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

for fuck’s sake; I used to drink with a couple. Weirdest conversations I’ve ever had, but still cool as fuck people…” I muttered, shaking my head. “No, I’m not being an arse here, Barrett. I want to bring anyone that wants to come, but to increase our little group by three or four times its size in one go, and to have to smuggle them out of the city, along with food and supplies, plus the goddamn manastones that we desperately need…”

“I know,” Barrett said, taking a deep breath and shrugging. “I needed to let you know, though, because as the days pass, those people are going to start starving, and when your people here know it, and compare their new lives to their friends and family starving to death back there because of their choices? It’s not going to go down well. My sister and her bairn are back there, and thinking of either of them starving…Well, it makes me want to leave you and go help them, despite my Oaths…”

“Fuck!” I spat, shaking my head. “All right leave it with me. I wanted more time to come up with a plan, but that’s not the way the world works…I’ll have a think and come back to you soon, okay? It’s the best I can say right now. I’m sorry; I know you’re worried, but we only have the most basic plan in place. We need to figure this out more, and then we can go in and make sure that we save them. If we just go rushing in now…we could lose more than we save, mate. We’re not ready to fight Himnel’s forces in a head-on war.” I motioned them to come closer as I dropped my voice. “We need to prepare; if we can damage their infrastructure somehow, maybe bomb their shipyards or something, and then get people out with supplies, it’ll make a huge difference. We have to take our time and do this right, though.”

I looked from one to the other, sympathizing with the torn expressions on their faces, and I nodded toward the ships.

“How’s the rebuild going on them?” I asked and got a surprising mix of looks in return. Oren looked depressed, while Barrett looked annoyed, when I’d been expecting a much happier mood. “Wait, what am I missing here?” I asked.

“Well, laddie,” Oren admitted, “th’ truth be tha’ we hit a wee problem…” He shook his head and gestured to the ship. “C’mon, it be better iff’n I show ye.” The three of us set off walking toward the ship, moving quickly through the groups of people training. I had to look twice when I noticed virtually Decin’s entire crew in one group, learning to wield spears.

“What’s going on there?” I asked, and Barrett smiled as he followed my gaze.

“They asked to be trained as well. In fact, by the time we were done with the first session this morning, almost the entire population of the Tower had turned up to join in. It seems a lot of the people wanted to learn to defend themselves, even if they don’t intend to be fighters outright.”

“Glad to see it, then. I can’t complain at people for that; god knows they’ve all learned what happens when you can’t defend yourself, after all. Maybe we need to speak to Cai about shifting things slightly, have people do the workout in two groups, with everyone having a day off in between. I don’t want people to burn out or hurt themselves by pushing too hard. If people do a morning of exercise and fighting training, followed by the afternoon, and next day doing their normal routine, their bodies will adjust faster.”

“I’ll talk to him because that makes sense. The original plan was fine when it was just going to be the fighters, but not if it’s going to be the entire Tower,” Barrett agreed.

“Thanks, mate. Okay, Oren, so what’s the… problem…?” I asked, but as we moved around the far side of the warship, I saw where the engineers were all congregating. There was a long, dark line that snaked from around mid-deck to near the stern on the starboard side of the ship, and the Engineers were busy removing the engines from the entire starboard side.

“Well, now ye see th’ problem, laddie. Some fool dinna use the same wood fer th’ entire ship. Inside there, under th’ claddin’, ye see, is a bunch o’ green timber."

"We found it las’ night. It’s warped and cracked th’ outside; one good hit, or a particularly hard turn…tha’d be all it’d take to change ma ship into a pile o’ scrap full o’ screamin’ sailors.”

“Well, fuck.” I articulated my feelings as clearly as I knew how, while Oren waved one of the engineers over to join us.

“This here be Derik, an’ he’s done got some options fer ye, but I’m warnin’ ye, they do no be good,” Oren said, blowing his beard out in irritation.

“Ah! Lord Jax! Sorry, I be a wee bit o’ a mess here…” Derik said, wiping his hands frantically on the front of his coveralls. He was short, even for a dwarf, which, combined with his massive arms, chest, beard, and eyebrows, gave the impression of talking to a silverback gorilla in a jumpsuit. A very stained, and, in places, torn, jumpsuit.

“Hi, Derik; don’t worry about it. I’m more worried about the ship! What happened?” I said, looking up at the side of the ship and the team of engineers crawling all over it. Some were leaning over the side, while others hung suspended on ropes as they examined the damage.

“Well… basically, it be like this: some G’stucnik asshole cut corners an’ put a load o’ green timber in the ship; it be in the armorin’, between the inside o’ the ship, and the outer hull. It’s warpin’ and slowly shiftin as it dries, crackin’ the supports around it, and startin’ te crack the outer hull. We need to strip it out and put