Chapter 3

Turns out the Forest God was not as good as Yazid at setting fail-safes. Dodging trees and branches was not that hard, and the zombies no longer chased them. Axel thought the zombies would have collapsed after the forest god died.

They had escaped the forest and now traveled across rolling hills and farmland, looking for civilization. After much discussion they agreed to avoid cities, not wanting to be near the center of events. They still did not know what to do in this world. Yazid wanted them to be a force that did not have any loyalty to the gods, to help people without asking for permission.

“Is that smoke?” Rayner said.

“Yes, I can smell it from here. Let’s go around it,” Axel said.

“There could be people in trouble.”

“I know, that’s why we should avoid trouble. Look man, we have done pretty well since coming to this world. We fought a small army, a zombie horde, and watched a god die. Let’s not push our luck.”

“Stay here then.” Frustrated, Rayner ran towards the smoke.

He should have known; he was traveling with a hero. With a deep sigh, he followed after him.

When he caught up with Rayner, he was standing in front of a burnt-out home, a small hut in a little hamlet. Bodies lay strewn on the ground, bodies charred black, hands in the air as if reaching for the heavens. The hut Rayner stood in front of was where they put the children.

Axel put his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “We need to leave.” Rayner said nothing, letting himself be led away from the morbid scene.

The scene played out again and again as they traveled across the plains. Every hamlet and village they came across had been ravaged. Mutilated bodies hung from trees, villages looted, crops burned. They had seen no survivors.

The Inimi were waging war against the civilian population. Axel remembered his history classes, armies of old did not like pitched battles. Easier to attack the peasants, take what little they had and deny their leaders of income, and their armies of food. Knowing why it was happening didn’t make the horror of it easier to witness.

Axel never considered himself a good person, an OK person, but not a good one. There were other reasons why he got the Thug class. Having parents in debt-slavery got him in as much trouble as them. Axel did not need to be a good person to think this was wrong, and that someone had to do someone.

“We should have seen a town by now,” Rayner said.

“I think we are at the border or a frontier.” He looked around at the farms and hills. “Who wants to live near a forest full of zombies?”

He saw something off in the distance, people. Rayner ran toward them, not waiting for him and without forming a plan. The hero was going to get himself killed and Axel along with him.

As they approached, he realized the people were no threat. It was a woman and two children. She wore a ragged petticoat, her hair covered by a headscarf, her children dressed similarly. The child ran at Rayner, screaming. He was trying to attack him; the mother grabbed him while holding a crying toddler.

“Please forgive us, lords,” the woman said, clutching her children protectively.

“We are not the Inimi, we are here to help,” Rayner said.

“Why did you call us lords?” Axel said.

After taking a moment, and making sure her son would not attack them again, she answered, “I can feel your level, it’s higher than mine. I know my place, lords.”

“Again, we are no—”

“Unfamiliar with the customs of this land,” Axel interrupted. Rayner looked at him confused. He probably thought he liked the idea of a woman calling him lord, and he would be right. The true reason was it would be easier to help people if they believed they had authority.

“I understand, my lords,” she said.

“Tell us what is happening to this land, is there no army to stop the Inimi?”

“A coalition of allied gods and their Worshipers gathered to fight an Inimi army at Grayhaven. Our people have little ability to defend ourselves.”

“Why not?” said Rayner, who now played with the child who attacked him, his experience with kids due to his upbringing in the corporate orphanage shining.

“We want no part in the games of gods. We worship many small gods, who are much weaker. The weaker the god the weaker the Worshiper.”

Could these be the people Yazid wanted them to protect? They lived a life seeking to avoid the larger gods and suffered for it. What really interested him was what she said about his level, others could feel his power. That could be good for avoiding fights, but he imagined it could get the two of them in trouble.

“Do you have a place to go?” Axel said.

“There is a town nearby, with high walls, called Yorkwick. Many worshipers stay there and rest before carrying out tasks.”

“By Worshipers you mean adventurers?” She looked confused. “People who go on missions for citizens. Gaining strength by killing monsters and obtaining treasure. They hang out at a guild.”

