As everyone dispersed to go about their business, Silverbeard pulled Alexander aside. “We got business with the minotaurs when yer ready. And ye should talk with ‘em about the orcs as well. Also, there be a private gathering in the Great Hall this evening. Ye’ll need to be there.” He looked around suspiciously and Alexander knew he was looking for Jules in stealth mode. “I canno’ tell ye more right now.”
Chuckling to himself, Alexander agreed to attend. Then he switched gears. “Let’s go to your office and discuss the plateau.” The two of them walked the short distance to the donjon entrance and down the main corridor to the old dwarf’s office. Once inside, they took seats.
Alexander began by looking up at the ceiling. “Good day to you, Jeeves. Long time no talk.”
“Good day, Majesty. I hope you have been well?”
“I have, thank you Jeeves. Please update me on the construction we discussed for the northern villages.”
“Of course. The two longhouses you requested have been completed, as have the underground structures beneath each of them. Both longhouse structures have been occupied. At the request of Chancellor Silverbeard, I have been removing stone to create a wide cavern deep within the cliff for a market square. There is currently a tunnel two hundred feet in length, fifteen feet high and fifteen feet wide that leads to the square. We now have a significant surplus of stone resources.”
“Thank you, Jeeves. We’ll spend some quality time on your status and resources soon.”
“You are most welcome, Majesty. I am at your service, as always.”
Alexander raised an eyebrow at the ‘Majesty’ title Jeeves was using now, but decided to let it go. He turned to Silverbeard. “Okay, what do you need from me before we go see the minotaurs?”
Silverbeard stroked his beard thoughtfully. “Ye need to decide what ye want from ‘em. Ye already give’d ‘em a home. Shelter, a place to farm, and ye killed the rogue orcs. So do ye just want farmers, or do ye need soldiers? What kind o’ taxes do ye want to charge?”
Alexander knew these items were important. In his world, he would know exactly what to do. His father had trained him, prepared him to participate in the running of Jupiter Tech. But expectations and economy were different here. The minotaurs had chieftains, but didn’t have a ‘king.’ And the orcs were just freed from a tyrant who forced them into war.
“I’m afraid I’m new to all this king stuff. What would you recommend, Chancellor?”
Silverbeard chuckled. “Good lad. Know when to admit ye don’t know. Ye need soldiers. The minotaurs got plenty. I dunno ‘bout the orcs. We killed a good number o’ their warriors and sent the rest to Thalgrin. What they’ve got left will likely be farmers ‘n crafters, the weak ‘n the old, and children. But ye need farmers ‘n crafters as badly as ye need soldiers.”
Alexander ventured, “So, maybe I should offer them a deal similar to what I offered the volunteers here? A salary for the soldiers, plus room and board at the barracks. A place for the farmers and crafters to do their work, and access to the resources of the forest. No taxes for a year, to give them time to get on their feet? Then beyond that… ten percent for the kingdom?”
“Aye, lad. That be good. Maybe offer them access to the dragon forge fer the best smith from each o’ their tribes. Have Jeeves build more o’ what they need. Housing ‘n such. And in return, they swear the oath and support the kingdom.”
Alexander nodded. “Sounds right. Let’s plan to visit them tomorrow. Oh!” He pulled out the signed treaty document. “Please put this somewhere safe. In case we need to add more kingdoms. Which seems likely. And if you could have copies made?”
Silverbeard took the document and nodded. “We chancellors have duplication magic fer that.” He waved his hand over the scroll and muttered a few words. A moment later, he handed Alexander back what amounted to a photocopy of the treaty, complete with signatures.
“That’s awesome! Can you do that with spell scrolls and books?”
Silverbeard nodded. “Simple scrolls and books, aye. Non-magical. I canno’ copy magic scrolls or trainin’ books unless it were me that wrote them. Or with the permission of them that wrote it.”
Slightly disappointed, Alexander sat back in his seat. He’d been seeing free spell scrolls and training manuals for each of his people dance in front of his eyes. Still, it was a handy skill to have. “How about maps?”
“Aye, again, if they be non-magical,” Silverbeard confirmed.
