Battleforged
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Chapter 440, Hook, Line, and Sinker
🕑 Added 2024-07-19 04:00:02 +0000 UTC
“Captain Arnor of the Blood Ravens. You’re timing is perfect!” Eric said with a perfectly straight face. “So, you got the interface message I shot your way? I was afraid it wouldn’t cross different domains. I’m not that strong yet, but you’re elite, so why wouldn’t you get a business message?”
The mech-warrior slowly shook his head. “Sorry, kid. We’re no longer Blood Raven. Our former corp folded. We’re now all members of Crimson Song corp, owned and operated by Lord Song.”
Eric chuckled good-naturedly, as if he didn’t realize what that meant. “Well then it’s twice as fortunate that I met you here! In case you couldn’t tell in our negotiations, I have a good feeling about this place!”
Arnor laughed coldly, a certain fierce glint in his eyes. “Oh, we figured that much kid. You played us good. I guess you could say that’s why we’re here, having this conversation.”
“Well good. We should have it,” Eric agreed with perfect candor. “Because this territory does me absolutely no good, even with the keys to opening it, if I don’t have enough Spiritual Energy or Core potency to force open the panels of this Ascension facility, even if I did piece together the ritual. And since you boys are the only Bronze-tier miracle workers I’ve seen outside of Freetown, and I’ve negotiated with you before… how would you boys like a job?”
Arnor turned to share a cold smile with his men. “A job, he says.”
Eric nodded. “Yup! I’m willing to go fifty - fifty. If my understanding of crossed timelines is right, some desperate fool left over three billion in gold, holed up in that ascension temple! It was only when I successfully brought in the only Spiritual Energy wielder in this part of the world on board that I realized we were still massively short on power.”
He flashed a winning smile. “Fortunately, as a Treasure Hunter, I have access to unexpected fortune. Besides having a knack for unlocking hidden treasure and the quests and puzzles that lead to said treasure, I’m also good at jury-rigging unorthodox means of unlocking pretty much any safe, temple entrance, or stubborn heritage library portal I stumble across. So long as I treat prospective partners fair and square. And you boys, with your Bronze ascensions, are the perfect batteries to power down this temple and let us slip inside.”
He sighed, turning to gaze at the territory behind him, nodding his head at the pair of smirking chrome-covered sentinels covering them with actual Tier-III Hyperion Blasters, not the Tier-II Deathblazes he had hoped at least a few of them would be limited to… yet Eric kept his smile innocuous. Friendly. Clueless. Like someone speaking to his business partners and future best friends.
And the fact that Yuki and Jack and Marsha were too terrifed to do anything but sit there, stiff and silent as boards, was extremely helpful. Alice was favoring the boys with flirtations grins that would have done Marilyn Monroe herself proud, and Morlekai was his most debonair brat-pack self imaginable. Looking just as cool as a Peaky Blinder bad boy could.
“And let’s be honest, ideal noob level hunting grounds or no, this territory sure as heck isn’t worth a hundred million in gold,” Eric declared. “So, here’s my proposal. Whatever gold we find up to three billion, we split between our groups fifty-fifty! Anything more I get to keep, since that’s my Class in action.”
“Fifty-fifty,” Arnor said with the bemused smirk of a man who had everything in the palm of his hand, but was content to see the deluded mouse dance for a few seconds longer. “I’ve heard worse deals, kid. But that goes for the entire fortune. Any class perk sweetening the pot? That’s a bonus we’re going to share, you and me. Because your treasure hunting class is the only reason why we’re having this conversation right now.”
“Alright, that’s fair,” Eric acknowledged. “But the first hundred million comes out of your share. If we’re doing this fifty-fifty, then we should both be paying the upfront costs.”
This earned a cold chuckle. “No, I don’t think so, kid. I think that hundred million was you buying in for a shot to play with the big guns. And what do you know? You’re now playing with the big guns,” he said, patting his massive T-3 Minigun.
“Guns like you wouldn’t believe,” Leely said, holding her T-3 Hyperion sniper rifle with a smirk that was half flirtatious with eyes that could have frozen beer.
