The Land: Catacombs (Chaos Seeds Book 4) (3 page)

Richter gave a delighted “hehehe” and rubbed his palms together. 

“Unless there is anything else, my lord?” Randolphus asked.  His eyebrows were slightly raised, and his hands were on the coins.

Is Randy getting a bit snippy with me? Richter asked himself with no small amount of humor.  He decided not to make a point of it.  A good ruler is magnanimous and forgiving after all.  “Haha, okay, okay.  I can see that searching through these coins is important to you.  Why don’t I help out?  It will go faster.” 

Not waiting for a reply, he pulled up a chair and started searching through the coins himself.  It might have occurred to Richter that leaving the room meant potentially leaving his chamberlain alone with objects of great power.  A good ruler may be magnanimous, but a wise ruler never gave someone a gun and just hoped he wouldn’t be shot in the back.

CHAPTER 3
 

Richter and Randolphus went through the coins in about thirty minutes.  The coins with a picture of a Dark Khan were easy to distinguish.  Whenever Richter touched a new one, he would receive an updated quest prompt showing that the number of coins he had found had increased by one.  When all was said and done, he had found seventeen of the twenty-five.  Many of the Dark Khan coins even had duplicates. 

“This is amazing, my lord.  You may have a greater collection than the king.  I know for a fact that no one has been able to find the coins for Khans two and seven for hundreds of years.”

“Good.  So I’m thinking that if I show some of these coins during my negotiations with Hafiz’s sons, none of the extremely rare coins, mind you, but some of them, it will greatly increase my bargaining power.”

“It would indeed, my lord.”

“Which coins do you have in your collection?” Richter asked.

“Only Khans fourteen, sixteen, and twenty, my lord,” Randolphus said, looking at the coins with true appreciation.

“And fifteen,” Richter said.  He picked up one of the duplicates and handed it to his chamberlain.

“My lord!  I cannot take this.  This coin would be worth hundreds of gold.”

“Randolphus,” Richter said, softly but firmly, “you are worth much more to me than gold.  You have kept this village running, while I have had to leave multiple times.  I cannot promise that I will not have to leave in the future, but I will make more of an effort to be present.  Right now, though, you will accept this
small
token of my appreciation.” 

Randolphus thanked him with a bow of his head and accepted the coin. 

“Now, point out the five most common Dark Khan coins that we have duplicates of.  I may trade those to Hafiz’s sons along with the regular kobold silvers.  I will put the rest of the coins back into the vault.  Please have Roswan place a podium at the end of the feast area.  All of the tables should be laid in front of it, so everyone has a clear line of sight of me when I’m up there.  I want all of the new potential villagers brought to the tables.”

“They will not be able to see through the mists, my lord,” Randolphus reminded him. 

“Only for a short time.  I plan to make a central clearing in the mists again.  These new people will not be given immunity to the mists until they have been both interrogated by Sumiko using the questions you devise and until they have lived with us for a short while.”

“And when you clear the mists and restore their sight, it will be good for them to witness the power of their new lord,” Randolphus said with a slight smile. 

“The thought did occur to me,” Richter said with a cocky grin of his own. 

“It will be done, my lord.”

Richter gave a nod and then scooped up the coins.  He placed the regular ones into his Bag as well the duplicates Randolphus had pointed out.  He made another short jaunt to the treasury to deposit the rest of the silver and then walked outside.

*
Where are you, love?*
he called out mentally once he was looking out over the village.  Many of his villagers were working to prepare for the evening meal.  Dragging tables into position, lighting candles and torches, placing jugs of water down beside cups.  One of the villagers had even brought out a fiddle.  A jaunty tune filled the air, bringing a smile to everyone’s faces.

A small shriek sounded above him as Alma zoomed by his head only an inch away from flying into him.  He ducked involuntarily with a curse and looked up to see her doing a loop in the air while she trumpeted the success of her joke.  He laughed in spite of himself.

*
Get down here, you little beastie!
* 

Alma flew high and then did a tight corkscrew spiral downward before leveling out.  His familiar was clearly in good spirits.  A few seconds later, she had alighted upon his shoulders, her tail wrapped around his arm for balance.  Richter reached behind him and poked her full belly.  “I guess you’ve been having fun eating, huh?”

She blew a gust of air into his ear, but it was halfhearted.  She immediately settled back down and purred contentedly.  Richter smiled and walked down the slope to say hello to some of his people.  First, he walked over to an area where he had seen some men training.  Futen floated up silently beside him and kept pace with his lord.  When he got closer to the impromptu training yard, Terrod hailed him.

“Welcome to training, my lord.”

The members of the militia had been paired off and were sparring with what looked to be blunted weapons.  To Richter, it seemed like there was just a good amount of flailing around.  Except for one pair, where one of the men was on the ground and his partner was just mercilessly pummeling him.  Richter wasn’t sure, but he was fairly certain those two were married.

“Terrod,” Richter greeted him.  “Should we be concerned about that?” he asked, indicating the man who was now just aiming some defensive kicks at his wife from the ground.  It wasn’t working very well. 

Terrod looked at them and said, “Ehhh, in a minute.  Apparently Harn has been a bit too ‘friendly’ with some of the other female villagers.  I figure this is healthy.  Besides, my sergeant will stop it in a moment I’m sure.”

“Sergeant?” Richter asked.

Terrod just smiled and pointed.  Richter looked where the captain indicated and saw an old familiar face, Caulder!

“That’s a sword, not your cock!  Don’t play with it so damn much!” Caulder yelled at one of the guards.  He took the blunted weapon from the man and showed him the proper grip.  The guard took the rebuke well, and when Caulder handed the weapon back, the sparring began again. 

“Caulder,” Richter yelled out with a laughing tone.  “Get over here!”