“Good enough. Thank you, Master Silverbeard. Now, do you have drawings for the new market square and interior spaces?”
The two of them dove into the planning and designing of the improvements at the keep. For the next two hours, Alexander lost himself in the kingdom-building details. He hadn’t realized it before getting the quest to help rebuild Whitehall, but he really enjoyed building things. Not just with his bare hands or his magic. He enjoyed making things grow, meeting people’s needs. The strategy of making sure his kingdom expanded in a workable way.
He thought back to when he was a kid and Olympus was being built. And the times, like now, when his father and Michael built expansions. Then the thoughts of Olympus reminded him of something. He thanked Silverbeard and took a set of the drawings with him to study more thoroughly later.
Leaving the office, he headed straight for the smithy to find Brick. When he located the dwarf, Brick was standing over an anvil, hammer in one hand and a dagger in the other. He was zoned out, a look Alexander recognized. “He’s doing that spooky shaping/engraving thing again, isn’t he?” he asked one of the nearby smiths. The dwarf nodded his head, looking jealous.
Alexander sat on a nearby stool and waited. Brick normally wasn’t in these trances too long. Crafting in the game wasn’t like in real life. A smith, once they had the ingredients prepared and the necessary tools in hand, could craft an item in just a few minutes. Whereas in the real world it would take hours or days.
Since Alexander knew they’d be recruiting more fighters, he passed the time while he waited by pulling out bits of obsidian and enchanting them with the Undying and Light Heal spells. He left them as unshaped cubes as he set one after the other on the bench next to him. With his new levels, higher stats, and much larger mana pool, he wouldn’t need to stop to rest anytime soon. He had maybe a dozen of them enchanted when Brick woke up.
The first thing Brick did upon seeing Alexander in front of him was to hide the dagger behind his back. “Shit. What’re ye doin’ snoopin’ around me forge?” he demanded. He seemed almost to be blushing.
“Snooping? I came here to see you and you were all twilight zone, so I’m making some more dragon pins.” Alexander poked at him. Now he was dying to know about the dagger. “Whatcha got there?”
“Where?” Brick pretended to look around in confusion. When he saw Alexander wasn’t buying it, he said, “I got me a big ol’ hunk o’ none o’ yer damned business!” He glared at his friend.
Alexander chuckled. “Okay. I’ll cover my eyes while you put away the dagger you’re not holding. Then can we talk about why I came here?”
Brick turned his back to Alexander for a moment and the dagger disappeared into his bag. “What’ye need?”
Alexander grinned and leaned in to whisper to the dwarf about his idea. A moment later, Brick laughed. “BWAHAHA! That be the best idea I hear’d all day. We can do it here, methinks. We’ll need ta make a chain… difficult, but not impossible. The gears ‘n such won’t be a problem.” Brick wandered off and began shouting at apprentices. He’d already forgotten Alexander was there.
*****
Matt sat back in his chair and donned his headset. He’d taken some time to cool down. Drink a few beers, get some rest. And he was reasonably sure he’d cleared the traps. At least, enough of them that he could make it out the door and find a new bind point. As a last resort, he had some teleport scrolls in his bag that would take him to other safe houses.
He hated giving up that bind point. But it wasn’t like
he could complain to the admins about it. His account was still under the radar, and so far undetectable. He needed to keep it that way. The minute Odin or the Jupiter Tech folks could spot him, he’d be done. The authorities would be on him before he could run. And he had no intention of going to jail.
Closing his eyes, he triggered the login. As before, he found himself on his throne. He sat there for a while, remaining still as he surveyed the floor in front of him while he strummed his fingers on the arm of the throne. Standing, he stepped carefully down and toward the doors. He managed to reach the doors without stepping on a needle.
“Yes!” He pushed on the doors to open them and head up to the surface. But the doors didn’t budge. He slammed his shoulder into them a few times, but they didn’t budge. With a rogue’s build, he didn’t have the bulk or the strength for something like that.
