“What?” Runner said flatly.
“It’s true. Has anyone asked you to choose?”
“No.”
“Runner, I’m afraid you really are a bit slow at times, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, kinda. I’m not good with women. I’ve never actually been the aggressor before.”
“We noticed.”
“We?”
“Of course. You thought we wouldn’t talk? Share information? Did you think this was a tacky romance novel where they all fight each other over one man? Please.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Clearly. For now, know that no one is asking you to do anything. Continue on as you have been. You’ll get there eventually.” Thana sighed dramatically and pulled at him a little tighter with her hands.
“You don’t care that I would sleep with all of you in a heartbeat?”
“I’m not exactly thrilled at that idea, no. Though they’re all women I would consider a sister so it’s not so terrible either.”
“You sound unsure, yourself.”
“I am. We all are. It’s a brand-new world out there. You change and break it wherever you go. So far, for the better. The benefits are finally paying off. Still no dental. We did all level three times when you had your meeting with the queen.”
Runner nodded his head a little.
“Quest completed. Wait, so, you’re not upset I slept with Katarina?”
“At first. The first few minutes. It was something we’d all talked about before it happened. If it should happen. After she explained it, though, I felt better. It’s not ideal, not what any of us wanted, but it’s workable.”
Runner would swear he’d just received tacit approval of being in a five-way relationship. He considered perhaps that it had to do with the fact that they were all Naturals. Then immediately dismissed that as he knew they had the full range of emotions one expected of a person.
One thing at a time.
“That isn’t to say that if you ever tried to include anyone further we wouldn’t leave. Nor would we seek to bring in others,” Thana said quickly. Her fingers tightened into his clothes as if to emphasize the point.
“I’m afraid I still don’t quite understand. If I had to put words to my thoughts, I would say it almost sounds like you’re telling me you’d enter a relationship with me, with Katarina included. And that you’d allow it to extend to Hannah and Nadine if they desired it. In a non-romantic way between the four of you, that is.”
“I suppose I am,” Thana grumbled and then sighed. “You’re a pathetic excuse for a man, though I find myself willing to take a quarter rather than nothing. I’m not sure if that makes me more pathetic than you, or not.”
“Less, to be sure. I’m sorry. I can’t stand the idea of hurting any of you. I’d almost rather walk away from the whole thing than harm any of you.”
“That’s one of the reasons we convened the ‘Runner’s an idiot, let’s talk’ council. Hannah was concerned you were going to run.”
Runner grunted, unsure of how to proceed. He was intrigued at the idea that Hannah was the one to suggest it though.
Turning his head to the side, he found Thana’s warm brown eyes inches from his own.
“Where does that leave us?”
“Alone in a bed.”
“This is true. Speaking of, how’d you get in here? Queen Helen seemed to deliberately separate us all.”
“Stealth potion. As to the queen, I believe she did that for your own safety. Apparently capturing the enemy general alive endeared you to quite a few young noble ladies of the court. Trouble is, they’re not as polite or as subtle as Sunless women.”
“Oh. It’s the charisma stat, it’s not me.”
Thana laughed and then pressed her lips to his. She pulled back as quickly as she had moved in and gave him a bright smile.
“You’re an idiot if you believe that. I’m cold and this castle is drafty. Warm this subtle Sunless Sorceress up already.”
“I can do that. Can do it repeatedly.”
“And you shall.”
4:26 am Sovereign Earth time
11/19/43
Runner felt his thoughts sharpen as his mind fired up. Nothing was out of the ordinary, it wasn’t a bad dream, and as far as he could tell everything was as it should be.
Thana shifted against him and her hand moved a few inches. Her fingers lightly rested against his stomach.
She settled her naked body once more into his side. Her long dark hair was starting to escape from its braid and spilled out on his chest.
Almost everything, that is.
A naked Thana couldn’t be further from ordinary.
Runner couldn’t help but wonder at his life’s turn of events and what it meant for him. Brunhild had been closer to the truth than he realized at the time. Apparently his little harem had been arranging itself without his knowledge.
They’d been working through their own feelings about the situation without any input from him.
Thana’s only request was that he continue on as he had been, which would be easy. He’d treat them as he’d done so up to this point.
He seemed blessed and cursed in his own eyes. Granted incredible boons that were far outside the realm of normalcy and dashed upon the rocks on every other beat.
In truth it didn’t make sense. Not really.
Women didn’t normally go in for polygamous relationships. At least not that he’d heard. Though he knew they happened in certain cultures and religions. Or so history books claimed before the Sovereign made everyone into one culture.
Maybe I died. Maybe this whole thing is nothing more than an afterlife for me. Maybe none of this is real at all. Maybe I’m dreaming. Do I try to wake up? Do I fight it? Do I—
Thana lifted one of her legs and draped it over his waist, cuddling closer to him in her sleep.
Good dream, very fair, lovely feeling. Thank you very much, hope I never wake up. Long live the dreamer.
Reinvigorated with his life Runner smiled. Even one spent forever in this game wouldn’t be too terrible.
Runner rolled over and proceeded to wake Thana up. Sunrise was still a fair bit off. No time to waste.
