Chapter 13: The Quickening
Chapter 13: The Quickening
AT Mynoghra’s Palace, the lazy king was being cared for by the twin girls atop his throne. It was a common sight seen on a typical day. Although they couldn’t completely let down their guard, time was peacefully passing by…until everything changed…
“What’s going on?” Takuto muttered in a panic, suddenly jumping up from his throne.
The two girls waiting on him gave their king curious looks since he was acting out of the ordinary.
“What’s the matter, Your Majesty?”
“Did something happen?”
“Be quiet for a minute.”
Startled by his sharp reply, the girls trembled and hung their heads, not daring to utter another word. What had happened? The girls felt uneasy because Takuto’s sudden shift in demeanor meant something had gone horribly wrong.
They wanted to know what was wrong this instant. But the twins were clever enough not to interrupt their king’s brooding with pointless questions. He’d answer them when he could.
Besides, Takuto couldn’t afford to waste time coddling them right now. He’d normally be much gentler with them, but what he’d just learned didn’t allow him to be considerate of others.
He had just received reports of a massive Barbarian horde suddenly appearing to the south of Dragontan.
It’s physically impossible for them to have just appeared there. Did some sort of event trigger?
The first report came from the single Long-legged Bug he had stationed around Dragontan just in case. He initially did that to discover any threats to Dragontan and investigate what was causing the sudden Barbarian appearances… Now it seemed that he’d either succeeded in his investigation or stumbled upon a truth he would’ve rather not known about.
At any rate, the sight he’d seen through his shared vision with the Long-legged Bug made his blood run cold.
First, I need to have the Long-legged Bug get a detailed grasp of the enemy’s strength and order it to destroy them if it can… No, wait. Do I need to confirm if they’re the enemy first? No, it’ll be too late if I don’t act first.
Originally meant to be a Scout unit, the Long-legged Bug excelled at exploration and investigation. It could efficiently grasp the enemy’s strength and numbers with its excellent long-distance vision. Plus, as a Bug unit, it was getting a Strength buff from Isla’s passive skills.
Even if the Hill Giants were out of its league, it should be able to effortlessly mow down Goblins and Orcs. Long-legged Bugs weren’t cheap, but they could be replaced. There was no doubt in Takuto’s mind that it was better to go on the offensive here.
How many are there? Holy crap. There are ten whole fricken’ doomstacks!!
Doomstacks are armies that ignore immersion and cohesiveness, favoring raw power instead. It was essentially ten armies coming together in a giant horde. Put into general numbers, the enemy’s army was greater than ten thousand strong. That was a hopeless number, but Takuto didn’t have the time to complain.
He was used to responding to sudden crises. Besides that, he had cut his way out of worse pinches than this in Eternal Nations.
Confirming that his fate wasn’t yet set in stone, Takuto calmly gave orders while receiving information from the Long-legged Bug stationed closest to the armies. He needed to whittle down the enemy’s numbers as much as he could before they took action. He didn’t know what was going on yet, but he understood he was suddenly thrust into a do-or-die situation.
Still standing, Takuto swiftly headed for the Palace exit. Sensing the two small girls trailing behind him, he briefly asked “Where’s Isla?” while continuing to work out a strategy.
As Mynoghra’s King, Takuto could detect the status and location of all his units. Naturally, he could locate Isla and telepathically send her orders, but he deliberately put the question to the girls. He felt bad for treating them curtly, and conversing with them also helped remind him of the gravity of the things he had to protect.
“Mother Isla is in town.”
“Mama—Lady Isla is inspecting the buildings in town. Should I go get her, Your Majesty?”
“Pleas— No, you don’t have to.”
Takuto changed his instructions after hearing a high-pitched buzzing in his ears. Apparently, Isla had also confirmed the sudden upheaval. The buzzing rapidly grew as loud as a roaring sports car engine, making him want to cover both ears. Just as he set foot outside the Palace, Isla landed in front of him with a heavy thud.
“Your orders, my master.”
With that single comment, Takuto remembered Isla had access to all the information coming through her bugs. That made things easier. They were in a fight against time.