The man jogged up. “Well!  It is nice to see you again, my lord.  You seem to have filled out a bit since last we met.”

Richter looked down at himself.  The points he had added to Strength and Constitution had definitely changed his body stature.  He was bulkier and, though he couldn’t be sure, he was pretty sure he was at least an inch taller than when he had first gotten to The Land.  If the appraising glances he saw some of the villagers giving him were any indication, his face might very well have become comelier as well.  Most likely because of his increased Charisma. 

“I have been through quite a bit since we have seen each other,” Richter agreed.  “So what do you think of our militia?”

“Do you mean this group of invalids behind me?” Caulder asked, hiking a thumb behind him.  “I’m just surprised more of them aren’t shoving their weapons up their own bungholes!”

“Do you not think that is a bit harsh?” Terrod asked.

Caulder’s voice lost all joviality. “It’s not harsh enough, Captain.  These boys and girls would be taken apart by any gang I ever ran across when I was a guard in Law.  From what I have heard, the animals and monsters around here could be just as dangerous, if not more so.  They need training and plenty of it.”

“What do you have in mind?” Richter asked.  “Sword forms?”

“Ha!  That might be good for lords like yourself, but for guards and soldiers, they just need to be the toughest sons of bitches around.  We will get into the technical bits of fighting sometime soon, but for now they just need to start training.  Every morning we will be doing runs and exercises.  If you leave them in my hands, their Strength, Endurance, and Constitution will rise, I can promise you that.”

Richter was impressed, but was also surprised by the fervor he heard coming from the man.  His impression of Caulder had always been that the guard was lackadaisical and relatively harmless.  Not wanting to beat around the bush, Richter decided to express that. “It all sounds good to me, Caulder.  I think we all need to get tougher, but I’m surprised to hear you speaking with such passion and determination.”

Caulder gave a knowing grin. “I know how I came across when we met in Leaf’s Crossing, but that was almost a retirement.  The worst I ever had to deal with there was to drag a drunk to jail to sleep it off for the night.  I didn’t get to level thirteen by drinking ale, though!  I spent more than a decade in the king’s army, and I fought my share of bandits, goblins, and even the occasional wild troll.”

Richter quickly
Analyzed
the guard and was surprised that he was right.

Name: Caulder. Human. Level 13.  Health 310.  Mana 110.  Stamina 300.  Disposition: Pleased.  Humans are one of the shortest lived, but most prolific breeders in the Land. Humans have a broader affinity for skills than other races. No special bonuses to race. Humans get four points to distribute per level.

Richter spoke up again. “I’m assuming you plan to include the guards that came with you in these daily exercises?  If Terrod says you’re to be his sergeant, then that’s good enough for me, but I insist that everyone must be treated the same.  I have no interest in breeding divisiveness among my guards.”

“Hmpf.  Half of those that came with me are no better than what I see here.  Don’t worry, Lord Richter.  My father taught me a simple truth long ago.  If someone has their head up their ass, you’re doing them a favor if you give them an ass beating.  With luck, it just might be dislodged, and they might finally see the light.  My pa wasn’t one to discriminate in helping people!”

Richter laughed.  That sounded good enough to him.  He didn’t forget that he had a Captain of the Guard now, though.  Turning to Terrod, he asked, “Does the Sergeant’s plan work for you?”

“It does indeed, my lord,” Terrod said with a smile.

“Carry on then.  I might actually join you for some of these morning calisthenics.”

Both men looked at him in mild confusion.

“Never mind.  I’ll run with you tomorrow morning.  Just make sure that someone comes to get me.  Now, unless there is anything else?”

Richter was already turning away when Terrod spoke up. “Actually, my lord, there are two things I would like to discuss.” 

Richter nodded. “Go ahead.”

“If I am going to train my people effectively, then they need their own space.  Each member of the militia will work a string of days, and I have seen that they need to be kept separate from distractions.  This includes family and friends.  If you want them to be an effective force as soon as possible, then we need a formal area to train.”

As soon as Terrod stopped speaking, a prompt appeared in Richter’s vision. 

You have been offered a Quest:
Strengthen Your Tribe I
.  Your fledgling military needs a building to train effectively.  Will you build them a barracks?  Reward: Societal bonus from building a barracks.  Yes or No?

What societal bonus?  These prompts could be so damn frustrating, Richter thought.  Well, it’s not like he wasn’t
already going to build a barracks.  Maybe he would just make it more of a priority now.

“I’ll talk to Roswan about it,” Richter said.  “Do you have a spot picked out?”

“On the hillock that’s on the other end of the village from the longhouses, my lord.  It’s not much, but it should give some small amount of seclusion.”

Richter nodded.  It would also put his militia nearer the armory.  They would be able to quickly equip themselves if the need should arise.  “Okay, so what’s the other thing?”

“You know that we have been seeing monsters and dangerous animals closer to the village lately.  I was going to take a group out and do some hunting.  If we leave in two hours, we can hunt for a good while and still be back before the feast.”

You have been offered a Quest:
Hunt the Hunters I
!  The lands around your village are becoming more dangerous.  Your captain wants to proactively deal with these threats.  Will you seek out and vanquish five solitary monsters or groups of dangerous creatures?  Yes or No?  Reward: Increased safety of your people.  Village-wide Loyalty will increase by +10. 

“I like it,” Richter said with a smile.  He selected “Yes.”  He had been doing a lot of running away lately.  First from the rock giant and later from a small army of kobolds.  It would be good to do some hunting of his own.  “I still want everyone to stay within the mists, though,” he said warningly.

“Absolutely, my lord.  I have spoken sternly to the group that you saved.  Also, Barden’s death has hit a lot of the militia hard.  He was well liked.  No one plans on leaving the mists anytime soon.  Besides, there is more than enough danger to be found within the bounds of the enchantment.”