Eric gave a lighthearted chuckle. A young intern happy for his betters to put him in his place. “Alright, fair enough. Worth a shot, right? Okay. Fifty-fifty split. But the first step is we need to get inside.” His expression grew solemn. “Will you work with me, Captain? Will you help me get inside?”
Arnor’s smirk eased into a curious smile. He shrugged, clearly willing to play along for a chance at a fortune, though he made no move to shake Eric’s hand. “Sure, kid. Show us what your treasure hunting class can do. If you manage to impress us? Hell. We’re open-minded enough we might just have a place for you in our corp. What do you think of that?”
Joc, also there, glared at that pronouncement, though Leely just chuckled.
“Wouldn’t that be a fucking twist,” she muttered in her comms.
“Fucking arrogant shit, this isn’t how it’s supposed to go down!” Joc snapped.
“Chill, Joc. Do you know how fucking rare Treasure Hunters are? You’re only going to find them on ascending worlds. If this kid’s the real deal… maybe he could help us find them before it’s too late!”
“But Lord Song…”
“Is probably playing us for fools. But he’s our only hope. Unless we make our own luck, right here, right now.”
Eric’s eyes lit up. “Seriously? You’d be willing to take me on, show me how to get to Bronze? Every classers dream? Sign me up!”
Arnor chuckled, for a moment looking genuinely pleased, his ire of before fading, at least to a point. “Sure, kid.” His smile hardened. “Show us you’re not full of shit. Show us you can actually unlock this temple that’s been impervious to absolutely everything we’ve thrown at it for weeks! You do that? Hell. We might all come out winners here.” His gaze hardened. “But the corp invite’s just for you.” He frowned thoughtfully at an oddly solemn Richard. “And maybe your cultivating friend too. But your other buddies aren’t part of the deal. They can go back to Freetown and believe me, kid, that’s a pretty sweet fucking deal.”
Eric nodded. “Good thing they’re just hired help! But so long as I get them home safely, I get a major perk bonus for my next haul! So let’s do this. Here’s to a profitable hunt for us all!”
This earned good-natured chuckles as Eric, cool as a cucumber, gently helping his friends out of the levimobile while conveying all he could with soothing smile and the party chat, doing his best to give everyone hope that they would get through this, no matter how effortlessly those power-armored monsters could obliterate a handful of level 1 paper tigers.
Eric had set the stage as well as he could. Implying both that he was okay joining and no need to worry about dead weight. He wasn’t tied to everyone else so they could just depart. And the former Blood Ravens renamed Crimson Song obviously to get out of their earlier signed contract, needed to think it was in their own best interest to let everyone else leae with their tales between their legs and their lives intact, since Eric would then get a bonus with his next heist and if he actually joined… his wealth was their wealth, so Captain Arnor had every reason to let Eric’s friends live.
Or, at least, hold off on pointing blasters their way and shooting them all dead the instant the temple was opened.
“Come on, Yuki. We’re here!” Isn’t this exciting?” Eric said with boundless enthusiasm, covering for his friends lurch and wide-eyed terror, Yuki understanding all too well both Eric’s interface messages… and just how utterly fucked they were. Level 0 Arcane Apprentices trying to match stats and wits with exotic alloy covered monsters with attributes in the multi hundreds.
Fucking insane.
“Now, Yuki, you need to put your hands here and here.” - “You can enter any time you even think the oath I mentioned. But don’t! Please. Wait until I finish saying it and give the signal!”
Eric’s gentle eyes fastened to Yuki’s own as Morlekai and Alice helped an equally Terrified Jack and Marsha position themselves on adjoining panels, their old skills coming to the fore so that no cop or tin-head enforcer would realize just how overwhelmed their prey, or in this case party allies, were.
“Do you understand?”
Yuki jerked a silent nod, biting her lip, eyes pleading with his own.
“Awesome!” Eric said with heartfelt enthusiasm, turning to the grim-faced mercenaries.
“Alright, just as soon as I’ve positioned our latest hire…” He placed Richard’s hands on an adjoining panel. The boy’s eyes lit up. Eric’s heart jolted with a spike of adrenaline. If that idiot slipped through now…
“No! Wait! Or they’ll slaughter my friends!” Eric screamed in his mind, his smile not twitching once when Richard froze, jerking a nod.