Chapter 16 - Breather -
9:01 am Sovereign Earth time
11/19/43
At long last, his group had reassembled. They were sitting around a table, eating breakfast.
Nadine had finally stopped fussing over everyone after everyone got a full plate. Settling in across from him she seemed happy. Apparently taking live prisoners, and so many of them, sat well with her conscience.
Hannah had proceeded to do her best at stealing what she wanted from everyone else’s plate. That or bargaining with those who were quick enough to catch her.
Katarina had taken a seat next to Runner and for all the world acted as if nothing were different. Though to Runner’s eyes she did carry herself differently. Like she’d shed a backpack full of iron weights she had been lugging around. Not that he could blame her. Two days’ worth of events had shifted her entire world around.
Thana had taken the seat to his left. She smiled and made conversation as she would. Acting as if nothing were different. Though he would swear that she’d managed to communicate the situation to everyone else without having ever left his side this morning.
Isabelle had taken up next to Nadine and looked to be feeling like she finally belonged. When she first started joining them for meals on the march here, she had kept herself to merchant and trade discussions with Nadine. Now she took on the whole table in conversations. Even to Runner, Isabelle felt like she’d slid right into the group dynamic rather well.
Though he found himself mildly annoyed that he had to struggle to keep his eyes from staying too long or wandering.
After having amazing nights with Thana and Katarina each, you’d think he’d had enough.
Sophia hovered near the edges of the room, unsure of herself and her job. She fluttered from door to door, as
if unwilling to stay still. The rest of her squad had taken up position outside of the room. Finally she went to open a door and step out.
“Grace, stop. Get a plate, sit down, eat with us. Honestly. You know everyone here. If you don’t, I’ll tie you to a chair. And not in the pleasant way either. I’ll leave you to whatever mercy Hanners has at that point.”
“None,” Hannah said around a mouthful of food.
“See? There you have it. Sit your ass down and eat.”
“Err-I-yes, sir.”
“No. None of that. In public, yes. In private, no. Runner. I get enough of that one from Miss Belle over there,” Runner said, gesturing at the Elf, who had the decency to turn a faint shade of red as if she were actually embarrassed.
Sophia bobbed her pretty head once and then managed to get a plate of food and seat herself without any more problems.
Runner waited for a minute or two to give everyone time to settle in before he opened up the discussion.
“I’m sure some of you already heard. The plan is simple. We’re heading south to end Jacob and free the Human country from his grip. What you don’t know, and I apologize, Grace, as you haven’t been around us long enough to know all the details, is that I’m officially trapped here. I can free every other player and crew member from the game. I cannot free myself. Jacob is the only one who can do that.”
“Free from what, exactly?” Sophia asked, holding a hand in front of her mouth as she spoke.
“Yeah, about that. Long conversation that spawns a lot of quest—”
A side door opened and in stepped a gorgeous woman. Even for the standards here in this world she seemed put together as if for his personal preferences.
Without realizing it, Runner stood up for her as she entered the room.
She was quite tall. Nearly as tall as Katarina actually. She didn’t have the broad-shouldered width of Katarina. Instead she had an hourglass figure similar to Thana’s. Long blonde hair cascaded down over her shoulders in an unbound fashion. Green eyes peered back at him. Her face had a triangular look with fair clean lines. She looked familiar and yet he couldn’t place it.
Runner tore his eyes from her face and checked the nameplate.
Srit Norwood. Level twenty-three. Fighter.
Now it made sense. Srit had said she liked the way Thana looked. Apparently she also liked the way Hannah did. She looked familiar because she looked like a blending of the two women’s faces.
“Srit?” Runner said, flabbergasted and at a loss.
“Yes,” replied Srit. Her voice was warm and reminiscent of Nadine’s. “It took me some time to get here. I manag—”
Runner grinned and then immediately closed the distance to her and hugged her tightly, interrupting her.
“I’m so glad you’re here. I was worried about you. Without you being able to respond I couldn’t even tell if you’d managed to get into the game okay.”
“Uhm, I’m sorry,” Srit mumbled, her arms settling around Runner in return. “I’m well. I died a few times on the way. Definitely learning experiences. I like sunlight. It feels good. I dislike pain. Significantly. This…this is nice, too.”
Laughing, Runner pulled back and then grabbed her by the hand and hustled her over to the table. He sat her down in his own chair and placed his hands on her shoulders.
Leaning down, he whispered in her ear.
“I’m ecstatic that you’re here but this is a conversation I need to have immediately. Eat, listen, relax.”
Standing back up, Runner smiled at everyone. He felt better. Everyone was here. He held tightly to Srit’s shoulders as if afraid she’d escape.
“Okay. This is Srit. Srit is a true friend who’s been with me since I first came here.
“As to being trapped here. Long conversation, short answer is this is a story. A story made by someone else and you’re all characters in it. Think of your memories of before meeting me and compare them to now. They won’t match up. Talk to anyone here later for more details. For now, think on that.
“To reiterate, yes. I am trapped here permanently unless Jacob decides to fix whatever he did to me. Honestly? I don’t mind being trapped here. As it’s being trapped here with all of you,” Runner admitted, shrugging his shoulders.
