Master of None

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Master of None Page 30

by Shane Walker


  “She had us sneaking out through other exits in the vicinity of the lair to go hit the business district, especially small merchants.” he explained. “She also complained about needing you, sir.”

  “Me? Why in the world would she want me?” O’Brian asked.

  “I think I know.” I said as I finished reading the missive I remembered finding in the loot after we killed Agrat. “She wanted to use the guild to work towards destabilizing the city’s economy. Start out small by breaking into smaller shops at night before moving on to wiping out the wealth of entire families. No one would have the money to keep their businesses going and people wouldn’t be able to buy anything from them anyway. It’s exactly what Rowan was afraid would happen.”

  “Well, if the market crashed and we had all the money, we’d be the new nobles, right?” came a voice I didn’t recognize. It was a player. I didn’t see any players my first time through here so it was a surprise to see one now. His name was Le Tueur and his info said he was a level 30 Thief. Clearly he’d stolen or killed quite a lot since the game started.

  Something unsettled me about him, but I couldn’t pin it down. He was a fairly non-descript guy. Maybe he was a little on the young side, but nothing in particular stuck out.

  “Fuck the city, it’s just a bunch of ungrateful NPCs, right? Surely you agree with me, man.” he said looking at me.

  O’Brian intervened before I could respond. “I’ve explained this to you before, recruit. That’s not how we do business. Remember the whole “shave a sheep many times, only skin it once” bit? You can’t bleed the city dry and expect to live long after that.”

  This seemed to fire up an unsettled argument between the two. Le Tueur’s voice was raised nearly to the point of yelling when he responded. “Then why aren’t we out there bleeding everyone slowly? We could be running protection rackets, roughing people up for the businesses that won’t get their hands dirty, money laundering, all that kinda stuff.” Some of the players that had walked up to listen nodded in agreement with this.

  I had to hold back a chuckle. Clearly the kid was just using phrases he’d heard in movies and didn’t know what any of that stuff actually entailed. Protection rackets didn’t work out the way movies said they did. They especially wouldn’t last in a world where someone can just rain fire on your head if you get too uppity. And roughing people up? The kid looked like he couldn’t rough up his own hair, much less some unknown entity that some random business was pissed at.

  “I told you before, kid. WE DON’T DO THAT HERE.” O’Brian yelled. “We go out of our way to avoid hurting people when we can. Most of the ones we end up hurting deserved it. We aren’t exactly the good guys, but I will not turn my organization into a bunch of hooligans beating up innocent citizens for pocket change!

  “I was afraid this would happen. Obviously you aren’t cut out to be a part of the guild. I think you should leave.”

  Le Tueur’s eyes went wide with shock. “You can’t do this to me! Please! Everything I’ve done since I started this stupid fucking game was to be the world’s greatest thief and now you’re kicking me out of the guild? What do I do now?” he asked.

  “I really don’t fucking care.” O’Brian curtly replied.

  “You!” the angry player said as he pointed at me. “It’s your fault for clearing that stupid fucking demon lair out!” he pulled his knives and charged at me. Before he could cover half the distance a flash of sliver streaked through my peripheral vision right before a silver rapier went right through Le Tueur’s heart. O’Brian stood between us with an almost sympathetic look in his eyes as he pulled his rapier out of Le Tueur’s chest.

  The anger never left his face as his body faded. A couple of rings and some coins dropped. So players do drop items when they die. I’ll need to remember that. I thought to myself. The last thing I needed was to drop something like my cloak or armor.

  “I’m sorry you had to see that, Jack.” the guild leader said as he wiped his blade clean. “I hoped he would eventually see things my way and appreciate how we do business, but that wasn’t meant to be. Anyway, you probably want to get back to Rowan and give him the good news. Tell him we will be sticking to targets that can afford to lose the money. None of the middle or lower class and no smaller business will be targeted. You have my word as a gentleman.” He said the last with a bow.

  “Thank you O’Brian. I will have someone contact you regarding our business deals when we’re ready.” I said after returning the bow. Following that, I quickly left the hideout and went straight for Rowan’s shop.

  “Ah there you are, lad. How did it go?” he asked hopefully as soon as I walked into the shop.

  “It went surprisingly well! I cleared out a lair of demons that had been kidnapping thieves and brainwashing them into doing exactly what you were afraid of.” I said.

  “The demons...were attacking the economy?” he said as he paled slightly. “This is a problem. I have to send a message to my- nevermind. You did great, Jack. I’d say you surpassed my expectations. Keep this up and I just might put you in my will!” he said with a laugh that was obviously a poor attempt to break his own dour mood.

