He checked the status screen quickly. The only difference was the added attack he got from the weapon, a whopping forty two points. He wondered if slamming someone across the head would have be an interesting way to play with the staff instead of absorbing it.
"Yes!" Kaden yelled out in happiness, watching the status attack go up. Then, he frowned. If it's only forty two, does that mean only forty-two points of damage added upon the nine hundred of [Flood]? What kind of bonus is that?
"No you idiot. I'll explain it later, kill this thing already!" Razor croaked in his head. He had no way of helping Kaden, as the smoke was thick and only a few metres above ground, so he would have to ride this one out.
Without replying his soul-bond, Kaden pointed his hand at the Orc and used [Magic Bolt]. To his surprise, the spell ripped out a chunk of meat from the target’s back upon impact.
"Now that’s what I’m talking about!" Kaden exclaimed happily. His celebration had been cut short, as a sharp pain shot to his brain. He looked around, not understanding what had happened. Then, the pain revealed itself, coming from his chest. As Kaden’s eyes went down, he found a spear sticking out from his chest, the tip and shaft soaked with blood, with steam rising up from it.
"Fuck," was all he managed to say, as only one thing mattered to him now. If he was going to die, his killer would go with him.
Checking for his spell counts, the corner of his lips rose slightly at seeing one use on his favorite spell. He dropped to his knees and placed both palms on the ground, casting [Frozen Land].
As the ice rose up his hands and legs, the one thing that made him happy was an outcry coming from behind him as his assailant would meet him in the afterlife.
Chapter 15
"You are such a lucky bastard," a voice spoke into Kaden’s mind, waking him up from a deep slumber. He knew that voice very well and despised it to no end, but it was also the voice of the one who could give him the world, or take everything away from him. "Only two seconds separated your own from the death of the remaining Orcs. I would say very well done, but to be honest, you did a crappy job."
"Tell me about it," Kaden replied. He had no real idea what Bardos would have in store for him this time around. Hearing he had died however, instantly dashed his hopes for a new future together with Laney in this world.
"Oh, I did just tell you about it. That's why we're here." The silence that followed was very long and uncomfortable. He wanted to know what was going to happen to him and get it over with already, not sit in silence like a scolded child.
"Why am I here, if I may ask?"
"What do you think about a new chance?" Bardos asked, making it sound as if it was him doing Kaden a favour. Being generally dense in the head, Kaden agreed without even thinking about the repercussions. The urge to go back was keeping him from thinking straight, as if he was under a spell.
"Yes! Please!" Kaden replied, not even knowing where he or his god were. A deep laughter was Bardos’ reply.
"Very well then. In that case, I order you to build a statue in my name. I expect nothing less than the centre of the village. It has to be done within ninety days of returning to your body and has to be the tallest thing construct within the village. Do you accept?"
"I do!" Kaden hurriedly replied, his voice a pitiful whining.
"You disgust me, human filth. Pleading for your life as if it had any meaning before you died. Do not forget your promise, human. If you do, nothing but eternal suffering awaits you. Heed my words," Bardos said before the darkness shifted into bright light.
* * * * *
Kaden opened his eyes and stared into bright daylight. Razor was perched on a log and looked down on him, cocking his head to one side, then the other.
"He sure is a benevolent ruler," Razor thought, not knowing what else to say.
"Sure he is. The one and only," mocked Kaden in return. He had no idea what had happened earlier, and didn’t really care. All he knew was that the second chance would have to be repaid, and the statue built. "How long have I been out?"
"All night. To be honest, I thought you would stay dead. What a pity, I could have done some experiments with your corpse." Kaden, annoyed at the bird's words, got up and looked around him, taking the scenery in. Almost nothing was left of the previous rubble and partially demolished homes.
In the background, the sound of metal on stone, and metal on wood could be heard as chatter created a lively environment. Small groups of villagers were busy with getting rid of the remaining rubble and burnt wood, while others kept a stream of incoming logs, branches, hemp and large leaves.