He patted the youth’s shoulder. “Relax. I told you you didn’t have enough energy! Wait for our newest friends to join you, then we’ll do it in unison.”
Eric gave a satisfied nod, turning to the captain.
“Alright, sir. If you would come over to this panel and put your hands here and here… and have the rest of your crew do the same… we should have enough power to force our way through!”
Arnor glared, crossing his arms. “I don’t think you need all of us on those panels, Treasure Hunter.”
Eric frowned thoughtfully. “It’s possible I could do it with four… but six would make it a lot less exhausting to push through.”
Leely scowled. “Captain..”
Arnor glared, then slowly nodded. “Four, then. Leely and I will hold off and guard everyone’s back.”
Eric’s eyes widened at this. “Wow, that’s a good point, Captain. We don’t need anyone ambushing us before we get the gold.” He gave a nod as if in perfect agreement. “Okay, you and Leely wait here. I’ll direct the others.”
Arnor scowled. “You don’t have to touch the panels yourself?”
“Of course not, Captain. Now Joc… if you’d be so kind as to put your hands here and here?”
Joc glared. “And let go of my gun?”
Eric gave the captain a helpless look.
Arnor rolled his eyes.
“Joc.”
“Captain…”
“You’re covered. You have a strap. Use it.”
Joc glared at Eric before sighing, securing his weapon to his back, and putting both hands on the panel before him.
“Alright, genius. What next?”
Eric grinned as the last of the mercs positioned themselves. He deliberately backed up to be right behind the captain and a smirking Leely’s casually held sniper rifle, paying the pair of sentinels no mind at all, like the clueless White-tier idiot he so obviously was.
“Okay everyone! Repeat after me! ‘I <insert name> swear to do no deliberate harm to the Silver Clan here on Earth. May my foundation crumble if I intentionally break this oath!’ Okay, say it… now!”
“Now!”
As one, Eric’s companions and four of the mercenaries said those words, six startled souls suddenly lurching through.
Eric spun around, grabbing the captain’s attention with his sheer enthusiasm. “It worked, Captain! They got through!”
Arnor and Leely’s eyes were torn away from Eric’s companions, locked on Eric’s excited form, before flicking back to see their companions futilely smacking the sides of the panels.
Joc spun around with a glare. “Captain! It’s not working!”
Arnor’s surprise turned to a scowl. He pointed his minigun Eric’s way. “You played us.”
Eric raised his hands with an alarmed look. “What the fuck are you talking about? Captain, you’ve got to get your men inside. Those guys are just hired help! I didn’t promise them fifty percent, but whatever they could carry! What if they carry out all our gold before us? We got to get in there!” His voice rose to a panicked shout.
Leely glared. “This is bullshit. You better tell us how to fucking get in, kid.”
“Of course! Do I look like I can fight to you? What if my employees break our contract? You guys have to secure our gold!”
“Then how the fuck do we get in!?”
Eric blinked, miming confusion, before shaking his head with a rueful smile. “Oh gosh, I know what went wrong. It’s so obvious!”
“What!?” Arnor snapped, jaw tightly clenched. “If you think you can fuck with us—”
“Wait, Captain, don’t you get it? The difference between your elite soldiers and my day-hires?”
Leely’s lip curled. “If you think you can string us along with your—”
“It’s your mecha battle armor! You’re men aren’t touching the panels with their bare hands! They’re covered in exotic alloys messing with the electromana signature!”
Captain Arnor frowned, he turned to glare at the men below. “Sento?”
A lean-faced, violet-eyed man with tanned Han features lifted up his face plate and gave a quick nod. “Yeah, it makes sense, actually, captain. This is a risen world artifact and our mecha gear normally isn’t even allowed—”
His words broke off when the captain raised his fist. He turned back to Eric, taking a breath, forcing a brittle calm.
“Alright, Treasure Hunter. What’s our next step?”
“Well, isn’t it obvious? Take off the gauntlets! But don’t worry, we now know that we don’t need to fill all the panels like before, so you and Leely can stay here and supervise with me.”
