Reborn as a Baron Lord (Light Novel) (A Steampunk LITRPG Light Novel Book 1)

by Han Yang

  I snorted, earning a stern glare. “Fine, fine. But I -”

  A trio of badgers stalked out of the woods, sniffing all the free food in the clearing. These were about hip high, with four buck teeth and nasty looking snarls. The biggest one burst forward, waddle running for a fox body.

  I noticed the other two were not so eager to rush out of the trees.

  ZAP!

  Joana’s shoulder absorbed the impact as her round hissed forward. The bluish bullet twirled in a flash of movement, finding the neck of the alpha badger.

  A hideous scream erupted from the animal. The other two bolted, leaving their friend to die an agonizing death. At least the shrieks and cries of the wounded animal faded quickly.

  “Been like that every few minutes. Ya not gonna shoot?” Joana asked.

  When she confidently winked at me… I scooted closer to stick an arm around the gorgeous woman.

  “Sorry I got drawn in by your beauty.”

  She giggled folding into me. “What’s the plan?”

  “I pull out Darcy 3 and cover the steambots as they start chucking these kills inside. As soon as Ginli’s done eating. I promise a pound of meat to each resident,” I said.

  “Oh! To help them survive. I knew I picked a keeper,” Joana said with a shoulder check I absorbed.

  We talked over my plans of helping Norn. The only change Joana suggested was installing a freezer at the gate and maybe making it two pounds per rotation. We were after-all staring at a few thousand pounds of meat in the clearing.

  Ginli and Duke joined us roughly five minutes later.

  “We ready to keep chopping?” Duke asked in a chipper tone.

  “What’s it take to get the sawmill online?” I asked and he swirled gears happily.

  “I used some of the triangles to turn on the smelter. A fellow named Max is smelting down some items for us. For the rest of the sawmill, rough wood is enough for the basic building. To upgrade it you need fine wood. Short answer: another hundred trees, roughly twenty cubes of hydrox, and a few days,” Duke informed me.

  I nodded. “You agree it should be a priority?”

  His robot arm raised. “If you get all that potential hydrox outside the walls, a lot of the urgent, minor problems, go away.”

  “Simple,” Ginli said. “You're the tallest one here. We got the higher aim. Why don’t you go out and protect the steambots.”

  “He was plannin on doing that anyway. But she has a point,” Joana said, patting my leg. “Tall and handsome…”

  I rose from my feet, slinging my blunderbuss across my back. The day was still young with the sun high in the sky. A cool breeze washed off the warming rays. I saw the steambots moving for the eastern gate.

  My finger bounced from steambot to steambot, leaving me confused. I counted about twice as many as there should be.

  Duke followed me to the eastern gate and said, “They will get great things done.”

  “Duke… I… How can we afford this?” I asked and he pointed to the dead bodies outside. “I’ll just have to get more I guess.”

  “Yes, yes you will.” I grunted with a snort at Duke’s words.

  The first of the steambot walked out of the city with only minor noises. Their joints were… wet. A partial memory came back to me. “You oiled them?” I asked.

  “They… Yes. They thank you greatly.”

  Hmm… Duke had insider knowledge I did not. So far his results were astounding and… well, fighting him on this seemed mute. I certainly didn’t want to pick weeds, cut rib cages, or clean old farm fields.

  Letting the building issue slide, I tucked my chin in, and headed out of the city to where the steambots were wrapping ropes around bodies.

  I understood the process of using ropes over carrying. Small arms could pull better than lift and an animal being too heavy was fixed by adding more steampower.

  Two golden steambots struggled to lasso the big brown bear.

  “Here guys hand it to me,” I said, wrapping the rope tight around the neck.

  I could have sworn I heard a thank you.

  With my blunderbuss in a hip carry, I walked around the tangle of ropes and steambots. One by one our baited ambush kills were being dragged inside for safe harvesting. This… This would be a game changer for Norn.

  Side glances, small waves, and even nods from the steambots tipped me off. “Duke!”

  “Yes, Baron Bradley.”

  I groaned at his official tone. Alright, I need to address this. “Did you change these amazing helpers and citizens of Norn?”

