“And yet, you raised them up. In such a way that we could not ignore them. When we counted upon them after you left, we found their daughter who brought us you, a son who championed us without our knowledge, and a noble lord and lady who turned their enterprise around in a week and now own a vast amount of land and wealth. They are our staunchest supporters. They funded this entire trip as a donation to us.”
“I’m glad to hear that. They’re good people. I’m afraid my visit isn’t entirely courtesy. While you are here to discuss matters with your neighbors, I felt it prudent to interject my own suggestion for a topic.”
“Please, continue. We value your council as you have not steered us wrong.”
“You are aware of the port situation in the Human lands?”
“Yes. Young Saden and young Damalis departed with a combined force to retake and hold it.”
“In this situation, I believe you were fortunate to have my lieutenants in a position to readily assist. What might have happened otherwise?” Runner asked, letting the question linger for a second before continuing. “I would suggest a ruling council for the land of Tirtius. One that could act in situations such as this, one that could provide emergency resolutions without needing multiple approvals.”
King Vasilios nodded his head slowly, his gaze wandering to the floor. After a minute of thought he lightly struck his fist to his thigh.
“You have provided us with the right choice when fate would have seen us slain. We shall consider your words at great length, Runner Norwood.”
Vasilios was a hard and decisive man. He could see how Helen might view him as prideful. Runner could also see that this man was as strong and quick-witted as Helen.
And he’s unmarried as well.
Runner grinned at a sudden idea. A thought that wouldn’t provide him with much personal gain, except maybe gloating rights if it turned out to be a success.
Hopefully they’ll even be happy.
“I’m sure Queen Helen would be more than willing to discuss it with you at length. I find her to be quite intelligent on top of being a beauty. Nor does it hurt that she’s quite the warrior,” Runner innocently said.
King Vasilios looked up at him, his eyes mildly irritated.
“She’s a prideful woman but… you are correct of course. She is indeed an intelligent, beautiful warrior maiden.”
“A prideful woman is something to be cherished. I myself am lucky to have her prideful daughter at my side. She keeps me balanced and aware of my own shortcomings.”
Vasilios grunted at that, his hand coming up to lightly stroke his beard.
“Queen Helen was right about the beard. It adds a certain level of refinement. Ah, you didn’t hear that from me.”
Vasilios had a fairly well-practiced and polished poker face, but no one could have missed his eyebrows moving up at the last statement.
“You—we think you’re correct. We shall seek out an opportunity to speak with Helen tonight. Perhaps we can get ahead of this to make sure the meetings go smoothly.”
“A wise thought. I would be happy to carry your invitation to her for you.”
“Ah, yes. That would be excellent. We’re afraid we are not aware of a suitable location. One that would be private enough for a conversation, perhaps arranging a meal—”
Runner interrupted him smoothly when it looked like Vasilios might reconsider.
“I’ll handle that for you. I’ll forward you the information once I’ve set it up with Helen.”
King Vasilios gave him an open and honest smile.
“You’re a friend to a man as well as a king, Runner Norwood. Thank you.”
“My pleasure. If you’ll excuse me?”
“Of course, of course,” Vasilios said, his hand returning to stroke his beard.
Runner excused himself quickly and moved back towards Helen’s rooms.
I’ll send them to the temple. It has a sparring arena, a garden, and a gazebo. I’ll have the priests clear it so it can be a private meeting. Then I’ll send Norwood’s Own as the guard so they can feel at ease.
Runner felt a lightness in his heart. It served no purpose at all other than to perhaps make two people happy, and maybe put a little joy back in the world.
Nadine would approve.
A minute later and Runner had peeled Helen out from her court to speak with her quietly.
“I apologize, Queen Helen. I have a private missive from King Vasilios and didn’t wish to air it publicly.”
Runner rushed on when he saw Helen’s mouth set in a firm line.
“Vasilios wished for me to convey that he’d like to invite the intelligent and beautiful Queen Helen to an afternoon engagement so that he might speak privately with you.”
Helen’s mouth hung open as she heard the invitation.
“I must confess, he isn’t wrong. You are quite the beauty, Helen, and your intelligence is well known.”
“He said that?” Helen asked him suspiciously.
“Not quite. What he actually said was, ‘She is indeed an intelligent, beautiful warrior maiden.’” Runner watched as a touch of red came to her cheeks.
“I—ah. Did he specify where?”
“Vasilios was kind enough to allow me to arrange the details. Per his request I’ll be preparing something private, secluded, with my own guards providing protection so that there would be a neutral privacy. Oh, and a meal of course.”
Helen’s hands fell to her hips and she had a small smile on her lips.
“I accept.”
“I’ll forward you the details after this. Far be it from me to say, but as a man evaluating a man, he’s a powerful warrior in his prime with a keen intellect. Prideful of course, but then again, who wouldn’t be considering his achievements?”
Helen thought on that, her head moving a little as if she were tossing ideas back and forth.
“I’ll excuse myself now. We’ll speak more later, I’m sure.”
Runner exited before anything else could be said or done.