Leely glared. “We can’t just take off our gauntlets, idiot. This is powered mecha-ware. Not a suit of fucking plate and mail! Save for the helmet, our armor is a full battle harness!”
Eric shrugged. “Okay. Seeing as I have absolutely no knowledge of how mech armor works, but I should probably learn if I’m going to join your corp…”
Arnor glared at a confused-looking Eric for long seconds before turning to the tech specialist he had spoken to before.
“Sento?”
“No readings from inside, Captain.
Leely tapped the hilt of her gun with her fingers. “I don’t like it.”
“Neither do I.” Arnor turned to stare Eric down. “I think you’re bullshitting us.”
Eric blinked. “How am I bullshitting you?” He then scowled. “Hey, you promised to let me join your corp if this works out, right?” He crossed his arms. “Don’t think I’m stupid. I know you just want me for my class. But if I’m going to be your Treasure Hunter, I need your promise that you’ll actually get me to Bronze and help me to evolve my class!”
“Sure, you have it, kid.” Arnor said, before forcing Eric to look down the barrel of his minigun. “But you won’t get shit but an early grave if you don’t help us get inside.”
Eric gave the man a disbelieving look, while sending a rapid-fire message to his friends. “Dude, I just told you! I don’t care if you keep your armor on, but the gauntlets clearly have to go! Look, do you want me to try a panel? Maybe we can get away with just three of your men doing it with me.”
Arnor flashed a mirthless smile. “That’s okay, kid. I think I like you right where you are. Overseeing things with me and Leely.”
Leely smirked. “That’s right, kid. This works out better for all of us.”
Eric shrugged. “Sure.”
“Alright, boys. Time to step out and try it with mesh suits.”
Sento turned to the captain. “You sure that’s a good idea, sir?”
“You questioning me, Sento?”
“No, sir!”
“Alright, then. You know what to do.”
Sento sighed. “Yes, sir.”
And within less than thirty seconds, all two men and two women had stepped out of their power armor, not one of them over six feet, a full foot and a half added by their cross between powered armor and full battle mecha.
Eric grinned, trying very hard not to focus on the anxious gazes the two obvious couples were exchanging. Looking worried. Anxious. And all too human.
“Cute, toys,” Eric said.
Arnor scowled. “Alright, quit the crap. Do your magic and lets get the gold.”
Eric nodded, before pulling out three pale ales, cracking one open and drinking deep. He gave a satisfied grin, ignoring the look Leely was giving him. “That’s refreshing.” He turned the scowling pair glaring at him. “Say, you guys thirsty?” He passed the ales to a clearly exasperated Leely took before turning around.
“Okay, you guys, repeat after me! ‘I <insert name> swear to do no deliberate harm to the Silver Clan here on Earth. May my foundation crumble if I intentionally break this oath!’ Okay, say it… now!”
The air rang with four unmodified voices, Eric raising his bottle with his left hand to clink with his two unimpressed looking momentary drinking companions, scratching his hip with his right.
He grinned. “There we are, captain. Success!”
Arnor glared at the panels, jaw clenching when absolutely nothing happened.
He snarled and spat. “That’s it, kid! You think you can—”
Before either mercenary could blink, their erstwhile clueless Treasure Hunting patsy seemed to disappear.
Burst of Strength Unarmed Combat Check: Critical success!
You have successfully claimed T-III Hyperion Minigun!
Snap kick successfully shattered Mercenary Leely’s elbow!
You have successfully claimed T-III Hyperion Sniper Rifle!
*
Before Arnor could inhale to give fresh orders, his too casually held minigun was torn free of his slack left hand with such force that the thin bracing pin on his palm snapped, pointing to shocking Strength. The pale ale he had been holding didn’t drop more than two inches before the air rang with Leely’s startled scream and the crack of mecha armor being struck so violently at the joint that Bronze-tier armor warped and ascended bone cracked.
Before the bottle had fallen four inches, Leely was lurching back, sniper rifle torn free of her weakened grip.
“Hell Vines!”