She looked at him with wide eyes. “Such an organization sounds wonderful. Worshipers work for their gods or their churches, not for the people!”

“I’m gonna guess that the churches receive a hefty tax to take out troublesome monsters,” Rayner said.

She stared at them with sad tired eyes, her circumstances proof of the lack of protection she got from the Worshipers.

“Well then we need a guide, and you need an escort,” Axel said. “How about it, you coming along?”

Axel knew that Rayner would not leave this woman and her kids behind and he grew tired of wandering around like fools. He wanted to reach civilization.

Axel may not have liked his friend’s heroic antics, but his personable nature came in handy in times like this. He handled the refugee woman and children well. Axel picked up from their casual conversation more of what she told them before. Meaning it was more bad news.

Axel now knew why the Coalition army and the Inimi were fighting here. He did not think even the woman knew just how screwed her people were. Stuck in the middle of a proxy war. A religious proxy war, fought by soldiers who did not care about the common people. Mostly because the people of Alta—the country they were in—did not worship as they did.

Looking back at Rayner, he could see his friend trying to stay positive for the children, but he knew his history better than Axel, it would be a hard road ahead.

As for roads, the woman had led them to one. She had avoided it before because that’s how armies travel and she thought it best to stay away. Smart woman. However, they were tired and hungry and the last of their supplies had run out, having been shared with the woman and children. She resisted at first until Axel told her the armies were likely gone. One army died in the Corpsewood forest eaten by zombies, and the other defeated at Grayhaven. Any enemies they would see would be deserters or bandits.

Their group approached the gates of Yorkwick; as the woman said, the town had walls, small ones. Smooth polished earthen walls surrounded a neat little town. Yorkwick had a bleak atmosphere. No people could be seen in the town. With the help of Rayner giving him a lift, he could get over the walls. But the woman warned them off.

“The wall is blessed by the local god, my lords. It expands when more room is needed for homes and raises when enemies lay siege,” she explained.

“Hey, could you let us in!” Rayner yelled.

They could see nobody on guard duty and had been waiting for some time. The town seemed dead. They were losing patience, they were hungry, tired, dirty, and the toddler kept crying.

“There are no bandits or Inimi behind us, you can let us in!” Rayner said, not giving up. “We have a woman and children with us!” Still no response.

Axel lost patience. “Enough of this! Rayner, can your Force Hammer break this gate?”

“No, and I don’t think we should try unless we want to make enemies of the people in town.”

“Now we know why everyone didn’t just flock here first. What do we do now?”

“Forgiveness, my lords, I thought they would take us in.”

“Not your fault,” Axel said. “My guess is that Coalition forces are using the town as a base. Or they don’t want to give us supplies.”

“Or both. I think the Worshipers in there are cowards. Definitely not the adventurers we think of from home. Easy money doing jobs for people who can’t take care of a little goblin themselves, then they cower when real trouble pops up,” Rayner said, pacing back and forth, playing with his hammer. He looked as if he was changing his mind on breaking down the gates, but he was still right. Making enemies is not the goal, and they still could not break it with their strength.

The woman was looking at them with some awe. They spoke casually of laying siege to the town by themselves. “My lords, there is another town nearby, Ridgehill. The hills provide a natural defense, and it is off the path that the armies marched.”

“Off we go then,” said Axel, leaving the unwelcoming town behind them.

The hunger began to affect their mana. It was the first time it went down due to something other than the use of their skills. This didn’t even happen when they ran for their lives from the zombies. As his mana dwindled the searing feeling of pain that usually came with losing mana reversed. Instead, a soothing calm came over him.

Rayner had told him much the same. He felt life leaving him through every pore on his body.

They were in dire straits. Worse, the toddler had stopped crying, its little body too weak. The mother’s anguished face haunted him. He and Rayner had given the family as much food as they could, but it was not enough. Scavenging through ravaged villages yielded little food.

“Axel ... Axel!” Rayner said, getting his attention.

“What? I’m trying to sleep on an empty stomach over here.”

“I hear screams and growls.”

