Gloominess +3: Reign of Decay. A LitRPG series: Book 3

by Elian Tars

  “Will you show me the portal?” she asked when I walked out from behind the screen fully dressed. She wore a red, ermine robe.

  Is this another trust test? Well, there’s no point in hiding the portal, there’s nothing special in it.

  I nodded. She came over, wrapped her arms around me, and gave me a kiss.

  “Don’t you dare die, understood?” she whispered in my ear, her tone strict. “I don’t want to have to put on a mourning dress. I don’t like wearing the same color for too long.”

  “You won’t have to,” I said. “Chin up, honey. I’ll see you again.”

  Elusive Darkness.

  ***

  “He’s back!!! The Senior Disciple is back!!!” Shawn’s happy voice echoed throughout the forest.

  Together with a dozen of former villagers, the chief was waiting at the appointed time near a low rock. They were happy to see me. They even hugged me.

  “Is Kane home?” I asked on our way to the camp.

  “Where else would he be, Senior Disciple?” Shawn replied.

  People in the camp also greeted me excitedly; they invited me to the table, saying that the meal was ready. I asked them to take their seats and promised to come soon, and went to the tent that was situated on the outskirts of our camp. The place had changed; it was livelier and bigger.

  “Come in,” Kane said when I came close.

  Drawing the old cover aside, I went in.

  “Congratulations on getting married!!!” A broad smile shone on Mara’s pale, bluish face. “It was about high time, too,” she said, giving a clear hint to Kane who was sitting next to her.

  She seemed to have made a full recovery, despite Kane having said that the process would take no less than a week.

  “Thank you,” I chuckled, sitting with my back to the exit. “How’re things?”

  “Dull,” Mara blurted out. “We’ll go with you. End of discussion.”

  I shifted my gaze to Kane, who just shrugged indifferently.

  “I’ve seen a lot of new faces in the camp,” I said. “Shawn’s idea worked then?”

  On our way to the camp, the chief bragged that one of the three villages had joined us. Rumors spread like forest fire, and they already knew about Ekheim’s fate. The second village joined us after it was attacked by the Decayed the evening before yesterday (the day after Shawn and the other envoys had visited them), and we came to their aid. The third village joined yesterday, after being informed about what happened to the second one.

  I knew everything, but I wanted to hear what Kane would say. What if his opinion was different from Shawn’s?

  “Without delay,” Kane nodded. “Today,” he continued lazily, “we’ll be receiving the last of the newcomers. Mara counted them all. We have almost 700 mouths to feed.”

  He got silent, thinking that the situation needed no further explanation. However, Mara had a different opinion.

  “The Decay is spreading too fast. Our peasants seem to be safe. They’re training and getting stronger, but they’re eating up the supplies. The nearby area is dying. Merchants don’t come to godforsaken places like these, and people are starting to wonder what’s next. How long will we have to hide here?”

  Seven hundred… The last time I spoke to Kane through the Bat was on my wedding night... There wasn’t so many of them then. As I was passing through the camp now, it didn’t seem like there were 700 people living in it. A lot of them were probably training, hunting, or patrolling. I was glad that I had an idea about what to do with them. I wanted to wait a little before I reveal it, weigh all of the pros and cons, but the world was pushing me forward again.

  “What’s next?” I chuckled. “We’ll move. I’m kind of married now, and, well, as a dowry for my wife, my father-in-law gave me the title of a baron and a small piece of land. I don’t have a castle there, but there are a few dilapidated villages, far from the Decay and close to merchants.” I knew that there would be questions, but I didn’t want to waste my time on them. “But let’s leave this conversation for later. You’ll see everything with your own eyes soon.” Mara wanted to say something, but refrained from doing so. Pursing her lips, she nodded. I looked at Kane. “I’m curious, is everything okay with the deliveries? Will we be in Sautz tomorrow, as you planned?”

  Kane sighed and rolled his eyes back, connecting to one of his Wights. About five seconds later, his eyes returned to their usual position.

