Gentleman's Wars: The Rules of Engagement: A Tower Defense LitRPG Series (The Great Game Book 1)

by Andrew Karevik

  “If I may, sir?” she asked, pointing at the chair across from my desk. A look of concern was across my maid’s face, almost a dire one.

  I gestured for her to sit as I took a swig of the brandy in my cup. This was certainly the good stuff. My uncle always had access to the best of liquors. Oh how I missed that man and his constant urges to get me to drink with him, no matter the time of day or night. I often grumbled about needing a clear head to work. Now, as I stared into the amber liquid, all I could feel was a desire to sit and drink with him once more. I wonder if these feelings would ever go away.

  “Lady Efera sent a messenger over earlier today,” Lily said. “A plum-faced girl with high hopes for becoming an estate maid. We got to talking and she was so eager to earn my approval, since I am a head maid, that her tongue became quite loose.”

  Espionage? Not bad, Lily. “What did you learn?”

  “In no uncertain terms, the gentry of Efera is in a dire state,” Lily said, crossing her arms. “While the Lady of the House played off her attack like it was a little test, the reality was she lashed out at you because she is desperate for Fire Spice.”

  “Is that so?” I asked in between bites.

  Lily nodded. “The Efera household has had some bad fortune in their last few ventures and they lost not one, but two Fire Spice production facilities. This more or less puts her territories at risk.”

  “You learned all this from a chatty messenger?”

  Lily smiled at that, confident and playful at the same time. “You’d be surprised just what someone will say when they think you’ll give them the job position they’ve always wanted.”

  I thought about that prospect for a moment, then felt a light go off in my own head. “If a servant is thinking of jumping ship, then…”

  “The Lady is losing allies as we speak. Either they are turning against her, since she can no longer honor her trade deals, or they’re actively stepping away from her numerous conflicts. Turns out that fighting your way across half the map creates a great deal of people who want their territory back.”

  I finished eating in silence as I pondered the situation. Lily was comfortable with my lack of words and merely sat up, awaiting my response. She was a well-trained and well-mannered woman, impeccable in her service to my family. No one had asked her to find this information, yet she was so quick to take advantage of a messenger’s desire to find a safe landing place.

  “What did the messenger have with her?” I asked, sliding my plate back onto the tray when I had finished.

  “Just a standard request for more Fire Spice. The Lady is offering twice the mana crystals as before, for 150 spice.”

  A desperate offer. 400 crystals for only 150 Fire Spice? It would seem that Lady Efera’s confidence and eccentricities had only served to create a picture of a strong, powerful leader. In truth, she was in as much trouble as I was.

  “I know my station as a maid. Though you have me manage the estate, it is uncouth for me to offer a suggestion in the ways of this game. But…I have a thought, if you will, sir,” Lily said. Her professional demeanor broke a little here. I could see her chest rise and fall rapidly, hands clasped together. She was anxious.

  I raised a hand to settle the woman down a bit. “Lily, I’ve put my faith in you to manage this house. The matters of warfare are the matters of our estate, so please, you are always free to speak your mind.”

  She smiled a little, but I could see that she had not calmed down much from my words. “Sir, I think you should try and marry into the Lady’s household. Efera is available, if you can stand her, or her cousin. Or frankly, anyone she’s related to. Take your pick.”

  I frowned but allowed her to keep speaking. “Offer half of our monthly Fire Spice production as terms for the marriage. This will let her keep her current obligations met but doesn’t give her enough leeway to do anything other than just sit back. Her aggression is curbed, and her allies are satisfied.”

  I slowly nodded. “And… er, what is our benefit here?”

  “She’s obligated to protect you. So, she can defend our estates and you don’t have to worry yourself with this game. You can return to your studies and…” Lily trailed off at my expression. She wasn’t figuring out a tactical advantage for the Estate. She was finding a way out of this conflict.

  I winced and scratched my chin. How could I say this without hurting the woman’s feelings? “Lily, I know you are afraid of this game, and for good reason. But I am not interested in finding a protectorate.”

