“How many have you?”
“Over a hundred, I guess. Not counting Demons, Undead, and summoned critters.”
“We’re in the same ballpark,” she said. “But you figure I’m evil because I like doing it.”
“Do you?”
She shrugged. “It has its moments. Killing. Knowing they can’t stop you. I bet it’s not that different for you.”
Was she right? The first time he had killed someone, he had thrown up. Same when he killed humans. But he hadn’t gotten sick after he and his summoned critters wiped out that Woodling army, had he? If he added the kills of the critters under his command to the total, he had directed the slaughter of close to four hundred people. It had been war, and he still lost sleep over it, but he had done it. That was on him. On the other hand, he had enjoyed beating his enemies, but had taken no pleasure in killing them. Not even Greg the Necromancer. That had been like killing a rabid dog: unpleasant but necessary.
“It is different for me,” he told her. “But my brother, he was in the Marines, and he told me people who enjoyed killing could be useful, if they could keep themselves under control. Natural-born killers, he called them. Personality disorder types who learned to follow orders and stick to the rules, more or less.”
“Is that what you think I am? A personality disorder type?”
“I’m not a shrink. But if I free you from Kaiser’s oath, I can’t have you murdering innocent people. That would be on me.”
“Weird. You’re smart enough to break all kinds of rules, and ruthless enough to kill when you think it’s the right thing to do. But you still think you’re some sort of hero. It’s a delusion, my dude. We all do what we want unless someone stops us. And you can’t save everyone.”
“Agree to disagree, I guess. I can’t fix all the problems in the Realms, and I’m not going to try. But I won’t make things worse, not if I can help it. I’m going to make this Domain prosper, and when I move on to the higher Realms, I’m going to leave it in good hands.”
“Why do you care about any of it? Everybody other than us Eternals will be dead in a few decades, maybe a century or two for the longer-lived nonhumans. None of this matters. It’s like caring for the bugs in an ant farm.”
“Does it matter why I do it? I won’t let you hurt people who don’t deserve it. Can you handle swearing an oath not to do that?”
“Like I said, probably. It will be an inconvenience at some point, I’m sure. But it’s better than being Kaiser’s slave. I’ll just have to pick my fights a little more carefully.”
“What did Kaiser do to you?”
“Always the hero, I see. Did Kaiser force himself on poor little me? Nah. I was too useful, taking care of any targets that needed removing. But I know his type. He’ll try his luck with me, sooner or later. Just to prove he can do it. He has his own little harem, and none of those women are there of their own free will.”
“Do you care about what he’s doing to those women? Even a little bit?”
“Neither of us is a shrink. Maybe I feel some tiny bit of solidarity for my sisters. Or maybe I’m just a high-functioning psychopath who is worried the sociopath in charge of her life is going to go off the rails sooner or later, and would rather not be around when that happens.”
“Do we have a deal?”
“If you break my oath with the Nerf Herders, I’ll take your silly vow of only killing those who deserve it. I figure I’ll never run out of people who need killing, anyway.”
QUEST ACCEPTED: Oath-Breaker
You have agreed to help release Girl-Has No-Name from her oaths to the Nerf Herders. Those vows were made under duress but remain binding, and if she forswears herself, the penalty is Final Death.
Quest Objective: Free Girl-Has No-Name from the binding oaths to her Guild before she has to report back to Akila (Time Remaining: Twenty-six days, eight hours).
Rewards: 3,500 XP, +100 Reputation with the Triune Goddesses, +50 Reputation with Girl-Has No-Name, +300 Global Renown, New Title: Liberator. Girl-Has No-Name will swear a binding oath to follow the Tenets of the Triune Goddesses.
Failure Penalties: Final Death for Girl-Has No-Name. -100 Reputation with Triune Goddesses, -500 Global Renown, New Title: Forsworn.
“I’ll start working on it right away,” Hawke said.
Ten
“I’m taking nine people into a Dungeon,” Hawke said. “I have two slots open, and I want you to have one of them.”
“That’s cool,” Olaf Goode said. “I’m only a fourth-level noob, though.”
