by Elian Tars
Kane had the Altar of Death, though. He hadn’t activated it yet, but I didn’t know what new skills the artifact would unlock for him in future.
In any case, I didn’t lie. I didn’t wish to face the guy in real combat.
The next day we continued our training. I didn’t get any new tasks from the Old Man which meant that the Patron agreed with my decision that increasing the congregation’s survival rate and helping the villagers become Frogs’ decent helpers was the best course of action for now. Both the villagers and the Frogs will have to protect the Lake of Grace from unwanted visitors.
“Has something happened?” Mara asked thoughtfully, staring at the sky.
Kane and I were standing near the source, regenerating after another sparring session in which I lost again for the second time this morning. The damned necromancer had copied my style of fighting. It looked like he had free everyday points, which he decided to spend on Acrobatics. I wondered whether he already had the Acrobatics, as it had to be unlocked first, or did he spend all yesterday evening rolling over and doing somersaults.
I followed Mara’s gaze. Kane’s “Bat No. 3” was approaching us fast. Unlike its living brethren, it felt comfortable during both day and night.
Mara rolled her eyes in the meantime, connecting to the winged scout. Kane did the same.
“We have guests,” the necromancer said almost immediately. “Five men. The strongest of them is level 55. The rest vary from level 40 to 47.”
“Do you have any idea who they might be?” I asked. Kane screwed up his face, and opened his mouth to answer, but was beaten to it.
“Senior Disciple! Senior Disciple! Trouble!” Shawn ran to us, panting. Stopping in front of us, the chief against his knees, trying to catch his breath.
“Who are those men?” I asked.
Standing up straight, the man looked at me with surprise and smiled with admiration.
“Of course, you already know about them. One of them is a Disciple of Karus. His God must’ve sent him to check on us. Following your orders, our sentries didn’t engage in… Hmm… How do I put it…? In short, nobody chewed the fat with the newcomers.”
“Come on, let’s go,” I waved, signaling them to follow me.
Yes, Disciples didn’t always travel alone. Sometimes they took guards with them. There was nothing unusual about that. Besides, the five of them could handle a small group of Decayed. Though, they wouldn’t have been able to defeat the group that had attacked Ilyenta.
“What happened here?! Answer! How dare you keep me here?! Don’t you understand that you can’t cope with us, and that we could, if we wanted to, easily force our way inside?!” shouted a sturdy knight on a horse.
Mighty Ilvin
Level 55
HP: 1510/1510.
He didn’t have a lot of HP for someone of such a level, but it was definitely bigger than average. I could assume that he had much better gear than a common guardsman, but nothing more than that. Level 52 Berg had three hundred more HP than this Ilvin guy. And I, owing to the generous sponsorship of the Followers of Rugus, outdid our guest by more than one thousand HP although we were the same level.
It looked like nobody had invested into his development. Well, that wasn’t surprising; not all Disciples were equally valuable to a Patron. Not to mention that it wasn’t that easy to find a rich employer. Besides, a God wouldn’t let his Disciple serve just any man. Still, the worldly life suited common members of the congregation more.
But it seemed that Ilvin had some common sense after all. Yes, he was making threats, but even from afar I could see the strain and suspicion on his face when he looked at the sentries that, armed with pitchforks and axes, repeated indifferently.
“Please wait, sir, they will come and talk to you in a moment.”
The Disciple of Karus clearly expected to be greeted with a different scene, the temple’s ward had been destroyed after all. There should have been not one stone standing upon another left, and yet — everything was okay. More than that, villagers had leveled up, though not much, and even mounted a defense.
I suspected that unbidden guests could come to us, but until now I wasn’t a hundred percent sure what would be best to do.
After all, a Disciple, the eyes and ears of his God, had come here. And now, Karus might be watching everything that was happening through Ilvin as easily as Kane watched the world through the eyes of his zombies.
And what would the God of Household think, seeing me and the necromancer? He would definitely feel that something was wrong. Perhaps he would even come to talk to us personally.
Damn it, maybe I made a mistake picking such a pompous name like “Dark warrior Daerk”? The villagers didn’t care much for it anyway, but another person’s God would be intrigued by it.
Maybe I shouldn’t stick out and let Shawn deal with the newcomers? However, the strong had gotten used to getting what they wanted. Even if these five listened to reason and stepped away, they would soon come back with increased forces.
But if they saw Kane, Mara, and I, they would decide not to do anything stupid and leave, which would buy us some time. If we are lucky, they would abandon their attempt of finding out what exactly happened in Ilyenta.
Had I not had a backup plan, I would have chosen the variant with the Chief.
“What the hell is wrong with you?! Why don’t you let the Disciple of your God in?” Ilvin cried and kicked the nearest sentry in the face with his hobnail boot.
“Because Karus doesn’t have ascendancy over this place anymore,” I said coldly, drawing the guests’ attention to our group.
“Who are you?” Ilvin asked at once. Quickly realizing what’s going on, he changed his question. “What God do you serve?”
“The best one,” I answered in the same confident voice. “The temple of Karus was destroyed. Neither his powers, nor his Disciples could protect this place. Only the power of my Patron helped us defeat the Decayed.”