Mishandling the massive Barbarian horde could be fatal to Mynoghra. Especially when it came to Dragontan. They couldn’t lose the Dragon Vein Mine they’d finally obtained.
Takuto was also worried about Atou. She was currently tasked with defending Dragontan. He believed she could handle any number of Barbarians with her current abilities, but the situation was still dire. There was no telling what could go wrong.
He had a mountain of things to consider and do. In the game, time didn’t advance until he finished his turn, giving him ample time to think and plan. But reality wasn’t so kind.
In a race against time, pausing too long to think was beyond foolish.
However, Takuto wasn’t alone in this world. Reliable subordinates were working with all their might to support him. And he had someone who he trusted with his whole being.
Did his worries reach her?
Just as Takuto’s thoughts went to his confidant, she reached out to him telepathically.
“King Takuto, I’m sure you are already aware of this, but a massive Barbarian Horde is closing in on us from the south!”
“I just confirmed it myself. Things have taken a ridiculous turn, haven’t they? How are things on your end?”
Isla cocked her head, wordlessly asking, “Are you talking to Atou?”
Takuto nodded in response while simultaneously processing multiple tasks in his head.
A slow initial response would dramatically affect the outcome. He didn’t have time to be pulled in a million directions. His first course of action was to gather as much information as quickly as possible.
I’ll be fine. I’m more than capable of resolving a crisis of this level.
Takuto had an accurate grasp of his abilities and made an objective judgment call based on that. Viewed another way, the Barbarian invasion also meant he could strengthen his Heroes. A siege battle was the perfect event to pump Atou and Isla full of experience by way of Barbarian deaths, and after defeating the horde, they could investigate the root source at their leisure.
His strategy started to go in that direction, but things are never that easy…
“I have something more urgent to report to you first. Before this horde appeared, I defeated a Hill Giant, and not only did its corpse vanish into thin air, but it also dropped a gold coin. I’ve confirmed it’s a currency that doesn’t belong to this world.”
“…Shit!” Takuto swore out loud.
He had completely overlooked that possibly. No, he had actually considered the possibility but pushed it to the back of his thoughts.
If he and Atou had come to this world as game characters, then it wasn’t illogical for there to be others like them.
Takuto ground his teeth, vexed by the crisis his lack of forethought had invited.
What an oversight! Why didn’t I realize it sooner?! It did cross my mind, but I think I thought it sounded too ridiculous to be true… Dammit all!
Takuto felt like all the pieces were rapidly coming together.
Word had it that Qualia had their hands full with a sudden enemy from the north.
What if that disturbance had something to do with another civilization like Mynoghra getting summoned? What if the Saint’s oracle that sent Qualia’s Paladins to the Accursed Lands was actually a sign of an emerging civilization? And what if now a new threat had emerged south of Dragontan?
Takuto had been reborn into this world alongside Atou, and they were trying to establish a new empire together. As long as he was living proof it could happen, he couldn’t assume the same thing wouldn’t apply to the other empires.
Are they from Eternal Nations? If they are, then the Guo-Guo-Gwago Tribe or KAN’D (The Committee for the Advancement of Natural Disasters) would be the most likely candidates.
Takuto went over the list of likely civilizations from the game.
Barbarians—including everything from Goblins to Orcs and Hill Giants—existed within Eternal Nations as well. Plenty of civilizations could produce them as units or win them over to their side through various means built into the game.
The threat would be immeasurable if one of those civilizations ended up transferring as-is to this world too. Both were evil civilizations with zero interest in cooperating with other empires.
No, it seems unlikely for them to be a civilization from Eternal Nations.
Takuto made that snap decision. He didn’t have in-depth details on them yet, but what he’d heard from Atou sounded too different from Mynoghra, which would suggest they were here under different mechanics from Takuto at least.
Analyzing the information they’d gathered thus far told them that the Barbarian attacks had increased at a gradual rate. In the beginning, the Barbarian corpses remained after they were defeated, but now they vanished, leaving a gold coin in their wake.
Were the frequent Barbarian raids their way of testing how strong the enemy forces are? Or should I view the disappearance of the corpses as evidence they were summoned? Is that why the Barbarian numbers suddenly increased?
