The Forgotten Faithful: A LitRPG Adventure (UnderVerse Book 2) by Cajiao, Jez (little red riding hood ebook TXT) 📕

“I, Lord Jax, do swear to protect and lead you, to be the shield that protects you and yours from the darkness, and the sword that avenges that which cannot be saved. As the Tower grows in strength, so shall you.” I said, ending the Oath and giving them my promise in return, the last threads of magic reaching out from me to touch them all, binding us together.

There was a long, solemn moment that was, of course, interrupted by Oren.

“Right then, ye bunch o’ buggers, let’s get back to work!” he shouted to the engineers, setting off gleefully towards his ship. I saw Decin start to follow after him, only to be grabbed by the back of his armor by Hanau, who redirected the pair of them over toward me. Ame, Barrett, and Flux followed closely behind, while Cai took the chance to draw Isabella aside for a quick chat.

“Ah, righto, then…” Decin, said, rubbing the back of his neck self-consciously. He glanced up at Hanau and took his hand when it was offered, looking back at me as though embarrassed. “Ah, well, we, the crew and I, well…”

“What he’s trying to say, Lord Jax, is that we’d like to work on the ‘Freedom’ as well as the warship; she still needs work. Is that all right?” Hanau stepped in, looking put upon. I couldn’t help but grin as I responded to them both.

“Of course, it is; feel free to work on the ship whenever you want, but I’d like her to be ready for a flight in another day. We’ll be heading out to check on the village that the warship raided on the way out, and I’d rather not leave our people worrying needlessly, after all. Oren said your ship was a lot faster than his; I know it took us five hours to reach the lake, a trip which Oren said would have taken a full day before the repairs were done.”

“How long would you say it would take the ‘Freedom’ to reach?” Decin looked at Hanau, and Hanau looked at me with a gentle smile.

“If you hadn’t guessed, I also work as navigator on the ship, Lord. I’d say about three hours, if we go carefully; two, if we go all out.”

“I think I should have just made you captain and had done with it, Hanau,” I said, half-jokingly. “I mean really, what does Decin actually do?”

“He’s great at making the crew work, and gives amazing back rubs, but yeah, that’s about it, in all honesty…” Hanau replied, a smile quirking the edge of his lips, as Decin started growling.

“Fair enough; I suppose we should leave him as captain then, for now…” I said slowly with a straight face, winking at Hanau where Decin couldn’t see. “But if he loses his edge any more…”

“Don’t worry, Lord. If he doesn’t give me a backrub on time tonight, you’ll know about it…”

“…And you’ll be captain from tomorrow,” I finished for him, as Decin elbowed him in the thigh and glared up at me.

“Ye better be careful there, laddie, or he’ll be looking to trade up fer a Tower next!” he grumped, and Hanau and I laughed. He couldn’t help himself, joining in after a few seconds, before the pair walked away together, calling their ship’s crew over and arguing good naturedly with Oren over the allocation of engineers. I turned to address Ame, Barrett, and Flux, who had been standing nearby and waiting patiently.

“Okay, then, it’s time for a serious look at skills and spells. Ame, you’ll be coming with Cai and myself to look at the options. Flux, Barrett, what do you need?” I asked, and Barrett spoke up quickly.

“It’s not much, Jax, but the addition of Flux’s team makes a huge difference to our forces; also, they’re skilled hunters and scouts. I want permission to spread them out amongst my people and the hunters, and I want to start sending them out to explore the surrounding area, maybe bring back some fresh meat.”

“Are you good with that, Flux?” I asked him, receiving a nod in confirmation. “Then that’s fine. Keep a team close by, so we have some fighters in the tower at all times but start pushing the teams out in a rotation to explore the surrounding area. Also…” I turned and beckoned to Bob, who stepped forward.

“Bob here wants to take a more active role in defending our people, so perhaps you could plan to integrate him into the groups going forward?” Barrett blinked, then grinned at Bob.

“That would be amazing, but can you do that? I thought you could only communicate with Jax and Oracle?” Bob stood still for a minute, long enough for the excited smile to start to fall from Barrett’s face, before the skeletal minion pointed at him and slowly nodded.

“What he means is that he can communicate with others. It’s not as clear or as simple as when Oracle or I give him direction, but he can understand. Essentially, make the orders as simple as you can. He understands that ‘yes’ is one nod, and ‘no’ is two, so tell him what you want, carefully, and ask if he understands. We only just realized he could respond like this, so go slow, but try it and see how it works.” I felt a little sad that Bob would be out fighting without me, but I was also proud of him.

“O…okay… yeah, we can make this work!” Barrett said, his smile back as he clapped the skeletal construct on one armored shoulder, having to stretch to reach it.

“Be careful with him, though. If he dies, he’s dead and gone, understand?” I said firmly, “Don’t risk him for no reason.”

“I won’t,” Barrett said, nodding soberly. “I know Bob is there to help, not to do all the work, and I’ll make sure everyone understands that. He’s there to protect us if we need him.”

“Exactly,” I