For a couple of seconds Ilvin stood silently, without taking his eyes off me. However, it seemed like he didn’t notice me at all. He seemed deep in thought. Was he talking to his God?
“You are not from Glozeysk, are you?” he finally asked.
Instead of answering, I simply shrugged, trying to understand what exactly he meant. The town of Glozeysk? Or the God of Knowledge Glozeysk, after whom the town was named?
“And are you going to spread your faith onto the nearby villages?” Ilvin narrowed his eyes unkindly. Now it all made sense. They were asking me whether there would be a war between us or not. In that case, I shouldn’t give an evasive answer. However, I couldn’t give them a decisive “no” either. Shawn and the sentries were near after all. The authority and the might of the God of Darkness should stay unshakable for them as long as possible.
“I’m planning to devote my time to Ilyenta’s people. Quality is much more important than quantity for me.”
Ilvin nodded composedly.
“I understand. Well, we have to go back now and think your words over. However, don’t be too proud of yourself and don’t think that the Great One will turn a blind eye on this matter.”
It would be humiliating for them to go away silently now. I partially understood the necessity of saying the last phrase. However, there was a chance that Karus could really hold a grudge.
Understanding this, I said:
“What your Patron shouldn't forget is why there is a new God in Ilyenta, and what settlement on this part of the map stands on the way of the Decay.”
Ilvin glared at me, then nodded again and, turning his horse round, rode off with his guards.
Chapter 23
The News
“Senior Disciple! We have guests again! And quite the guests they are! Better than the yesterday’s ones!” Shawn blurted out enthusiastically, running to. The Chief caught me just steps from my house, on my way to training.
“Lead the way,” I replied. “Who has arrived? And why are you so happy abou
t it?”
“A merchant!” he replied, smiling and revealing his yellow teeth. “And a pretty rich one! We haven’t had ones like him before!”
“Well, now you are the Followers of the God of Darkness,” I said calmly, “and what seemed to be impossible before will now be an ordinary thing for you.”
“Indeed!” the man clearly bought into my pompous speech.
But as for me, I didn’t believe this nonsense for a bit; neither did I believe in coincidence. I could only guess why a rich merchant had come here. Did the Disciple of Karus meet a caravan on his way back and blabbed about a strange village? Did the merchant, being an entrepreneur, decide to check it in hope that he could make some money there?
This option, though far-fetched in my opinion, was still plausible. Maybe it was something else then; something that involved a God’s curiosity and our unusual element?
In this world, as well as in my home world, people living in villages would get up at the crack of dawn. They, too, would get really excited about all sorts of unusual events. It wasn’t surprising then that more than a half of Ilyenta’s residents had gathered at the eastern border of the settlement, looking with interest at the wagons and the caravan guards. People obviously couldn’t wait to receive the guests and bury themselves in the delivered goods. But the sentries did their job well — they didn’t let the merchant in, and their fellow villagers out. To the newcomers’ credit, they were waiting patiently to get a permission to enter. Unlike Ilvin, they weren’t making a fuss about it.
“Look at how many goods they’ve brought! Look!” Shawn whispered in my ear. “Such people don’t usually go to villages. They trade in towns!”
“You’re right…” I drawled thoughtfully, without taking my eyes off the caravan’s owner.
Caravaneer Tayon
Level 68
HP: 3130/3130
.
If memory served, his level didn’t change since we’ve last met, but the amount of HP had increased, though not very much. It definitely did. I think it used to be a little bit less than three thousand.
Although the merchant turned out to be my old acquaintance, it didn’t make things any easier. On the contrary, I got even tenser; it was one thing was to hear about a “rich merchant” from Shawn and an entirely different one to see the person who helped the baron and supplied his troops for a military campaign. “Rich” wasn’t good enough of a word to describe him. Maybe “trusted”, “reputable”, “well-known”… Why would such a character personally come to some godforsaken village?
“We welcome you, dear guests, to our lovely Ilyenta,” the villagers moved aside a little, making way for Shawn and me.
“Ugh!” Tayon shuddered theatrically, giving me a surprised look. “You’ve upgraded your Gloominess well, my dear client. And it seems that you have changed your name...” he said, squinting slyly, and smiled. So he recognized me. He was dropping pretty strong hints about it too. Well, maybe it will be even easier this way.
“You’re very observant. Not that I expected anything different from a merchant of your level.”
“Thank you,” he said, adjusting the lapel of his maroon jerkin, and nodded in the direction of the gathered villagers. “So, will you let us do some trading here for half a day? Or not?” He looked at me intently, narrowing his eyes. I heard the growing noise behind my back. I doubted that people had enough money to buy anything from, save for a knick-knack or two. However everyone was eager to take a look at his wares. If I sent the merchant away now, they would rebel against it. Not that that would be the worst thing, but it would be unpleasant. But if I let Tayon trade here, some of the villagers would definitely accidentally blab about the Lake of Grace and God of Darkness.
“I would let them in,” Kane whispered in my ear.
