alwaysrollsaone
patreon
A Soldier's Life - 354 - Stowaway
🕑 Added 2025-03-03 05:42:57 +0000 UTCChapter 354: Stowaway
The halfling snapped her fingers in front of Konstantin’s glassy eyes as he tried to focus. “He got mind-fucked real good,” Lesna said, amused. Konstantin’s jaw tightened, and I hoped he didn’t punch the halfling woman. “Whaddya been up to?”
“What can we do to cure him?” Gilda asked heatedly, ignoring her question. I could tell she didn’t like the short woman. Gilda had probably watched Lesna in the common room many times in the last few weeks.
“Time. Two, three, maybe four days, and he will be fine if he isn’t spelled again. I hear submerging in freezing water can help as well. Regular healing will not speed it up.” I frowned, as Konstantin had already taken one of the precious dungeon potions.
“Is he going to stab us in our sleep?” I asked, half-serious, and Konstantin narrowed his eyes at me. He hated not being in control.
“No. He will have trouble swinging his sword for a while," the halfling chuckled mirthfully. “I know a mage who can fix him. Ten gold.”
“No!” Konstantin barked. “I will be fine. Let me sleep!” I looked at Gilda, who nodded slightly. She would keep an eye on him.
Lesna held out her hand, a big grin on her face. I hadn't promised her anything, but she obviously expected something in return for her knowledge. I pretended to perform a sleight of hand and produced a large dungeon silver. She narrowed her eyes at me, not picking up on what I had done. “Thank you, and you can leave.” She huffed and stormed out, well-stormed out for a three-foot woman.
The next morning, a body from the Sect of the Venomous Serpent was discovered outside the Adventurer’s Hall. The werehyena in sect robes had fallen from a great height and was midway through his transformation into his hybrid form.
We had decided on this course instead of claiming credit for infiltrating the sect’s tower. I had access to the roof of the building, and he failed to yell as he appeared in mid-air and fell one hundred feet in the dark, head-first to the cobblestones below. Gilda was on the body instantly below to ensure his death and walked away.
Later in the day, we learned he had been one of the sect’s leaders. The city governance was slow to investigate the sect’s tower, and by the time city guards and mages arrived in the late afternoon, it was completely abandoned. Konstantin was angry about the incompetence, but we had stirred up quite the shitstorm in the city. Now, city guards walked the streets randomly, requiring citizens to hold a pure silver coin in their hand. Anyone who refused was arrested, and it was putting the entire city on edge. A few martial sects had even closed their doors to challengers.
A week later, I was working on my alchemy, and Konstantin was sitting on my bed. He had been hiding out in the Guild Hall, being bored, and thought annoying me was a decent pastime. When he did wander the streets, it was without his armor and in disguise. We were also very selective in the sects we challenged in the mornings. He was too stubborn to give up on the training.
“Eryk, I think it is time to go.” I paused to listen to him. “The werehyenas are looking for us. They interrogated several people in the slums and killed them afterward. By now, they might have a decent idea of what we look like.” I studied him. Konstantin was not scared, just being prudent. He preferred to be the one on the offensive.
“How has the city watch been doing?” I asked, knowing several people had been cut down in the streets.
“From what Gilda has picked up in rumors, they have killed nine werebeasts, but only two were werehyenas,” he said, disgusted by their incompetence in finding their new lair. He griped that there weren’t many places to hide half a dozen forest drakes in the city. He spat, “In another week, their patrols will slacken, and they will say, 'Good enough!'"
I shook my head at his pessimism. Gilda had said the sect was well-connected and respected. “I still need at least another three weeks in the Archives to review all the texts I want,” I replied, annoyed that his quest had interfered with my work. This inconvenience was his fault. The fact that one of the sect leaders was a powerful mind mage probably didn't help our cause, as he likely had numerous agents in authority under his control.
I relented, “Fine, find a ship. A good ship without any abominations on board.” Konstantin nodded like that was the answer he was expecting and left me to my alchemy. I didn’t know how Castile had managed the cantankerous veteran.
