The Bathrobe Knight (8 page)

“I don’t care what you have to say Willhelm, there is no reason for us to move the 4th Legion out of Barkton. If we don’t keep the mills secure and safe, we won’t have the wood needed for the Arrows. It won’t just be the 4th, it’ll be all the legions that suffer. My vote is the 4th Legion stays in Barkton.”

“But if Valcrest falls to the White-Horns, we lose our first line of defense on the eastern front. Ashcroft, you can’t seriously be in favor of letting it fall and all the people in it die over a couple of Arrows can you?”

“Ashcroft, see reason. I know the Arrows are important, but we can make a good mill anywhere. Nothing will replace the value of the lives that will be lost in Valcrest if the White-Horns press their advantage and sack the city. What if you had family there? Would you so callously toss them aside for Shields and Arrows?”

             
I want to believe you
,
Dreston, I want to trust you, Wilhelm. A day ago and I would have. A day ago and I wouldn’t have had your machinations laid out in front of me.
The Messenger whose daughter he held captive had been more than effective at his job last night. He had not only killed his contact but he had also gone to the Councilman’s estate and made copies of the Council’s plans as well. The idiots had just left the documents scattered across their desks like every soldier in the capital was in on their scheme.

“Of course not, Dreston, but I’m just worried about the future of our legions. After losing the 8th Legion, I am going to have trouble going home and telling those that put me here why their sons and fathers won’t be coming home.”

“I understand, but please, for the sake of the daughters and wives whose sons and fathers died to protect them, change your vote! I urge you to see reason.”

Vote all you like, I’m not moving the 4th Legion and letting you sack Barkton and move on my capital.

“Gentlemen, we have debated this for hours. Surely the King would like to have a say. He is in fact the benefactor of this land. King, please, speak reason to these sharks who so callously throw away the lives of good men and women over Arrows.”

“What about Barkton? Is there really no threat of attack on it? When we moved the 4th Legion there it was due to an imminent threat from a small group of Black-Wings.”

“Your Majesty, we believe the threat has pulled back. Given the news about the 8th Legion, our intelligence says that it was most likely the same Black-Wings threatening Barkton that were used in defeating our forces near Valcrest.” Ashcroft, the very Councilman who was supposedly against the idea of moving the 4th Legion was the first to offer reason against his decision.
He may be a good schemer, but he is a terrible actor.

“You believe Barkton to be 100% safe then, Ashcroft?”

“I believe it is relatively safe.”

“So there is or isn’t a threat to the area? Why, if there is no threat, do you want to leave the troops there instead of aiding Valcrest?”

“It is as Your Majesty says: there is still a possibility of a threat. I was only reporting on the Black-Wing activity as I’ve heard it.”

“Mmm. So you gentlemen want me to leave Barkton for the wolves and save Valcrest.”

“Your Majesty, we don’t want to leave any town for the wolves. We just advise you to see reason and take as few risks as possible,” Wilhelm spoke, this time in his best sympathetic voice while eyeing Ashcroft for being so stupid just a moment ago.
What? Did he forget his lines?

“Hmm. Well, you’re in luck then if you were worried. Valcrest will be fine. I don’t plan on leaving either city for the wolves. I have seen this tragedy coming and taken measures to save them both,” he said, for he did indeed have a plan this time.

He didn’t know what the Council was up to after the 8th Legion’s demise, but he knew they weren’t playing the same game he was anymore and that he was going to need troops. Their plans always came at the expense of lives. That’s why he had, since the moment of the Red Eye’s arrival, organized the 7th Legion to secretly clear out the so called ‘threat’ that was supposedly forcing the 6th Legion to overcommit to the small town of Kallafan on the north border. It was a risk doing it. If the White-Horns had seen them or the Council had gotten word that Oghan was defenseless, then thousands would have died. But they didn’t. The plan had actually worked, and now he could move the 6th Legion farther south and defend Valcrest.

