Chapter 4

In the oval council room, Rayner and Axel watched the one woman and three men present. The captain of the town guard had just arrived and sat puffing a cigar that exuded a purple smoke. A nameplate was on the roundtable in front of him reading: Kreg. A lazy air hung about him but his body looked ready for violence at any moment.

All Axel knew of the man was that he clashed with Evans who also held the rank of captain. Their roles differed in that Evans patrolled the outside of the city and Kreg patrolled the inside. Evans received greater attention and accolades for his work, spawning jealously from the longtime captain.

At the other side of the table the representative of the merchant class, Ivan, poured over a ledger. He would remove his nose from the ledger only to scribble notes. Every so often he would remove his glasses and scratch his dark hair as if shocked at what he read.

Axel remembered the prices he set for food. Though Grace kept them fed, seeing the prices at the market made his stomach churn.

Grace and the Mayor were the only ones speaking with one another. Axel resisted coming up with lewd theories and instead remembered what Grace said about the man: “He does his best for everyone.” She’d said it as a rebuke.

The Mayor, who was also the leading lawyer of Ridgehill, must have felt Axel’s gaze on him, for he turned to Axel to inquire about his mood. “I know you’ve been patient, but I have a great dish ready and it is running late.”

Axel shrugged. “This is work, I don’t mind waiting around for food.”

“Oh good!”

Axel thought he meant it was good he wasn’t upset but the slim mayor walked past him to thank the assistant who arrived with the food. Once they were all seated and food in front of them, the meeting began in earnest.

“I, Joseph, start this gathering of esteemed council members on behalf of the honored citizens of Ridgehill. The...” the Mayor went on like that for some time and nobody stopped him. The council members looked resigned to it. “ ... and so, we will discuss the recent events. In particular, the battle outside Ridgehill.”

“First the matter of loans. Defaults are up and delinquency is rampant. Enforcement has been lax,” Ivan quickly spoke as soon as the Mayor ended his introduction.

“Yes, we spoke of that at the last meeting but today—”

“Today is the best time to review the issue. If people don’t pay their loans, we merchants don’t get our money, and then we can’t buy food for the people and armies.”

“As if anyone could afford the food you bring to market. Even the Coalition is complaining,” Grace said.

Ivan chortled. “The Coalition, I have heard, refuse to pay when it’s inconvenient. Their complaints don’t matter.”

While Axel knew Ivan’s claim was true from the merchant Garman’s experiences, he also knew that the complaints of an army squatting outside a town always mattered.

“We of the town guard are not responsible for collecting debts. It’s a service we provide out of our good graces,” Kreg said, releasing a halo of purple smoke from his mouth.

Axel looked at the cigar with jealously. Grace had told him the making of such cigars was quite expensive and the ingredients addictive and highly illegal. That didn’t stop Kreg. Likely a benefit of being an enforcer of the law.

“Word around town is that you have had an easy time collecting debts, but I am not seeing a single coin,” Ivan said.

“What are you trying to say?” Kreg’s voice lowered.

“Gentlemen, the purpose of this meeting is to find out what to do about the disunity of the armies and the survival of Ridgehill,” Grace said, raising her voice as much as was appropriate for a woman of her stature.

Joseph rejoined the conversation. “Yes, that’s right Grace. Now I have come up with a few ideas but admittedly, they are not feasible. The first was to raise a militia of our own with the town guard as its base.”

Kreg noticeably perked up at that. The man liked the idea of obtaining more power.

“But our population could not support it. We would have to take the strongest and healthiest men and women who are better suited in the regular workforce. Our population has increased but most are refugees who don’t meet any physical standards to fight.”

Kreg returned to somehow slouching in his straight-backed seat.

“The next idea was to hire an army, mercenaries. Always a risk of them turning on you but with three other armies close by they would be kept in line.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” Ivan said, perking up in his seat. Axel wondered why he was so eager for that idea. Such people would likely rob a merchant rather than protect his goods.

“They all said no. Many are from Inimi lands and the others are from the Coalition who don’t want to be seen as hostile to their homeland.” Ivan too settled back down in disappointment. Joseph gave the two men a placating smile. “Only one of my ideas worked out but now shows mixed results.”

