Apinsig
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Chapter 222 Homesteading in a fantasy world
🕑 Added 2023-05-19 15:08:25 +0000 UTCThe young boy was scared he didn't want to lose a hand and my interruption stopped the judgement, giving him hope. “Benji was it, I’m guessing you have stolen from a young age even before you got the achievement page.” The boy quickly nodded, and I continued.
“On a busy street, you want to cut someone's coin pouch. When a perfect mark comes by, I would expect many thieves to go after him. How do you know when to stay away from a stronger thief who wants the same prize as you?” My question got eyebrow raises from the council members. Benji took a few moments to figure out why I was asking this.
He didn’t seem to figure out why I was asking this, but he still answered. “We will never work alone on a street. But it’s quite easy to spot other thieves. If you did not notice yourself then the lookouts would warn us if someone strong was around that was also looking for a mark.” I nodded to that, and I didn’t let the questioning looks stop me from continuing
“So Benji I am guessing there’s already a few more of you who are doing the same thing as you. Have you already formed some sort of an organization or are you all just a loose group who share experiences?” I asked.
My question made Benji white. The others instantly looked at Benji and they had fury in their eyes. But I didn’t let them start and continued to ask my questions. “If I were to give you permission that you could steal from my house, would you be able to gain any experience from that?”
This question went in a completely different direction and short-circuited everyone here. Some of the council members recovered fast but Benji was starting to get used to this and his life was on the line so he answered before anyone could interrupt. “No, it wouldn't be stealing then. I would probably still get sneaking experience but no I will not be able to gain any thieving skill or class experience.”
There was a moment of pause before one of the council members hit the table in front of us with force and yelled in anger. “You fucker, I thought that you only had the skill not an actual class. Tell me who the other members are, and we will banish you instead of killing you.” Benji was incredibly frightened, and I could see that he was about to tell but I held up my hand. “Stop, we will eventually want to know all your friends Benji, but that time has not come yet.”
The council members looked at me like I had gone crazy, so I started to explain my thinking. “When our nation grows there is no way to stop underground organizations. We could do a lot of work and spend a lot of resources to stop the spread and make them as small as possible but to eliminate them is impossible. Then there is the problem of other thieves from around the world and other criminals that could come here. I learned long ago that the best way to stop a thief is to have a better thief.”
“I think we will need to make some new laws and have unofficial official underground organizations. There should be laws that will protect normal citizens and the members of those organizations so they can level their skills and classes without causing any damage. With those organizations, we would be able to protect ourselves from other similar organizations and people.” My explanation silenced the room and while no one was happy about my words they at least thought about it.
The discussion continued for many hours and eventually, Benji was released from his shackles and given a chair. Everyone tentatively agreed to my idea, but it will take long hours and most likely months before we finalize anything.
After the lunch break, I didn’t return as they didn’t need me anymore, at least for now. I still wasn’t 100% certain about this plan but it might be necessary for the future. It was finally time to inform Val about his inn.
However, before I was able to approach the market Mirhit found and stopped me. “Rich do you perhaps have some free time to come to my office I need to ask you some important questions.” He asked hesitantly but he had enough confidence that it made me smile.
I looked at him and I was glad at my decisions as he seems to be getting stronger every day and the information we were getting has been incredibly useful not only for keeping track of other nearby forces but also monsters who were beyond our borders.
Val could wait a little bit longer, so I nodded to Mirhit and followed him as he quickly led me back to the village hall and then up to his office. He seemed to be a bit scatterbrained, and I wondered what was going on.
When I entered his office, I saw many books covering every open surface that he had and even more on newly built bookshelves. There were also many papers near half-open books. He seems to be working hard and learning everything he needs. “Doing a bit of light reading are we?” I asked him.
He stopped searching for papers that he was going to show me and gave me a genuine smile. “There is a lot to learn about being a spy. With my abilities, I can hear everything and sneak into places that people think are safe but that doesn’t matter if I don’t know if the information being spoken is important or not. That’s why you are here because I don’t understand what one of our enemies is doing. I just can’t understand their actions. Perhaps you can enlighten me.” He explained and I nodded so he continued.
“There are a lot of wars going on around and in the former lands of the slave kings. As I’ve learned basically everyone to the south is willing to come up here and conquer us if they had their armies free but currently none of them are. The only notable difference is the two former party members of the slave king. I have constantly heard them wanting to come here and kill you and everyone else here but even they are constantly fighting to keep what they currently have or at least that’s what I thought.”
“They have been under heavy attack, but they have enough trained soldiers to keep the two towns and the few villages that they control. But lately, they have been forcing their own villagers into the army and killing anyone who doesn't comply or is too weak then they burn the villages afterwards.”
He took a moment to drink a glass of water before continuing. “They have been training the new soldiers, but they should already have enough to counterattack but they just keep building up forces and resources. But with the numbers they have, they won’t have the food to last past the winter.” He showed me some of the papers where he had written down conversations and numbers. I started to think.
It was indeed weird behaviour. “I need to think about this more, but can you give me more information about them while I think about this.” He gave me a quick nod and started to search for more papers and then he started to read what was written there.
They shouldn't be able to break or conquer any other territory of the slave king even with more soldiers. The other towns and cities are just too well guarded, and they wouldn’t need so many to start raiding their villages for food. The only thing that makes sense is that they will abandon their current position and burn everything down so no one else could have it and then go somewhere.
Of course, my first thought was us but that also didn't make any sense. They would need to start marching basically within a week if they wanted to make it here before the snow comes but even then, the cold weather will claim many lives. Perhaps that is their idea. Revenge can make people do stupid things. Mirhit kept reading me the information he had. That also made me understand why they were doing this.
The only person that was still keeping their forces together was the mage of the party. She was a first-rank powerhouse. Without her, they would have been killed long ago but no one was willing to risk losing high-rank fighters to claim so little. I was quite certain that she was going to come here and if the numbers were correct and she continued to do what she has they will have a little less than 1000 well-trained soldiers and 3000-4000 new soldiers.
Those numbers would have been worrying if not for the fact that they only had two first-rank fighters. I was confident that I could kill them. They didn’t even have any elite fighters. The rest of the army shouldn’t oppose any problems especially when the leaders are killed. “Thank you Mirhit for bringing this to my attention. They will most likely try to march here and kill us but not to worry it shouldn't be too much trouble handling them this time.”
Mirhit face had gone white and the only thing that saved him from passing out was that I didn’t seem worried. “Keep an eye out on this situation and report if anything changes,” I ordered and then left. There was an opportunity here if played right. We weren’t going to win a fair fight just because of the number difference but why would we fight fairly?
I was in deep thought about our next moves when I finally reached Val’s market stall. “Good afternoon, Val,” I spoke to him before he noticed that I was approaching. He looked up and smiled at me. “Good afternoon, Rich, I thought you wanted your supplement food next week I can still give you what I have currently prepared if you are going out on another mission,” Val answered.
Val had already turned around, but I quickly spoke before he could go and retrieve the supplement food. “No need to get them now I’m actually here for a different reason.” Val turned around to look at me and I guess my face betrayed it.
“Have you finished,” He asked me, and I couldn’t keep the smile off my face? “Well, it's not completely finished but you can move in,” I answered. Val came around his stall and gave me a big hug.
He called for his wife, and they started to make preparations to leave. It would take them a while to get everything packed up and they said that they would start moving towards the inn the next morning as it was currently too late to get everything done before it got dark.
That was completely understandable and if I had gotten here in the morning then perhaps, they would have been able to sleep in their new home today. After talking some more with Val, I left and ran back to my home where I needed to do some more exercises before I could sleep.