"Finally awake again!" Laney yelled out as she jumped on top of Kaden, pressing him down into the cold soil. He winced in pain, but he was relieved that she was well, overwhelming him with emotions. There seemed to be no reason for these things to keep happening, except Bardos. Maybe now that the village was taken, they would finally have some time to rest, and make something for themselves—a place to call their own?
"Missed you too," he replied, pushing her off. Instead of budging, she pressed harder and hugged him even tighter before releasing, and sitting beside him. She wiped a tear from her eye and smiled, bright as the sun. He sat up again and looked at her, thankful for the last chance he had been given.
"How do you like being alive again?" she joked. He shook his head slowly and grinned from ear to ear, his teeth showing.
"You should know that just as well," he laughed. She hit him playfully on his shoulder, and inched closer on him.
"Don’t do that again. Bardos appeared earlier, saying you would be given a chance to return if you pleased him, so we put your corpse, umm, body in the sun. I thought it would be better to wake up to sunshine, rather than darkness."
"And you thought well, Laney. Thanks," Kaden replied, touching her hand with his finger. "Say, what about Eliana and the squirrel bear magician? Did something happen to them?" Moving the topic away from Bardos was his priority, not wanting to talk about him. Laney flashed him another smile, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. She is divine, he thought. The bird croaked once as if mocking Kaden, who gave a blank stare in return.
‘No, silly. They are coordinating the villagers' efforts and helping them with everything. Speaking of which, there’s about thirty of them,’ she replied.
Kaden’s eyes grew wide. "Thirty? I thought there weren’t more than fifteen of them. And what is with all the different looks? Some were really strange."
Laney laughed at his question, and replied again. "They basically look just like us now. Sixteen of them are human, as in human-looking, while six look like Eliana and eight look like Pooky. Bardos changed their appearances according to how much each of us contributed to the village battle's outcome."
"Oh," was all he could think. After a short silence, he found his voice again. "Pooky huh? Sounds… cute?" he laughed. "But he is insanely strong. Did you see his magical attacks?"
"Yeah," she replied, and went quiet. Kaden looked at her questioningly, as if it was a bad thing they had come across another living being.
"Something wrong?" he asked.
She looked up into the sky for a moment, and then back at him. "There are numerous ways he could use his strength against us."
"You think? I haven’t met him yet, but why would he? We saved his life, after all. Right?" he asked.
"You are very naive, my dearest," Laney said as she got up, giving him a hand, which he gladly took and got up as well.
"Hey, you two!" Eliana yelled as she ran over, with Pooky in tow, wearing a wide grin.
"Hey, Eliana, and Pooky, is it?"’ Kaden replied warmly as the four met up. The small Pooky looked different in broad daylight, than during the night. His eyes must have been playing games on him during the battle. Instead, he looked like a raccoon bear. He was small and bulky, with the paws of a bear, but the rest of him resembled an earthly raccoon. Man, what the hell am I seeing here? Kaden thought.
"Hello there, Kaden. My name i
s Pooky Faroodi Lagrimosi, but call me "Pooky" for short. These fine ladies have been telling me many things about you. Very pleased to meet and be considered, at least for now, an ally of yours."
"Pooky farooki lagrimuki?" Razor’s voice echoed inside of Kaden’s head. He almost laughed, but caught himself.
"Shut it," Kaden replied.
"Nice to meet you too, Pooky," he said, offering his hand to the small, furry creature.
"Oh, is that how your race greets each other?" Pooky asked, taking hold of Kaden’s hand and gripping it firmly. Kaden’s face went almost pale at the strength exerted by Pooky’s handshake. The bear was strong as a… bear.
Massaging his hand, Kaden noticed the villagers had come up towards them and just stood there, smiling while observing what the two alpha males were doing. The women didn’t quite understand what was going on as well, observing them instead.
"You have quite some power within you, Pooky," Kaden commented, still massaging his hand. The tiny bear roared out in laughter, and grinned at him.
