and for all. Show her disapproval, sure. And it was even possible that she wanted to show me how much I needed her. But Kira was not the kind of person who would keep quiet and be embarrassed about her decision to end a relationship.

  To my eye, the situation resembled our first meeting in some way. Then, Kira felt awkward next to me, avoided me for a few days and was annoyed, expecting that I would be seeking out meetings with her and bothering her with my company. But when I didn't chase after her, she decided to get near me. I think I now needed to act that very same way, not getting on her nerves and letting her cool off. And although I could send a message to Kira through the head of her security team as before, given I still had his number, or at the very least through her influential grandmother, I preferred not to use these options.

  What could I do right now? I wanted to sleep horribly. Book a room in a hotel? I had easily enough money to get even the most fashionable apartments in the center of the megalopolis. But doing that without it going up the chain to the police database, and various other organs of state control was impossible, and I didn't want any record of where I could be found. Telling the whole world about my location wouldn't be the smartest move, especially if I considered the fact that the Grave Worms had it out for me.

  So, what remained? I remembered that I had the experience of napping during the day in my work cabin right in the uncovered virtual reality capsule, and had even gotten decent sleep. There was nothing else to do. I went back to work. On my way, I went into the supermarket and bought something to eat. I was remined that, in my game cabin, there was a refrigerator, even though I had never even opened it before. It would seem that the time had come to start using it.

  Sometime later, I left the supermarket with full bags in my hands, and called my sister. My sister told me that she had been in the game since the morning and had already led my orcs to the edge of the Great Desert. Now, the orcish army was making camp on a high hill overgrown with thorny brush, and they could already see the bank of the large black river on the horizon. If everything proceeded like that, my brutes would reach the banks of the Styx by this evening.

  “Great, Val! As soon as you get there, tell the coordinates of your camp to Max Sochnier, so he can meet us with his galley.”

  “So, where are you, Tim? I just looked around and Taisha, the Gray Pack and VIXEN are all gone...”

  I told Valeria that, last night, I'd managed to reach the subterranean city of Dotur-Khawe and pick up the package. The purchase turned out right and I thanked my brilliant little sister yet again for her wonderful intuition. I also told her that I had to stick around in the dwarven town to make some more purchases and now, the bright light of day would keep me in the caves until evening. But at that, it seemed I had found a good chef for my savages, so the orcs would be fed right, instead of just wolfing down loads of filth.

  I didn't mention the strange situation with Taisha, having decided to tell my sister about all that one on one. What was more, I didn't immerse my sister in my problems with Kira, the Grave Worms or our lack of home. Valeria couldn't help me in these matters, but it would spoil her mood for a long time.

  I told Valeria I would be sure to visit her in the hospital this evening before work, bring her a bag of fruit and gifts and speak with the doctors. But, I said, if we didn’t have enough time to chat, we could keep talking in Boundless Realm. Val lit up at my upcoming visit, then changed the topic:

  “Tim, I've been studying the map of Styx you gave me last night. And I have a couple very interesting ideas, I'd like to discuss. But that would be a really long conversation, so let's do it not over the phone. So, we can talk in the evening at the clinic or, when we meet at night in the game. I'll tell you the coordinates of the orc camp on the bank of the Styx over the phone, and you can fly on VIXEN after it gets dark.”

  * * *

  I got surprisingly good sleep, despite the semi-spartan conditions and constant buzz of many voices coming from the hallway. During the day, there were always dozens if not hundreds of testers talking outside. I was even getting the impression that many noobs spent the majority of their work day, not in their game cabins at all, but in conversations with one another. I had a perfect understanding of how difficult it was for a new tester to pass the trial period, so I was baffled to see them all behaving so carelessly and wasting so much time. If I were their boss, I would install security cameras in the break rooms and fire anyone who was caught on film more than twice in one day. Maybe that was too harsh a measure, but I seriously couldn't understand what all these poor testers were hoping for!

  After eating the food I'd bought in the morning, I started creating my daily video report about the adventures of the flap-eared Goblin Herbalist. There was more than enough interesting material today but, when editing it, I hesitated for a long time deciding which parts to show my viewers. The desert oasis and orc camp, yes. The search for the ifrit den and discovering the heart, yes. After prolonged consideration, I decided to also include my troglodyte gulping down the rare alchemy ingredient and discovering the previously unknown qualities of the Ifrit Heart. Of course, by doing so, I revealed that secret to all players of Boundless Realm. But, after the Legion of Steel uncovered the mystery and had combed through all markets and auctions in the game, buying up every Ifrit Heart to be found, I had nothing to lose. Plus, it would be sure to increase the popularity of my video clips.

