by Tao Wong
“Really? You took one city and now you’re looking at more? Getting a bit of a big head, are you?”
“Might as well do it right.”
Ingrid laughs softly, tipping her bottle upward and draining it before she nods. “I’ll play spy for you. Until I get bored. Or get a better offer.” She snags my bottle and leans forward, flipping off the ledge into the darkness below.
“My bottle!” I grumble softly, her dot disappearing from my map. That went better than expected.
Chapter 10
Breakfast. The most important meal of the day. Whether or not it matters for our altered bodies, it certainly helps as a ritualized meeting place for the team. Today, it’s Sam’s turn to cook, which means we have gruel, gruel, and bacon. At least there’s enough.
“Ingrid’s not here,” Mikito says, dumping some chopped ginger into her gruel.
“I spoke with her last night. She’s scouting,” I say unconcernedly. No point hiding this information from my team. It isn’t even too much a concern about need-to-know issues since anyone who really wants this information can buy it from the Shop. Though I am curious how Ingrid’s Skills affect that option. Something to ask Ali about later.
“Huh,” Ali says. “Figured she’d have left.”
“No thanks to you,” Lana says, waving a finger at Ali.
Once the Spirit ducks his head, Lana takes the time to update us on her progress yesterday. The others follow suit, including me. I even take a moment to introduce Kim, who is extremely reluctant to even say hi. Everyone takes the introduction of the AI with aplomb—just another post-System moment.
“Sounds like most of you have things well in hand,” I say as we stare at the empty pot. Bland as gruel might be, it was still decent fuel for the day. “Mikito, if you’ve got teams that are workable, let’s get them headed north to the dungeon. Get your best team on clearing it. If it manages to replicate, we’ll send another team in till the Mana pool is cleared. We’ll also want scouting teams moving to the communities. I know the Sect might have swept the place before, but now that they’re out of power, we might be able to convince them to join us. Lana, I’ve got the basics up and running, but I want you to keep an eye out for talent. Someone’s going to have to run the city, preferably someones.”
“Benjamin?” Lana says with a raised eyebrow.
I raise my hand horizontally and waggle it. “Let’s not rush this.”
“I’ll look around. But what are you going to do?”
“The city needs money and I need more Levels,” I say, grimacing. “If I could hit Level 40…” I shake my head and push aside my regret. “There’s a National Park close by, so the zone should be decent. Might even have a dungeon or two.”
“Har. So you’ve got us all working and you’re off having fun,” Sam says, waving the last stick of crispy bacon.
“Well, yes.” I could explain how growing my strength means growing the strength of the city and our team, of how I can hunt, fight, and capture faster than anyone here, bringing in a significant amount of Credits. I could even note that I spent the entire day yesterday stuck doing paperwork, but really, I know he’s mostly teasing me.
“Leave your drones, will you?” Sam follows up. “I want to study them.”
“And John, can you have Kim stay in the city? She can be useful to me,” Lana says. “If you’re willing to let me work with her on assigning tasks.”
“It’s an it,” Ali corrects before I can reply.
“THE SENTIENT FORCE IS CORRECT. SURPRISINGLY.”
“Enough, you two,” I growl softly. “Kim, can you download yourself into the settlement’s ummm… core?”
“YES.”
“Good. Do that and follow Lana’s orders,” I say, settling that quickly.
Seeing that no one else has anything else to add, I stand. Time to get rid of some stress and get some experience.
***
Traveling to the national park wasn’t hard at all. It was barely fifty kilometers from the town itself. Of course, it’s on the other side of the river, which gives the town some protection, but it still isn’t much if the monsters decide to go a-roaming. While most monsters don’t, finding the higher Mana forests more comfortable, it still isn’t a lot of protection. That’s part of the reason why I was swinging by, to make my own evaluation of how dangerous it is. If there’s an Alpha monster or a dungeon in here, it definitely needs taking care of.