A massive Barbarian horde suddenly appeared as if on cue, plummeting an empire into crisis and forcing its towns to go on the defensive. It was almost as if this was the start of some story…
The number I confirmed with Long-legged Bug’s shared vision is highly abnormal. Not a number a civilization could prepare right after being dropped into this world. Then again, there hadn’t even been any signs of another game civilization existing here until now.
The empire had to be of considerable size to prepare an army of this size. If so, it should be nigh impossible to completely conceal its existence.
The Long-legged Bugs had already scouted the Uncharted Territory south of Dragontan to some extent. If there was even the slightest trace of a civilization in that endless expanse of barren terrain, they wouldn’t have missed it. At this stage, Takuto was half-sure that his opponent was a hostile army from another world.
“Atou, do you still have that coin? Show it to me.”
“At once.”
Takuto instantly gained access to Atou’s sense of sight. He paid careful attention to every detail vividly projected into his mind. He couldn’t miss a thing. If he couldn’t gather enough information, it was very possible Mynoghra would be destroyed.
Feeling panic starting to roil in the pit of his stomach but still holding onto the calm he’d built up like a steel wall, Takuto dug through his mind’s archives to try and place the coin.
“I’ve never seen this coin before,” Atou said telepathically. “It doesn’t appear to be from Eternal Nations…but it seems to have been made by a fairly advanced civilization. Do you recognize it, King Takuto?”
This design… I’ve seen this pattern before!
The coin’s design consisted of a round sun with a letter inscribed in its center.
Takuto furrowed his brow. The design tugged on an old memory.
The events of his past flowed through his mind like a projector playing at high speed. It flipped back through his memories from a few days ago to a few weeks ago… Time rewound until it arrived at the memories of what had happened before he came to this world—of when he was bedridden in a hospital on Earth. The various conversations he had with doctors in the hospital room, the news he watched on TV, the books he read to pass the time, and eventually, his memories turned to the various computer and video games he used to play …
“Right, this crest is from…” he muttered as he struck upon what he recognized the gold coin from.
Things had come together almost a little too perfectly that Takuto couldn’t shake the feeling it was all a part of some game event. And when he realized that feeling wasn’t all that far from the truth, his face twitched.
Something had begun. At this very moment, a grand story was beginning to unfold. And that was the worst possible thing that could happen.
This is bad…very bad… My opponent’s strength is a complete unknown.
Takuto clenched his teeth. He was frustrated that his oversight had catapulted him and Atou into a dangerous situation. But he had enough mental fortitude not to throw a child’s tantrum over such a thing.
Takuto gave Atou some simple instructions and temporarily ended their conversation. He told her to report back on every detail over their open telepathic link and ordered her to focus on defending Dragontan.
First things first, he needed to hammer out a basic plan of action with Isla. When Takuto returned from the sea of thought and looked up, the twins were gone. He realized Isla had thoughtfully sent them to fetch Emle and Gia and gratefully turned his attention to her.
“Isla, this is bad.”
“What’s bad, my master?”
Nervous tension ran through Isla’s normally calm, motherly voice that belied her looks. She had detected the gravity of the situation from Takuto’s unusual behavior. But just how much of the situation had she guessed for herself?
“We’ve got an enemy empire—one just like us.”
“Like us? Meaning they come from Eternal Nations? Is it possible to open up a dialogue with them? If we can negotiate, then it would be best to end things with them as peacefully as possible…”
“Fat chance. I doubt we can even talk to them. They don’t work that way. They function under a different set of rules than the world we came from…”
Isla gasped. After repeatedly analyzing her master’s shocking revelation, she came to understand that Takuto had established a theory about the true nature of the crisis bearing down on them.
“You know who they are, don’t you?”
Takuto nodded. Remembering the pattern on the gold coin Atou showed him, he answered, “It’s just a guess, but I would say in all probability our enemy is from…a role playing game.”
The same logo as the title of the RPG he’d once played was inscribed on the gold coin.
Forces that could have normally never crossed paths were about to meet in an unknown world…
Volume 2: End
