City of Fallen Souls: A LitRPG Adventure (UnderVerse Book 3) by Jez Cajiao (fb2 epub reader .txt) 📕

is going to happen, Mal. Look into my eyes and tell me I won’t manage it, because I can promise you right now that I will. The only difference is that you will either be helping me, and profiting from it, or you’ll be sitting here afterward, wishing you had.”

“You’re insane,” he said, shaking his head but avoiding my eyes.

“Look at me, Mal,” I ordered, and he frowned, looking at me properly. “You’re from Narkolt, right?” I asked him, getting a nod in return. “The way I hear it, Narkolt was attacked by Barabarattas, not the other way around. Once his battleship is finished, he’s going to be unstoppable. The war’s a stalemate at the minute, but that won’t last much longer. Your home, your friends, are all going to be conquered by that asshole, and seeing what he’s done with this city, you take a minute and imagine what he’ll do to those people, his enemies, if he does this to his own.”

“I don’t got no friends there,” Mal said stubbornly, and I snorted.

“Bullshit. You might say that, but I don’t believe it. But okay, let’s pretend for a minute that’s true… you don’t have any friends there. You have friends here. People you’ve been trying to help. The way I hear it, you’ve spent a fortune from your smuggling profits by helping to keep the smaller villages going. You’ve been helping slaves to escape, according to Oren. Last of all, you’re a smuggler… think your business will do well once the war is over and Barabarattas cracks down on everyone? When his army doesn’t have to be on watch, and they can be put to better use by making sure he and his cronies are getting their gold?” I watched his eyes as I spoke, seeing a telltale flicker. “Go on, look me in the eye and tell me that you’ve not been considering exactly that.”

“Maybe I have; doesn’t mean I need to throw my life away helping you, though, does it?” he said, watching me. “I’ve not heard what me and mine get out of helping you, just a lot about why I should be damn careful not to draw any more attention.”

“What do you want, Mal?” I asked him. “Gold… a ship and a safe harbor… magic? I can provide them all, and more besides. I’m a Scion of the Empire, Mal. The law is what I damn well say it is. Think the Legion is following me because I’ve got a pretty ass? I’m the rightful ruler of this fucking continent. I’m going to smash Barabarattas into paste and bring back the Empire as it was, not this pathetic remnant you have now. I’ll be banning slavery entirely, paying a fair wage for a fair job done, and making sure people can sleep at night without worrying some fucking creature of the night is going to smash the door in and eat their kids. Magic will be available to learn, and people will have some goddamn respect for each other!” I snapped, getting to my feet. “Look out there, Mal!” I said, gesturing to a doorway that led out to a balcony garden. I strode out, and grumbling, Mal and the others followed me.

“Look at the city; actually look at it!” I snarled, gesturing out into the early morning as smoke rose from fires in the distance, the haze of the Cloudring preventing any visual accuracy. “They’re all at each other’s throats… all the people in the city are desperate, stabbing each other in the back, stealing a crust of bread because it’s them or their victims. None of them have anything, except those bastards.” I gestured to the other side of the Cloudring, where the palaces of the nobility rose up the hill, and Barabarattas’s keep loomed behind them. “The nobility have plundered the people until they’ve got nothing to lose, then they’ve set them against the Legion, all so those shits can have a nice place to moor their fucking yachts.”

I pointed out a ship that flew on a constant circuit around the city, soldiers visible on its decks and cannons pointed downward.

“Even there, the soldiers aren’t protecting the city, they’re protecting the nobility from the city! Look at all of this, Mal. Look at it, and tell me this is something you’re proud to be part of. My people are free. They swear an Oath to me and to the Tower, and it’s not fucking complicated. There’s no sneaky shit in it… here, see for yourself.” I concentrated, ‘pushing’ an offer to join the Tower to him. I knew he wouldn’t take it, but if I could just make him see…

“I don’t expect you to join me, Mal, not yet. Just read it, think about it. See the potential of what your life could be, if you weren’t getting fucked over every time you turned around, if you didn’t have to constantly worry about who’s coming after you.”

“Who’s comin' after me? Damn few of 'em right now, but if I joined your fight? A hell of a lot more would be! If I help you, I’m burnin' my bridges. I’d lose my home, my business; hell, my people would be hunted, all for helpin' you! Seems to me, we don’t need you half as much as you need us.”

“I do need you. I need you all. I need my brother, who disappeared near here a month ago. I need soldiers, I need merchants, I need smugglers, and I need farmers. I need people, Mal!” I snapped, gesturing to him, Soween, and Josh. “I need you all, and I’m willing to pay for your help. Just think about it. That’s all I ask.”

“We’ll talk about it, but don’t go gettin' yourself excited just 'cause I didn’t say ‘no’ straight away. I might lead 'em, but my people have a say, and I don’t see much they’d be likin' in all this.”

“Just consider it, all right?” I said, deflating slightly with the sudden awareness