  “Well, I need to head back to HQ, Rowan. I still haven’t even looked over my spoils from the last demon!” I told him, much to his surprise. We said our goodbyes and I shot across town as quickly as I could. When I got to my personal office, Zen materialized with the Merchant Job active. “Let’s see how much we hauled in!” he said with obvious greed in his voice.

  All totaled, it was a massive haul. We found 30000 gold coins that the succubus had been hoarding from the jobs her charmed thieves were doing for her. We also found some lightweight leather armor that boosted magical abilities. It was useless to us, but we set it aside to pass off to our team for research purposes. It wouldn’t hurt to be able to craft magic enhancing armor and weapons someday.

  We also found a stockpile of daggers made from some strange metal I was unfamiliar with. I decided to set those aside for my own research later.

  In addition to the missive I’d read earlier, there was also a book tracking the economic ins and outs of the city. It had all the major players in inter-regional trade, who traded what, and where to go for the best mass production. I was pleased to see that we’d just barely made the cut as an up and comer in the city. This was going to come in handy later as we started trying to do more business with NPCs. I’d considered opening a shop to sell to players, but right now the sheer volume of trade I was doing with the kingdom itself was untouchable.

  Also, we’d found about 80 total bottles of the demon essence, a dozen or so horns, various weapons, and four different types of poison- two damaging, one sleep, and one that made a person more susceptible to charms and suggestions. I was glad Agrat never got to use that one on me. I’d have to find someone willing to craft poisons for me when I didn’t have time myself. I’d also probably have to give them hazard pay.

  I checked the date and realized it was time to upgrade the mine again. I expanded both my new floors, which doubled production, and added a fifth. The new one was Iron and I doubled it too. I decided not to go any deeper for now. Who knew what I’d find if I went lower. Besides, with my luck it’d be some kobold city that I’d forget about until it bit me in the ass.

  I was out the second my head hit the pillow. The diner appeared in my dreams again. This time there was no drive-by. This time, a guy walked in and sat down without talking to or looking at anyone. Ella went over to take his order and he pulled a gun and shot her right then and there. Joseph screamed for her and he was shot for drawing attention.

  I stood and faced the gunman. He pointed the gun at me and stared. He had no anger, fear, or excitement in his eyes. There was nothing there. They were so empty. This wasn’t anything special for him. To him, shooting all of us was no different than going grocery shopping. He cocked his head to the side as he considered me and then squeezed the trigger.

  I woke up in a cold sweat again
and stared at the ceiling. For a second, I thought the guy in my dream was Le Tueur’s character in-game, but that wasn’t it. Maybe it was just the fact that he looked so unfamiliar that it went full circle and made him look familiar? I tried not to think about it.

  I checked the messages on my phone that I’d neglected over the last several days of playing. My parents wanted to get lunch sometime. They thanked me about a dozen times for the money and then asked a dozen more times if I’d gone back to my old life to make this money. Others were from my bank. Now that I was accruing a considerable amount of money in my account, they were presenting me with some options for investments. That’s what I loathed about money. If you had a lot of it, the world opened up new and efficient ways for you to make even more of it.

  The last message was a voicemail from an unknown sender. Normally I deleted these out of principle, but decided to open this one since I needed a distraction. My breathing stopped and my heart felt like it would pop out of my chest when I heard the voice that recorded it.

  Heya, Alex. Heard you found a new, mysterious revenue stream and now you’re practically throwing money at your family. Trying to make them feel better about having a rat for a kid? Haha, just jokin’ around with you, man.

  Honestly I’m hurt you didn’t want to share this windfall with your old friends. I know you’d hate to hurt my feelings, so I bought out your debt to the shark just to help you keep yourself honest. That’s what friends do right?

  Anyway, I felt inspired by a recent gambling trip and wanted to be the first to congratulate you on your winning spin! Your debt hit the 50x multiplier!

  You got 90 days to get me half a mil or I start taking what’s missing from you, your family, and whoever in this town is still stupid enough to call you their friend. Don’t test me on this one, Alex. I got it on good authority that you’re good for that kinda figure. Remember, man. You do not want to hurt my feelings. Ok? See you round, I’m sure.

  Epilogue-Giving Back to the Community

  Lyras stared at the reports that had continually streamed in over the last few weeks. As if by some miracle, things truly were turning around and he was glad for it. He’d nearly considered “suicide by mother-in-law.” The plan was to ask if it was wise to get pregnant at her advanced age and wait for oblivion. Instead he was looking at something that couldn’t be anything less than a miracle.

  First, his military reported that they suddenly had a surplus of high quality equipment with which to arm their men. In addition, it was being purchased at an incredibly reasonable price. Whoever was selling this was either unaware of the opportunity to completely fleece the kingdom or they were merciful and possibly patriotic. All of the equipment that was coming in was of a quality equal to or greater than what they’d armed the military with during the best of times before the iron drought.