  “Everything’s fine.”

  I nodded with satisfaction and offered my friends to go to the table. We shouldn’t keep the rest of the camp waiting.

  ***

  During our dinner, Vella, in the company of several Wolves, returned from a hunt. She rushed to me at once. I was glad that I managed to leap up from my seat, as she would’ve knocked me down together with the table otherwise. My little pup was now level sixty-five. Nobody knew where she was grinding, but they supposed that she was searching for the Decayed in the area and getting rid of them.

  I gave a speech, ordered the people to pack their stuff, and went with Vella to the forest once the dinner was over. Once we were far away from the camp, I started grinding “lives.” I kept myself busy with it until it got dark and then returned to the camp.

  Nobody was sleeping; bonfires and torches were burning, and people were hurriedly rolling up their covers and packing their things. I went to the storage and put all the furniture I took from the mayor’s office into my inventory. I went outside and, going a little off to the side, sat in the grass. Vella came over and lied down so that I could prop my back against her, and at the same time be able to look into her clever eyes.

  “You know, I’m kind of a public figure now,” I told her.

  “Woof?” She thoughtfully cocked her head to the side.

  “Anyway, I’d like you to spend more time with me. Like before. Do you have a deputy that could lead the Wolves?”

  She barked and, standing up, ran to the forest where the pack was resting. She returned in the company of a seasoned, level fifty Alpha of the Black Wolves.

  “Woof!” She nodded at her companion with her giant head.

  “Great!” I praised Vella. “In the name of the Ancient,” I said, turning to the Wolf, “watch over the pack. Deal?”

  He squinted like a human, and nodded sharply.

  Around midnight, I felt that Elusive Darkness’s cooldown had ended. By that time, everybody had packed their things. Seven hundred people and around 500 Wolves (I thought there would be less of them) had gathered at the clearing that had until recently been littered with tents.

  Mounting Vella, I rode in front of the worried peasants and stopped right at the center.

  “Faithful Followers of the God of Darkness! Thanks to our God and the powers he had bestowed upon us, we’ll be teleported to another place, far from the Decay. However, this doesn’t mean that you’ll return to your usual lives. You’ve been training and fighting hard. You’re warriors. Warriors of the God of Darkness! The ones who can fight the Decayed! The ones who’ll help this world to survive! You’ll be admired! Legends will be told about you! You, my friends, are true heroes! Your wives, children, and parents will be proud of you! You don’t have to worry about them, because they’ll be safe. They’ll pray to the God of Darkness and wait for you to return from the battlefield! Victorious!”

  “HU-R-R-AH!!!” roared the red-bearded Greiv, who had already reached level forty- two.

  “For the God of Darkness!!!” roared Shawn, who was only one level behind him.

  “YEA-A-AH!!!” cried the other veterans and some of the newcomers, many of which, as I noticed, looked at me and the others with apprehension.

  “I appreciate your vigor, my Followers!” thundered a mighty voice. Darkness began to gather near me, quickly forming into a tall figure. “Thank you for your prayers! I came to help Senior Disciple teleport you to your new home, where your brothers and sisters in faith are waiting.”

  The Old Man sounded so confident that it made a s
hiver run down my spine. I remembered with nostalgia when I was his only Follower. Of course, I couldn’t give him the same amount energy as the 1,000 loyal Followers that had joined his congregation could.

  Chapter 20

  Average Results

  Not being afraid of looking ignorant, yesterday I asked Tiara about the levels of patron-follower bond. I learned that there are five of them. The first and weakest bond is formed between the patron and a level one to six Follower. In order to change your patron during that period, you should tell a Disciple (or a Gleam) that you reject your old patron before you pledge your loyalty to a new one. That was how I converted the residents of Ilyenta. Kane, as it turned out, did the same to the villages that Shawn had brought to our camp. Thinking about it now, I understood that I made a mistake when I sent Shawn, a regular Follower, to those villages and ordered him to demand that they pledge their loyalty to the Old Man. Kane didn’t point out my mistake, which meant that he didn’t know about this either. The Old Man ordered him to meet the newcomers away from the camp and turn them into his Followers.

