Berryl walked out of the small shack, swishing her tail and giving the elf a nice look at her posterior as she left.
Estelar pressed his face into his palms and sighed. The things he was going through for his guild. Going through those interviews made him thankful he wasn’t pursuing a career in Human Resources.
The elf sat and mulled through his list of prospective zeros he wanted for his mission. Mommy model train guy was an obvious choice, but what about the others? All of them displayed a healthy dose of inadequacy, and all of them were pretty dense, but which other one should he choose?
He ran through the entire list, but he was unable to make a decision. Estelar ran through the remaining candidates again when he heard a knock on the door.
It opened and Berryl peeked in. “I don’t know if I mentioned this or not, but I’m really good at making snacks. I just thought you should know.”
She closed the door again.
Estelar smirked under his mask. He’d found his second choice.
TWENTY-TWO
Estelar and his group led the ten they chose for their operation to Shumpet. There they met someone in black robes who led them to a large wooden building that served as the city stable. The elf was given a small piece of parchment and the robed figure disappeared down an alleyway.
The elf unrolled the parchment.
Follow the orders I gave you. This mission is very important. Do not mess this up. I’ve ordered your horses to be prepared. Do not offer a mount to any of the “new recruits.” It’s best not to waste precious resources on them. Make sure they are all killed during the attack. I will not tolerate failure. This should be self-evident, but don’t share this message with our new recruits.
L
A sinking feeling entered the elf’s stomach when he read those words. He wasn’t terribly fond of the inepts chosen by him or his comrades, but he didn’t think they deserved to be treated as some pawns in a greater scheme. He shared the note with his fellow highwaymen and they grimly nodded. The new recruits asked what the note said, but they wouldn’t show them.
One of the chosen tried to grab the note, but Durga balled it up and placed it in her mouth. She chewed and swallowed, then angrily chastised the man. He cowered in the presence of the large orc and fell back in line with the others.
Estelar and his friends got their horses and rode out of the city while the others followed on foot. The new recruits left Shumpet in high spirits, however as the trip wore on, they began to complain. Sore feet and exhaustion were their main topics of umbridge. After a solid hour of complaining Tatarna and Padwin got tired of it and told the would-be criminals that if they didn’t like it they could leave.
They threatened to do so. Estelar knew that might put Larkin’s grand plan, whatever it was, in jeopardy and was able to persuade them to stay with promises of riches and treasure. The complaints died down, but there was still a fair bit of grumbling among the group.
The one member that didn’t complain was Berryl. She jogged beside the elf, making small talk and telling him stories of her exploits in the game. Estelar found the cat girl’s bubbly attitude infectious and was soon laughing along with her on her strange and almost unbelievable tales of adventure.
On their journey, Estelar found himself lamenting the fact that he never met this girl, or someone like Fonwilsia, before he ran into Padwin or Larkin. If he had, he probably never would have joined the Crimson Warriors or have been caught up in their guild master’s mysterious scheme for power.
When they were close to their destination, he had the urge to throw off his mask and tell the group of ten lambs being led to slaughter to run. He wanted to grab Berryl and ride far away from there, to the safety of another land and begin a new life adventuring. He even fancied the idea of contacting Fonwilsia and they could create their own adventure group.
However, the grim determination in the eyes of his other four party members made him fight these urges. No. He wouldn’t do that. He couldn’t betray the people he’d come to know as friends. They were probably having similar thoughts as he was, at least he hoped they were. Underneath their masks, they probably wore the same grim expression that he did. They didn’t want to lead this group of inexperienced to their deaths either, but they had to. It was their duty.
Estelar rode forth until they reached their destination. When they arrived, Estelar’s group explained to the ten what they were to do. When they were done most of them cheered.
“Oh this is going to be so cool,” one of the ten said.
“We should capture their women and take them back with us,” said the model train obsessed member of their company.
Their reaction upset Estelar. Assholes, they were as corruptible as they were inept. Perhaps he wouldn’t feel so bad about giving them a character death.
The only member that didn’t seem too excited about the prospect of a robbery was Berryl. Her ears drooped a bit and she stood looking at the ground with her furred hands behind her back.
“You okay, Berryl,” Estelar said.
The cat girl shrugged. “I guess.”
“You guess? You’re about to get a bunch of loot.”
“Yeah, but it doesn’t feel right.”
Estelar grimaced, the sinking feeling he had returning.
“You’ve pulled off all sorts of crazy capers before.”
“But those people deserved it. The people we’re gonna rob don’t. They’re just poor shmoes trying to make money.” She looked up at him with wide, sparkling eyes, “Just thinking about it makes me feel bad.”
An icepick plunged into the elf’s heart. Damn, that girl had a way of making him feel like shit.
“I’m sorry you feel that way, but you can’t back out now. You’ve already accepted the job. If you try to leave, we’ll have to kill you.”
Berryl kicked the ground and sent a stream of loose dirt flying. “Okay, but don’t expect me to be happy about it. When this is done, I’m never working with you again.”
“Understood.”
The group stood quietly and watched the road. Several travelers and a few carts passed before they spotted a small group of three covered wagons with a few trade goods hanging on the sides. There were only a few guards in tattered looking armor. They were tired as well, perhaps from being on the road for a while.