  There were happy whirls, servos cranking, and even two steambots fist bumping. Yup, they were altered.

  “Ah, I can answer that in due time. Behind you,” Duke said, and I spun, fearing the worst.

  There was no panic emergency. Merely the brown bear was not budging even with the rope taut from steambots pulling. I walked over to the body, pulling on a front paw.

  Under my feet I felt odd vibrations. I tapped my foot, hearing a thunk sound.

  “Stop!”

  My cry out was too late. Dirt crumbled into darkness as the ground below my feet vanished. I became horrified as the raining dirt reached me and I became weightless.

  I fell a dozen feet or so, managing to land on a jagged cavern type floor without breaking anything. The sight I saw was mesmerizing and equally terrifying.

  There was an underground bear of some sort on its hind legs. It had been standing to eat the bottom of the brown bear. The collapse of the ground from its digging and my weight were enough to trigger it to stop consuming.

  The chewing jaws dripped blood and gore. Above, the brown bear zipped out of the opening as it was suddenly free from the tunnelbear, leaving just me and this monster.

  I stood perfectly still, waiting for a clean headshot. A paw swiped blindly at me.

  I jumped back, realizing it probably could hear me breathe. A back pedal to get more space resulted in me tripping backwards to rapidly slide down a tunnel ramp.

  My right eye enhancement had to take over as I dove into darkness. The massive eyeless bear was trying to hurry down the snug tunnel I scrapped down.

  When my feet touched the flat surface of a tunnel intersection, I burst into a run. I had held back firing because I wanted my shot to count. Shooting an arm wouldn’t kill this monster. Everything was transpiring so quickly.

  I sprinted up an incline favoring the terrain. Loud snorting told the bear where I was through his sniffing. The extra-long claws clacked against the hard, gritty dirt as the tunnel bear sought my death.

  “Bradley!” a distant echo reached my ears as I found another intersection.

  This opening held human remains. At least a dozen of them were piled together. In the back corner was a den of sorts and an awful stench permeated the area. There was another exit down, but this was my opportunity.

  I ran to the dead where I spied some weapons. Internally, I cheered my luck when I found bussies in the pile. When I snatched one buss off the skeleton, I groaned that the barrel was indented to about half a choke.

  “Oh man…” I grumbled. It might explode, or it might make a tighter shot. Better than nothing.

  The sound of the tunnel bear was loud in my ears, echoing in the chamber. I ran to the opening from whence the beast would arrive. The undamaged blunderbuss was leveled. My feet were planted firm with knees bent.

  Scraping claws were the first signs of the beast nearing the lip of the tunnel. A sniffing, eyeless face fixated on the spot I stood. The tunnelbear grinned at finding its prey.

  “A little farther,” I teased the epic monster.

  “Bradley!” Shouts from where I’d fallen distracted the behemoth.

  Before he could shimmy in reverse for Joana, I aimed at the torso, and hammered down on the trigger.

  BOOM!

  The weapon poured all its energy into a massive ball of power. Bluish light blinded my human eye.

  My feet absorbed the impact and my shoulder was likely br
uised but I stayed on my feet. I wanted to celebrate when I saw the round sink into the chest area and burrow into the beast.

  The tunnel bear hovered in place, clearly stunned. I think the loud noise set it into a daze.

  I gulped when it shook its head, spitting a mouthful of blood, and continuing into the cavern as if there weren't gouts of blood pumping from a gaping wound.

  “RUN!” I shouted, heeding my own warning.

  I bolted down the other tunnel in the room, hoping the monstrosity would slow or die with time. I really didn’t want to fire the damaged blunderbuss.

  A blur of motion from my peripheral told me the tunnel bear had lunged in a surprise attack. The whoosh of stale air was a predecessor as a single large claw caught my trailing left leg.

  My mechanical foot ripped off with agonized pain, clanging against the cavern wall, and causing me to crash onto my back.

  I sucked in air that escaped me from the impact. I saw the tunnel bear had overextended.

  The beast crawled forward, snapping jaws trying to clamp onto my remaining foot.