“Really?” he shouted at the ceiling. “How long are you going to keep me in here? This is just overkill!” He reached for his bag to grab a teleport scroll. “Come ON! You took my bag, too? Return it immediately!” He began to mutter to himself and pace, thinking of a way to escape. Being a rogue class, he decided to pick the locks. His lockpick tool case was in his bag, wherever that was. But he believed in being prepared. He pulled at the lining of his vest and loosened a thread. A moment later, he withdrew a lockpick. This was his last pick, and he needed to be careful.
Grabbing one of the fingers of his glove with his teeth, he pulled it off so that his sensitive fingers could better feel the pins of the lock. Immediately, the poisoned debuff appeared on his UI again as a foul taste filled his mouth. “Poison on the gloves? The chair! Dammit! This isn’t funny!” He dropped the lockpick as he fell to the floor.
Back in the real world, he threw off his headset and walked stiffly to the back of the house and out the door. A few blocks away, he got into his truck. The moment the door was closed, he screamed and began to punch the roof, the door, the steering wheel. An accidental honk of the horn finally stopped him as he looked around in a panic. Starting the truck, he drove away. He needed to get more supplies anyway. It would be good to chill for a few.
The younger dragon was tempted to move forward and take the lockpick dropped by the adventurer who called himself the Dark One. Remove his last hope of escape. But he was amusing. More fun than they’d had in quite some time. He still insisted on blaming his drow masters. And his anger levels were only rising as his experience levels dropped. So the dragon left the pick where it was. The two of them began to wager on how long he would spend trying to unlock an already-unlocked but sealed door.
*****
That evening, Alexander and Jules joined Silverbeard in the Great Hall as requested. They found him with Lola and all of the player members of the Greystone Guild. Trying to remember if it was his birthday or something, Alexander called out, “What is this? A coup? Any one of you wants this throne it’s all yours!”
There was some scattered laughter as Sasha stepped forward. “We just all wanted to say how happy we are that things went smoothly for Jules. That we love her and we can’t wait to see her in the real world, too.” There were cheers and applause as Jules blushed.
Alexander took her hand and led her to a spot at one of the tables near the center of the room. He picked up a mug of ale that had already been filled and raised it into the air. “To Jules!” The others answered the call with mugs of their own. “Jules!”
Everyone took seats and the meal began. There was plenty of laughter and lots of questions about how it felt to be back in the real world after so long. When everybody had eaten their fill, Lainey and Misty approached Jules with a package. Lainey said, “We’re neither of us any good at sewing, but we wanted you to have this.”
Jules opened the package and pulled out the bundle of fabric. It fell open to reveal a beautiful dress in the Greystone colors. She hugged it to herself as tears formed in her eyes. “It’s… wonderful! Thank you!” She hugged both women tightly.
Brick cleared his throat and stepped forward next. “This be from all of us.” He handed her a wooden box with a small silver clasp. She took the box and set it on the table. Reaching out to open it, she paused. Turning to Brick, she asked, “Is it going to explode?”
Everyone in the room laughed as she pulled out a lockpick and probe and pretended to check it for traps. A moment later, she set down her tools and opened the box. There were gasps from the others who hadn’t seen the dagger yet. Jules’ eyes sparkled as she reached for it.
“This is so awesome!” she cried. Lifting the weapon up and holding it in both hands, she showed it to everyone.
The Queen’s Dagger
Item Quality: Epic, Unique
Stats: Agility +6, Dexterity +5
Enchantment: Crit Chance +10%
This dagger was crafted in a Dragon Forge blessed by the gods of Io specifically for the first queen of Elysia. Forged of mithril with an emerald stone, it is enchanted to increase the wielder’s chance of a critical hit by 10%. Sneak attacks and attacks on a helpless target will have an extra 10% chance of critical hit damage bonus. This item is soulbound and cannot be lost, stolen, or traded.
“Thank you so very much.” Jules’ voice was quiet as she gazed at the dagger. “I… wish I had something to give all of you.” Tears rolled down her face as she placed the dagger back in its box and closed the lid carefully. She sat on one of the benches and tried to smile at everyone at once.
Alexander patted Brick on the shoulder. “Well done, my friend. Thank you.”