“Once we’ve overthrown Jacob I plan to install a new government. Something that will work with the Sunless and Barbarians. I plan on having all three kingdoms working in tandem. For their own sakes they will listen to me. I won’t have them fighting amongst themselves.”
Runner paused, letting everyone digest that info.
Sophia raised her hand as if she were a little girl in school.
Grinning at her, Runner laughed.
“You’re an equal here. Don’t raise your hand like a little kid. Speak up.”
“Can you do that? Overthrow a government? Overthrow three?”
“Grace, I made six tanks in one day. I’m in a very personal and close relationship with all three goddesses who will be, or is, the prime deity for each country. I build artifacts in under five minutes. Do you really think any of the royal heads of state would defy me on wanting them to work together as one?”
“No. Not when you put it all together like that,” Sophia said, her brows coming together for a moment. “Are you a god?”
Runner shook his head with a small smile.
“No. I’m not a god. I could probably raise myself to divinity if I put the time into it but I don’t think it’s for me. I’m happy as I am. Oh, and as one of my inner circle, you can be sure that you yourself will be rather grandly outfitted once I have the time. You and Isabelle both need some serious upgrades. You know, when I get the time. Starting to sound repetitive.”
Runner took a moment to check his mental list of topics.
“Right, then. Next. Rabbit, here’s my take of the proceeds from the campaign so far. Invest it. We need to leverage it into more money, so take acceptable risks and solid payoffs. If you can find long-term steady income, that’s the best way to go. We’re going to be bankrolling more than ourselves.”
Runner opened a trade window with the merchant and dumped the one thousand pieces of platinum into it.
Nadine didn’t respond. She stared at the trade window.
“Earth to Rabbit, accept the trade.”
Nadine’s green eyes lifted to meet his own.
“You would trust m-me with this?”
“Not if you don’t hit accept. I swear, Rabbit, if you don’t hit the button I’ll tie you up and leave you to whatever mercy Hanners has.”
“None!” Hannah gleefully responded with a mouthful of stolen bacon.
“He’s trying to give m-me a thousand pieces of platinum.”
As if a vacuum had opened up in the room, any and all sound stopped.
“And? I’m telling you to use it to invest. We’ll need more money.”
“I could buy nearly every business in Kastell with this m-much.”
“Okay. Do it then if you think that’s how we make money.”
Nadine placed her left hand over her eyes as she accepted the trade with her right hand.
“He’s an idiot,” Nadine whispered.
“Love you, too. Next, next, next. Ah! Prisoners. Did we end up finishing that off?” Runner said, looking around at each person in the room.
Thana shook her head. “I’m afraid not. The vast majority have been processed and sworn. We should be able to complete the process today. Are we accepting any of them into the ranks? I imagine there may be those who are willing to depose Jacob.”
“Huh. Didn’t think about that. Yeah, I’m willing to take them. Have them modify their oath accordingly. I don’t think Ernsta will mind,” Runner said, glancing upwards. “Would you, Angel?”
“Not at all. I would like to speak later.”
“Of course, my Dark Angel. I’ll make time for you tonight,” Runner teased, expecting some type of deity-level curse in response.
None came.
He alm
ost felt disappointed. Teasing Ernsta was actually enjoyable.
“Once the prisoners are taken care of we’ll hold the lottery. Please submit your recommendations for extra points. Grace, you and your squad are no longer included in the lottery. As I said, I’ll be outfitting you personally. Hopefully I can get some basic artifact gear for everyone here in the next day or two. Nothing as great as it could be, but definitely better than anything you could purchase.”
“You dumb fucker, do you even realize your ‘basic artifact’ gear,” Hannah mockingly said while using her fingers to air quote it, “is at the level that even royalty would want it?”
“And? What’s your point?”
“Err. Nothing. Just…stop disparaging yourself. Asshole,” Hannah said, her eyes dipping down to her plate.
“Thank you, Hanners,” Runner said apologetically. He knew she cared for him. Deeply so. She viewed him as a private hope, something to aspire to.
“Next. I need to visit Faye and see if she’ll be joining us. As to her aide, I removed her from this world. I used a GM power that sentenced her to a different…realm I guess.” Runner hesitated, debating how to continue.
“I will eventually be providing officer rank and above with a blade that will do the same. The biggest problem, though, is that upon use the owner will need to let go of the sword immediately or risk being transported with the victim and the sword. It’s to be used for people we regret are an enemy. Or those we think deserve another chance elsewhere. Or even high rank officers we want to get a chance to talk to but they’d rather die. Faye will be sent there as well should she fail to join us.”
“What if they’re used against one of us, my lord?” Isabelle asked.
“I’ll be providing you all with a trinket that will immediately revert you to where you were. I can counter it since it’s a GM power. I can also travel back and forth between the worlds at will. I figure we can use it as a prison of sorts. Better than executing people. It’ll also work on players.”
“I approve. Good. Lives m-matter,” Nadine said enthusiastically.
Otherlife Nightmares: The Selfless Hero Trilogy Page 29