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

thanking Oracle and getting an excited grin from her as she felt the engines roaring to life below us.

“Are we off?” she asked me, and I grinned at her, unable to help myself.

“Yeah Oracle. Fuck all this town building shit; we’re off to kill people,” I said, feeling the last of the weight of the Tower sliding from my shoulders. I’d spent too much time on building the infrastructure up. I knew I could have sorted it out in half the time, if I’d known what I was doing, but I just didn’t know enough.

I’d have to rely on Cai and the others more than I had been; I’d had conversations about what I wanted to see happening with the Tower, we’d all thrashed those ideas out, but still, it had ultimately been me telling everyone what to do and where to go.

No more.

From now on, I decided, I’d be giving Cai, Barrett, Flux, and Ame orders, and they could be the ones that made shit work. I was going to do what I was best at.

Fucking monsters up and stealing their lunch money.

Chapter Eighteen

“Lydia!” I called over to her. “As soon as you’ve got them sorted out, come join me, okay?” She nodded and started getting her people moving. They had bags of gear, weapons, bedrolls, food, and other equipment, and with rushing them as I had, they hadn’t had time to sort it all out yet.

I smiled to myself as I saw a pile of rope amongst it all. Can’t be an adventurer without some rope…

I sat on the edge, watching the forest below gliding by, and I reveled in the breeze, the feeling of standing on the edge of a cliff and looking down, combined with the fresh, beautifully clear air to make me feel amazing, despite how concerned I was about Tommy.

I had a half-baked plan to get into the city, fighting my way along the smuggler’s path and hopefully raiding, in turn, whatever the fuck had been raiding them. Then I’d use the smugglers’ stolen goods to pay for a fucking criminal to help me get a fuck-ton of people out of the city. If I was lucky, we’d get some gear as well, and if I were really lucky, I’d find my damn brother while I was at it.

My chances were slim; hell, they had to be in the single digits, but I didn’t give a shit. I’d make it work.

I thought over the plan again, taking it apart piece by piece. There was still too much left to chance. Maybe we wouldn’t be able to find the entrance; maybe we’d be caught; maybe there’d be a fucking cave in, or the smuggler that Oren knew of would sell us out.

There were a million things that could go wrong, but I’d find a way, because at the end of the day, all most people wanted was an easy life. I didn’t have that luxury; I had too many people relying on me to not succeed. I’d fucking do it. I knew I would, even if I had to leave the streets of Himnel running red.

“Lydia,” I said pleasantly, and she turned to me, saluting. I returned the salute, and she instructed the others to get on with stowing their gear before moving off to the railing as I gestured for her to come with me.

“What’re we doin’, Jax?” she asked me, looking out over the trees below as they sped away, the speed difference between Decin’s ‘Freedom’ and the ‘Agamemnon’s Wrath’ strikingly clear.

“We’re going to Himnel; we’re going to kick some ass and find my brother, free the crew’s families, and hopefully get some gear to help ourselves as well,” I stated quietly, a sardonic smile lifting the corner of my mouth as I looked at her.

“Oh, and I thought it’d be hard,” she muttered, grinning at me.

“I should have said this before, but if there’s anyone you or the rest of the team want to bring along as well, if you can trust them to keep their mouths shut, then they’re welcome,” I said, just realizing all the focus had been on the ship’s crews until now.

“Thank you, but yer don’t tend to end up as a slave if yeh’ve got family that care about yer,” she replied grimly.

“Well, if there are any slaves you want to bring along and free, then?”

“And how will we pay for ’em? I don’t see much gold. I know ye got some from the battles, but yer’d need a lot…”

“Truthfully, I don’t know, Lydia,” I said, shrugging. “But leave that to me to worry about, I’m going to have a lot of things to sort out, not least how I’m going to convince a smuggler that helping us is in his best interests, so buying a few slaves is a minor issue. Whatever happens, though, I know I can rely on you and your team to watch my back, so if you need something, just tell me.”

“We will,” she said smiling genuinely, and I sensed that she felt she’d found where she was supposed to be in life.

“Good.” I turned, looking around and frowning until I spotted him crouched beside a pile of gear. “Fuck’s sake, Bane, I swear I’m gonna make you wear a bell or something,” I said, shaking my head. “Get your bony arse over here.” I gestured for him to join us by the railing. “Right; I’ve got a couple of skill books for you both, and then there’s some for the squad, as well.” I reached into my Bag of Holding.

The first book, I gave to Bane, then two to Lydia, before piling the remaining handful on the top of a barrel that was handily close.

“Bane, this one’s for you, mate; it’s an assassin’s skill, but I think that’d be useful for you?” I said, giving him ‘Midnight’s Kiss’.

“It’s a dual dagger technique?” Bane asked, looking the book over, and I nodded.

“It requires stealth to use it