He focused his hearing. “I hear it too, that’s the sound of wolves. They must be attacking people.” If they were lucky, the people had food. If not, they would eat the wolves.

Running to the sounds, they saw what looked to be several families surrounded by wagons, reminding him of those fleeing the attack on Grayhaven. They used the wagons as a barrier while some tried to fight off the wolves. The wolves were large, numerous, and did not scare easily when a member of the group tried to scare them off with fire.

“Axel, you’re the man with the plan. How do we approach this?”

“How much mana do you have left?”

Rayner checked his palm. “10. You?”

“... 5. Damn it, we don’t have much to work with.” Would he have to abandon these people? There was a time he would have, but seeing what the Altans were going through, he began to understand why Yazid was desperate enough to summon two teenagers for help. Plus, they needed food, and this was their only chance to get it.

“OK ... alright,” Axel said, rubbing his temples. “It’s not as bad as it looks.” Rayner quirked a brow skeptically. “Most of the wolves are to the left of the wagon, only three are on the right, we attack there. They’ll be stuck between us and the wagons.”

“And the other wolves?”

“I will use my Pain Knife on them, with the help of the refugees who are fighting. Get it?”

“Got it.”

“Good,” Axel smiled and charged. Something he found himself doing a lot lately.

The wolves sensed them coming, it did not matter, nothing was going to stop Rayner. The first wolf got a hammer to the head and Rayner’s foot to its skull, ending its life. Damn, his friend lived up to the Title of Barbarian.

Another wolf lunged at Rayner, giving Axel the chance to go after the second. He had to trust Rayner could handle it. Axel could not afford to use a skill, instead letting the wolf bite his arm, or rather the bundles of cloth wrapped around his arm. He let himself fall with the wolf now lying under him, biting into the cloth. Axel drove his knife into the wolf’s face. He had been aiming at its eye, but it turned out hitting where he wanted with a knife wasn’t easy in the midst of a fight. The effect was the same. The wolf released his arm and left snarling in pain. It would die eventually.

Rayner had killed another wolf. Axel was right to trust him. They gave each other a quick check for wounds and continued to the wagons.

The refugees saw their fight. They waved them to an opening in the wagon. Rayner joined them, while Axel went to face the remaining wolves.

Axel didn’t try to kill them. He only needed to scratch the wolves. His skill had only been used on zombies so far, but if he was right, Pain Knife should be more effective on living creatures.

And he was proved correct. He ran slashing at the wolves any chance he got, waving a torch at a wolf that looked like it was preparing to jump him. The effect of his Pain Knife was devastating. The wolves howled in suffering. Axel had tested his ability on a reluctant Rayner, only a scratch. Rayner had described the feeling as having the same spot cut over and over again, and the worse the wound, the longer it lasted and the more it hurt. Axel had slashed the entire side of two of the wolves’ bodies, causing them to thrash on the spot. The other wolves, seeing the pain of the others and not understanding, started to back off and circle Axel wearily. He used the sickly liquid red glow emanating from his knife to ward the wolves off. It looked like the wolves forgot Axel was not alone.

Rayner left the protection of the wagons with his hammer raised, roaring. A small green distortion of air showed he had activated Force Hammer. All the armed refugees followed behind him. The wolves disengaged, then fled, after Rayner knocked two of them back with Force Hammer. The refugees, armed with spears, torches, and knives, fell upon the fallen wolves. They burned, slashed, and stabbed their way to victory.

Another battle won. Axel checked how much mana he had left. The screen coming from his palm tattoo showed 1 mana left and he felt so damn tired...

He woke up covered with blankets in a wagon, Tessa’s child watching over him. Tessa was the refugee woman he and Rayner saved. He no longer felt pangs of hunger. Either his mana recovered naturally or someone, likely the child, had helped him eat. The child ran out yelling that he was awake. “Good morning to you too brat.”

Before Rayner came to fuss over him, Axel checked his stats.

Level: 3, Class: Thug, Mana: 12, Skills: Pain Knife, EXP: 30 He had gained 2 mana and 30 EXP. He’d been resting for some time, as he’d recovered and gained mana.