  The second level of the bond, at which I was now, applied to a level sixty to eighty Follower. On this level, words alone aren’t enough to reject your patron. You have to go to the temple of the God you want to join and personally tell them that you wish to be their Follower.

  A level three bond is so strong that you can’t destroy it without actual, physical pain. To severe it, you have to go to the temple of your new God or talk to them face to face. Then, you have to pledge your loyalty to them and cut your palm with a ritual knife, like the one I got from Glozeysk or the one my wife had. Tiara said that this often ends with a Minor Injury, so one would have to spend some money on a Healing Potion 1.

  A level four bond (the Follower’s level is between ninety-five and 120) is even stronger. You’d have to follow the same process as you would for a level three bond, but this time you’d have to cut your chest, and fall unconscious from blood loss. Your new patron wouldn’t let you die, but you’d definitely have to drink a Healing Potion 2 or even a Healing potion 3 afterwards, both of which are very expensive.

  As for the level five bond… Those who reached level 150 couldn’t sever the bond with their patron, or rather, it was very difficult to do so. The only option was to drink a Weakening Potion to lower your level, and then drink a Consolidating Potion to confirm your decision. This process would lower the bond’s level. However, it was hard for me to imagine someone deciding to do something like that. Grinding took a lot of time, and you also needed a lot of money to achieve the highest levels of the bond. The aristocrats seemed to hire people to act as their training dummies; they’d deal damage to them, getting XP but no damage. I had no other explanation for their high levels.

  Looking at the Old Man, I remembered the lords who had asked me where the temple of my God was and if I could call upon him so that they could pledge their loyalty to him.

  The “patron issue” was brought to a head at the meeting with the lords. Caer and Shelton, who represented Rugus, gave an ultimatum saying that they wouldn’t tolerate having Followers of disobedient Gods in their united army.

  As a result, they quickly decided to buy all Healing Potions. To the surprise of many, save for me, the merchants gave them an incredible discount. The Potions were bought at Urhon’s expense (the duke refused to accept donations on principle) and the only thing left to do was to “endure the pain and accept the new faith.”

  The goal was simple: save the lands from inevitably being consumed by the Decay, and raid Longera’s treasury. Caer hinted that the trophies would be shared according to merit.

  Everyone agreed to change their patron and there were no accidents. We had gotten lucky. Of all those present, aside from the duke and his son, only the count of Rutz (or Count De Rutz, as they often said here) was above level 125, but he was already Guer-Shui’s Follower. There could be problems with the count of Lier, but he, having been receiving his orders directly from the king for some time now, ignored his suzerain’s invitation to come to the celebration, getting offended by the fact that Caer and Tsunter were working together.

  The count of Olte — the one on whose lands until yesterday raged a war with the Duchy of Oruel, surprised us all by pledging his loyalty to Rugus. Count De Kors, the fourth and the last of the counts, who was formally subordinated to Caer, fled from the kingdom after the king had declared that a conventional border be built. I found out about it from Tayon back in Ilyenta. Nothing had changed since then.

  So, none of the counts became the Old Man’s Followers. However, the three barons did. I was surprised that Helderd, the baron of Nelburg, had done so. Maybe me asking how his son was doing hinted that I took part in saving him and affected his decision. Baron Jacques of Veur had his lands situated in the center of the Kors County, and part of his villages had already been consumed by Decay. I thought that it was strange that he and Helderd would come here when their homes were in danger. Then again, it would’ve been even stranger to have them lock themselves in their castles, and wait for the Decayed to destroy everything. They were probably thinking about resettlement, so they wanted to show their worth to the duke and get a piece of land further to the south, or maybe they hoped for a miracle. Whatever the case might’ve been, they now had a clear goal: to defeat the king and find a part of the ancient artifact.