Before the captain’s bottle fell a foot, the air roared with a twisting knot of potency throbbing against Arnor’s throbbing skull, disbelieving eyes unable to register the sudden surge of fiery whipping vines springing from the earth before his confused-looking crew, momentarily naked of both arms and armaments
Yet his men, even if just Advanced Classers, were effectively the elites of the galaxy, trained with such thorough dedication that they could act on automatic pilot even if thrown in the thick of it, all of them knowing that to freeze was to die. They immediately drew backup vibro blades from hip sheaths and tore into the vines with ruthless efficiency.
Arnor allowed himself only a moment’s fierce pride. He had been fucked with and had played the fool beyond belief. Greed getting the best of him as it too often did. But as soon as he got this situation under control there would be hell to—
His thoughts froze in dismay.
“Arnie! Their mecha!”
In the time it took Leely to say the words, it had happened, Arnor appreciating in that moment that the vines, deadly as they were, giving Sento an ugly burn before he shredded the pair lashing out at him, making it clear they were no joke… had ultimately been nothing more than a distraction.
Having torn his crew’s focus just long enough for whatever shadowy force was arrayed against them to claim both power armor and T-3 Blasters.
Gone. In the blink of an eye.
Leely’s anxious gaze locked with Arnor’s own. “We need to leave, now!”
Yet before she could move, before either of them could act, her fierce resolve turned to dismay, orders abruptly cut off with a whimper.
“No!” Arnor cried, hand instinctively reaching out as if to stop the inevitability of death itself.
Leely froze, even as her hair began to burn, flesh blistering at the terrible fiery crimson heat radiating from the mithril blade now caressing her helmetless head.
Tears streamed down her eyes as her flesh began to smoke and smolder.
And it was all Arnor’s fault
Because he had been an overconfident fool who thought they had a handful of low-level nothings covered. Even though he had known damn well that one of them was a Contender.
And you never, ever, underestimated Contenders. Even if four were pathetic overconfident fools, the fifth would spell your doom. Somehow. In some twisted way that only made sense with your dying breath.
Yet that hadn't stopped him from eagerly drinking ale tossed to them by a boy playing them all for fools. And now that innocent blond-haired boy was gone. They faced a wild-eyed monster with bright green eyes, fiery red hair, and a too wide grin who had mithril death at his partner’s throat.
“Captain! What’s going on?” Joc desperately cried as he and his companions finished chopping up the vines, though not extinguishing it, to see the figure who now had their leaders at swordspoint.
And all their legendary hyperion weapons that they had valued so highly, determined to always keep safe... were now gone.
“Who the fuck are you?”
Eric’s laughter was as chill as a winter gale.
“Ernest Edgelord Slaughter, at your service.”
Arnor’s eyes widened with genuine dismay. “You’re the half-step Silver that the entire Terran Counsel put a bounty on.”
This earned a mocking oh of surprise. “Really? The entire Terran Counsel? I guess I really AM moving up in the world. How exciting!”
“Captain, what do we do?” A panicked Joc pled.
Eric winked. “Do you want to tell him, or should I?”
“No. Please. We can work out a deal!” Arnor croaked.
Eric nodded. “Sure we can. A deal where you give your oath not to fuck with my friends only to slide out of it with another shell corporation, like a serpent shedding old unwanted skin.” He tilted his head sadly. “To think that elite mercenary companies have fallen so low. Tell me, is there really a Lord Song?”
“We’ll swear personal oaths! No games, we swear!”
“Tell me about this Lord Song.”
Arnor stiffened. “Please. You don’t have to do this.”
Leely cried out when Eric’ blade got just a bit closer to her eye.
“Tell. Me. About. Lord. Song.”
“He’s someone who found out about your so-called academy and is very interested in… hiring… it’s students.”
Eric flashed a humorless smile. “By hire do we mean dissect to see how we tick?”
Leely’s wild-frightened eyes and despairing whimper made it clear that Eric’s guess had been right on the mark.
“We don’t know that!” Arnor cried. “We only know he wants several of you! It could be for anything. It could be to teach you, to shape you and mould you into elites grateful to serve under his banner!”
“Sure, you can think that, if it lets you sleep better at night. Not that that’s something you’ll ever have to worry about again.”