  In an act of desperation, I rotated closer to the beast. The next time that mouth went to snap shut, I stuck the damaged blunderbuss in and fired.

  BOOM!

  SPLAT!

  The beast collapsed with a snap, crushing skeletons with an echoing retort. I stared at the corpse in dismay.

  A neat hole in the top of the head trailed tendrils of magical smoke.

  On the ceiling, the brains of the beast were scattered in a widening spray. I yanked the weapon out of the clenched teeth.

  When the metal scraped free I kissed the glorious weapon, and felt in love with the blunderbuss.

  This had been someone’s tool of survival. It failed them, and got a revenge of its own sort.

  “Bradley!” Joana called out from down the tunnel.

  At this moment the pain of losing my mechanical leg caught up to me. When my eyes drifted to the missing limb I bit my lip, spat out some blood, and was unable to control my scream of pain.

  “Bradley!”

  I managed to shout, “In here!”

  Duke whirled into the room first with the other venturebot. Weapons swung in the cavern as they scanned the opening for threats. Joana rushed to me and Ginli kicked the tunnelbear.

  “How the hell is this here?” Ginli muttered.

  Joana stuck a triangle of hydrox into my square port on my hand, letting the pain ebb. “What the hell is that thing!?”

  “A molebear. Comes in four stages: juvenile, adult, alpha, and bearwurm. Can burrow tunnels under the ground and ambush its prey. Larger than an average bear with longer claws for digging. Poor eyesight in sunlight,” Duke said, inspecting. “Possible for this region, but unlikely this close to a city.”

  Great, just what we needed.

  “Alpha…” Ginli muttered with weapons being tensed again.

  Duke shook his head. “Almost the right size. This one was just a bit too small.”

  “They get bigger!” I exclaimed.

  Duke nodded, finding my missing foot. “Much. They grow until they self-reproduce. This one was nearing a molting of sorts where their young would form a pack. Really interesting species. The alpha eats its pack before a final transformation into a wurm. Steamtanks… used by big mercenary companies and dreadfully expensive, are used to fight such behemoths. Worth the reward though.”

  Joana wrapped my nub with her undershirt, trying to staunch the flow of blood.

  “Can you reattach it?” Joana asked in a distraught tone. I held her hand as she fought back tears.

  “No. He lost some bone and will need a custom. I can do it, but best if you put him into a healing sleep.” Duke patted her shoulder reassuringly. “The steambots will be down shortly with a stretcher or ten. Going to take a lot of trips to haul this carcass out,” Duke said. I saw his eyes shine with happiness. “This will be the boss.”

  “Huh?” I blurted through the pain.

  “When areas in the wilds can fester uncontested, and that happens,” Duke pointed to some of the skeletons not covered by the molebear. “A boss will dominate the area. There will be minor bosses and problems in the woods. But this fits the bill for what made this area so dangerous.”

  Ginli came over, bending down to kiss my cheek and smooth my hair. “We’ll get them for you. When you wake up, things will be better. I promise… Thank you, Bradley.”

  She headed off for the tunnel opening to leave, leaving me baffled.

  Joana hummed a tune before saying, “She cried. When… ya fell and a bear head was exposed the size of a pig… She lost it. Ginli leapt the wall, and dove into the pit. Only I kept her from charging in recklessly.”

  “Ah, yeah, she’s been through a lot. I… We’ll be there for her,” I said, scrunching my face in pain.

  “No silly man. We’ll be there for you. Close your eyes, go to your happy place, and let my song wash over you,” Joana said soothingly with a tenderness that brought a smile to my pain etched face.

  The sweet lullaby was everything I could wish for. The pain, the hydrox boost, and my stubbornness fought the sleep. They lost as I drifted into blackness, not sure how long I’d sleep for.

  CHAPTER 20

  I awoke in a panic. Instinctively I shimmied up the bed in distress when I felt a wet lapping tongue on my right foot. “What the!?”

  Joana groaned from my side, waking with widening eyes. “Easy Bradley, it’s a friendly cub, and you're almost poking me in the face with your erection.”