  I thought the strongest moment of today's video clip was my big-eared goblin receiving the unique quest Something Different... with the reward One Wish, and summoning the Legion of Steel to complete the mission. And here, I had to spend a long time deciding what to do.

  On the one hand, I needed to show my viewers that I had successfully completed the mission but, at the same time, I was certainly not planning to reveal precisely what wish I had made to the djinn. I also decided not to show Taisha’s wish, or when she received a quest. But then, it was unclear how the djinn had managed to get free, despite all the efforts of the strongest players in the game. Overall, a lot had to be cut out and, in the end, it turned out a bit too condensed. So, I tried to explain the
unclear moment to my viewers, telling them that the wish made to the djinn was very personal and secret, so I didn't show it. And I said the djinn was freed right after granting all wishes (which was technically true), sending many players to respawn including Amra and Valerianna Quickfoot.

  After finishing the edit and uploading the video, I went to the clinic and talked with my sister. Val was clearly recovering from all her internal worries and was inspired and full of energy. She now had lots of friends, who she spent practically all day talking and playing with. That was good. I finally saw my little sister truly happy and was sincerely glad for her. The attending doctor had a positive opinion of Valeria's psychological progress after her recent suicide attempt, and he also had an optimistic outlook on the upcoming complicated procedures to implant electrodes into the girl's limb stumps. He even pointed for me at the bionic legs made specially for my sister stored in a sterile transparent container. They were practically indistinguishable from real legs. The doctor assured me firmly that, in a few weeks, Valeria would even be able to move the toes on both legs, and in a few months, she could even walk in a special walker or with crutches, getting used to her new legs.

  Overall, I returned to work from the clinic in a wonderful state of mind. This morning's call of warning about killers from the Grave Worms no longer seemed so ghastly to me, and I even mentally reproached myself for giving in to panic and spending a whole day in a virtual reality capsule that was barely adequate for sleeping instead of a comfortable hotel room. But suddenly, in the revolving doors at the entrance to the Boundless Realm building, I passed a person who seemed dimly familiar. I strained my memory and remembered that I had met him a few times in the criminal neighborhood, either in the grocery store or next to the electro-bus stop. This person, it seemed, didn't notice me and walked down the stairs away. At any rate, my fears instantly returned but now many times stronger.

  The first thing I did in my work cabin was to firmly lock the door behind me and bash it hard a few times to test its strength. After that, I looked for the contact data of the corporation's Security Service on my computer. It was already almost eight in the evening, time for me to load up Boundless Realm, so I wanted to avoid a long phone conversation, and especially a personal visit to security. Fortunately, I could just send this information by email. I tried to give a fairly detailed description of the problem, and sent it off. Considering it a done deal, I laid down in the virtual reality capsule and began the loading procedure.

  * * *

  The dwarven lady’s son looked very much like his mother in body proportions. On the doorstep of the alchemy shop, there was a practically spherical dwarf, whose head, hands and squat legs seemed like strange nubs protruding from an ideally spherical body. Adding to that picture was a mail suit, which was clearly too short and narrow for such a body. It didn't cover his protruding stomach even to the navel. Add to that a haughtily luxurious golden helmet with lowered visor, red and green stretchy pants tucked into boots and a set of pots, ladles, and pans hanging from a wide leather belt, and you understand what a sight was drawn before me.

  Tondik Exuberant

  Level-43 Dwarf Chef

  I walked a slow circle around the chef, who was frozen in indecision, looking with curiosity at the extremely outlandish spectacle.

  “And where is your weapon, dwarf? Or were you planning to fight off the swamp beasts with your ladle, using a pan as a shield?”

  The chef remained silent and just lowered his gaze, but Pirona Zealous hurried out of the alchemy shop to defend her youngest son:

  “Mr. Amra, don't you worry about weaponry. Tondik is great with knives and can hold his own in a fight.”

  For some reason, I had great doubt in the accuracy of these words, but I still didn't insist on a test. What was more, I had a more serious reason to worry. For some reason, I didn't see a single trader of weaponry, armor or ammunition, even though I'd given extremely clear instructions to Pirona Zealous on what precise objects I was planning to buy, where and for how much. After seeing how confused I looked and how I was looking around, the owner of the alchemy shop explained:

  “They aren't coming, Mr. Amra. I'm afraid I'm to blame here. I got into a big fight with my neighbors today, because they didn't believe in my son at all, trying to outdo each other in mocking Tondik and saying that he'll never find a wife. And one of my neighbors is an armorer and the other is a weapon-smith... All in all, it turned out bad. However, I did pack three big bags of supplies for the road,” said the mother, pointing at several huge piles of massive bales stacked in the corner. “There are some victuals, various items, a tent, and everything one needs for a long journey.”