“Oh?” Grace raised her brow.

“Inviting the Prime Minister’s army here.”

Everyone in the room became alert. Kreg even put out his cigarette, the Mayor now having the captain’s full attention. “How did you do that and why did you not inform us?”

Joseph leaned back, shocked by the reaction, his slim figure blown away by the councilors’ stares. “It is part of my powers as Mayor. I assure you this was not a secret. As to how, the Prime Minister is a boyhood friend of mine. He is a bit of dirty dog but is competent in all that he sets his mind to.”

The Prime Minister. A man that should be spoken of more often but Axel heard very little of him. It could have been the Altan people’s anxiety about having a new ruler of their country. Maybe they didn’t believe it.

Then again, big political plays like that often go outside the notice of the common folk. They were more concerned about feeding their families than who sits on fancy and uncomfortable chairs like the ones in this room.

While Grace looked interested in this new information about the Mayor and the Prime Minister, the others were livid. The meeting broke down into accusations and finger-pointing.

Axel knew this might happen. Meetings were stressful at the best of times. Now that war had come to their town, the councilors looked for someone to blame. In this case, each other. Even Grace, there as a moderating influence, made angry gestures at Ivan for his merchants trying to buy her girls away from her.

Axel and Rayner shared a look before Rayner bellowed. “Shut up!” He needed no mana behind the shout to cause the occupants of the room, including Axel, to cover their ears.

Once Rayner gained all their attention Axel spoke. “It looks like all of you have the same problem as the three armies: disunity. Maybe you can all table your grievances for a later meeting and focus on the matter at hand. Like, ya know, living till tomorrow. Because we still don’t know how an army of kobolds got past all the natural and constructed defenses of Ridgehill.”

“And who exactly are you?” Ivan said, pushing his glasses up haughtily.

“Me? I’m the help.” He gestured to Grace. “Nothing more.”

“He’s right,” Grace said.

“He works for you, naturally you agree with him,” Kreg said.

“Yes, and it would still make him correct. I wanted to wait until I heard all the options but that was misguided. Here is what we can do. We send these two young men to find the God Rock.”

From behind him the attendant who Axel had forgotten about gasped. When nobody spoke up, he asked. “What is a God Rock?”

Looking toward Axel, Joseph said, “It’s an item that massively increases a person’s or place’s connection to the gods. This increases the power of their blessings to dizzying heights. If we can get a God Rock, it will multiply the blessing on Ridgehill. The surrounding area if not the entire region could benefit!”

“I’m sensing a but.”

“But it can only be found in the dangerous dungeons.”

“A dungeon that just appeared along the border of the Alea region,” Grace added.

“If they want to die for this, then you got my vote but we won’t be getting a God Rock,” Kreg said.

“Hold up. I have not agreed to anything. I’m required to listen to all this, and that’s it,” Axel said before this could get out of hand.

“Agreed. We won’t be the only ones hunting this item. What we need are practical solutions. Not dreams,” Rayner said. Rayner had plenty of dreams full of hope but he was also raised by the mega-corporations who dealt in hard truths, tangible facts, and figures. Rayner had once told Axel the hungry don’t eat dreams but they do dream of eating.

The meeting went on as if they were not present, the councilors speaking as if they had already accepted. Frustrated at their rudeness, he and Rayner slipped out without them noticing.

At the training yard, Axel and Rayner took out their frustrations on their weapons trainer, Kevia. Or at least they tried.

As they swung and stabbed their weapons at her, the tall lean woman glided out of the path of their weapons. She kicked out at them with a booted foot to keep them back. Those fast kicks kept them from ganging up on her.

“Rayner, get behind her. I will take her from the front,” Axel said, already getting in position.

Kevia positioned her body so she could look between the two teens with a quick tilt of her head. “Kinky but whatever gets you boys going.”

She liked to make jibes like that during their training sessions and he’d learned to ignore them. Rayner had more difficulty doing so than Axel. Rayner’s reddened face could be seen from the corner of his eye.

