by Bruce Sentar
Missy took the opportunity to jump on Borris and cut him down. The merchants were all dead now.
Dead guards lay scattered on the ground. Leaving them made Ajax sick, even though he kept chanting to himself that this was just a game. It was too real.
Surrounded by corpses, they cheered themselves up and prying open the loot. It was a morbid affair, but Ajax was quickly distracted by the value of everything. He’d been putting it out of his mind, but he badly needed the coin to pay for a ticket to California. If he was going to go pro, he needed to get to that convention. He had to admit to himself, this act of near banditry might be the best way to solidify that money. He had to focus on that; the real world and his needs there.
“Look for bags or some way to store everything. If we can get larger slot bags, we can snag more.” Ajax the penny pincher was coming out, and all this wealth was great. He was excited about what it would convert to when he got to the city and the currency exchange.
The trio spent until the sun started to set prying open boxes and organizing the loot. When they finished, they had found a crate of adventuring bags. Each was twenty slots, and they loaded up to their max of 6, replacing their starter backpack which only had sixteen slots. With their inventories happily expanded, the group stocked up on consumables of health and mana potions. Then they split up. Missy started organizing the loot into what each thought they would want. Sky went looking through the crafting materials and Ajax dove into the spellbooks.
His pockets jingling with the gold from the merchants' loot, Ajax began sorting the books. He found a spell called Burning Blade, which did about what you’d expect. Missy would love the extra damage from a flaming sword.
The books were varied. They even included passives and crafting skills. Some didn’t provide a skill but were informational about the magic or history of the game. Ajax was sure they would increase his intelligence if he read them, so he set those books in his pile. When he finished his pile was actually the smallest.
There were many combat skills or pseudo spells like charm animals which really seemed to be a guide on how to train a young monster. The number of actual spell books was low, and anything beyond the basic spells seemed more like theory than spell books. At the very least he couldn’t pick them up today and gain a spell. They may be locked behind higher levels or stats.
He had a few in his pile that were amazing, like Create Portal, but there was no way that he was going to figure that out soon. The requirements were insanely high. But having the book lead to daydreams of flitting around cities by portal.
He did pick up enchanting and some recipes, as well as some alchemy skills to train his stats. Ajax put the ones he didn’t think were useful for their group in some of the spare bags before carrying the other two stacks over to the two girls, who had started the campfire.
“Why so glum?” Missy could read Ajax’s disappointment on his face. “Was it the merchants?”
He’d forgotten them to an extent with the looting, if he was honest. It made him feel cold. “No, there weren’t a whole lot of real spellbooks. You guys made off better than me in that department.”
He handed off the bags and the girls put them aside and shared their findings.
“Well we have things for you, too! I set aside two sets. Both are mail, but one is caster stats. The other is a balance of caster and melee stats. I figured you weren’t going to go full melee, but you might dabble. I found you a set of axes that have some magic damage built into their damage, and they increase magic damage dealt.” Her face glowed as she clearly enjoyed giving him good news, and Ajax loved her for it.
He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. “Wow those are perfect, thanks, Missy! I got enchanting skills. I could put some magic damage on these and get some really good use out of them if I fought in melee.” Ajax gave Missy a squeeze on the arm before he was pulled away by Sky.
“Here are herbs, enchantment powders, and rune inks. I’m sure you picked up a book for those, no?” Sky worked a bag onto his belt, replacing one of his empty slots without asking. It was a familiar gesture that warmed Ajax.
“Also, we have that chest from the bandits. If you could take a look?” They showed him an ornate gold chest wrapped in steel chains that glowed with runes.
“Shit, that looks locked tight.” Ajax wasn’t sure what he could provide that would open it.
“We didn’t find any keys on the merchants, so either we hunt down Remblaar to see if he had it, or maybe you could disenchant the chain?” Missy stepped up to look down at the chest.
Ajax reached out and cast disenchant on the chain. The chain crumbled to dust and the gold chest lid lifted open on its own to reveal two spellbooks. Drain Life and Summon Fiend. Ajax nearly collapsed. Hands shaking, he reached in and hurriedly learned both of them like they were going to run away.
When he was done, Missy snickered “I think he’s more attracted to spellbooks than us. He’s never looked at me like that.”
“Oh, I wish you’d look at me like that and take me with such decisiveness.” Sky’s arms wrapped around Ajax and began kneading his pants. She purred into his ear. Her teasing was no joke; little Ajax was suffocating in his pants begging to come out.
Clearing his throat he managed to eek out a response. “Let’s bag up the rest and take what we can. I think we should go north and finish the trip to Tyren.” Ajax slung a few bags over his shoulder and hurriedly marched ahead. Of course, he was trying to get in a position to free little Ajax from its tangled nest without the girls noticing.
CHAPTER 33
The remaining trip to Tyren was uneventful, except the nights. Ajax and Missy tossed the sheets, enjoying each other’s company thoroughly. Sky was still in full tease mode. She evaded joining them masterfully, while flirting with Ajax. But they were growing closer, and he could tell she trusted him more. Even if they weren’t sharing a bed at night they were clearly something to each other. Maybe one day soon they’ll get there.