Later that evening, Konstantin returned with news that he had found us passage on a massive merchant ship to the capital of Gesedmuria. The ship was set to sail in six days, so I needed to focus my research in the remaining time. I would also have to limit my language lessons with Dorrel. I could understand the Titan language but was terrible at speaking it. The amulet of clarity helped my learning, but the vocalizations were tricky.
Dorrel was so impressed with my progress that we had recently begun working on the written language, which was important because I learned that the language could be found in the oldest dungeons.
The most important thing I learned in my studies was that dungeon cores were typically found in a secret room linked to the final chamber of a dungeon. Not always, but most of the time, this room featured walls upon walls of runic script. The dungeon core was a glossy black aether stone that channeled aether to these runes—the power source. To destroy a dungeon, you only needed to shatter or remove this stone. The easiest way was with the shatter spell.
I had my suspicions of what this room was from Earth. After seeing the translation amulet taken apart so long ago, with each of the runic discs reminding me of circuit boards, I thought dungeons were essentially magical computers. It might have been a bit of a leap, but it made sense.
I was visiting my favorite apothecaries in the city when a familiar little mage found me as I negotiated prices. “What do you want, Lesna?” I asked a bit curtly.
“Oh, come on! We’re friends! But we should talk privately. Maybe while you’re buying me lunch,” she grinned at me. I considered her request before paying and following her to an expensive café. I thought that, given her small size, she wouldn’t order much, but the plate she ordered was as big as her head, filled with clams in a white butter sauce.
The cost wasn’t steep, but I still asked, with irritation, “What information did my coin buy me?”
“I do you a favor, and I have to take this abuse?!” she said indignantly. “Fine, I found where your werehyenas are hiding. But my team wants half the reward.” The city had placed a bounty of 20 gold for each werehyena in the Guild Hall and 100 gold for every forest drake.
“Why do you think I care about the bounty?” I said indifferently.
“Everyone in the guild knows your little trio were the ones who kicked the hornet’s nest. There is a fair amount of vileness in the city, but most of us are smart enough to mind our own business—unless the reward is big enough.” She started slurping up the clams in the sauce, keeping her eyes on me.
I shook my head, “We are not interested and leaving for the other continent in three days.”
“I heard. On the Prosperity. Look, I have a team of four other reliable sword arms. With your fat witch, you, and your father, this should be easy coin if we surprise them.” I coughed as I swallowed. Why the hell did she think Konstantin was my father? We looked nothing alike.
“No. We’re leaving as planned,” I said firmly. I needed to be a little harsh to make sure she didn’t inform Konstantin. If she did, nothing good would come from it. “You got a free meal out of this. I suggest you just report it to some city guards and let them handle it.” I stood and left in an aggravated huff. I hope she took the hint.
Later that night, I was working on a new variation of the aether restorative potion when an explosion erupted in the city. It occurred somewhere in the upper districts where the wealthy lived. I unbarred my small window to see if I could make out what was happening. In the distance, one of the sect towers had a plume of fire rising above it. Lightning flashed in the streets before the tower, followed by booms, indicating that mages were at work.
Konstantin knocked, and I unlocked the door to let him in. We both stood by the window, watching. A bell rang in the guild hall. “That’s a call to defend the city,” Konstantin muttered. We were not required to answer the call, but we would receive a substantial payment from the city and points toward advancement in the guild—if we chose not to answer, we would lose points. Points were an abstract way to raise your rank in the guild, determined by each Guildmaster.
I oriented myself to identify the tower where the battle was happening. “That is the sect of the Morning Sky. They focus on air magic and sending messages.” Konstantin had not moved to return to his room and dress.
“Maybe they are trying to draw out the adventurers to get to us,” he guessed.
I thought about not telling him but decided against keeping the secret. “The Venomous Serpents? Unlikely. I think someone else found them." I assumed Lesna had moved on her intel. “I was approached this afternoon to help hunt the werebeasts.”