“Is taking over the town’s core the only way to win a city?” I ask Ali as I wander through the forest. I don’t bother with the trails since I’m looking for monsters, tossing a spell or two when needed and letting the Spirit dump the body in my Altered Space.
“Nope. Easiest way, but there are others. Kill the guy who owns the place, and if they don’t have a designated heir, it reverts to the killer or whoever is in the town, depending on circumstances. Only works on places that are individually owned. You can also buy up eighty percent of the land in a town. If that happens, the town automatically reverts control to you because you literally own most of it. Of course, if you drop below the eighty percent and gained it that way, you lose control too. Not common these days of course,” Ali says.
“Of course.” I sigh, calling for a Blade Strike, and cut down an overly affectionate mutant-pine tree. There’s something wrong with the concept of carnivorous trees. Especially ones with pink fuzz rather than leaves. “Any reason they can’t just sneak someone in and put their hands on the core to steal the place from us?”
“They could. Been done before, but mostly for places that have better defenses to turn on the original defenders. As it stands, the System notification will alert everyone, so it’s not like they’ll gain much. Kamloops’s defenses would go down in a heartbeat. Doesn’t gain them much and loses them some useful people,” Ali says. “It’s one thing to steal a city, another to keep it. As you’re finding out.”
“Still…” I frown, glancing backward.
“Not their style, boy-o,” Ali reassures me. “And Kim will slow down the changeover long enough for your people to get a-killing. Relax.”
I grunt, accepting his words for now. Still, it may be time to set up some additional security when I get back, something Ben could help with. Be a good test for him too, see if he’s worth working with.
“You figure they’re just going to launch a full-scale attack then?” I say, going back to the original line of questioning. I adjust my saunter through the forest slightly, heading for a few green dots. Better than nothing.
“If you mean a few of their teams, yeah. Might hire some additional help too,” Ali says. “The Sect leans toward the quality-over-quantity approach to fights.”
“Like the Guard.”
“Actually, more like the Dragon Knights. The Erethran armed forces actually leans the other way. Not to say they aren’t tough, but they use a lot of tech at the lower levels, which lets them field a larger force than others. More expensive, but makes them nasty to fight,” Ali says.
“I’ve been wondering about that. My Class is only an Advanced one. Seems a bit low for bodyguards of royalty,” I say.
“Are you concerned about the rarity or the strength?” Ali says, asking for clarification.
“Uhhh…” I take a few moments to finish off the bounding metallic wolf-like creatures attacking me. They might even be wolves. I don’t bother checking. “Both, I guess.”
“To get your Class the normal way, you would need to be assigned to the Honor Guard to start and be at Level 50. Obviously, even if you are Level 50 and refusing to progress, you aren’t necessarily going to get to join the Honor Guard. A lot of people would rather keep progressing than wait around,” Ali explains, dumping the bodies away for me while we head toward the next group of monsters. “As for their strength, I think you’re missing the point. They’re the Guard, the people you have to fight through to get close to the Erethran royal family. You’re not facing one or two or a dozen of them but hundreds. And if you manage to survive all that, well,
then you’ll be up against their Champions.”
“Champions?” I frown, tilting my head to the side. “That the Master Class?”
“One of the possibilities. There’s generally only one or two next to the royals—the royals are pretty damn tough themselves. But it’s one way to go,” Ali says, shrugging. “More independent, better individual fighters. Of course, you need to be granted the title and well…”
“I’m not likely to.” I sigh. Right. It’s why I’m not as thrilled by the idea of hitting Level 50 as others might be. Whatever options the System might offer me, it’s probably not going to be what I want. Not as if there are members of the Erethran Royal Family around to grant me a title of Champion. Lack of opportunity sucks. “Whatever. Future John can deal with that problem.”
I grunt, picking up speed as my mind turns once more to the initial question that drove me out here. How do we deal with the Sect? I turn over, again and again, the options offered by Ali.