"May I have your attention, please?" said one of the villagers as he made a step forward, and stopped right in front of them. He looked like a human being, and was staring straight at Kaden.
"We have finally finished clearing out the remains of our previous homes, and have brought in enough supplies to start working on a large shelter. All of us will be able to spend the night indoors, so to speak," the elderly man said.
"Oh that's good news!" Kaden exclaimed, bowing slightly at the man in greeting.
"With your permission, Kaden, we would like to proceed with setting it up." Both of his eyebrows shot up at the villager's remark. Baffled, he just stood there with his mouth wide open.
"My permission?" he asked, after his brain went blank.
"Of course. You killed the Orc leader, and therefore have become the village elder by default."
"What!" Pooky snapped. "I killed most of the Orcs that had been stationed here, and he gets to be elder?" His hands curled into fists, and veins on his face and neck bulged outwards. The color of his fur turned a shade darker and became a dark brown, as opposed to the previous grey. Besides the color, he turned out quite big, towering over Kaden.
"Pooky?" Kaden asked, panic-stricken, with his palm held out towards the bear.
Eliana retreated a dozen metres, and had an arrow notched with Laney standing beside her, sword and shield in hand. The bear looked at both and roared in anger, swiping at Kaden with his large paw. An arrow embedded itself within his left arm, making the bear cry out in pain and turn towards the two women. A moment later, an orb slammed into his side and Pooky dropped like a fly. His health bar was in the orange zone, and one more attack like that could have easily killed him.
"How the hell did he survive my [Ice Orb] anyway? How much health or defense does this guy have?" Kaden murmured. A shocked Laney punched his right shoulder, scowling at him.
"Wait, don’t kill him!" Eliana yelled at Kaden, who was still holding out his palm towards the bear. Pooky changed back to his smaller size, and started crying from the damage sustained. His fur was frozen over, and it looked like he was missing some where the orb had struck. The arrow, now firmly lodged in the smaller paw, seemed to hurt him like hell. He let it be known through his curses and cries of pain.
"Pooky?" Kaden asked once more. His head shot up, eyes staring at Kaden’s as tears rolled down his cheeks.
"Please, forgive me," said the tiny bear, sobbing. "I have a tendency to lose control when my emotions aren’t in check." Everyone looked at him sadly, as if he was a baby crying for his mother’s milk. He tried to curl into a ball, but the arrow didn’t let him bend his arm.
"Oh, come on, we don’t need this now!" Laney yelled, running towards Pooky. She knew that he was an asset, though a wild card. Laney knelt beside him and stroked his head. The bear stopped shivering, and looked up at the woman. She looked at the arrow, and then back into his eyes, only to find them glazed over. Without even knowing what she was doing, she held tightly onto the arrow with one hand, and pushed at his arm with the other, ripping out the projectile. Pooky regained consciousness for a brief moment to cry out, and dropped to the ground again as blood gushed out from the wound. Eliana cast her regenerative spell on the bear, and knelt beside him.
"Fuck man. This is so messed up," Kaden said to no one in particular. "In the end, he’s the victim."
"That’s how it is with me, my friend. No one understands me at all," Razor said.
"The difference between us, is that you just sound like an asshole. I try to be a nice guy, even though I’m not really succeeding, it seems," Kaden countered.
Pooky’s health bar remained where it was, neither going up nor down after the spirit buff was cast. The two women cleaned the wounds and bound them with makeshift bandages. After they were done, the debuff disappeared from Pooky, letting the health flow into light orange. All of them sighed in relief and turned towards each other.
Kaden didn’t meet their gaze for more than a second, and turned towards the villagers who were standing there motionless. He approached the group and stopped in front of the man who had called out to him. "What is your name?" Kaden asked with a smile.
"The name is Frederic, Mister Kaden, and that's my wife Petronella," the man replied, shaking Kaden’s offered hand. The woman approached as well, bowing slightly. Kaden bowed and returned the smile, shaking the woman’s hand as well.