Konstantin’s eyebrow arched, but he wasn't upset. I thought he was hesitant to confront the mind mage again. We watched the show together until the flashes faded. The location was half a mile away, so we wouldn’t know the victor until the gossip reached us tomorrow. Some buildings were on fire when I closed the window.
The news the next day was not great. Twelve adventurers, including Lesna, had attacked the sect tower. Eight of them were dead, and the remaining four, including Lesna, were missing. They had killed more than a score of werehyenas and a handful of humans. By my math, that meant there were still over two dozen werebeasts alive. Maybe the halfling had gotten herself kidnapped. I resisted my instincts to search for her. I needed to break my habit of trying to save everyone. Still, the guilt nagged at me over the next two days when she didn’t return to the Adventurer’s Hall and one of the missing four adventurers was found dead in the streets.
I thanked Dorrel for his time and the use of his archives before leaving with Gilda and Konstantin to board our ship. The mood in the city was tense, and it felt like things might be getting ready to boil over. The Prosperity was a massive ship, as Konstantin said. The cabins we had were opulent and must have cost him a fair amount of coin. In addition to being a merchant cargo ship, it was also a luxury passenger liner.
My cabin was ten by ten, and instead of a hammock, I had a real bed. The vessel’s beam was so wide that it hardly rocked on the ocean. Perhaps I could even work on my alchemy in my cabin during the voyage. Konstantin stood in the doorway, and I nodded my thanks to him. He returned the gesture and went to his cabin next door. Hopefully, we would be able to decompress during this voyage.
Once the ship sailed, I stripped off my boots and planned to spend some time in the dreamscape. The amulet appeared in my hand, and I heard a slight gasp. Then, the black spear appeared in my hand, and I backed to the door defensively.
Lesna appeared in the corner, “I knew it! You are a mage!”
“What the hell are you doing in my cabin!?”
© Copyrighted 2024, 2025 by AlwaysRollsAOne
No Permission is given to translate, copy, or repost this original work of fiction. If you are reading this on a site that is not my Patreon it has been stolen without my permission and is a violation of DMCA. Remember, this work is the result of my creative effort and is protected by copyright law. Removal or altering of this notification is an acknowledgment you are aware you are in violation of DMCA.
Comments
HappyNoms
Just saying, seeing that he's getting practiced at this point at sleght of handing coins into his palm from his dimensional space, it ought to occur to him to become a godlike cheat at gambling games like cards and rake in huge profits at will. Teleporting cards gives him (or anyone with even a tiny dimensional space) absurd advantages and undetectable cheats at many gambling games. Swapping weighted dice in and out would also be huge.
JohnathanR
Feels a little messy to stir the pot and dip. They should have some long standing consequences for this.
Erick Thiemke
yes that is the inspiration for the character but I read it so long ago. didnt he end up betraying the group? maybe i need a reread
Mercutio Montano
Lesna appears in the cabin... My mind: HAH. Tasslehoff Burrfoot. Here we go. :D
J. L. Mullins
Yet they would still be immensely useful. He bottoms out his magic and can't heal himself quite often, and he often calls healing potions 'very important' and needs them for his friends. 🤷♂️ To me, it was a bit confusing why he suddenly didn't seem to care about them any more (in adventuring halls), but he will still go out of his way in dungeons to get one more healing potion, and is glad to have them when he finds them. (In the empire, as he's leaving, he's upset that he can't buy any, but after he arrives in elvin lands, when his capacities haven't changed that much, he doesn't ask after them, nor ever again.) Might be worth a line or two in one of the early Elvin halls if you want his attitude to change.