Now that the royal matchmaking was done, he still had a duty to perform. Setting aside all the details for Helen and Vasilios’ date, he went back to business.
Time to meet with Basile.
Runner set off at a brisk pace for Basile’s set of rooms.
Arriving at the correct door, Runner was taken aback. It was open partially. Runner felt very wrong about this.
Switching out his costume for his actual equipment, he checked his status screen.
Everything was charged, bars were full, and he was good to go.
Providing something is wrong, I’ll be ready. And if there isn’t… I’ll just look like a jackass. Nothing out of the ordinary there.
Runner drew his blade and slid it behind his leg to prevent it from reflecting light into the room.
Taking a step forward, he eased the door to the side as he entered the antechamber that all the apartments had.
Looking around, he found no one. Almost as if everyone had been sent off or chased off.
Or is dead.
Making his way into the adjoining dining room, Runner found a corpse.
One of Basile’s people who didn’t leave? Or walked in on this, whatever it is?
Creeping into the bedroom, Runner found Basile. His hands were slightly raised as if surrendering. A man in his early years, Basile had the look of any random Human on the street. Brown hair, brown eyes, unassuming face. Nothing noteworthy positive or negative.
The person that stood in front of Basile had his back to Runner. Dressed all in black, they had the look of someone who could only be up to no good.
Checking the name plate, Runner found it simply said “Assassin” and nothing else.
Basile’s eyes flicked to Runner.
In that moment Runner mentally cursed the fool of a man. If the Assassin had any awareness at all, he’d notice the change in Basile.
As if in direct response to Runner’s thoughts, the would-be killer’s head turned to follo
w Basile’s eyes.
Runner casually pulled out his sword and stood up straight, meeting the gaze of the black-clad fellow.
Basile dove over the bed and scurried out of the room as soon as the Assassin’s eyes left him.
“Good morning. I don’t believe we’ve had the pleasure. I’m Runner Norwood. She’s Linda, and he’s Scott. Scott ruins everything. In this case, I’ll allow him to ruin you without a complaint. I figure we start with your fingers and toes. Maybe peel them and feed them to you.”
Chapter 12 - Everyday Things -
09:23 am Sovereign Earth time
5/14/44
Before Runner could react, the Assassin lifted his left hand. A short burst of blue light enveloped it. When the lighted faded, the man promptly fell to the ground, his health bar rapidly emptying.
He was dead.
Runner sheathed his sword and went over to the man. After unsuccessfully trying to loot him, he kicked the corpse.
“Damn me, I should have hit him with a fucking Brainwash. Angel?”
Ernsta was by his side, her eyes already on the corpse.
“Can you do anything? For this one or the one in the hall?” Runner threw a thumb back at the body he’d passed earlier.
Using his minimap, Runner pinged Hannah and Satomi once on top of his current location.
“No, I’m afraid not. This one was claimed by his god as an offering. Rannulf or Rike. The other suffered a divine blow and is no more.”
Runner looked to the corpse. The fact that Ernsta couldn’t dig up any information was frustrating but not exactly unexpected. The gods protected themselves in this way from each other.
“I understand. Thank you, Angel.” Runner ran a hand through his hair as he contemplated the situation. “Is Amelia alright?”
“She yet sleeps. She recovers quickly.”
“And what of you, Angel?” Runner started working his way through the room to see if he’d missed anything.
“Me?” Ernsta asked. She stood behind him as he paced slowly along the wall.
“Yes, you. How are you? Is everything alright? Are you mad at me for what happened? Are you truly happy with this entire situation?”
Getting down on hands and knees, Runner swept his hands underneath a bookcase and table for anything there.
It was a silly hope, that something might have been dropped or fallen unnoticed. It was all he had to work with, though.
Ernsta fell quiet. Runner gave her a quick glance to find her looking to the side. A picture of introspection.
Runner waited patiently for her response. Moving over to the corpse, he checked the area around it and under it.
“I’ve blocked everyone from listening in. My sisters had their own plans. I believe Brunhild would have sought a marriage with you and then set about making a new pantheon. Amelia only wanted you to dominate her and that was the extent of her desires. For me, I’m unsure. I hadn’t considered it one way or the other.”
Runner grunted and stood up from the body. He’d found nothing of worth. Moving to the other corpse, he started the same process.
“Then you summoned me and smelled of another god. A goddess I had assumed. In that moment I realized I had planned for nothing. I risked everything. Since then I have planned a great deal.”
Runner didn’t find anything around the body and looked to the corpse itself. It indeed was one of Basile’s people. Dressed in the court colors and looking for all the world like a courtier.
“In all my plans I didn’t expect this particular situation.”
“Oh? And what’s that?” Runner asked.
Standing up, he felt his frustration starting to boil over. First an attack on him, and now one on Basile. He’d have to task it to Hannah and Satomi and let them handle it while he played host.
“I’m unsure why my sister didn’t say it directly, but after that oath you swore, you’re effectively our collective husband. Minus the rites and glorification of it. Amelia didn’t simply accept you, she chained us to you. Willingly. Then you limited yourself to that of an equal, tying yourself to us. We all share one divine plane. One divine portfolio. There is no possibility of separation.”