“I know. I want to help toughen you up. And we could use a healer. Our Druid does pretty well, and I do what I can, but having someone to pick up the slack would be great.”
“And you want more Eternals in the Party.”
“Yep. Worse comes to worst, you’ll come back. Most of the people I’m bringing along only have one life.”
The Priest nodded. “I have to admit, I could use a break from all the meetings.”
“You and me both,” Hawke said with a grin.
Before the Geek Rapture, Olaf had been a grad student, specializing in Medieval History. His knowledge of how things worked in a low-tech society had been invaluable, although a lot of what he had learned didn’t apply to the Common Realm. The Makers and Arbiters had not only added magic to the mix, but had brought along a whole bunch of things that medieval Europe never had. Crops, for example, included stuff like potatoes and corn, which hadn’t reached Europe until they were discovered in the Americas. Magic also made agriculture so productive that it nearly matched the best high-tech methods on Earth. That was just one example; Olaf understood those differences better than Hawke, who had snoozed through most history classes except when it came to cool stuff like the Battles of Hastings and Agincourt.
Hawke had promoted Olaf to Acting Prefect, and the Priest had selected Arcane Steward as his first Vocation. That had allowed Hawke to concentrate on the big-picture stuff. Olaf had taken on the job almost enthusiastically, and he got along well with the three other Town Officials: Antana the Mistress of Coin, Magistrate Oras, and Town Clerk Markello. He had gained a level both as a Priest and a Steward simply by running town-oriented quests. Still, the Eternal’s potential would be wasted if he spent all his time stuck behind a desk.
“I guess I’ll be the lowest-level member of the pack,” Olaf added.
“Depends on who gets the second slot, but probably. Nadia is eleventh level, and her bodyguard Gzzatt just hit tenth. Tava is also close to twelfth level. Gosto and Alba should hit tenth level and get a second Class or Specialty as soon as we clear a chamber or two. And Girl pretends to be eight level but is actually fifteenth.”
“Cripes. How did she do it?”
“Special ability of her Rogue subclass. But keep that under your hat.”
Hawke wanted to tell more people the truth about Girl, but not until he had freed her from her oath. He had spent much of the previous night studying the Shadow Mistress’ aura, studying the binding magic that enforced her vows. The process seemed to work like an Inscription, but instead of being carved or written on paper or stone, it had been imprinted into No-Name’s aura. The contract was a construct of Order, Life and a Force he hadn’t identified but suspected was Celestial magic, and it was linked so several spells. Hawke hadn’t had time to run a full examination of the oath before he’d called it a night. He would continue to try as the small expedition went up into the Shadowy Foothills. His plan was to explore the area, examine the two Dungeons marked on the Domain Map, and if one of them seemed promising, check it out. Whenever he could take a break for more than an hour, he would work on Girl’s oath.
“And who gets the other slot?” Olaf asked him, snapping him from his thoughts.
“I was hoping you could suggest someone. I haven’t really hung out with the other players.”
The sad thing was, Hawke felt uncomfortable around his fellow Earthlings, with only a few exceptions. Many of the thirty-one Eternals in
the Domain were still depressed and unhappy with their new lives. They loved to complain about everything. They had lots to say about their food and accommodations, none of it good, and never mind that most of them were living in fairly luxurious villas, rent-free. Hawke had been shocked to realize that he enjoyed the company of the local inhabitants better than hanging out with his fellow gamers. Ironically, the unfortunates who had lost almost all their Identity were the least annoying; they had effectively become their characters and were ready to start Adventuring.
“Grognard,” Olaf suggested.
Hawke recognized the name. He was a human Battle-Mage who had taken the news of his abduction to the Realms better than most. The Eternal had never come to Hawke to complain, and, just as importantly, nobody had complained about him, either. And Battle-Mage was a useful and versatile hybrid Class; it allowed the use of medium armor and granted several spells, as well as some Warrior-type abilities. Battle-Mages couldn’t tank very well, but were good utility Adventurers, able to DPS and help hold a line against melee attackers.