  Second, some new company in the city was buying up materials and reagents at an incredible rate. This had created a sort of unintentional boom in the economy. Since the merchants that sold these materials didn’t keep them in bulk like the company wanted, many had started issuing quests to the immortal Adventurers of legend. When these Adventurers received money for completing these quests, they would inevitably spend it in the city on more supplies or upgraded equipment, further increasing the business done and tax revenue generated. He wasn’t sure what this new company was doing with the supplies, but he did know it was almost entirely comprised of Adventurers. As such, he could not levy any taxes against them due to the ancient accords for the treatment of the immortals. Considering the tax revenue they were inadvertently generating throughout the rest of the town, however, King Lyras really didn’t give a shit about missing out on one business’ taxes. How much money could they be making anyway?

  Finally, the Thieves Guild’s activities had shifted. Several small businesses had nearly been shuttered because of the actions of a few of their members. There were also many families whose entire savings were stolen from their homes while they slept, putting many out on the street when their unforgiving landlords came to collect the rent. Some time later, the king received a message through certain channels that he considered to be a necessary evil, stating that there were events outside the guild leader’s control that led to these incidents and they would no longer be an issue. True to his word, not a single business or working class family had been hit in over a week. On top of that, several major noble houses were suddenly hesitant to flaunt their wealth as they had in the past. These families by no means acted destitute, but for one trained in the ways of the nobility the change was easy to see. And when Lyras considered the message from the guild, he put two and two together and realized the guild had started targeting the rich of the city. It wasn’t a bad idea as long as they didn’t let themselves get caught. Nobles had a terribly bad reaction to someone touching their valuables.

  As Lyras finished reading the reports, he looked up to his closest adviser. While he had advisers for all facets of managing both a city and a kingdom, Terrell was the only one who he would turn to for personal advice. “Do we know where the equipment for the army is coming from?” he asked Terrell after a brief moment.

  “Yes, sire, though I am not sure how you will feel about the answer.” Terrell said in response.

  Lyras sighed at that. “Terrell, what answer could possibly be anything that could bring me pause?”

  “Well, sire,” Terrell began nervously, “the representative from the army that was authorized to make these purchases said that he was dealing with a local business owner. He said the man’s name was Rowan Vonn.”

  The name hit Lyras like a brick, though he didn’t immediately understand why. Terrell had been around since he was a boy and always had a memory like a bank vault. He could keep details in there that most men would long since lose to the winds of time. When he thought of it like that, Lyras realized the name must be one from his past.

  He racked his mind for a full minute while disguising it as being in deep thought and contemplating what he’d just heard. Just as Terrell was going to speak up, however, a memory came to Lyras.

  It was of two boys playing in a courtyard with wooden swords. The larger of the two was standing tall with his sword out in front of him in a ready stance.

  “You can’t beat me! I’m the great paladin, umm, Lord D’Arman!” yelled the larger boy. He obviously had not thought of a name for his paladin character beforehand.

  “I’m not afraid of you just because you’re bigger!” shouted the smaller boy before pulling out a second wooden sword he’d hidden in the back of his shirt. “The great adventurer Rowan Vonn fears no challenge!” he said, clearly having already thought of a name well in advance.

  As Lyras came back to the present, he found Terrell wasn’t looking him in the eye. He wondered why until he felt more tears slide down his cheek. He wiped them away and silently thanked Terrell for saving him the indignity of being seen as a crying king.

  “So, it’s him, is it? I thought he was done with the capital after everything that’s happened here.” Lyras said as he looked thoughtfully out the window.

  “Gunner, my brother, why have you returned?”

  Jack’s Stats at the End of Book 1 (Item Bonuses Included)

  Stat

  Rogue

  Level 26

  Alchemist

  Level 11

  Smithy

  Level 15

  Merchant

  Level 18

  Thief

  Level 12

  Ranger

  Assassin

  Strength

  35

  35

  80

  35

  35

  126

  35

  Agility

  163

  213

  163

  163

  266

  199

  280

  Vitality

  30

  30

  30

  30

  30
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  30

  30

  Intellect

  245

  289

  245

  317

  293

  245

  245

  Willpower

  10

  32

  10

  131

  10

  10

  10

  Endurance

  51

  51

  166

  51

  75

  51

  51

  Jack’s Skills at the End of Book 1 (Item Bonuses not Included)

  Skill Name

  Level

  Skill Name

  Level

  Gadgets/Trick Weapons

  6

  Daggers

  17

  Light Armor

  19

  Leatherworking

  22

  Short Swords

  8

  Glass Working

  6

  Dual-Wielding

  20

  Alchemy

  12

  Block

  9

  Herbalism

  12

  Parry

  20

  Smelting

  10

  Dodge

 

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