Running while keeping his head tucked in, Axel ran at her, dagger close to his body and his free hand hidden from her view. Rayner followed suit, taking a wild swing, leaving his body open on purpose for her to take advantage of.

Kevia wasn’t fooled. “Obvious trap is obvious.” She stepped into Axel’s space and kneed him in the stomach after slapping away his dagger hand.

He gasped, spittle flying from his mouth and he struggled to get air back into his lungs. At least Rayner would get her from behind.

A naive thought. Kevia manipulated his temporarily crippled body into Rayner’s path, using his body as a shield. She shoved him toward Rayner and kicked him into Rayner’s body.

The fight was over. They had lost again.

“You two are really improving,” Kevia said, having not lost a breath.

Untangling himself from Rayner, Axel dusted himself off to give her a frown. “Is that what you call being manhandled? If so, then you are the kinky one.”

She let out a short laugh. “Ha! I’m not being nice. I had to keep my eye on you two at all times instead of throwing you around. Oh, and Axel, nice try with hiding your hand but I know you had no ranged weapons because I carefully scanned your body earlier. Remember to do this when first seeing an enemy. Make an inventory of their weapons or places they could hide weapons in your mind so you are prepared for it.”

He needed the confidence boost. He took the compliment. And the advice. “All this training and my EXP hasn’t improved much at all.”

“Don’t do that,” she snapped at him. “Worshipers who constantly try to increase their EXP and their level always end up failures, broken, or mad. For god’s sake, is that why you two train so hard?”

Both teens nodded, and she hung her head as she shook it, hands on hips. “By now you two have realized how difficult it is to raise EXP, yes?” Again, they nodded. “It took me years to learn this and let it settle in my thick skull so let me review what everyone already knows.” She then mumbled, “Or should.”

Rayner got out his notes, ready to jot down anything Kevia said of importance. Kevia waited for a loud gust of wind to pass. She moved a strand of dark hair away from her face. Her brown eyes searched the dusty training yard.

Axel saw nothing of note, just the usual guardsmen sparring in a white lined circle and a group of nervous refugees watching them train, hoping to join their ranks for food.

Kevia spoke after a polite cough from Rayner to continue. “Oh, well here are the basics: Anything you do accumulates EXP. You fight stuff, you get even more. Now the problem is experience is a funny mistress. All our experiences are different, some are more difficult than others. Walking is easy but to a baby, it’s like scaling a mountain.”

“Experience is relative,” said Rayner.

“To the person, to others, to the world. They all get a vote. Usually, a thumbs down.”

“Hardly a reason to drive people to madness,” Axel said, wishing they could take a seat while they listened to this vital information but Kevia liked to stand and if they asked, she would insist they fight her as they talked.

“Simple if you really think about it. Look at what you two have been doing, training constantly. The big guy over here going out every chance he gets to clobber monsters. It puts a toll on the body and the mind.”

Axel glanced at Rayner and looked away before he could notice, not wanting to start another argument.

“That is how EXP is grown, pushing yourself. But that way does so by quantity, not quality. So, worshipers push even harder. They turn into thrill-seekers, trying to find strange monsters, dangerous locations, and items that may or may not even exist.”

“They look for death,” Rayner said, trying to understand from experience what Kevia tried to tell them.

“They are a danger to themselves and others. I’m at level two. I got there by knowing my limits and diligent self-improvement. Not fighting boss monsters or slaying dragons or anything crazy like that.”

As far as Axel knew, Kevia wasn’t aware of their activities a month ago but it sure seemed like she did. “Are you an Acolyte?”

“Most Acolytes are level two, but most level twos are not Acolytes.”

He understood. It was a special title for worshipers.

From behind him came a small but resolute voice. “And you? What is your level?”

He turned to see a short girl in a formfitting breastplate with the Coalition symbol carved into the armor. Chainmail went from the middle of her thigh to the edge of her wrists. It hung loosely on her but she wore the heavy armor with experienced comfort. She looked familiar.

“Hello, I believe you are mistaken.” Axel wanted to keep his level a secret. “I’m at the same level as most people.”