Leely broke into sobs.
Eric glared. “Tell me where I can find this Lord Song.”
“You can’t” The relatively slender tech specialist Sentos shouted. “He’s a Silver. He only works via proxies.”
Eric scowled. “That’s fucking convenient.” He glared at the captain. “Strip free of your battle mecha.”
The man froze, jaw stiffening. There was no mistaking the dread in his eyes, or the despair.
“You don’t have to do this.”
Eric nodded. “I know. But you see, I WANT to do this.”
“Please!” Leely sobbed.
“Shut the fuck up and take off your armor. Both of you.”
“And if we refuse?”
Eric rolled his eyes. “Of course we have to have that conversation.”
400 Points of Strength and Quickness channeled into Bloodfire Strike: Power Blow variant!
Modified Strength is 453 (Burst of Strength not presently in use. You are using this ability at baseline cost!)
Modified Quickness is now 727.
Length of Bloodfire Blade is now 8-fold normal!
Destructive potency of Bloodfire Blade is now 8-fold normal!
Leely screamed when a massive bar of bloodfire tore through the air. It hummed and crackled with the screams of the damned, or perhaps the sound of air molecules exploding against its deadly, tightly controlled heat. The air itself seemed to grow dark, color fading as it was all claimed by the brilliant bar of crackling crimson fire and lightning that left both captain and liutenant stumbling to their knees. The blood seemed to leave their features, as if such close proximity to oblivion was slowly draining their life force, without even touching them.
“Oh fuck, we are so dead,” Joc sighed, falling to his knees, as did the others.
Leely gave Arnor a winsome smile. “I guess this is it, babe.”
“Leely, no!”
“Repudio!” Eric angrily snapped, dispelling his blade as both suits of power armor immediately went inert. “And if my abjuration damaged that armor just so I could diffuse whatever fucking deadman’s switches you think I don’t know about, then I’m taking it out of your fucking hides!”
Leely gazed at Eric with horrified dismay. Pushed to the absolute brink, even to the point of suicide, only for her bomb to be diffused, now with no energy left.
Tears streamed freely as trembling hands levered herserf free of her now inert armor with creeks and groans. She stumbled to the ground, on her knees. “Please.”
Eric didn’t bother responding. “You’re turn, Captain.”
“Why?” The man asked, desperate for an answer to the riddle that might just save his life as he gazed so intently Eric’s way. “Why are you stripping us of our armor when you could just…”
“Because, idiot. Do you know how much resale value I give up when I bring my contacts tattered armor and chopped up weapons? It’s fucking bullshit!” He flashed his trademark winning grin. “But when I bring them pristine T-3 Hyperion weapons and perfectly intact power armor, THAT’S when the credits start rolling in.”
Arnor gazed at Eric in stunned disbelief, before he wheezed with bitter laughter. “You were playing us. From the very start. A weak, naive, foolish kid. You were goading us on from the fucking start!”
Eric shook his head. “Nope. Don’t get it twisted. I dealt with you in good faith. This territory? This ascension center? Yeah. I was reclaiming both, over or under your dead bodies. But if you had played it straight, you’d be up a hundred million credits and the possibility of future Freetown hires.”
Eric let the desperate tension, the flicker of hope flare brightly for just a couple more seconds.
Before flashing a smile just as cold as his mother’s had once been.
“But you made your choice. This is the final scene to the play that you wrote, not I. Now? Now, we’re just playing it through.”
“Please! We had no choice!” Leely sobbed. “We had to take the contract!”
Eric tightened his jaw, glaring down at the woman once Arnor finally began stripping free of his armor. “And why is that?”
“Because Lord Song swore he could send us all home!”
“Home.”
Leely nodded. “Yes, home.”
“And you’re just thinking of home now.”
“It’s true!” Arnor choked out, now wearing nothing besides a mesh suit, holding the trembling hand of his partner, both of their vibro blades surrendered. “We…” He shook his head in dismay. “It felt like we were living in a dream, or a loop…”
“Like we were NPCs” Sento helpfully said. “Only now…”
“Now, we remember home and the people who should be with us… who need us… but aren’t here,” Joc said. “The moment I met your party… it was like we were finally waking up.”