They soon dropped out of the instance they had been in.
Other travelers, mostly NPCs but also one or two players, joined them on the road. For the first time since Kindle Town, it felt like they were in an online game. They had been lost in their own little world for a long time.
Before them, the grey stone walls towered several stories high. The entrance to the city, a walkway lined with heroic statues throughout the city’s history. The moat below was pristine sparkling water, which seemed more like a decoration than a defensive feature.
Standing before the city he couldn’t see the end where the walls wrapped around. It was smaller than a city in the real world, but at the same time, felt larger without modern transportation.
“It’s beautiful isn’t it?” Missy was hanging off his arm as they walked. Her head swiveling back and forth.
“It is. PIU technology is something else.” Ajax couldn’t believe all of this had only been one day of his life. He wanted to spend a lot more time in the game and with the girls.
“You are going to come to the convention in a month?” Sky asked. There was a bit of hope in her eyes. Ajax knew she needed some sort of commitment in all of this to feel secure. He would have said yes without that anyways.
“Yes, I’ll find a way to be there,” Ajax said that with more conviction that he realized he had. Yes, if he put his next month's rent at risk, he could make it happen. For himself and his relationship with the girls, he wanted to give it his best shot.
They walked into the city and were hit by the bustle and noise of civilization in LR. It was a first and wonderful experience as he watched all of the people go about their business. It wasn’t quite as packed as he’d expected, but he knew it was going to get busier with other players joining in. It would be the home city for many.
“Let’s find that currency exchange.” Ajax was eager to trade the gold for real money. Maybe even enough to buy his plane ticket to California.
Ajax slowed his pace when he was blocked by a man i
n uniform armor. Several others seemed to lurk in the wings. The man held a piece of paper he seemed to be referencing, as he looked between it and the trio. After a few glances, he seemed satisfied.
“It’s them.” With that, the others in matching uniforms circled the party tightly.
“You are hereby under arrest in the investigation of the disappearance of the Violet Merchant’s caravan.” The man held his hand on the sword at his hip. A silent provocation for them to fight. From the look in his eye, he wanted to fight.
Had Remblaar and his men turned them in? Ajax’s could feel his anger roll through him.
Ajax tensed, wanting badly to start that fight. Sky, however, put a hand on his arm to stop him. He followed her gaze and saw Richard watching the exchange with a smirk.
He could feel Missy’s anger next to him and comforted her with a hand on her back. “Come on, let's handle this with reason. I don’t think we can fight our way out.” Ajax looked past the guards surrounding them and to the guards on the walls or patrolling the street. Each and every one of them was paying attention and ready to support the team arresting them.
She relented and they allowed themselves to be brought to the stockades. They were told they’d be seen shortly.
It didn’t take long for Richard to make his way down to their cell. Ajax, however, wasn’t going to listen to his gloating. He looked at the girls and they all silently agreed it was time to log off.
Ajax saw his smirk fade as one by one the trio faded back to reality.
The PIU whirred quietly as the hatch slid back and Ajax was back in his apartment. It was a strange disjointed feeling; it felt just as real as LR. He knew in his mind though that one was fake and this one was real, but it was so hard to find differences.
He crawled out of the PIU and into the main room. He was sore all over; it felt like he’d actually been doing all of the exercises his character had.
As the wave of nostalgia from being back in his apartment passed, he couldn’t help but question their arrest. Had Richard organized it? Ajax didn’t think that he had that much clout in the game, but he could have put in a tip to the guards. There also could have been a snitch from the guards that they set free. Ajax thought that less likely. It was frustrating; they’d have to fix it. If they couldn’t argue their way out, they’d have to fight.
Ajax held up his hand like a gun and shot the fridge for emphasis.
*Thunk*
Ajax jumped and looked back at the fridge closer. There was a clean dent in the center. Had he just done that?
End of Legendary Rule: Book One
Thanks for reading my first book! I found the wester harem genre in 2018 and quickly started devouring all the books I could find. At the end of 2018 I became worried that I was going to out pace releases of new books. I’m happy that the genre has continued to grow in 2019, but I had already set out on the quest. I spent most of 2019 learning how to write and giving my first manuscript an extensive lobotomy.
I found in the process, I really enjoy spending my early morning writing. Book two is underway, I’m about 40% through the manuscript, and being careful so I don’t have to perform as extensive edits this time around. If you liked this book the best way to encourage it is through a review.
Beta Readers. I had some trouble sourcing them out of the general writing population. If you leave a review and contact me on facebook. I’d be happy to include you when it comes time for book 2.
https://www.facebook.com/Bruce-Sentar-102829067876763/
I started this book with the driving intent of contributing to the growing genre of western harem. There is a whole community out there on the Facebook groups below. I suggest you give it a try.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/haremlit/
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