  It wasn’t good, but I didn't get particularly upset, because I saw something of a balancing of game algorithms in the NPC conflict. And that unobtrusively reminded me that this was not the real world, and that certain fixed rules did exist here. Instead of walking alone through a huge subterranean city and buying each type of item from a different person in a different place, I wanted to save time and gather all the necessary traders in one spot. But there was no such thing as a free lunch. The game algorithms of Boundless Realm had created a conflict of NPC's to make me seek out the traders I would need.

  I took another critical glance at the bales packed by the doting mother. I was positive VIXEN wouldn’t be able to take off with so much stuff. And she probably couldn't deal with Tondik's weight, either. But it was no big deal. The wolves of the Gray Pack had plenty of inventory space, and I could let the fat chef ride on the strong Fimbulthul. After ordering Tondik to drag the bags to the nearest exit from Dotur-Khawe, I promised to come by a bit later. I still had an hour before sunset, so I set off to find the right shops.

  The Banks of the Styx

  I NOTICED THE ORC CAMP when I was just a few kilometers from the Styx. Between a pitch-black swamp, strange gloomy starless sky and anthracite black river, they had lit bright bonfires and dozens of torches, like the landing lights of a large airport. Steering my Royal Forest Wyvern right into the middle of the camp, I brought VIXEN down next to the very largest central tent, justly assuming it was mine.

  The second I jumped off my mount, the entire Gray Pack appeared next to me: Akella, Lobo, Blanca and White Fang, the level-45 Hardened Wolves, Darius and Darina, the level-43 Wargs, and also the huge shaggy level-59 Mythical Hound Fimbulthul. On the icy-white hound, feverishly latched onto his thick fur, the Dwarf Chef was half lying, half sitting, his face white as chalk. His skin color even matched the fur of the unique animal.

  “Climb off Fimbulthul before his back breaks under your weight, and unload your bags from the other wolves!” I ordered Tondik, myself turning to the whole delegation of NPC's and living players who came out to meet me.

  “Amra! How glad I am to see you!” I was so happy to see the beefy Ogre Fortifier, that I even allowed Shrekson to lift my goblin with his huge arms and squeeze me tight in a burst of emotion. “Max Sochnier and I got here just a half hour ago on his galley. The Naiad Trader is overseeing the unloading of goods from his Tipsy Albatross right now... Actually no, there he is!”

  The fish man in a dashing captain's tricorn with differently colored feathers and unusual scaled armor was hurrying to greet me. I was very glad to see my friend, but there was also a high-level player behind him I was seeing for the first time. I froze, reading his information.

  Antonius Just

  Human

  Level-138 Healer [LIGHT]

  “You yourself asked me to get a map of the Styx or find people who had already been here during the previous twenty-six unsuccessful expeditions,” the Naiad Trader began explaining in an energized tone, pointing at his companion. “Just imagine, I managed to find such a person! And you won’t believe who he is! Timothy, this is my nephew Martin! He's been playing for two years and has leveled up well in that time. Anyway, it was Martin who suggested I look into a job as a Boundless Realm tester, when I was looking for work a month ago. You could even say my
nephew led me to the game. Timothy, don't pay any mind to the fact that he has a marker from the clan of wandering healers Lifegiving Light. Martin is a loner by nature and might leave the clan, if need be.”

  “Yeah, I can leave whenever,” the healer Antonius Just confirmed, entering our conversation. “I've been playing in this clan for three months, but they're real boring and passive. There has only been one mass-scale event since I joined. The leaders of the clan tried to organize an expedition up the Styx on three ships to the undiscovered lands, because one of our clan members got a rare or even unique quest up there. We fought our way through the rougarou territory. We also managed to get through the lands of the giants, although they kicked our asses. I died three times myself. But we eventually got stuck on a sandbar and couldn’t keep going by water. The river rapids were too strong. But going on the shore is just not an option. There are cyclopes there, who will instantly kill anyone they see. We tried all kinds of ways for three days, and each player died at least five times, but it was all pointless. In the end, we just gave up and never went back...”

  The forest nymph, standing in silence not far away and surrounded by my orc cutthroats, unexpectedly lit up and asked the healer:

  “So then, the unique quest remains uncompleted? You wouldn't happen to know what the mission was called, would you?”

  “I once overheard the clan leader say we were three hundred twenty kilometers from the map marker, so we didn't complete it, of course. I'm not sure about the name of the quest. Something about the twelve guards of Elgar, or something like that.”