Eric glared, cursing under his breath. Absolutely hating the fact that his heartstrings were being pulled. That he was getting played almost as thoroughly as he had played them.
He activated his blade once more. “Nice fucking try. But if you think I’m going to leave half a dozen elite tier killers to paint targets on my back for pretty much fucking ever…”
“Don’t, Eric! You don’t have to do this!”
Eric suppressed a groan.
Because of course that was when a doe-eyed idealistic and far too handsome Richard Li would slip free of the ascension center Eric had purposely kept sealed, race to his side, and plead before the obvious couple Eric now held a crackling sword of crimson death to.
“Please, Eric, it doesn’t have to end this way. Even this story, dark and torturous as it has become, can have a happy ending!”
Eric gazed deadpan at the youth before him. “You’re fucking kidding.”
“No, it’s true!” His eyes shown with warmth and excitement. “Now I know what felt so wrong when we first encountered them. The anger I knew shouldn’t be there… tinny voices through power helmets that I was a heartbeat from recognizing. Faces I now know!”
Eric blinked. “What the fuck are you talking about, Richard?”
The youth’s eyes lit with excitement. “You were right, Eric. About everything!”
“Come again?”
“There really was treasure hidden in the ascension center!”
Eric gazed in wide-eyed disbelief at the massive 16th century chest absolutely filled with golden doubloons that Richard proudly slammed on the ground before Eric.
A chest he somehow hadn’t even noticed the boy carrying until that very moment.
How?
“It's an absolute fortune, Eric. Multiple chests! What I’m guessing is exactly three billion credits worth of gold! Just like you said.”
Eric glared at the way too innocent looking chest. “No. Fucking. Way.”
“Way!” Richard cheerfully countered, before gazing fondly down at the pair before him.
“You’re Arny and Leely, right?”
Leely blanched. Arnor gazed at Richard in shock. “No. There’s no way you could know…”
Richard’s smile was like holy benediction, gazing at the pair with the warmth and love that had no place outside storybooks or parents gazing upon their little ones.
“It’s true. I had one last quest while I was here… and I think... yes. I think I can complete it.”
Arnor’s eyes grew desperate. “Please, what can you tell us!?”
“Rye and Sembie are safe, hale, and whole, along with the other children I found in the suspension pod.” He gazed down at the handful of mercenaries, male and female, eye wide with desperate hope. “All of your children. They were safely rescued. I’ve taken them all on as my disciples, of course, and I’m so excited to share with you that they have started clearing their meridians in absolutely record time!”
“What the actual fuck?”
Within minutes, a stunned Eric witnessed all six mercenaries sobbing with desperate relief as his solemn faced friends pulled out one treasure-filled chest after another.
A muttering Eric didn’t even fight it when Richard had them all racing back the way they had come in high spirits, the now magic levimobile somehow fitting all thirteen of them not to mention several tons worth of treasure in ancient galleon chests, which was absolutely ridiculous, yet somehow worked. And before the sun had set, Richard’s grand pagoda was filled with laughter and cheer and hundreds of good-natured orcs drinking besides elves and humans and well-endowed fairy maidens and Captain Arnor and his Wife Leely were smiling with tears in their eyes as they held their absolutely adorable looking violet-eyed children, as were the other mercenary pairs that were of course married couples, and the scene was so sweet and poignant with the sounds of erhu, lute, and dulcimer filling the air that Eric had to take a deep breath and step outside, gazing at the magnificent display of stars painting the heavens above.
“You okay, Boyscout?” Alice asked, gently squeezing his shoulder.
He swallowed the unexpected lump in his throat. “We uncovered multiple chests absolutely filled with priceless jewelry and Spanish doubloons.”
“That we did,” Alice said in a voice matching his own.
“And the mercs that could have so easily killed us… were just parents desperate to be reunited with their children. Children that Richard had somehow already rescued.”
A smiling Alice nodded, wiping a tear from her eye. “A dozen children saved from a failing cluster of life support pods.”