Estelar looked to his party members and they all nodded to each other. They looked to their recruits and gave them the signal to attack.
Nine of the party members ran toward the wagons. They screamed and held their weapons over their heads. Estelar pressed his face into his palm. Wonderful. The wagon train would see the attackers and run. To the elf’s surprise however, the wagon train stopped. More guards got out of the wagons and a defensive position.
Estelar watched their group of incompetent bandits wildly run toward the wagons. The only one that didn’t seem excited was Berryl. She jogged along with her fellow raiders, putting little effort into her stride.
Five guards knelt in front of the wagons. They fired a volley of crossbows, cutting down two of them. They reloaded and another was shot in the head and killed. One more would have died, but luckily his shield caught the missile. The elf sighed. If things continued at this rate, there wouldn’t be any left for them to kill.
The remainder of the group held up during their unorganized and raucous charge and the melee began. The initial attack went terribly for the wannabe raiders. They were outclassed by the caravan guards and one fell to a thrust from a guard’s sword.
The guards worked together and easily fought off the disorderly attack. It looked bad. The elf and his comrades thought their mission would fail.
Berryl looked around at her fellow raiders and called out to them. They rallied behind her and counterattacked. They began to focus and fought in tandem. The guards were corralled together and pushed back toward the wagons.
The guards fought for several minutes but the fatigue of the road was finally wearing on them. One by one they fe
ll to the raider onslaught until finally they all fell to the ground. The lead driver flicked the reigns on his wagon and the horses were about to ride away. However, two of the raiders, a nimble elf, ran up to the lead driver and held a dagger to his throat, stopping him. The surviving raiders, save for Berryl, congratulated each other on a job well done.
Padwin walked his horse up to Estelar and drew a finger across his throat. The elf nodded and they charged toward the group.
The Crimson Warriors rushed forward on their mounts and closed on their supposed allies. Brandishing their weapons, they attacked the still celebrating raiders. Two of them were quickly felled. The others stopped celebrating and stood in shock. Poppy drew a few throwing daggers and tossed them at another. All hit their mark and he fell dead.
The elf in the lead wagon, a human, and Berryl were all that remained of the original ten. Seeing this treachery they scattered in different directions. Poppy and Durga took off after the elf, Padwin and Tatarna chased after the human while Estelar went after Berryl.
The cat girl bounded toward the middle wagon and slipped inside. Estelar dismounted and followed her. When he stuck his face in he was greeted by two vicious slashes from Berryl’s claws. His character screen opened and a few hit points drained.
“I should have known something was wrong with all this,” the catgirl said and slashed with her claws again. “You and that group of masked freaks. I knew this was no good.”
The cat girl’s scratches were extremely sharp, even getting passed his armor. After a couple of minutes her strikes took a toll on Estelar’s hit points. One of the attacks landed across his eye and shut it.
Estelar Lvl. 11
HP: 75%(-1%)
Stamina: 70%
Status
Injured Eye
The elf hurled himself into the wagon and thrust his arming sword in front of him. Berryl dodged this and hit him with another series of slashes that tore his robes and armor. and His arms were bleeding.
Estelar Lvl. 11
HP: 72%(-3%)
Stamina: 68%
Status
Injured Eye
Bleeding (Warning: Steadily Lowers HP)
Estelar thrust his sword in front of him in a vain attempt to get the cat girl away. But it did no good. She managed to dodge each one and scratch the elf with her incredibly sharp claws.
Estelar’s hit points slowly ticked away. Each new attack brought his hitpoint down further.
Estelar Lvl. 11
HP: 33%(-5%)
Stamina: 45%
Status
Injured Eye
Bleeding (Warning: Steadily Lowers HP)
He continued to thrust his sword in front of him, trying to score a lucky stab on the catgirl. The wagon was a confined space and he had to fight on his knees. He wasn’t able to use his his movement.
This curse turned out to be a blessing for him. Even though his movement was limited, so was Berryl’s. She was forced to retreat with each stab she dodged. Estelar managed to corner her at the front of the wagon.
She growled when her feet hit the jockey box, she lunged forward and laid two more deep slashes on Estelar’s face.
Estelar Lvl. 11
HP: 15%(-2%)
Stamina: 27%
Status
Injured Eye
Bleeding (Warning: Steadily Lowers HP)
His heart hammered into his ears. Sweat stung the multiple lacerations on his face. He gritted his teeth. He knew that if he panicked, he’d be dead.
Estelar dropped and threw his body against the cat girl’s. She shrieked and the small of her back slammed against the jockey box. She hissed and leapt atop him. She landed a small scratch on his wounded face, tearing away at the fabric of his mask.
Estelar Lvl. 11
HP: 9%(-4%)
Stamina: 22%
Status
Injured Eye
Bleeding (Warning: Steadily Lowers HP)
He reached up with his sword and blocked another. Berryl’s hand hit the blade and made a gash in her fur. The elf brought his weapon up and slashed across the cat girl’s face. She slid back a few inches and Estelar used the room he created to bring up his feet and plant them into her chest.