  I blushed, racing out of the bed. My rush for safety resulted in me embarrassing myself. I could recover from this. No big deal. Except, l I shot out from under the covers naked.

  “Where are my clothes? Why are there three white bear cubs in the bed? Eek! Where’s your top!?” I sputtered out, turning so she could get decent.

  “Bradley, come back to me. Lay right here for me.” I heard soft patting.

  I fidgeted. “Uh… Just so we’re clear. What for exactly?”

  There was a shuffle of feet at the door. I saw the shadow of small feet.

  “Sex!” Becky said, knocking on the door. “She wants to sex the mighty new Baron. It's natural. Ma and Pa do it.”

  I covered my crotch, facing Joana. She was donning a robe with a huff. When she went to open the door for Becky I bolted into the privy to hide and relieve my bladder.

  When I peed, I noticed my new foot.

  Oh hot damn what an improvement. This is incredible, the machinery is so… custom. I can’t believe he amputated this high.

  I lost a knee though. Which I wasn’t sure if I was happy, or sad about. It had felt so natural getting out of bed and running into here, I didn’t even notice the drastic change.

  “This leg is amazing,” I shouted.

  Joana huffed, chatting with Becky. “I wouldn’t know. You ran out of bed before I could try it.”

  “How do you try a mechanical leg?” I said, giggling at her silly statement as I finished peeing.

  “You're daft, pretty boy,” Becky teased. “Enjoy your breakfast. Come Ben, Jen, and Ren. Your parents need parent time.”

  The door shut and I heard the bolt lock the room. I was finally starting to figure out what was going on… I hesitantly creaked the door open to find two steely blues glistening like a predator.

  I was attacked, and for once I wasn’t going to fight back.

  ∞∞∞

  Our epic bedroom sheet wrestling lasted long enough for Duke to come check on us. “Baroness, rumor has it the Lord is awake. I have updates.”

  “As do I,” Hudson added.

  “Give me a minute,” I said, kissing my lovely white haired baroness. She aggressively kissed back, forcing me to pull away... else I get trapped in her lovely vixen ways again.

  I chuckled my way to an end table to slide into some gear for the day. I sure felt great - for numerous reasons.

  “Shoo, go away!” Duke said from behind the door.

  I tilted
my head wondering who he was talking to when I heard a pleading growl. Ah, the bears.

  Joana threw on a robe, opening the door and three bears rushed her. While the sight was adorable, it held no context.

  “Where’d they come from?” I asked.

  She scruffed ears, accepted lapping kisses, and then let the little buggers onto our bed. “The wilds, taming is at seven now.”

  “Wow! Excellent. That is fantastic news,” I said, realizing I was missing how long I’d been out.

  Before I could ask, Duke thrummed happily. “I have good news also, Baron Bradley.”

  “And I do not, well, sorta,” Hudson said.

  I kissed Joana goodbye who was studying a text when I departed.

  Sliding the door closed, I said, “Well, first. Duke, amazing job on the leg.”

  We walked down the narrow short hallway from the bar downstairs. Wooden planks creaked, magical candles illuminated the space, and the din of patrons below flooded up. Duke flicked my fancy new left leg with his finger, creating a chime sound as the metal collided.

  “I had to disassemble three extravagant carriages to get that raw material. There was a fee to convert them into appropriate parts at the Gearnix Station and the operation went smoothly. You really love Joana’s singing,” Duke said with a hint of sly.

  I fake laughed at his imposed tease. “She is something special. Again, thank you.”

  “Thank you for saving my life, and the lives of the locals of both kinds,” Duke said.

  Hudson winced. “The steambots are gaining more personalities than ever and Norn loves them this way. So... that is not the bad news, but others may view the news that our workers are gaining sentience… less… enthusiastically.”

  We reached the main barroom to see tables and the bar packed with people. There were joyous conversations echoing from the people of Norn. Hudson was recognized, earning many waves, and nods in greetings.

  I was viewed with skepticism, but not scorn this time.

  The boisterous crowd wafted out scents of unwashed flesh, freshly cooked food, and watered down ale. We navigated to a back booth with a reserved sign to take our seats. I slid into the back arc of the booth so I could view the room.