“He was a veteran back on Earth,” the Priest added. “Served in Iraq for a few years until he got injured in a car accident. He’s made it to level four going out and hunting some of the critters that have been popping up in the Highlands Forest.”
“Not by himself, I hope.”
“No. He usually goes out with a couple of Hunters: Boris Imdoomed and Lady Pew-Pew, plus a few others. He knows how to lead and take orders.”
Hawke recognized the – unfortunate – names. They were members of Tava’s ranger school, and two of her most promising students.
“Sounds good. And I see he’s joined the Guild, too,” Hawke said after checking the Earth and Realms Defenders’ roster.
All but seven of the new Eternals had joined his Guild. Three were with the Stern Company, and the rest had formed their own small group and mostly kept to themselves. They hadn’t made any trouble and were actually paying rent for their villa. Maybe they would form their own Guild. Nothing wrong with that, and it would be one fewer headache for Hawke. But he would give priority to members when it came to helping level them up. Before Hawke closed the Guild Interface, he took note of how much experience it needed to get to its next level:
Current Guild XP/Next Level: 631/1,000
All members of the Defenders generated experience for the organization, the equivalent of one percent of the power they accumulated by winning battles or completing Quests. Unfortunately, a bunch of lowbies didn’t generate a lot of XP. Things would improve with time, but Hawke didn’t know if the Dungeon trip would be enough to get the Guild more than one or two levels. He added the XP counter to his regular notifications, sighing. Just one more thing to keep track of. If this was a game he might have quit already because of all the bookkeeping. It was like having a job. Here and now, of course, it was his job, and if he didn’t get it right he and a lot of people were going to die. No pressure.
“All right, we’ll bring Grognard in,” he said. “Going to take one extra day to run some training with everybody, so we’ll leave the day after tomorrow.”
That meant everything had to be pushed back another day, but rushing out could have lasting consequences. Hawke had learned the value of patience the hard way. At least a couple of his deaths had occurred because he didn’t take his time to consider a situation.
“I’ll let him know,” Olaf replied. “He’ll appreciate the extra training, too. Says that a lot of us are too disorganized, rather than working as a unit.”
“Weird. Most of us have been gaming for a while. People should know better.”
“Some were casuals and mostly soloed when they played MMORPGs. Others haven’t gotten used to the difference between doing stuff for real and clicking buttons in front of a screen. Their built-in instincts let them fight individually, but not as a group.”
“We have to work on that. I have a feeling that things are going to get interesting, in the old Chinese curse way.”
“Why, though?” Olaf asked. “You defeated the local Big Bad already.”
“It’s something Kinto said to me. Eternals attract trouble. We’ve got thirty of them here. Over twenty Nerf Herders in Akila, which isn’t that far, and their average level is twelve to fourteen, from what Girl told me. That’s like dumping fifty gallons of blood into shark-infested waters. That city and our valley are going to be hit by all kinds of trouble.”
“You’re giving me the warms and fuzzies,” Olaf said.
“Supposedly, the Arbiters only give you as much trouble as you can handle.”
“Sure. If everything goes well. But I’m more worried about the Nerf Herders, myself. We outnumber them but they outpower us.”
“Yeah. They have a big head start on us. There is a Labyrinth near Akila. The Herders are grinding it regularly, leveling up a lot faster than most Adventurers do. As soon as Kaiser learns about us, I’m certain that he’ll try to take over the town. It’s a perfect base of operations for him, and he will see all our Eternals as both a threat and opportunity.”
“Join or die,” Olaf said.
“Yep. And some people might be tempted; Guild officers have a sweet deal over there. The other Eternals are little better than slaves, working in a crafting factory in their compound, or fighting in the Arena or Dungeons, with their prizes going to the Guild. The oaths Kaiser makes them swear are like magical shackles.”
“I thought slavery was illegal in the Empire.”
“Except for things like convicted criminals doing forced labor, yes. But nobody has reported the Nerf Herders for using oaths to enslave their members. Yet.”
“Which is why you’re planning on going to Akila with the trading caravan.”
“Yeah. I want to shut them down and rescue as many Eternals as I can. Most of them were scared and confused when Kaiser made them an offer they couldn’t refuse, and now they are trapped. Nobody should live like that.”