The first impression he had of the two, was that they were so plain that he would have a hard time finding them in a crowd. Their features were simple at first glance, but the longer he watched them, the more he noticed the small details. The way Frederic moved his nose, and the way Petronella bit her lip, amongst other quirks, popped up in his mind.
"Shit man, they look so human that it’s scary." Kaden observed.
"Sure thing. He made them in your images, after all," Razor replied. Clearing his head, Kaden found Frederic’s eyes again.
"As the bear and I aren’t really getting along right now, I suggest we take a walk and see what has to be done," he said, taking a step past the two villagers. They followed after him towards the other villagers and supplies that had been stacked on top of each other. Standing there, he observed the piles: the one on the far left was the largest, with logs and branches stacked on top of each other; to the right was a large heap of big leaves; and lastly, big quantities of vines to tie everything together. But why at the eastern wall? It doesn’t make real sense, he thought.
The villagers all rounded up at the big piles and stood there, observing Kaden. He was walking around, and motioning at the ground with his fingers for a while as he looked up at both the sky and the ground. Kaden walked towards the pile of branches and rummaged through them, until he found one that was almost the length of the logs. A moment later, he was back at the spot on the ground where he had been pointing at with his fingers, placing the branch on the ground. He walked over towards Laney and motioned for the bag they had found with the first Orcs.
"Can I get the bag please?" he asked, holding his hand out. Laney looked at him inquisitively, but handed over the bag. ‘Thanks. How is the bear?’ he asked half-heartedly.
"He will live. His health is halfway up, but it seems his energy is drained. He is just lying there and staring up at the sky," Laney replied.
"So he will live, that’s what’s important. When he regains his energy, we will need to have a heart-to-heart if this is to work out for everyone," Kaden replied, walking back towards the villagers, grinning like mad.
"What is a bag going to do for us?" Petronella asked inquisitively.
"The bag itself, not much, but what is inside of it, a lot," he said with a smirk, opening the bag. From within, he pulled out about five shovels, five axes, five pickaxes, five saws and various other tools multiplied by five. What he needed now were the axes, the shovels and the saws. "Listen up everyone," he spoke up loudly. The villagers went quiet immediately, seeing the magic that was happening
right in front of them. "We will do the following. The stick here will serve as a measuring tool. We need to dig a hole three times the length of the stick, and five times the width. That's approximately four metres long and eight wide. I think it will be enough for the start, or do you have a better suggestion?" No one replied for a long moment.
"I think that will be just fine. Especially once we start building a second floor," Frederic happily replied. Kaden grinned, a feeling of accomplishment flourished within him.
"Volunteers?" He asked, holding out the shovels. Five burly men stepped forward and took the shovels. Moments later, they began working.
"How deep do you want it to be?" one of them asked. His wide moustache and thick beard made him memorable.
"Give me a moment to think it through." He looked at the logs and how thick they were, then drew a picture within his mind. "The logs are about thirty to forty centimeters thick. I think some sand to level out the area and a row of logs would be enough. What do you think about fifty centimeters?" The men seemed to be satisfied with the instructions, and started digging again.
"What about us?" said one of the bear-like women. Kaden smiled at her and pointed at the soil being dug out.
"I want all of the women to use this soil to make a large garden where we will grow vegetables. Let’s see," he replied, looking over the plot of land. The distance between the northern and southern gates was shown as ninety metres, and the width between the eastern and western walls was sixty. "Alright. We have a problem." He sat down and frowned, his enthusiasm down the drain.
"What is it, Mister Kaden?" Frederic asked worriedly, sitting beside him.
Kaden looked the man in the eyes and replied, "I have no idea how to plan this area out. We need a lot of buildings, including a smithy, a sawmill, a farm, storehouse, longhouse for the villagers, a house for us otherworlders and many more. I have no idea how to plan everything out."
Frederic’s face lit up as he laughed. "Why, my dear sir, why didn’t you say so immediately? My wife is gifted with the trait you just described!"
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