Eric sighed, gazing back at the gentle light washing over him from the pagoda, so filled with with laughter and celebration.
“It was a bluff, you know.”
Alice blinked. “Wait, what!?”
Eric shook his head. “Why the hell would there be a fortune in gold stashed away in my ascension center? I was just trying to entice them with absolute bullshit.”
Alice blinked at this. “The way you were going… Yeah, I know we were going to pull a fast one, but you were so enthusiastic, I thought maybe you did have a treasure hunting class!”
Eric rubbed his eyes, suppressing a groan. “And to think, I was going to…”
Alice squeezed his hand. “But you didn’t.”
He shook his head. “But that’s what’s so crazy! That was the ruthless move, sure, but it was the smart move. Richard racing to catch my arm like that… staying the executioner’s hand at the last second, with a fucking chest of gold between his arms…” Eric fell to his knees, gazing at the rich topsoil in dazed disbelief. “That’s not how the world works.”
Alice sighed. “Yeah, I know. But I learned long ago that sometimes wild luck really does favor the foolish dreamer. Even if nine times out of ten it will get you killed… it’s that one time when you just know that all lights are green that you can dare to blaze forward and change your fate.”
Eric scowled. “Who taught you that bullshit?”
She punched his arm. “You did, Eric. The things we did… the insane odds we faced... yet somehow, we pulled through. Be some miracle, we got the gold, Gilton was pulled free of the clutches of the orcs and turned to a paradise.”
Morlekai, stepping free of a murder of swarming crows, nodded his agreement. “And let’s not forget Freetown. How close the goblins came to having us all in chains. Yet by the end of the night, I’m witnessing the actual summoning of a multistory mountain of gold bricks. Enough to fill a black book depository, with a billion credits’ worth casually dumped at the feet of those who could have so easily crushed us in chains of legal spite.”
The vampire smiled fondly at the pagoda behind them. “If I’ve learned one thing this past year, it’s to never, ever underestimate a Contender.”
Eric snorted. “Beyond even a Contender. That was some major PC Protag bullshit. And if Richy back there thinks I’m going to follow him around like some anime sidekick…”
Alice chuckled. “Somehow, I don’t think you gotta worry about that, Boyscout.”
Eric nodded, lying back on the grass with his head in his hands. “Yup. As soon as this mission is over and we get credit for a flawless kill-free clear, I get to go back to doing what I do best, free of sidekicks or competing Contenders… at least until time runs out.”
Alice massaged his neck. He closed his eyes, soothed by her touch.
“What’s your play, Boyscout?”
Eric chuckled. “Just thinking of a certain commitment I made. There's a certain city I promised myself I’d claim and an alliance of assholes I swore I’d break. The only question is… can I do it before the start of semester?”
Chapter 441 - A taste of your own medicine.
Comments
FeelingsandFoibles
I assume titles he retained
FeelingsandFoibles
Not after the timeline jump
Gina
I thought Alice was pregnant...
Joe K
How did Eric have access to so many stats despite being reset to level 1? That isn't explained at all.
S_Winter
Yeah...though it's kind of fun to see Eric upstaged as a protag and it all ending in a fairytale way...I do hope that Richard won't appear again except in comments. His way too successful idealism isn't appealing in a character who isn't the protagonist. At first, I thought he had some skill to slide past their guards and was going to betray them horribly. I was bracing for that. Eric being upstaged like this is better, in my opinion, but only barely. Amd I do concur with the question about why Eric took on his Ernest personna. Way to link the two people and undo all his efforts in disassociating them. Plus, whatif the inquisitors or shamans are able to get a lock on him now? Speaking of, did he ever read that letter from Caliban? He had the time? If so, it might be worth sliding in a comment dueing the veli ride about it. Of course, that's hoping that you look at your comments section which, given your lack of responses to other people, I find myself questioning....
Cory Parlee
I didn't like that e turned into Ernest thee was no reason for him to do that . It only puts more people in the world that know the truth for no benefits.
Lee Caldwell
Wow I hate Richard so much. This is all your fault. I hate other characters being happy. They can all go die.
Iain Grubb
No Silver Fox today? Don't really read battleforged ><
