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

“He’s just a lad!” said Reginal.

“So? Talent doesn’t need to wait for age to catch up to it. In fact, the faster it sprints away, the better. You always brag that you killed your first man when you were ten years old.”

“Aye, well, those were different days.”

“And supposing if your father said you were too young to swing your sword?”

“Well, this is about me and Devry, not my father.”

“A little hypocritical, no?” said Galatee. “You need to give the lad some room to live.”

“He’s ill, woman!”

“He’s sick, but he’s not useless, no matter how much you try to treat him so. I know it’s because you’re scared of something happening to him, but you need to have faith in him. Let him become his own person.”

Reginal said nothing for a minute, instead just glowering at his wife. Soon, he said, “He’s lucky to have a stepmother like you. I take it as proof of my own sterling judgment.”

Galatee smiled. “Thank you. In any case, the damage is far beyond what we can pay for. Core Jahn can do much of the construction repairs, but there are things he can’t take care of. Jutch Armade, for example.”

“The town blacksmith?” I said.

“The only one we had. Nazenfyord completely destroyed his workshop while Jutch was in it.”

“Poor bugger,” said Reginal.

“It leaves us completely lacking Jutch’s set of skills. We desperately need a blacksmith in town, and we’re a little stuck.”

“Damn it,” said Reginal.

“Wait a second,” I said. “There’s a man who came to Yondersun with his family. Salt, he said his name was.”

“Like the condiment?”

“That’s right. He’s a blacksmith and he’s looking for work. If we can give him a workshop and a lodge for his family, he’d probably work quite cheaply.”

“Settled. Thank you.”

Galatee nodded. “Now that’s out of the way, we wanted to thank you, Beno, for what you did. If you hadn’t recognized what the duke was, and if you haven’t been able to persuade him…” said Galatee, stopping when her voice choked.

Reginal squeezed her hand. “I’m stepping down, Beno.”

“You don’t want to be chief anymore?”

“It’s not a question of want, but of need. It’s time I started listening to my healer. The pressures of being a chief in peacetime are just as strenuous as those in wartime, and I do not wish to sacrifice what years I have remaining.”

“Then you have more sense than most heroes, Reginal. There’s a reason you rarely see one with grey hair – they don’t know when to hang up their sword. How do you feel about this, Galatee? You’d have to take on twice the responsibility.”

“No, I wouldn’t,” she said. “We have found that having two chiefs works better than one.”

“We want you to become chief,” said Reginal.

It took me a second to process that.

Me? Joint chief of Yondersun? Part of the idea was flattering, but another part was an insult. There wasn’t much slaughter involved in being chief of a town like Yondersun, recent events excluded. It made me wonder why they would choose me. They wouldn’t pick someone who was bloodthirsty to be their chief, after all. They’d settle on someone calm and levelheaded.

Demons below, what had become of me, that they thought I was even-tempered enough for a job like that?

Even so, I couldn’t pretend I wasn’t interested. Being a chief meant power. It meant having a louder say in the affairs of the town that was right above my dungeon. I would be stupid to say no.

But would I be taking on too much again?

No. Not this time. I wanted to spread my influence as far as I could, and now, I knew how to do it without risking the place that was closest to my heart – the dungeon.

“Well,” I said. “Perhaps I can help. There would be conditions…”

“You didn’t let me finish,” said Reginal. “Galatee and I want you to be chief because we believe that the town’s defenses are secure with you in the role and with Galatee balancing your…somewhat unhinged…attitude toward leadership. However…”

“Reginal and I discussed it, and we do not feel we have the right to hand power to whoever we see fit. It wasn’t just Reginal and I fighting the duke and his men. Lots of townsfolk lost their lives to protect their home, and they deserve a say in its future,” said Galatee.

“An election then,” I said. “Democracy. How disgusting.”

“Well, we can’t run our town as if it was a dungeon, can we?”

“You could do worse.”

“Nevertheless, we have decided. We will hold an election to decide who is our next chief. We would be gladdened if you would consider taking part.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“And Beno?” said Reginal.

“Yes?”

“Thank you, again. You have proven to be a true friend.”

“And so have you both. Strange how things turn out, isn’t it? After Galatee bought Core Jahn and me from the academy, and transported us here in a burlap sack and installed us as protectors of your clan, as your only defense against the big, bad goblins of the Eternal clan… the chief of which is now your husband.”

“And yet, you have every chance of becoming a chief yourself, Beno. Lady Fate has a sense of humor.”

“She’s hilarious.”

“Alas, some jokes are at our expense,” said Reginal. “I fear whoever our new chief is, they will have more problems than they can count. Chief among them, if you’ll forgive my wit, is Duke Smit.”

“He won’t be troubling anyone any longer, dear,” said Galatee.

“One thing I learned as a soldier is that a battle is never over. Instead, the combatants merely take a rest, whether that be for weeks, months, or years, until a new opponent struts onto the battlefield. Every man has a