Dungeon Core Academy: Books 1-7 (A LitRPG Series) by Alex Oakchest (book suggestions txt) 📕

“The attire of battle should never become comfortable, my love. When it does, you know you are lost.”

“Come over here and massage my neck. I have more knots than a sailor’s practice rope.”

“Can’t you see I’m preparing?”

“Reginal…must you fight today?”

“You are, so why not me? I’ve been a soldier all my life. When I go too long without it, I feel empty, like a sack of skin with my vitality sucked out. We are their chiefs, my love, and if they look to us and see that we won’t risk our own lives, then why should they risk theirs?”

“Because, as you rightly say, you have been a soldier all your life. You’ve already put in the hours on the battlefield. Nobody could doubt that. And your heart…”

“My heart is fine. That damn healer is a worry wart!” said Reginal.

He suddenly covered his mouth. He turned around, his back to her. His shoulders trembled.

“And that cough of yours. Don’t try to hide it. You aren’t well.”

“I’m fine, damn it!” he said, waving his sword. “I will fight. Nothing you can say will persuade me otherwise.”

“I’m scared, Reginal.”

The chief lowered his sword. He stared at his wife. “Scared?”

“For you.”

“I…” and then he stared deeper into her eyes, and he realized the truth.

“You harlot!” he said. “You always know how to prod me. To tease the guilt out of me.”

Galatee smiled. “It was worth a try to get you to see sense.”

“You’re like a block of stone, woman.”

“And you’re rock-headed. We make a fine pair.”

“We will still make a fine pair when this is over, and we’ve slaughtered that damn duke and his men. I ask you, Galatee, where were people like Smit when this was just a wasteland? Did a single one of them think about trying to settle this place?”

“It was too much work for them. Without a core, it would have been impossible.”

“Aye, a core, two clans’ worth of good, determined people, and months upon months of sweat and persistence. Now that we’ve built something here, they have finally decided there’s something in the wasteland worth having.”

“Wanting something isn’t the same as getting it,” said Galatee.

“So you see why I wear my armor and carry my sword again. I’m not so old I can’t swing it, and I’m not so settled in the chiefly life that I expect others to fight when I will not. One day this could be Devry’s land to rule. I won’t let anyone take it from him.”

“Devry’s?” said Galatee.

“Of course. Who else?”

“You know I love the boy as if he were my own son, but we never said Yondersun was ruled under a monarchy.”

“I didn’t think it needed to be said.”

“That’s quite a decision to be left unspoken, the system of rule of an entire town,” she said.

They were silent for a minute.

Reginal spoke. “Let’s make sure there’s a town still left to rule before we worry about who gets our job when we die.”

Duke Smit dismounted in the middle of the street. There were rows upon rows of wooden shops and houses either side of him. It was honestly more than he’d expected from a town all the way out here, and it showed a remarkable inventiveness on the townsfolks’ part that they’d made it work. That inventiveness would serve him well when they fell under his banner.

Above a blacksmith shop was a sign that read Jahn’s Row. That would have to be renamed, of course. New rule, new names. He would have to purge any record of the town’s old leadership and customs.

The weathermage dismounted and waddled over to him. “Well we are here, Duke. You promised payment when we reached Yondersun.”

“Something’s wrong. Where is everyone? This was a thriving town, by all accounts, yet there is not a single soul here. Are you sure your fog worked?”

“The elixir I brewed for you and your men allows you to see through it,” said the mage, “So, I understand your suspicion about its existence. The fog is there, alright. If it wasn’t, this mercantile street would be full of traders and patrons, would it not?”

Smit pointed at Lerner, the head cavalryman who was sitting on his horse in front of his men. “Check every building. Five men to each one. Inspect every room and be careful.” He turned to the mage now. “Fog or not, they somehow knew we were coming.”

“I promised you fog, good Duke, and I gave you fog. I did not make any guarantees as to its results. Perhaps the Yondersunians grew suspicious.”

“Aye, well they can’t have gone far. This is the bloody wasteland, after all.”

“Whatever your next move is, Duke, be quick about it. The fog will soon lift.”

An hour later, every single dwelling and shop in town had been checked, without any sign of the occupants. It was as though the entire town vanished into the ether.

The duke paced up and down Jahn’s Row, his unease growing.

“Duke!” said Lerner.

“Yes?”

“The men are wondering…since the town is ours now, can they have something to eat and a little rest?”

“Ours?”

“Well, nobody is here to stop us…”

“The people didn’t just vanish! And if they did, what good is a town with no people in it? We need the town’s gold and its economy… not just the terrain. We need the traders to run the shops, and we need the townsfolk to work the land. What good is a bunch of abandoned shops? You must have found some sign of life around here.”

“Strangest thing, sir. There were signs in every house of people being here recently.”

“So they’re hiding somewhere. They have to be. Check every single house again. Make a perimeter around the town, say a mile, and search every inch of the place.”

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