  The third baron that chose the path of Darkness was the very young (he looked barely eighteen) Sir Dean — the baron of Kier. In fact, he was my neighbor; his lands bordered those given to me in the north-east.

  Aside from the barons, Prince Istar also announced his wish to serve the Old Man. Out of the four feudal lords who chose to serve a God that they knew nothing about, two were pretty young. I doubted that it was a coincidence. One had to grow up fast in this world and use every given opportunity to reach new heights.

  The Old Man made them his Disciples, so that they could convert their soldiers and subjects. However, their contribution benefited the Old Man more than it did me. Yes, they’d listen to me as I was a Senior Disciple, but in general, they were independent. Sure, they were closer to me than the other barons were, but that didn’t change the fact that they weren’t a part of my “team,” which was so small compared to those of other aristocrats…

  Up until now, that is.

  Elusive Darkness.

  This skill has been strengthened by your patron.

  You have spent 100 Faith Points.

  The sudden message didn’t surprise me at all; the Old Man and I agreed upon the means of transfer back in Urhon. I thought he could do without my Faith Points, but he said something along the lines of: “the price is non-negotiable, boy.”

  This time, I didn’t have to hold hands with everybody. Black smoke began floating over the grass from under my feet.

  “Don’t be afraid, my Followers!” the Old Man roared, noticing that some of the women cringed when the Darkness got close to their feet. “This is my power! This is our power! It won’t hurt you.”

  The Darkness rose up like fog until it covered both the people and the Wolves. It took the skill an unusually long time to activate. However, ten seconds later, the world around us disappeared, and the list of resurrection points appeared in front of my eyes.

  Athefeh’s Gravestone!

  The Darkness swirled around me; a moment later, a pleasant coolness caressed my face.

  “Welcome, Senior Disciple. We’ve been waiting for you for a long time,” Berg said.

  I stood facing the former villagers, who were looking at themselves and their relatives in astonishment. Those who had their wits about them (mostly warriors) were looking behind my back with intense expressions. I turned around, guessing what was waiting for me.

  “Greetings, Disciple Berg! Greetings, Disciple Kazimir! Greetings to you, too, Followers of the God of Darkness!” I said solemnly.

  I looked at my new warriors for the first time. Lined up in four columns with Kazimir and Berg sit
ting astride their horses in front of them were 170 people. The first column was all cavalry. I supposed there were twenty-seven riders there; according to Berg, Prince Istar had twenty-seven horses. Higher-level warriors, amongst which were those of level hundred, were in the front, clad in beautiful, and probably rare armor. Behind them were common soldiers in simple armor that didn’t have the ability of restoring itself. None of those guys was under level fifty-three.

  I had no doubts that both Kazimir and Berg wished to impress my guys and me. Latter more than the former, as Berg was the one who convinced Kazimir to join our cause.

  The Old Man didn’t want to distract me (or maybe he thought that I’d become relaxed having found out about the reinforcement), so he ordered Berg not to tell me about Kazimir until we got information about the rest of the Parts of Zurtarn. This is why he hid that letter when I appeared in his room, and then wriggled during our conversation. Having gotten the Old Man’s approval, he asked Tiara to leave us alone so that he could brag.

  When we got ambushed by Tsunter’s people, and when Una, having gotten control of me, made me escape, our enemy, just like I supposed, continued fighting without zeal. They lost Jerome, but the other three managed to escape. The Gleam and the Disciple of Rugus set out to his Abode. Berg wanted to go with me, but the God of Darkness contacted him and gave him a different task.

  He ordered Berg to head for Kors County. Berg came the location that the Old Man had pointed out, a lake, and wandered about the place. Watching through his eyes, the Old Man would sometimes give him instructions like “go straight,” “go left,” or “go into the water.”

  “I didn’t understand why I was there,” Berg told me, “it seemed to me that he was looking for something, but he didn’t tell me what. It looked like he didn’t find anything and ordered me go to Olte.”