The dwarf looked at him. “Bah! She be always threatenin’ to stab ye. I just figger’d she should have a proper weapon when the time comes!” He grinned at Alexander.
After that, the celebration continued for a short while, with more toasts and lots of hugs for everyone. At one point, Alexander noticed a pair of big green ears poking out from behind one of the tables. They moved like twin shark fins toward the table where some treats were laid out. Alexander tapped Jules on the shoulder, then Sasha. As they turned, he pointed out the cookie thief moving in to strike. Others noticed and followed their gaze. Soon enough, nearly everyone in the room was watching Fibble creep toward his prize.
Jules went into stealth mode and dashed toward the table. She intercepted the little goblin, grabbing him and tossing him into the air as he squawked. Lugs caught him and flipped him over to Brick. The little guy’s arms and legs waved furiously as he tried to get some traction and get away. When Brick caught him, he held Fibble up before Alexander.
“What do we have here? I believe we’ve caught a cookie thief!”
Fibble shook his head so hard his ears slapped Brick on both sides of his face, causing Lugs to bend over laughing. “No thief! Minister of Cookies! My job to test cookies, make sure they safe for ‘Zander and rest of clan!”
Alexander grinned at the quick-thinking little thief. “That’s true, I did give you that title, didn’t I?” Fibble nodded his head furiously, grinning with his few remaining teeth. His feet were still wiggling, as if trying to run on air as Brick held him up.
“Well, I suppose we’ll have to take back that title. Give you another one. Minister of Baths, maybe? You can test each of our baths before we get in. To make sure the water is just right.”
“Nooooooo!” The pitiful wail that escaped Fibble instantly made Alexander feel bad. He patted Fibble’s head. “Okay. We won’t change it this time. But don’t let me catch you stealing cookies in the keep again.”
Fibble made a grumpy face and mumbled, “Not mean to let you catch me this time.” Alexander did his best to keep a straight face as he nodded for Brick to set the goblin down. Fibble immediately stuck his tongue out at Jules, who he blamed for exposing him. Then he stomped over to the table of treats and deliberately reached up to grab several cookies. Turning, he showed them to everyone.
“Not steal. Testing!” He shoved the cookies in his bag and stomped grumpily out the door.
A short time later, the friends began to
drift away. Some headed to their beds, others to work on their crafting or deal with other business. Alexander and Jules retired to their quarters and were quickly asleep.
The next morning, as usual, Jules was in her pink bunnymonster suit. Alexander had the urge to ask the devs how she was doing that, but remembered that they couldn’t observe her in the bedroom. “It seems this will remain a mystery,” he said to himself.
Jules nuzzled against him, saying, “Hmmmm?”
He kissed her forehead. “Never mind. Stay here and sleep. I’m going with Silverbeard to the northern villages to talk to the minotaurs and orcs.”
She wrinkled her nose and replied, “Mmmhmm. Morcs. Fun.”
Alexander got up and equipped his gear. Heading down to the kitchen, he grabbed some fruit and went to sit in the dining area to wait for Silverbeard. The sun was up and many of the citizens had already finished breakfast. The forge was already crowded and busy.
Noticing Blix at one of the tables, he went to sit with the gnome. “Blix! How goes the banking business?”
The gnome banker bowed his head in greeting. “Good morning, Alexander. Business is good. Many of the citizens have deposited funds with us, and there have been several more loan applicants. I have approved three more loans using your… unorthodox guidelines.” The gnome sniffed as if offended by the inability to charge market interest rates.
Alexander chuckled. “Thank you, Blix. I promise, soon enough you’ll be able to charge exorbitant interest on loans. Especially once we open this place to trade. And other adventurers. Feel free to take as much of their money as you can.” He grinned as Blix perked up.
Silverbeard joined them, a plate of eggs and toast in hand. Alexander made small talk with the chancellor and banker as Silverbeard ate his meal. Alexander finished off an apple and looked at the core. “Where’s Bacon when you need him?”
The oversized pig answered immediately. His snout rose up from behind another table, where he’d been lazing about waiting for scraps. When he got to his feet, his head was well above table level. He looked at Alexander and tilted his head.
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