Erick Thiemke
he can heal himself and has brewed his own lesser potions I believe at this point
J. L. Mullins
Oh, it's this one that he leaves another thriving adventuring hall without trying to buy potions. :P
Andrew Crews
The halfling snapped her fingers in front of Konstantin’s glassy eyes as he tried to focus. [“He got mind-fucked real good,” Lesna said, amused. → “Damn, he got mind-fucked good,” Lesna said with a smirk.] Konstantin’s jaw tightened, and I hoped he didn’t punch the halfling woman. [“What can we do to cure him?” Gilda asked heatedly, ignoring her question. → Gilda, ignoring the remark, asked sharply, “How do we fix him?”] I could tell she didn’t like the short woman. [Gilda had probably watched Lesna in the common room many times in the last few weeks. → She’d probably spent too much time observing Lesna’s antics in the common room.] [“Time. Two, three, maybe four days, and he will be fine if he isn’t spelled again. → “Time. A couple of days, maybe four, as long as he doesn’t get spelled again.”] I hear submerging in freezing water can help as well. Regular healing will not speed it up.” I frowned, as Konstantin had already taken one of the precious dungeon potions. [“Is he going to stab us in our sleep?” I asked, half-serious, and Konstantin narrowed his eyes at me. He hated not being in control. → “So, should I be sleeping with one eye open, or is he going to behave?” I quipped. Konstantin shot me a glare, clearly hating the lack of control.] [“No. He will have trouble swinging his sword for a while,” the halfling chuckled mirthfully. → “Nah, his sword arm’s shot for a few days,” Lesna chuckled.] [“I know a mage who can fix him. Ten gold.” → “I know a mage who could patch him up. Ten gold.”] [“No!” Konstantin barked. “I will be fine. Let me sleep!” → “No!” Konstantin snapped. “I’ll be fine. I just need sleep!”] I looked at Gilda, who nodded slightly. She would keep an eye on him. She narrowed her eyes at me, not picking up on what I had done. [“Thank you, and you can leave.” → “Thanks. Now, get out.”] She huffed and stormed out, [well-stormed out for a three-foot woman. → or at least tried to, which was hard to take seriously from someone three feet tall.] The next morning, a body from the Sect of the Venomous Serpent was discovered outside the Adventurer’s Hall. The werehyena in sect robes had fallen from a great height and was midway through his transformation into his hybrid form. We had decided on this course instead of claiming credit for infiltrating the sect’s tower. [I had access to the roof of the building, and he failed to yell as he appeared in mid-air and fell one hundred feet in the dark, head-first to the cobblestones below. → With access to the roof, I simply popped him into existence and dropped him into open air. He didn’t even have time to scream before his body [met] the cobblestones a hundred feet below[, with a sickening thud, the impact deep and resonant, like a slab of meat slammed onto stone. A wet slap followed as flesh compressed and split, the force driving internal fluids outward. Then came the unmistakable cracks—sharp, successive pops of bones shattering under the sudden, brutal stop. The echoes of his body folding in on itself, the grotesque squelch of ruptured organs, and the final, hollow stillness reached even my ears at the top of the building, lingering in the air long after the fall had ended. It was only then that I realized—I had left my focus amulet on. A curse caught in my throat as I recognized why every awful detail had been so painfully clear. The heightened perception had made the fall unfold in excruciating, unbearable sharpness. With a thought, I shifted the amulet into my dimensional space, forcing it away like shoving an unwelcome memory aside. The rush of adrenaline from ending a life, combined with the amulet’s effect, had sharpened my focus to a level that was unnervingly intense—nothing like the calm, deliberate concentration of alchemy. That was controlled, methodical, a focus born of patience. This was the opposite—raw, immediate, and all-consuming. Every detail, every sound, every awful sensation had imprinted itself into my mind with perfect clarity. I wouldn’t be ending another life while wearing it—that was a mistake I wouldn’t make twice.] [Gilda was on the body instantly below to ensure his death and walked away. → Gilda was there to make sure he didn’t somehow survive the fall, then slipped away into the night.] Later in the day, we learned he had been one of the sect’s leaders. The city governance was slow to