“We should be drowning them in numbers, shouldn’t we?” I finally say, coming to a halt in a clearing and staring at the sunlight that streams in. I touch my helmet, letting it retract, and let the warmth cover my face as I struggle with the knowledge. “We should arm everyone, get them up on the walls for when they hit us. Drown them in fire and numbers, whittle down their best fighters…” Deal with their quality with our quantity.
“That’d be a good idea.”
“And kill a lot of people,” I whisper, my eyes burning with unshed tears. Anger and pain, mixing on this beautiful day.
“It’s their fight too,” Ali quietly points out.
“I know.”
My mind spins, possibilities opening up. Put the people whose lives are at stake, whose freedom is in play, on the walls to fight. To live and die by their own hand. Help them, sure. But let them sacrifice too.
It’s the smart thing to do.
The right thing to do.
I just have to be willing to let others die.
***
Later that evening, Lana finds me seated in the same spot where I found Ingrid. Watching the city, drinking from a bottle, mulling over my options.
“Missed you at dinner,” Lana says, plopping down next to me.
In the corner, I’m somewhat startled to note, is Roland, the tiger almost completely hidden except for a pair of glowing eyes. I make a mental note to watch out for the kitty. Its ability to hide is almost as good as Ingrid’s.
“Yeah, sorry. Doing some thinking. How’d the day go?” I say, offering her the bottle.
She takes it and swigs from the bottle before handing it back to me. “Pretty good. Kim was helpful in allocating resources and getting people working, including cleaning up some new buildings. Ben is working on reinforcing some of the thoroughfares as well, and adding a few traps. Can’t do much fast since he doesn’t own the buildings, but his Skills do give us options. He’s talking of creating a ‘fortress city,’ with buildings reinforced and set up to do damage as invaders come in. Kim’s also spending the time to reinforce our System security for the settlement, making it more expensive for others to buy information,” Lana says. “You?”
“Nothing much. Mostly Level 30s out there, nothing to worry about. I accidentally wiped a lair, some moss monster living inside. Didn’t realize it till later, otherwise I might have left it to grow,” I say, shaking my head. Pity. We could have used another dungeon to clear and get the XP bonus from. “Might need to range farther out to find a dungeon.”
“Not the worst thing in the world. So why are you sulking?” Lana says, prodding me with a booted foot.
I grunt, staring at her. “Not sulking. Thinking.” At her raised eyebrow, I find myself elaborating. “Now that we kicked their ass, the next attack is going to be in force. While Ali doesn’t expect them to send any Master Classes, even a high Level Advanced Class or two…”
“Will be more than enough to hold us down. And there’s more of them than there are us,” Lana says, smiling grimly. “That about right?”
“More high Level individuals, yes,” I say, looking at her steadily as I finally say what’s on my mind. “We could beat them if we used everyone. Draw them in, target and whittle down each of their Advanced Classes and make them bleed as they come in.”
“But…”
“But people will die. Probably a lot of them,” I say, waving at the window. “And that’s if we can get them to agree to do it.”
“No guarantee of that,” Lana agrees. “Non-combat Classers aren’t exactly the bravest bunch in general.”
If we had a connection with them, or someone with a very high Charisma score, like Richard, maybe we’d have a better chance of motivating the group. Lana could do it, but she’s got her hands full just organizing things. Then again, not being someone’s slave is pretty good motivation, I’d think. There’s no way to know what they’ll choose really, not without trying.
“But you don’t want them involved, do you?” Lana says, breaking into my thoughts. “Still trying to save the world?”
“No. Not if I can help it. But I don’t see another way.”
Lana smiles, leaning forward, her blouse falling open as she does. My eyes stray downward, and while I’m distracted, she flicks my forehead.
“Owww!” I exclaim. “You know, ever since we started sleeping together, you’ve gotten a lot more violent.”
“And you’ve gotten dumber.” Lana smirks. “When have you ever decided to take the options you’ve been offered?”
“I can’t think of anything else!” I snarl. “It’s not as if I’m a damn soldier. I’m a failed programmer with violent tendencies.”