Tessa came to him instead of Rayner. “My lord, I am glad you are awake. Rayner is talking with the wagon master.” She looked much brighter. She and her children must have taken the time to eat as well.

“Is your youngest well?”

Her eyes lit up. “Yes, she is running around with the other children right now. Thank you for asking, my lord.”

Eventually, they would inform her they weren’t lords. She offered her hand to help him out the wagon but he shooed her away. He felt great. “So, Rayner is too busy to see me?”

“Oh no my lord, he has been organizing our defenses and leading foraging parties. He recently returned from one along with Evans. You have been sleeping for 3 days.” Seeing his shock, she explained. “Overusing mana does that to people.”

“Oh, good to know,” Axel said. Tessa tilted her head, probably wondering why Axel did not know this. To avoid her asking him unwanted questions he went toward a group who looked like they were in charge.

Before he got to them, he was surrounded by people, thanking him profusely. They bowed and clapped him on the back. One guy even kissed him. He did not even notice them approach him. If they had moved this fast when the wolves attacked, they could have defeated them without his and Rayner’s help.

A big man came to tell them to go away, and led him to leaders of the wagon train. “Sorry about that, they have been waiting to thank you since you saved us. Rayner got the same treatment.”

“No problem, you folks saved us too. We had run out of supplies.”

“Well that’s something we have plenty of, and it has caused us trouble ever since.” His voice rumbled in frustration. “The wagon leader will fill you in.”

Rayner was speaking with a man wearing far too much jewelry and a colorful robe. He paused his conversation when he noticed Axel. “Oh thank god you’re awake,” giving Axel his signature bear hug.

“Stop it man. We are in public.” He clawed free from his friend’s grasp.

“It’s just so good to see you awake! The others were saying you might need a healer to recover from the overuse of mana.”

“Well, I guess lady luck is shining on us.”

“Is that the god you worship?” the bejeweled man asked Axel.

“No, it’s just a saying,” Axel said.

“I see,” the man said. He clearly didn’t. “My name is Garman, the leader of this unfortunate group of refugees.”

“No offense, but you don’t look like a leader of refugees.” Axel’s rudeness caused Rayner to look at him reproachfully. Axel really meant no offense, but the man had a gold nose ring and silver in his hair. Maybe that wasn’t expensive in this world.

Garman chuckled. “You are correct. I am a merchant, not a man of charity. I supplied food for the Coalition. Until they decided they did not need to pay for food because they had weapons and I had a few weak Worshiper guards,” Garman said, pointing to the big man that led Axel out of the crowd. “I have learned how to deal with such brutes. I poisoned the food and fled while they emptied their bowels. Along the way I picked up all these wandering souls.” The others around the merchant gave a burst of nervous laughter at the memory.

“Are all Coalition soldiers like that?”

“The serve mostly benevolent gods, that is until you cross them.”

“We were just talking about this before you came Axel,” Rayner said. “We can handle the wolves, and the wild goblins, but the deserters and the bandits will cause us trouble. We’ve taken the long way around to avoid them.”

“Smart, if you have lots of food you can afford to take your time. But, the longer we are out here, the more chances we run into trouble.”

“That’s what I’ve been saying,” the big man said, glad to have Axel agree with him. “Name is Barny by the way,” he said extending his hand. Axel saw the tattoo on his hand indicating he was a Worshiper. Everyone had the marking, Tessa had it, and so did her oldest child, but Barny’s marking had larger and more detailed patterns. Axel took the hand, shaking it. This custom of handshaking had continued across worlds it seemed.

“So, where are we on the issue, any ideas?” Axel said.

“I was hoping you would have an idea, Axel,” Rayner said.

“Oh.” He had only been awake for a couple of minutes, but monsters and armies would not wait for him to clear his head. “What’s our battle strength look like?”

“6 guards, and 7 men and women willing to fight,” Barny said

“How long will supplies last?”

“A week at rest, shorter if we are active.”

“Any idea on the number of bandits?”