investigate the sect’s tower, and by the time city guards and mages arrived in the late afternoon, it was completely abandoned. Konstantin was angry about the incompetence, but we had stirred up quite [the shitstorm in the city. → a mess in the city.] Now, city guards walked the streets randomly, requiring citizens to hold a pure silver coin in their hand. [Anyone who refused was arrested, and it was putting the entire city on edge. → Refusal meant immediate arrest, and paranoia was sweeping through the streets.] A few martial sects had even closed their doors to challengers. A week later, I was working on my alchemy, and Konstantin was sitting on my bed. [He had been hiding out in the Guild Hall, being bored, and thought annoying me was a decent pastime. → With nothing better to do, he had taken up annoying me as his new hobby.] When he did wander the streets, it was without his armor and in disguise. We were also very selective in the sects we challenged in the mornings. He was too stubborn to give up on the training. [“Eryk, I think it is time to go.” → “Eryk, we need to leave.”] I paused to listen to him. [“The werehyenas are looking for us. They interrogated several people in the slums and killed them afterward. By now, they might have a decent idea of what we look like.” → “The werehyenas are closing in. They’ve been interrogating—and killing—people in the slums. By now, they probably have a description of us.”] I studied him. Konstantin was not scared, just being prudent. He preferred to be the one on the offensive. [“How has the city watch been doing?” I asked, knowing several people had been cut down in the streets. → “How’s the watch handling it?” I asked, already expecting the worst.] [“From what Gilda has picked up in rumors, they have killed nine werebeasts, but only two were werehyenas,” he said, disgusted by their incompetence in finding their new lair. → “Gilda says they’ve killed nine werebeasts. Only two were werehyenas,” he said, shaking his head at the city’s incompetence.]
Apophixas
For once, I'm kind of on board with the murder-hoboness here. She has basically been nothing but trouble, and has shown she is too into scheming and mischief. To the point that it could fet people killed. She needs to go, one way or another. Either by spear through the head, or enough time in the dimensional space that by the time she is released, it doesn't even matter.
NovaZero
Pocket halflng. Huh.
NovaZero
Or large dungeon silver?
Silver Beard
Just a typo: Large Dungeon [Coin]
Silver Beard
I'm thinking she's been 'marked' and she ran to the only human who's faced the Mind Mage and come away scott free for protection. He should give her some oblivion pills and tuck her away in his space for a few months. She's small enough- she should fit...if barely.
Andrew Gonzalez
Don't know how to feel about Lesna, we haven't seen much of her besides being slightly annoying
Chachi
she seems like a conniving manipulator always out to get something imo she should be dealt with like the rhuuk
Erick Thiemke
As Otto says, 4 week for Soldier Seraphim. I also write one chapter of Town Builder a week and one of World Sphere a week....as well as edit 5-6 past chapters from stories. I have been walking my work week forward a day for the last month. it used to be Wed to Tue, but it will be Mon to Sun. It gave me eight days for a bit more time for editing and a mental vacation. Starting next week, it will be set to Mon to Sun permanently.
Erick Thiemke
corrected, thanks
Erick Thiemke
corrected
Erick Thiemke
corrected
Silver Beard
I was hoping he'd make more contacts for the future; but Lesna is a pest- a cockroach seemingly.
Andrew
Thank you!
Dominic French
It's a soft secret now, the cat got out of the bag with the orc warlord arc in my opinion. She could still be dangerous though she's did show up in his cabin on a ship and he barely knows her.
Chachi
murder hobo eryk when?
Chachi
now that she knows his secret shes gotta go….lol
Otto Kovar
~4 per week, no fixed days
NovaZero
He has pocket dungeons now?
Ivan Kanewske
but the plate she delivered was as big as her head, filled with clams in a white butter sauce She delivered? She had delivered? She ordered?
Ivan Kanewske
He gripped that there weren’t many places to hide half a dozen Gripped to griped
Ivan Kanewske
I pretended to perform a sleight of hand and produced a large dungeon. Large dungeon gold? Silver?
Mrtotoro
What is the release schedule for soldier's life
Jeffrey whitworth
Thanks!
Erick Thiemke
1st of four for cycle. Next chapter is the POV chapter you all voted on