The wind was knocked out of Berryl and she slammed into the other side of the wagon. Estelar spun to his knees. The catgirl recovered and launched another strike. The elf countered with a series of small cuts that sent her back. She came forward again and through his bleary, fading vision, he saw an opening.
The elf threw his sword forward and ran the catgirl through the stomach. She gasped and fell back. Estelar withdrew his weapon and held it to the catgirl’s neck.
Berryl whined and clenched her wound. She looked up at the elf with watery eyes and relaxed her muscles.
Even with his battle lust still coursing through his veins, and the agony of his wounds slowly sapping his life force, he couldn’t plunge the sword into her neck. Her effervescent demeanor and zeal for life stopped him. He lowered his sword.
A creaking sound came from behind Estelar. He turned and saw one of the caravan guards, a handsome human with jet black hair and strong jaw line pull himself into the wagon. With his remaining strength Estelar pulled the wounded man into the wagon and held his sword to his throat.
“Can you understand me?” Estelar croaked.
The man looked up at him with deep brown eyes and nodded.
“You see that cat girl over there?”
The man looked over and nodded again.
“When my group and I leave, I want you to fuck her.”
The guard cocked an eyebrow. “What?”
“She’s wounded.” Estelar coughed blood on the man’s armor and his vision wavered. “I want you to fuck her so she can heal. Can you do that?”
The guard looked at the catgirl and then nodded enthusiastically.
Berryl pulled herself up and crawled toward the elf. Estelar looked at her.
“Would you let this guy have sex with you?”
The catgirl smirked. “Let him, I’ll make him.”
The guard’s eyes went wide and a smile came across his face.
The world swirled around Estelar and he back. The world was fading to black.
Estelar Lvl. 11
HP: 2%(-1%)
Stamina: 18%
Status
Injured Eye
Bleeding (Warning: Steadily Lowers HP)
Berryl drug herself up to him. From her bosom she pulled a small vial filled with leaves. She emptied the vial inter her mouth and chewed them. After a few chew she lifted the elf’s mask enough to expose his mouth. With a forceful hand she opened his mouth and pressed the contents of hers into his.
Electricity shot through him. His loins felt warm and he felt an comfortable urge in his stomach. Estelar swallowed the leaves and felt a different kind of warmth, this one soothing, spread through his body.
Estelar Lvl. 11
HP: 6%(+4%)
Stamina: 18%
Status
Injured Eye
The catgirl took out another vial and did the same thing. When she tried to give the leaves to Estelar, he tried to fight her away.
“You need these more than me.”
Berryl lightly slapped the elf across the face. “You’re about to die. Shut up and eat this.”
She emptied the contents into her mouth, chewed them, and pressed them into his again.
Estelar Lvl. 11
HP: 10%(+4%)
Stamina: 18%
Status
Injured Eye
Berryl turned to the guard and smiled. “Besides, I’m gonna get all the healing I want soon.”
“Our mission,” Estelar said with ragged breath, “was to kill you. Pretend that you’re dead so my friends won’t kill you.”
The catgirl placed the mast back over Estelar’s mouth. “I think you need to find new friends. Okay, kitty can play dead. But don’t blame me if they try to make sure I’m dead and I scratch th
em all to hell.”
Berryl dropped back and lay with her tongue sticking out. The guard closed his eyes to complete the ruse.
Estlear drug himself out of the wagon and fell to the ground with a hard thump. Bolts of pain burned through his body.
Estelar Lvl. 11
HP: 9%(-1%)
Stamina: 17%
Status
Injured Eye
He lay there for a few minutes before he felt a hand on him. He was lifted off the ground by Padwin and carried over to his mount.
Durga and Tatarna were speaking to the lead caravan driver, their disguises cast away and their crimson armor revealed. Padwin placed Estelar on his horse and the large human hoisted himself behind his friend.
Soon the two women talking with the caravan driver broke off their conversation. They looked around the attack site and inside of the wagons then came back to their mounts.
Estelar’s head bobbed almost lifelessly as they rode. He hoped that Berryl would make it to Caspadel safely.
TWENTY-THREE
“It’s bullshit,” Estelar mumbled to himself as the group rode toward Shumpet.
“What’s bullshit?” Padwin said, holding onto the elf so he wouldn’t fall out of the saddle.
“What we just did.”
“It was kind of screwed up. We didn’t get any loot out of it.”
Estlear shook his head as it bobbed on the back of the trotting horse. “No, recruiting those people to kill them off. It doesn’t make any sense.”
“Duh, but whatever. Larkin wants us to recruit dumbasses and kill them off in bandit raids, I’ll do it. Long as he keeps the ale and women coming, I’ll do all sorts of stupid shit.”
Estelar was quiet for a moment. He watched the dirt and rocks pass beneath them as they travelled along the road.
“You ever feel bad about any of this?”
“A little bit, but after screwing a couple of hot women and downing a few ales, I get over it.”
“The pussy and the liquor is nice but, I still feel bad sometimes. I read when you get killed you lose a bunch of experience.”
Unexplored - Rise of the Crimson Kingdom: A LitRPG Adventure (Book 0 Unexplored Cycle) Page 11