“Largest group we have run into was 12.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s the largest group but the bandits are a part of a larger force. The attacks on the villages are too organized to be a dozen random bandits,” Barny answered sharply.

Axel realized what he implied. “I don’t doubt your bravery Barny. I saw how your guardsmen fought the pack of wolves by yourselves. I forget fighting is harder when you have to protect dozens of people.”

Barny’s shoulders relaxed. The apology had been accepted. “That will always be a problem, fighting the enemy while keeping our people safe.”

“True. Which is why we must attack them.”

“Excuse me?” said a female guardsman.

“The bandits travel in groups of around 12. We can take them on, but only without the civilians to protect.”

“We can’t abandon them!” she said, indignantly.

“We won’t. We will pretend to.”

“I understand the young man’s plan. The bandits are keeping track of us. Waiting for an opportunity to attack. The fighters pretend to leave, come back and attack when the bandits think we are defenseless,” Garman said.

“Sounds good. It will shock them at first, but this still leaves us defending refugees,” Barny said.

“Unless ... we send the civilians away, and we stay,” Rayner said.

“Exactly,” Axel said.

“If we could fool the bandits into thinking it is the fighters who left, then they would come to us, unaware who they are attacking,” the woman said, anger leaving her face once she realized we would not leave the refugees.

“Sounds complicated. If they don’t fall for it, the civilians are dead,” Barny said.

“They will because the leaders of this wagon train are going with the civilians. We will make it look like the rich and powerful have had enough taking care of the civilians, and took the supplies,” Axel said.

They took a moment to think on it, but Axel knew their answer. “We don’t have a choice; the bandits are probably watching any path to the town. If we ever hope to make it to Ridgehill, we will have to confront them. This is the plan; we will take the next few days to work out the details.”

The group nodded. If Axel told them the full plan, he wondered what they would think.

Axel wanted to ask them about their powers but avoided it thinking it would be impolite. However, the circumstances did not allow for much secrecy. If they wanted to live, they had to work together.

Barny and his guardsmen all worshiped the same god, an idol god. The god’s power was imbued in items they carried with them, allowing the god’s influence to reach them from a distance, and as long as one of them had their item or idol they would still have power.

The skills they used revolved around protection and communication. By working together, they could form barriers and speak to each other from a small distance. A formidable team indeed. All the guardsmen were level one and none had a class. When Rayner informed them of his class while he slept, they were impressed. When Axel told them he was level 3, they spoke to him differently.

“My lord, we have seen how many people we can force into the wagons, and one of the refugees found a way to fit everyone inside,” Barny said.

“Cool, let’s see it,” Axel said, forgetting Barny did not know what cool meant. He let Barny lead him to a freckled woman beside a modified wagon.

The wagon had been divided into sections, from top to bottom. “This way, we can take advantage of the height of the wagons. By making the sides of the wagon taller, I was able to put in 3 floors. The children would be at the top, and adults at the bottom,” the freckled woman said.

“A tight fit. Will it hold? You made this on the fly.”

“On the fly?” she said. “Ah, yes I rushed this, but it should hold a few adult men for a while. But I suggest only putting the women and children in these wagons.”

They had to leave enough wagons behind to trick the bandits into thinking only the soldiers abandoned the refugees. “This is good work, thanks.”

The woman straightened with pride, bowing slightly. He was embarrassed because he kind of liked it, and he could see her cleavage as she bent.

He had not thought about sex since coming to this world. The pretty Elf turned out to be a fairy, and the chaos did not give him a chance to relax. They had not run into princesses, or rich merchant daughters, or a maiden who was the last of her clan looking for an escort. Such women were probably far away, in a castle, palace, or temple. They were the smart ones.

If he were being honest, he would have avoided such women. A princess would mean dealing with knights. A merchant’s daughter would have well-funded enemies and a maiden ... well, who wants to fight a horde of angry white knights. Heck, Rayner could be considered a white knight, and Axel would not want to fight him.

Axel had spaced out while thinking of this, and did not notice Tessa’s brat trying to get his attention. “Mr. Axel, Rayner wants to see you,” said the brat.