Authors’ notes: This was an excerpt from the journal of Imperial Prince Avalon of House Artorius. ‘Why me?’ I sadly thought to myself as I walked toward the darkness within my mind. This pitch darkness could only mean one thing- I’ve been summoned to meet with the Imperial Pantheon in the Hall of the Round Table. I should feel honored- after all, not just anybody gets a summoning from the Pantheon. But it is likely that they have a quest for me- a quest that’ll probably send me far far away from Caliburn and waste months of my life on some seemingly-pointless errand. For a prince in the middle of jostling for position in the Succession, being absent for that long is disastrous. There are over 42 legitimate Imperial Princes, and I am confident that at least half of them are more competent than a hunting dog. Why choose me, Honored Ancestors? Why? After waiting in the darkness for a while, a light suddenly shone on me and the 15 members of the Pantheon. I knelt down and placed my ri
A/N: Hi people! Hope your summer is going well! After a month-long break, I've build up enough chapters to get back into the rodeo that is Book 2. The new release schedule will be every Monday morning. So July 4th would be the first Lastly, this chapter is a fun discussion amongst Rummy's children. There is some light/minor spoiler in there. So if you're a spoiler purist, just think of this chapter as an announcement chapter and skip it. But if you're not, enjoy! =D *** “Well, I’d learned more about my parents than I ever wanted to know.” I sigh as I put down the giant book on an ornate table. Most of my siblings are still in the family reading room, despite the fact that it was way past midnight. The miracle of electrical light- a miracle that I took for granted all my life- keeps the room well-lit. Gods, what a marvelous city Dad has built for us. My younger siblings have already all retired to bed. So fortunately, my job as the smut censor has ended for now. Only Aubrey, Braxt
“PUSH!” I urgently yelled. “PUSH!” “I… I can’t!” Nairi replied with a strained voice. “You’re almost there!” “Ughhh!” Nairi grunted and groaned until she managed to push a heavy metallic box all the way up a hill. “You’re… so… mean… Forge-master…” Nairi complained as she gasped for air. I shrugged my shoulders as I looked towards Pridwen’s direction. “Sure, I could’ve helped you out with my >, but you needed the workout. Without decent strength, you can’t be a good forge-smith. And you sure as hell can’t be a good soldier with that wiry frame.” “Between the… drop-hammer… and the MG-42s… I don’t need… to be strong….” She argued back between pants. I sighed a bit. “Nairi, it’s fine to appreciate how technology has improved your life. But it’s not good to rely on it like a crutch. We live in a death jungle- it’s never a smart idea to rely on any one thing out here…” “This bloody weapon… better be… worth it…” She panted some more as she began to get her wind back
“PUSH!” I urgently yelled. “PUSH!” “I… I can’t!” Sapphy replied with a strained voice. “Not without Master here…” “Just push! He’s almost here!” “Ughhh!” Sapphy grunted and groaned until she managed to give birth to a baby girl. The room was a mess, and there were stains of fluid… and non-fluid matters… all over the sheets. After I saw the baby girl take her first breath in this world, I began to cast > on the newly minted mother. Sapphy looked gutted and exhausted, but other than that, she seemed fine to me. On top of that, the baby girl gave me a healthy cry. I sighed in relief knowing that the birth went well. Considering my entire experience as a midwife consisted of 2 live births and a couple of books I stole from the Galahad library, I thought I did pretty well. Despite my uncertainties, there was never any question whether or not I would help. After all, Sapphy was there to guide me to safe births when I had Aubrey and Braxton. My pride as a woman and a mother would b
“Next slide please, Nairi.” Nairi dutifully replaced one poster of a figure with another. While I regretted importing Powerpoint into this world, nothing undersold my point about the impending iron crisis better than a giant poster of a figure that had a downtrending line and an uptrending line. “As you can see in this slide, the iron demand is expected to skyrocket with the addition of the M2 mortar in our arsenal. And the town production of iron is expected to gently decline due to the gradual depletion of the black sands on the banks of the Acheron.” “In other words, we’re heading for an iron shortage.” Tali grimly noted. The rest of the room, which consisted of clerks in training and militia team leaders, began to understand the problem at hand. “Correct, my Lady. We could lower the production targets for the Garand or the MG-42, but that seemed foolish considering we only have 3 dozen Garands and 10 MG-42s. And reducing the output for farming equipment is out of the question
“My Lady? My Lady?” Skera said with a concerned look on her sunkissed freckled face. Wait, was it my imagination, or has Skera gotten pretty lately? Her hair was no longer wild and unkempt. It looked like some minimum effort was taken to look presentable. Good for her!“Oh, right. Sorry, Skera. What did you say?” Gods, I had trouble focusing on anything after that morning meeting. The way Rummy tenderly cared for his daughter stirred some very deep emotions within me. I felt a powerful torrent of envy towards that adorable child for having such a loving father, and an equally potent torrent of lust towards the man who could make me the mother of a blessed child. As long as these torrents of sinful thoughts raged in my mind, I doubted I could do anything productive today. “Forge-master Rummy asked me to inform you that his caravan to the city will depart tomorrow at noon. So you should be ready to depart by then.” Skera intoned. “Right, excellent. Than… thank you for letting me know.