  “Such an arrangement would allow us to stay independent; we’d keep our name and estate management!” Lily protested. “Things would go back to normal. And we needn’t concern ourselves with this…war stuff any longer. You can return to your lab. Don’t you miss it?”

  Her eyes were so wide, so full of desperation for things to go back to the way they were. I couldn’t blame her for such thinking. “I’m sorry, but things will never be normal again. Not until I have secured our territory and rooted out the ones responsible for the slaughter of my family,” I replied after a long silence. “Lily, I know you fear that ambition and lust will overtake me. That I will be driven into greater conflicts in a desire for power. I wish I could dissuade you from such fears. I am no coward. I will not hide behind the Lady Efera’s skirt while my enemy continues to plot and plan.”

  Lily hung her head low for a moment. “I just don’t see why we can’t find peace as soon as possible.”

  “Peace does not guarantee safety,” I softly replied. “Thank you for looking out for us, Lily. But I don’t intend on leaving the Great Game. Period. Not at least until I have found and destroyed the ones responsible for the attack on my house. Then and only then will there be both peace and security.”

  The maid said nothing. She merely began cleaning up the remains of my dinner, stacking the plates and standing up, tray in hand. She was sullen and quiet, leaving me with a bitter feeling in the pit of my stomach. Perhaps someday she could understand. But still…her espionage had given me some valuable intel on the Lady Efera. Certainly something that I could use.

  The door shut as Lily left. I knew better than to try and apologize for my decisions. I was the Gentleman of the House, the leader. I couldn’t make a decision and then express regret for it. She would have to get over it. Or be proven right. One or the other, I suppose. In the meantime, I had a manor to secure…

  Chapter 13

  The messenger was sent back to the Lady Efera with two separate letters. The first was an agreement to the trade offer. The second letter was a notice of employment. Lily, though displeased with our course of action, was loyal to the cause. The messenger was given a simple promise. A year of service as a spy in exchange for a lifetime of work as an estate maid at the Blake Manor.

  It was a strange thing to give a spy official documentations, but the Great Game stipulated that no employee may be harmed, detained or otherwise injured by a participant in the wars. If a spy was caught, all they had to do was pull out the letter of employment and they’d be safe. It was akin to a child shouting “base” in a game of tag. They’d be untouchable. So, Jinni the plum-faced messenger would keep her eyes and ears out for anything pertaining to the Blake Estate. Should she learn any tidbit of interest, a letter would be sent in a secret code back to our base.

  I must admit, all of this intrigue, politics and war was rather exciting. Sure, there was a lot of fun to be had sitting behind a desk, mixing potions and working with crystals, but it was rather dull work. Aside from the occasional lab explosion, nothing of interest ever happened without hundreds of hours of research in between. Perhaps I was well suited to this life after all. It was certainly good for the vigor, that was for sure.

  After my conversation with Miss Lily, I returned my focus back to the Manor. However, before doing so, I placed a simple hourglass in front of me, to gauge how long an hour felt within the Grid. Hopefully another few hours wouldn’t pass by like seconds this
way.

  Resuming my view of the Manor battlefield, I began to calculate both my approach and my defensive network. I glanced at my resources to see what I was working with here.

  Silver: 900

  Mana Crystals: 656

  Fire Spice: 50

  Silver and Fire Spice were looking pretty low. Didn’t the Fire Spice have a +2 next to it? But the number never seemed to increase. I should be generating quite a bit, shouldn’t I?

  As if it were able to read my thoughts, the Grid quickly summoned a brand new area for me, creating a large sheet of resources. Production System appeared in my vision, outlining the three territories I owned.

  Blake Manor

  Maintenance Cost: 100 silver per week.

  Territory Bonus: Capital Building, enables placement of Units and Buildings.

  The Burning Barrows

  Maintenance Cost: 50 silver per week.

  Production Amount: 2 Fire Spice per hour.