“You were a failed programmer,” Lana says, her voice dropping, growing gentler. “Whatever you were, you’ve changed. Now you’re something more. You’re our leader.”
“Joy,” I mutter, suddenly feeling so damn tired. I never wanted this. But somehow I’m here, leading a group of people who trust me and a bunch of people who never asked me to.
“Tell me.”
“Huh?”
“Tell me why you don’t want the others to fight,” Lana says.
I meet her eyes, drawn into those violet whirlpools, the insistence in her voice focusing me. “Because… it’s not their job. It’s not what they should be doing. Not if they haven’t chosen to. Civilization, society, it’s been a climb from the bloody muck where everyone fought and killed and died. We built our world with technology and rules and will, so those who weren’t suited to a violent world could live in peace. Now, the drums are rolling and we’re all part of that thin red line of heroes.” Fresh anger bubbles up and leeches into my voice. “And we’re forgetting that damn line is there for a reason. The System might have destroyed our world, but the only people who can destroy who we are is us. And I’ll be damned if I contribute more to that than I have to.”
“Then find another way. And stop complaining.”
I nod, clenching that anger tightly again, pushing at the bubbling frustration. Lana watches, her hand on mine until I settle.
Then she edges closer to plant a gentle kiss on my lips. “Sometimes, not thinking about a problem can be the best way to find a solution.”
I return the kiss, wrapping my arms around her body and holding her generous warmth to me. I draw a deep breath, smelling that intoxicating mixture of fresh air, ionized air, and something that is just her, and kiss her again, harder this time. Perhaps I do need a distraction.
***
An insistent pinging wakes me from deep slumber, automatic reactions conjuring my sword into my hand as I sit up, startled. I see nothing except for Roland, who stirs slightly at my movements before returning back to watchful stillness, and a still-slumbering redhead. A moment later, a flashing message finally clues me in on what woke me.
“YOU HAVE AN INCOMING COLLECT CALL. WOULD YOU LIKE TO ANSWER IT?”
“Who’d be calling now?” I mutter softly.
Even as quiet as I am, Lana shifts. I freeze, wonde
ring if I woke her, but then I hear the whimpering, the half-filled sobs, and I know. She’s having another of her nightmares. I stroke her head, futilely willing calm into her.
“MAJOR LABASHI RUKA.”
“Ah! Yes, answer it,” I send to Kim mentally.
“CONNECTING.”
“Redeemer, you wished to speak with me?” Labashi’s voice comes over the air, seeming to resound in my head.
Similar to but different from the way Ali talks to me. It’s weird and expensive, since I’m basically paying the System to make the connection, but it does skip past the entire issue of light speed lag and interference. A part of me, the same part that controls my affinity, seems to thrum with familiarity. Unfortunately, I don’t have time to explore it.
“Got a problem. Thought you might be able to help…” When Labashi doesn’t reject my initial proposal, I get right into it, explaining the situation I’ve dragged the team into. “Figured with your experience, you might have a few ideas.”
“Well, my first recommendation would be to augment your forces with external help,” Labashi says. “I’ll even give you a discount. It won’t cost you much since it seems like the Thirteen Moons are already at their limit. There’s a stop order on the boards about them.”
“Oh?” I say, curious.
“Merc boards. We keep a number for information distribution purposes, places for us to talk about things that might affect each other—upcoming wars, new Dungeon Worlds, and the like. The Thirteen Moons have over-extended themselves with their entrance to Earth. They’re over-leveraged and their credit rating wasn’t that great to start with,” Labashi explains. “None of the reputable companies will work with them.”
“Right. So just some companies of ill-repute at best.” I sigh. Better than I had hoped for. It was one of the reasons I contacted Labashi, the potential of external help on both sides making things even more complicated. But if we can hire and they can’t… “That’s good to know.”
“Figure a platoon or two for your town will provide you the extra muscle you’ll need and keep the town safe while you’re gone.”