“OK Nairi, that should be the list of ongoing projects I have. Is there any particular one you’d like to work on in my absence?” I gave her the illusion of free choice- this was actually a test. I’d be a crappy teacher if I didn’t occasionally torment gift my students with the opportunity to prove themselves, right?After tilting her cute head sideways as she read the list, she absent-mindedly replied. “Either finish the drop-hammer forge project or get started on the steel boat project…”“Why?” I asked with a smirk. It was then Nairi knew this was no casual conversation. She started to really think in earnest. Nairi stammered a bit. “Because we… we can immediately increase our food yield by hunting the mana-beasts in the river.” She then collected herself. “But at the end of the day, improving the quality of our steel output would be the most important.”“Correct. In fact, the quality of the steel we’re outputting would be insufficient against those aquatic mana-beasts. Sending peop
I hated this.The very idea of me leaving the fate of Lady Natalia up to that scoundrel irritated my soul, but I had no choice. She asked me to protect her city. And since the militia I had raised wasn’t quite ready to shoulder the burden without me, I must be present to ensure the full security of Pridwen.If anything, this was my fault. I’d been too soft on these recruits. If I wanted somebody like me to lead the militia in my absence, then it made perfect sense that I should train the militia like how I was trained- through hell and back. I swear to the Gods I’d crush their souls by lunchtime tom-“Skera, can you please not furiously scowl and radiate killing intent in front of my babies?” Emma asked with an exasperated tone.“How could I not? I’m stuck here while Lady Natalia is out there!”“That’s your fault for not trusting the soldiers you trained these past few years.” Emma singsonged as she gently rocked Braxton back and forth in her humbly decorated living room. “I’ve seen t
The burly Paladin suddenly stopped struggling to get at me and guffawed. “HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! You hear that? The stupid boy wants to duel me” He pushed the restraining hands aside and pointed right at me. “Fine! I accept! I’ll gut you just like I did to your street rats! Maybe that will teach you to respect your superiors.” The Archmage frowned deeply. I guessed he wasn’t a fan of Palusi’s plan to kill me in order to get me to be more pliant. Well, nobody ever confused Paladins with PhD’s… The Prince, after a moment of deliberation, finally spoke. “Paladin Palusi. Bring Ser Rummy to me alive, or you shall never be a Paladin again for the rest of your life.” That took some of the excitement out of the Paladin’s eyes. “Your Grace. I… I hear and obey.” “Should I win, I want the remains of my scouts, along with the wolf.” I calmly declared the stakes. Archmage Schuma weakly smiled in response. “Ser Rummy, is that truly all you want in exchange for risking your life and limb against one of
“You ready buddy?” I gave Loki an affectionate nose pat (Loki is far too tall for me to do head pats by now).“AWOOOO~” An armored Loki replied as he sniffed my neck. He was wearing a leather cap on his head (with 2 holes cut out for his ears), a leather chest piece that covered the front of his neck and down his chest, and a leather armor around the stirrup protecting his spine. “Yeah, you are! You’re my good boy!” I gave his ears a good petting and hopped on. Tali was pulled up shortly after. We sallied out of the gate in a blur. Loki gracefully jumped across the various trenchlines that lined the field and arrived at a stone obelisk with a “700m” carving near the top.Tali and I got off Loki and waited for the other side to arrive. Within a few minutes, a diplomatic party of 4 rode their war horses towards our position. Based on the fancy gear, fancy flag, and fancy horse (those things are twice as large as the horses in Carnwennan), this is the guy I needed to meet. The diploma
Sigh… I supposed it was very on-brand that shit hit the fan on the one day that I was off. After all these months of pulling 12 hour workdays, I figured I deserved a little morning break with the kiddos and their wolf puppies. Loki just had another batch of puppies with members of his impressive harem, so I was letting them mingle and play together outside on a beautiful sunny day. I was able to enjoy the blissful tranquility of puppies and babies for precisely 13 minutes before the castle bells were rung.To our credit, we responded quickly to the impending crisis. Within half an hour after the signal flare was sighted, everyone outside the walls were drawn inside and all militia members were at the battlements manning their posts. The non-combatants were heading to the arms factory for shelter (and to be gang-pressed into emergency ammo workers). The annual drills I made all of us do really paid off in that regard. I arrived at the battlements roughly 10 minutes after I’d heard the