  Reserves: 336/1000

  Structures:

  - 1 Mining Shaft

  - 1 Miner Barrack

  Haverton Vineyards

  Maintenance Cost: 100 silver per week.

  Production Amount: 255 silver per week.

  Reserves: 0/1000

  Structures:

  - 1 Winepress

  - 1 Wine Cellar

  Curious…what did reserves mean in this context? I zipped out of the Grid and checked the hourglass to see the last grain of sand drop. What had felt like a few minutes of reading had been a solid hour. Hmmm. Time moved much faster in the Grid. I needed to be aware of that fact. But hey, now I had a way to quickly pass the time when waiting for something important.

  Flipping open the book, I read the production section.

  Territories can house structures. Structures can generate income, mana, Fire Spice or even special resources for building unique units. While a structure might have a daily production amount, the resources themselves are automatically placed into the reserves. You may empty the reserves at any time, which creates a shipping caravan. The caravan must reach your Manor in order for you to receive those resources. Caravans may only pass through territories you control, or allied territories.

  An enemy unit may attempt to capture a caravan if present; therefore you must ensure that your supply roads are sufficiently defended to prevent enemies from harvesting your hard-earned goods.

  When you reach License Level 1, you will be authorized to purchase additional structures to increase the production of existing territories.

  So, while trade between people seemed instantaneous, reaping the rewards of my own labor required a bit of a logistical puzzle to be solved. That was a little disheartening. At least, I felt that way until I noticed a supply line button on the bottom of the production page. Selecting it created a series of red lines, showing how territories were connected. Both of my production facilities had direct supply lines connected to the Manor, meaning they didn’t have to cross any major roads to reach my land. They just had to send a caravan out and I’d be able to collect each week.

  But since I didn’t have a pressing need for Fire Spice, I would focus on collecting the output later. My focus shifted back to the Manor map. First and foremost, I’d need to place the Mana Sphere.

  The map itself was just as big as the Burning Barrows area. There was a valley between each of the four hills, allowing for quick and easy travel straight to the clearing leading up to the Mansion. But if I put a single crate at the opening of each valley, the enemy would be forced to go around the hills. There wasn’t a lot of room to create a labyrinth at the beginning of the map, since the hills only allowed for one square for travel, but the clearing right before the Manor gates was perfect for making a little maze.

  Already a strategy began forming in my mind. It was simple enough. Four crates to plug up the holes and one crate to fully seal off one ending, resulting in a long trip all the way around the furthest hill from the entrance. There was no room to place towers on this path due to the single squares, but I could put four high-powered, high quality towers atop each hill.

  Two Miniature Trebuchets and two Ballistae would be perfect! They could deal a tremendous amount of damage to those passing by on the long trek. Then, once they were softened up, they’d encounter the real danger at the mouth of the Manor entrance: my golems. With around 650 mana crystals, I could put down a veritable horde of enemies. It didn’t matter how big and tough a siege engine was, with 50 or so Stone Golems knocking about, a Siege Golem would eventually fall to pieces. Any smaller unit would be devoured in no time.

  Of course, I didn’t want to put all of my eggs in one basket here. 50 Stone Golems would be enough at the entrance of the Manor, followed by 6 Karrack Golems in the back, to fire upon any targets of opportunity. Perhaps buying so many golems was overkill, but I could just imagine the look upon my enemies’ face when discovering so many units standing by, waiting to fight. Why, they might even want to surrender, to spare themselves the embarrassment! (Of course, the only reason I could think such thoughts was because Sigmund wasn’t around to smack them out of my head!)

  After spending quite literally all of my mana crystals, I turned my attention to the placement of my turrets. My silver stores were running quite low with the required purchase of a Mana Sphere. Placing a single Miniature Trebuchet would cost me 500 silver, leaving me with not much more than a mere hundred! And I still had a few days to wait before the Vineyard provided more money. Even then, it wouldn’t be enough to fund that second trebuchet, never mind the other two turrets I wanted, plus the barricades.