“You see, this time I’ve got good news,” the King began, about to tell the Council of how he had defeated their plan when he was interrupted by clamor outside the chamber.

*Bang!* The doors to the chamber room flew open and a Guard, one the king didn’t recognize, came in flanked by his own escort.
What is it now? More drama? Another ‘surprise’ event? A Messenger that they’ve planned to make sure we send troops to Valcrest?

One of his personal troops spoke first. “Sir, it’s urgent news about Valcrest.”
Of course it is.
”  I think you’re going to want to hear this.”
Of course I do. You couldn’t wait until we were in private to bring me bad news?

“Fine, go ahead,” the King groaned, repressing a facepalm. “Tell me what the news is.”

“Sir, earlier today a strange man in a green Robe claimed he defeated the White-Horn legion east of Valcrest. Combined with the reports from the Scouts and the massive number of Double-Bladed Iron Axes he sold to the Valcrest Blacksmith, we can absolutely confirm the report.” The room went so quiet.

“You said the entire legion of White-Horns was destroyed?”
This can’t be, wait . . . a man in a green Robe?

“Yes, Sire, and with the Axe sales, we have enough iron now to reinforce an entire legion,” the guard said, smiling happily as he stood at attention.

“The man in the green Robe. Was he tall? Broad shoulders? Red eyes?”
It can’t be him. I sent that man out with just a Spoon, and he killed an entire legion?

“Yes, Sire, that’s the one.” While the King smiled everyone else in the room broke out in murmurs.

“Guard. Thank you for your service. Make sure to let the people of the town know that that man was sent by me--as witnessed by everyone in the court during the weekly scouting reports--to destroy the legion, and he did so with only a Spoon. Let them know that as long as that man resides in Valcrest, no harm shall befall the town from which he cannot protect it and that the King has done this out of his love for the people of Valcrest.” The King cringed as he made the proclamation. Speeches like that, especially when they were lies, made his stomach churn.

What kind of rotten man is the Council turning me into?
Though it isn’t entirely a lie. I didn’t summon the hero to the Kingdom, but I did send him to the front lines.
“You see, gentlemen, this is why we don’t have to abandon either town. You wanted a legion to do what my man has already done. You would leave Barkton undefended and risk its death for nothing. Have you no faith in me? Did I not tell you the other day that I had summoned a hero to deliver us from evil? Trust in your ruler, for I spend my days protecting every member of this Kingdom. This meeting is over. You have pointlessly wasted enough of my time with an irrelevant squabble,” he said while getting up and heading to the door. The stunned Councilmen didn’t follow. They probably had more schemes to make behind his back.

As soon as he had gotten out of sight of the Council, he turned to the bodyguard on his left and whispered as quietly as he could, “Go fetch our new Messenger. Have him meet me in my study as quick as you can and come with him. We have work to do. Oh, and make sure that Guard gets paid 10 Gold Pieces for his timely arrival. That type of luck needs to be rewarded.”

Adjusting his Crown, he hurried his steps and headed for the study. This red-eyed fellow had saved him twice, but he couldn’t keep relying on him. The Council would be sending assassins to kill him soon enough, and it was only a matter of time before they cut his throat while he slept. The only thing to do now was to stall their efforts and thwart their plans.
What kind of monster is he to kill an entire legion of White-Horns with just a Spoon? He must be a monster, a fiend of the Spoon.

The problem is gone now, though, isn’t it? The champion with the Spoon killed them, and the problem is gone. He just killed them, and it went away . . . all you have to do is kill them.

Kass:

Kass logged in and picked the “log in at bind point” option. It was available to players who hadn’t logged out in combat and had stayed out of game for more than an hour. It was kind of a cheater’s way to warp back to town if you were in a dungeon several hours away. None of the players had really needed to use this trick before because most of them had only farmed within half an hour’s reach of their starting towns, but this time she was happy for it.