Runner closed his eyes and leaned his head back. He hadn’t thought about it in that way.
“I understand,” Runner said after a few seconds.
“I’m happy, Runner. Your people are here.”
Runner dropped his chin and opened his eyes. Ernsta popped out of existence as Satomi and Hannah turned the corner.
Both women looked to the corpse, then to Runner.
“I was making my rounds and found Basile under duress. An assassin. I confronted him and he killed himself. I didn’t expect the extent of their resolve. Ernsta was unable to provide anything in regards to either Basile’s dead courtier,” Runner said, pointing at the corpse at his feet, “or the assassin.”
Hannah nodded her head, her mouth a grim slit.
“I’m sorry, Runner. For fuck’s sake, I didn’t think they’d go for our guests. Fucking bastards are trying to destabilize the region, aren’t they?” Hannah surmised.
“I believe you are correct, Hannah. Should Basile fall, a power vacuum would be created in the human kingdom. Is this your thought as well, bonded?”
Runner felt at a loss.
“I suppose? I’m not really sure. It makes sense but it doesn’t feel quite right either. Forgive me, you two, but I’ve stayed out of your business up to this point. Please put together and also send me every report you can on all the activities you’ve thwarted, suspect, or think might be going on. I doubt I’d be useful helping you find those who are doing this in person. Hopefully I can help as an analyst.”
He let his mind consider his abilities and found he was correct in his self-evaluation.
“Hanners, do what you need to do. End this. Vixen, you’re on detached duty to begin working as an infiltrator.” His insides squirmed at what he was about to order them to do. They were going to be put into very real danger.
“Interrogate, infiltrate, eliminate. If you find someone you suspect, grab ’em. This is by my order, so I’ll take whatever heat you generate. No one is beyond this.”
Runner pulled out a slip of paper from his inventory and began writing out an order on it.
“Hanners, you’ll be on interrogation duty. Vixen, you’ll take the guise of whoever it is and take their place. While it pains me to say it, start with our guest’s extended court. Use whatever resources you need.”
Runner finalized the form and then pulled up his faction leader UI. Opening the laws tab, he then forced the paper in his hand into the window.
It materialized on the last line of the “waiting for approvals” category.
Runner clicked the check box, pulled the law back out of the window, and handed it over to Hannah.
“You’re officially recognized to act with my will in all things pertaining to Norwood security. Questions?”
Hannah accepted the document and gave him a wide grin.
“No, bonded.”
“Not a fucking thing. This’ll help more than anything else could. I figure we keep ’em in the dungeons, eh Foxy?” Hannah tapped the paper against her palm as she looked to Satomi.
Dungeons? I don’t have any dungeons. Which means she had some made wherever the headquarters for her division is.
Runner didn’t want to ask. He’d given Hannah a large amount of leeway in running his intelligence/counterintelligence services.
“Be safe. This is likely to go sideways at any second.”
He didn’t like it. At all. Since Srit had returned, Runner felt like he’d been doing nothing but sending his people off on dangerous missions.
Could I condemn one of them to death as easily as I did Uno? What would Nadine think of me?
Shuddering at the thought of it, Runner let the idea go quickly. Then he took a deep breath.
“In other news, I need to set something up for this evening. A meeting between heads of
state. I’ll be in the study of the keep if you need me.”
11:48 am Sovereign Earth time
5/14/44
Runner looked up as a servant scurried along the adjoining hallway, carrying cleaning supplies in his arms.
Everyone had been in a tizzy with the news of Runner’s “public” return. Runner returned to the virtual screens in front of him. Satomi had brought him everything they had found out during their operations.
Having ensconced himself in the keep study, he’d been working through each and every report, tip, bit of information, and hypothesis the intelligence team had put together.
He’d sorted them by information, actions, and future plans. Then further broke them down by integrity. Some of the reports only had one source of information, where others had several.
Runner closed one window to open another. He had a pretty good idea of all the work Hannah and company had put in. It was fairly extensive and had produced many actionable items.
In fact, to his eyes, they looked almost too successful despite the amount of work they were putting in.
He tossed all the files back into one folder, then sorted them out by plot and coconspirators.
They were lined up swiftly and without more than a glance at the information contained within each screen.
Runner had a momentary stray thought at what he’d done. Putting them all back into the folder once again, Runner then sorted them by time index.
As he started in on it, Runner turned his thoughts toward the little program in his head.
It was blazing. Data flew in and out of it faster than he knew he was pulling it. The ship as a whole responded to him, the databanks ripping information from the files and recompiling them for him to utilize in his sorting task.
Runner set his hands on the table after finishing, watching the little program.
It wound itself down, the goal he’d set complete. Likewise, the ship returned to a normal operational setting.
He prepared himself to begin resorting the files once more, but this time by plot and coconspirators while keeping them indexed by time.
His personal AI wound up rapidly and spun off commands to the ship, which facilitated Runner in his task.
Otherlife Awakening: The Selfless Hero Trilogy Page 21