The day started out like any other in these past few months- me waking up buck naked with two beautiful women by my side (equally naked, I may add!). Sure, I was usually exhausted from a jam-packed 10+ hour workday by the time I got back home, but the sight of 2 alluringly half-naked women bent over on my bed invigorated me in ways that even a potent cocaine and methamphetamine cocktail could not. The women of my harem had decided that 2 of them would “service” me at any given night while the other one would rest up and watch the kids. Of course, some part of me wanted to take all 3 of them at once every night. But I think I would drive myself into an early grave if I overworked my poor heart like that, especially if I had to work 10+ hours the day after…Tali had fortunately integrated into the harem with no drama. Of course, since my 1st wife Emma was the one that encouraged her to jump into the degeneracy, she had no problem with handing over the nominal role of the “head wife” to
“Here is a new draft of the report on the iron shortage, Forge-master Rummy.” Nairi helpfully handed me the finalized draft of the report cobbled together from a series of disorganized notes and illegible calculations from yours truly. “Shall we go over the report together now so I could finalize it?” She asked in her typical angel-sweet voice. “Correction: I will go over and finalize the draft. You still need your rest.” I pointedly replied. Apparently, my overworked apprentice had a fainting episode while I was out in the Elven territory. She was teaching some of the newbies how to press the ammo cartridges at the forge-smithy around noon-time when she fainted for a moment. It was probably heat exhaustion or heat stroke from the ever-burning forge fires, but this is unacceptable. Considering his stance on work-life balance, Ronnie Lee would be rolling in his grave if he saw this. Nairi’s sunny enthusiasm for forge-smithy sometimes distracted from the fact that she was still a matur
*BOOM* The last Ranger fell upon his knees and slumped down, clutching his chest under the mid-day sun. Soon he would join his comrades (and my former comrades) and depart the mortal plane. After I slinged the Garand over my shoulder, I cautiously approached the 4 fallen Rangers. As messed up as it is to loot them, my growing militia has equipment needs and military-grade body armor doesn’t grow on trees.As I turned one of the bodies over to strip it of the leather armor, the not-dead-yet Ranger grabbed my hand with what little strength he had left. Unlike the movies and books, people usually don’t immediately die after getting shot. The blood loss takes time. “It’ll be your day soon, traitor!” He croaked with all the malice and bitterness he could still muster. “Until then, mind if I borrow your stuff?.” I nonchalantly brushed aside his arm and continued looting. My former comrade gradually lost his consciousness as he bled out. By the time I was done looting him, he had expired.
In an austere meeting room of the City Hall with ornate furnishing, I begin my speech in front of all the relevant factions- my Legion’s general staff, the nobles of Carnwennan, and the general staff of the 626th Legion. Every one of them are in full military or noble dress, sparing no expenses. “Gentlemen, it has been a challenging moon and a half, but we have finally saved Carnwennan from the brink.” After waiting for the polite applause to die down, I continue. “Now, I will announce the reason why I came to Carnwennan. I was called here to accomplish the Quest that the Pantheon had bestowed upon me- the capture of Adept Rummy and his associates.” A wave of confused murmurs and “who?” erupts at my announcement. Fully understandable, I admit. But it is not the duty of mortals to publicly question the will of the Gods. Nor is it the duty of subjects to publicly question the will of their prince. That is the natural order of the world we live in. In response to this chatter, my Palad
“Kneel, peasant! For you stand in the presence of Prince Avalon of House Artorius!” My shifty Scoutmaster announced.The prisoner, who is in chains and manacles, slowly and hesitantly kneels in front of me. He seems to be a portly fellow of 40 or so winters.His hair is disheveled, and the state of his dress suggests that he was in the middle of an afternoon nap when the intrepid Turt apprehended him. “You may stand.” I cordially invited my new prisoner. The man looks wary of my invitation until Turt nudges him from behind. He tentatively rises up and stands before me. His face is understandably tense, as if he’s deciding between betraying his longtime friend and saving his family from certain imprisonment. A difficult choice, I must admit and sympathize. But unfortunately for him, I intend on making this a really easy decision.“I am going to be honest with you, peasant. I will sentence you to hang as a spy no matter what you say to me today. The only difference you can make today is
Authors’ note: This chapter is taken from the journal of Prince Avalon of House Artorius. Well, this Rummy character sure had made a proper mess in his wake. The city of Carnwennan was in shambles, dozens of noble Houses extinguished or ruined, and Gods know how many lives- highborn or otherwise- were reaped as a result of this madness. I would wager that it would take a generation or two for Carnwennan to recover, if it ever recovers.I am still piecing together what had happened based on what the scouts and knights had found, but this much is clear- he is no common commoner. It takes a certain arrogance and competence to plan and execute destruction of this scale.The decisive (and irreversible) nature of his action implies that he was never content living his lot and will never be content living his lot as the Gods intended. This man was prepared from the very beginning to defy the Pantheon and the natural order of this world, collateral damage be damned.In a way, both factions w