I was just waiting for Kane to appear. I had seen Mara drag him to the “front line” just a few seconds ago. Tayon noticed the couple, too. For a moment, he stared at them in amazement, but the experienced merchant got a hold of himself in no time.
“Do you know him?” I asked in barely audible whisper.
“It’s the first time I see him,” Kane replied.
That’s what I thought. This was the first time the caravaneer had seen him too. He must be in shock, having read their full names.
I had offered Kane to use my Ring of the Rascal to change Mara’s and his identification inscriptions but the guy politely refused, saying that he understood that Mara and he raised questions in every person they met. He had tried to change the inscriptions once, but it didn’t end well — Mara died. Their connection could be maintained only while he was the “Master of Death”, and she the “Highest Wight”.
“Shawn,” I deliberately called him rather loudly, “provide our guests with a comfortable place for trading.” Approaching the man, I added in a low voice: “Far from the Lake of Grace and the temple.” I then turned to the caravaneer. “Tayon, can we talk? I would really like to know what is going on in the world.” He nodded.
Shawn decided to place the trading wagons right there, on the roadside by the eastern entrance of Ilyenta. I thought that most of the merchants would have been offended by that, but not Tayon. He had clearly come here to do business, and not to increase his own sense of worth at the expense of the villagers.
Occupying two benches brought at my request, Tayon, Kane, Mara and I were looking the caravaneer’s wife and his three sons persuading the trusting villagers to buy all kinds of junk.
“I believe that I have to apologize to you for these inconveniences. However, I won’t reveal the reasons for my behavior,” I started calmly, looking at the caravan’s guards. I counted six ranging from level 67 to level 75. There might’ve been more.
“Everyone has their secrets, my dear client,” the merchant nodded understandingly.
“I see you don’t have your little dogs with you today,” I noted, looking at the empty cages, thanking the Old Man that Vella had been in the forest since the morning, minding her own business. Tayon didn’t have to know what a regular Bullkorg could turn into.
“Yes,” he answered dryly. “There weren’t many breeders in these parts before, and now there’s no one left. The Decayed killed them all,” he said and fell silent, waiting for my reaction. I was in no hurry to answer.
“Well, what about you?” he asked cajolingly, “did you manage to get yourself a dog back then?”
“I did,” I answered. “But I won’t sell it for all the money in the world. We could have discussed mating, but you don’t any have males.” I chuckled. “Did you really sell all of them? Haven’t you left any to protect the caravan?”
“Of course, I have,” Tayon replied. “But they’re all dead. The Decayed are not to be trifled with!”
We spent an hour talking with the caravaneer. He willingly told me about what was going on in Longoria. He didn’t ask anything in return for that information. I wasn’t really surprised with his tactics, but I admired hm. He was being very smart, not asking anything directly, but keeping a keen eye on everything that was going on around and listening to what people told him.
Seizing the opportunity, I bought an updated map of Longoria, a rolled up piece of paper with the Glozeysk Treatise about the History of Decay, fifteen phials of Enhanced Healing Potions, a dozen bottles of Enhanced Mana Potions and the same amount of bombs. The first two items me fifty gold pieces, and I paid more than a thousand for the rest. An incredible sum of money by the villagers’ standards, but to someone who claimed to be a player and not a pawn it was enough to buy only the most vital things needed for survival.
Tayon also told us that out of eleven counties of Longoria, six of them were affected by Decay; three northern and three eastern coastal ones. The county we were in, Lier, was situated between two northern ones. Having the general map of the country, I could finally appreciate its size. The maps Kane and I had showed only about two thirds, where, aside from Ekheim and the five baronies I knew, there were two more baroni
es further south and the capital — the city of Lier.
According to the caravaneer, over the last month the Decay had consumed as much of the territories, as it had over the last five years. It was sixty times faster than before, and would consume six counties in a year if it continues moving at such a rate.
The king, of course, didn’t want this to happen. However, he didn’t have enough forces to protect all of his lands right now.
The caravaneer shook his head. “In general, after talking to his lords, his majesty made, as he thought, the only right decision.” Tayon took the map out of my hands and drew a straight line with his finger. “To leave part of the lands so that he could buy himself some time and start reinforcing the rear.”
I didn’t know whether it was all connected, but the invisible line was right where the lands marked on my location map ended.
“Wait,” Mara was indignant. “The county of Kors will have only one town left. We’ll have only Lier and a couple of baronies, and our neighbor to the right, only three baronies?”
“Right,” Tayon nodded. “But that’s not all. Donte,” he traced with his finger the northernmost of the eastern counties, “will be left to the Decayed, to better reinforce the main seaport in Lenant,” the caravaneer prodded with his nail at the town situated in the middle of another coastal county.
“And what do the counts think about all that?” I asked, frowning.
“You got to the root of the matter, my dear client,” Tayon chuckled, but got serious at once. “How else could they take it? De Lier, as far as I know, supported the king and is now reinforcing the lands behind the conventional border. De Donte is selling everything he can to get as far away from the Decay as possible. De Korsa has disappeared without a trace.”
“And what about the barons?” I continued asking. “The five them have been left to their fates. Hasn’t anybody rebelled against that?”