She had bet a lot on killing the Minotaurs and gone with the 8th Legion against the advice of most of the top players. “Minotaurs might not have armor or high health but they can kill you in one or two swings, and the smallest aggro group is going to be at least three Minotaurs.” It was a fact that had turned out to be true as she had been forced to watch entire groups of NPCs and PCs decimated by the wild Axe swings. She had known it was a calculated risk, but even divided 10 or 100 ways, the EXP had been worth it. The contribution bonus from killing ‘enemies of the Kingdom’ certainly didn’t hurt. The sheer number that were present on the field at any given time had been more than enough to tempt even some of the freshest lowbies out to the front lines. Especially Kass.

She smoothed her white Dress and found the nearest Blacksmith to sell her goods at. 1600 Gold for the lump sum of her ridiculous number of Axes. The Minotaur loot wasn’t great, but it was definitely much better than you were supposed to get in a party of two this early on.
This probably makes me the richest girl on the server! I wonder what kind of magic Staves I can get, or if I can get any accessories to boost my Damage. I should go find Darwin before I start shopping though, I bet that clueless old man doesn’t even know what accessories are. Tiqpa Map.

She brought up her map and looked for the blue dot with Darwin’s name on it to show where he was.
Huh? He’s in the tavern? Why is he still there after turning in the quest? He isn’t one of those fully immersive role-players who spend hours on a video game talking to people in taverns instead of playing, is he? Ugh, if he’s in the tavern all the time, who will I leach experience from?

As she made her way to the tavern, she couldn’t help but overhear bits and pieces of gossip from the other PCs hanging out in town on the way. “Hey, did you hear what happened to Greg’s group? It got toasted by ‘Flesh Wound.’  It’s like the tenth group that’s been slaughtered by them in the last day.”

“Yeah. I hear they are all around level 30 now. I bet they came here just to get some cash though. A full week of grinding alone wouldn’t have helped them afford that much black dye.”

“Nah. I don’t think that’s the case. They really take pleasure in it. You should have heard what they did to one of the runners.”

“The mage? I did. It’s only a VR, and the pain sensors are extremely dulled, but that poor guy is already booking it south. Doesn’t want to risk it twice.”

“They’ve definitely got everyone looking over their shoulders now when they leave town, that’s for sure. Its making it hard to get a good group for farming. No one wants to risk farming for too long for fear of getting rolled out.”  

Crud. I knew when the 8th Legion got toasted and the Guards stopped patrolling for Red Names, things would go south, but I didn’t think it’d happen this fast.

“Maybe we could try to get a group together and do a dungeon. If we log out at the end and wait an hour, then the PK’s won’t be able to get us because it’ll respawn us in town.”

Kass kept her ear trained for more rumors as she made her way through the market, but all of them were the same. Flesh Wound this and Flesh Wound that. Even the NPCs were showing signs of fear. It wasn’t until she was almost at the tavern that she heard anything different.

              “How did that guy get a Bathrobe? I didn’t even know they sold that item in the game. He even had matching Slippers.”
Ugh! NO! He better not try to keep that Bathrobe forever. I don’t care how strong the set bonus is, I’m still scarred for life after that slip yesterday.
 

When she opened the door to the tavern, though, all the anger she was building up at him for still having a Bathrobe on faded away. He was staring blankly at the empty plate in front of him with a face that somehow reminded him of her dad’s when he first heard that her mom had died.

“Did you get any sleep last night?” she said, taking the seat opposite him.

“No, I found out that I can’t sleep,” he said, not really making eye contact with her.

“I know what you mean. If we hadn’t stayed up so late, I wouldn’t have even fallen asleep.”

I don’t know what he means,
she thought, his face telling her that she was so far away from saying the right thing that she might as well have been speaking a different language.

“So, about the quest. I figured I would wait on you to turn it in,” he said, changing the subject as quickly as he could.
Something is definitely wrong with this guy.
A part of Kass really wanted to help him out, but she had learned enough about leaving people alone with their problems in the past. She thought about her mother’s death again.