  I was, for lack of a better term, completely broke. Though I was rich in Fire Spice, I couldn’t really use that for construction, just rebuilding. If I were going to be able to build up my defenses more in the Manor, I’d have to find a way to bolster my cashflow—and fast!

  I zoomed out of the territory to see its current status. Blake Manor Status: Secure. Defense Level: 1. I groaned at that. With all of those golems in place, I only had a measly score of 1? I guess towers did the bulk of the work. Towers and probably maze design, since right now the enemy could just make a beeline through any of the openings in between the hills.

  The real world returned to my vision as I exited the Grid. I needed money, and an obscene amount at that. Just exactly how was I going to get these funds?

  Chapter 14

  Archibald Franz the Second peered over his comically large spectacles, staring right at me, mouth agape. “You wish to raise how much silver?” the exasperated accountant asked as he crouched behind his stack of books as if they would defend him from the number I was about to repeat.

  “Ten thousand,” I said. “Can you make it happen?”

  “Well, I do know of a fairy who grants wishes and she owes me a favor,” Archibald said.

  “Are you for real?”

  “No! Not in the least, Master Richard!” Archibald exclaimed as he stood up, knocking books everywhere as he raised his hands. “That kind of money is baron money! A gentleman makes at the most a thousand or two a year! That vineyard of yours, even when whipped into shape, won’t bring in more than 500 or so a month! And that’s gross profit, not net!”

  I frowned at this news. I was hoping that the estate’s accountant would have some kind of clever way of making money, perhaps some risky venture or dangerous investment opportunity, but apparently all he seemed to have was frustration at my questions.

  “So you’re telling me there’s no way to raise that kind of money? We can’t sell some of our art?”

  “Art? Art? The only art you have here is family portraits. Your uncle was keen to spend all of his money on food and booze. A fine investment if you ask me, but not something that will particularly yield a financial return. The kind of cash you want to raise isn’t going to come from a yard sale. We have fortune here, secret or otherwise. The most valuable item we possess is that tasteless nude statue that was banned by the
Crown, sitting on the upper balcony.”

  “Well we’re not selling that,” I said.

  “Perish the thought,” Archibald agreed. He sighed heavily. “I take it you wish to earn money for our defenses?”

  I braced myself for another lecture. “Yes, of course.”

  The accountant nodded solemnly. “Well, I’m not the kind of man who recommends debt. As your bookkeeper, my job is to keep us in the black, not the red. But…the nature of warfare means that we’re in danger of greater things than default. It’s not my position to ask why we’re involving ourselves in the Great Game, but it is my position to advise you as best I can.”

  I made a motion for the yammering man to get on with it. “Yes, yes, and…”

  “Well, you could always take out a loan from the Institute of Warfare.”

  “A loan?” I scowled at the word. Businessmen took out loans, not gentries. The risk of default wasn’t merely losing a few assets, but rather losing your own title. The Crown did not look favorably upon landowners who could not pay their debts and punished them accordingly.

  “I know, it sounds odd, but the Institute is quite generous in their terms. They exist as a means to help newcomers to the Great Game get their footing. There are restrictions on the loan, of course. You’ll get an Institute stooge to come here and monitor you.”

  “A stooge?”

  “Yes, you know, an observer who ensures you follow the stipulations of the loan.”

  I grimaced. The idea of having someone monitor my spending seemed a little odd, but…I suppose if the terms were good and the money was high enough, I could be open to some accountability. “So how much are we talking here?”

  “That I do not know. But I do know that one of the clear rules is that you cannot, under any circumstances, spend loan money on anything other than towers. From an economic viewpoint this is to prevent a large amount of…”

  Archibald began to ramble about the finer points of economics, silver minting and a host of other topics that I wasn’t particularly interested in. But try as I might, interrupting him didn’t seem to work as he somehow managed to bring the topic right back to the economic discussion. This lecture was a small price to pay for a very promising lead. Taking out a loan from the Institute of Warfare would give me exactly what I needed. But what were the terms? And most importantly, how long would I have to pay them back?