“How about the enablers, though? The ones bossing them around and abusing them?”
“I made an oath to protect the innocent and punish the guilty.”
“You’ll kill them. Permanently.”
“The ones who deserve it, yes. And before you ask me who made me judge, jury and executioner, the answer is, three goddesses did.”
Olaf frowned. “Yeah, I’ve heard the stories. I don’t like it. I believe in the rule of law, and the accused being presumed to be innocent until he is found guilty by the evidence.”
“I do too, Olaf.”
“Summary execution isn’t the same as a jury trial.”
“If I can, I’ll haul any suspects I capture to Orom and you can be their defense lawyer.”
“I don’t think we would have jurisdiction.”
“They are Eternals,” Hawke said. “A jury of their peers should consist of Eternals, don’t you think?”
Olaf shrugged and raised his hands up in defeat. “All right, you got me.”
Hawke started to say something else – and suddenly everything around him started speeding up. Olaf was saying something, but his voice turned high-pitched and too fast to understand. He had frozen in time and the universe was leaving him behind. He couldn’t tell how long the effect lasted, and only knew it was over when Olaf’s words became intelligible again. The Priest was standing over him, the glow of Light Magic on his hands; he had tried a healing spell on Hawke, not knowing it wouldn’t do any good.
“… all right? Hawke!”
Hawke exhaled. “Yeah, I’m fine. How long was I frozen for?”
“Maybe twenty, thirty seconds? You drifted off, and then I realized you weren’t moving. Or breathing. Like you’d turned into a statue.”
“A little something I picked up,” he told Olaf.
One of the special abilities that no fourteenth-level noob should have but Hawke had acquired was called Timeless Mind. It allowed him to disconnect himself from the usual flow of time and do things like heal damage as quickly as it was delivered to him,
microsecond by microsecond. Or freeze everyone around him while he cast several spells with impunity. It was great, except that every time he used the ability, there was a chance he would suffer a debilitating effect. Something like Temporal Distortion, which gave him a 5% chance of becoming untethered from time. A cumulative five percent, which meant that the odds became one in ten after two days, and a hundred percent in twenty. This was the first time it had hit him while he was doing something. There was a one-in-three chance the time lapses would happen while he slept, but he worried that if it hit in the middle of a fight, it would get him killed.
“Magical side effect,” he explained, and left it at that. “Moving on. Any town business I need to deal with?”
“Everything is all right so far. Crime is down, thanks to all the extra guards we’ve hired, in no small part because we recruited some of the local troublemakers. They are now guards, under military discipline. This place never had too much crime anyway. Mostly drunk and disorderly and domestic violence incidents. Magistrate Oras has had plenty of free time to go over the tax code, as you asked him.”
“Good. How about construction?”
“A hundred Mana a day isn’t much to go on, but I’m improving the Temple of Shining Father and have started construction on a Temple of the Triune Goddesses. Used Mana to set the foundations, and hired labor and materials to refurbish the warehouse you chose into a proper temple. Took a big bite out of the treasure: ninety-six gold, eight silver so far.”
“I wish I could assign more Mana to construction projects, but we’re stretched thin. The Temple improvements will increase our Mana generation, and then we can start adding more things.”
Hawke leaned back on his chair, thinking of all the improvements he wanted to make. Increase Orom’s level, for one. Improve the Keep and other Town defenses. Turn the chapel of the Olympian gods into a proper Temple. Build roads and a bridge to fully integrate the Stronghold – and the Arachnoid settlements – into the rest of the valley. Improve the crafting workshops; a lot of Eternals wanted to become Arcane Smiths, Alchemists, Enchanters and Weavers, and the magical structures would help them a lot. They still needed to find more teachers. Maybe hire a few Arcane Professionals when he went to Akila. He was planning on bringing a selection of trade goods from the Necromancer’s Vault, and the profits from that should allow him to entice some up-and-coming crafters to Orom. Regular artisans, too.
Labyrinth to Tartarus: A LitRPG Saga (The Eternal Journey Book 3) Page 7