Homesteading in a fantasy world

POV Rich Dirt

I could feel the strain that my body went through as I pulled out my sword from the now mangled corpse. With my energy roots and the sword removed, the body fell with a squelching sound. It looked like someone had thrown a bunch of pieces of badly butchered meat, bones and clothing into a heap.

It was not a beautiful sight, but I was quite glad to see that waste of space dead. Thinking back on the last day I was quite glad I decided to see the convoy with my own eyes. This way I found this horrible thing coming towards us.

At first, it was quite a normal scouting mission but then Goose got a glimpse inside one of the carriages and the sight inside was not something that was pleasant to look at. When I finally got my own eyes on the carriage and people with the noble, I could see that they were in quite a horrible mood almost like they were acting like humans who were already dead inside.

From that point, I knew I would kill the noble, but I wasn’t planning on doing it right away. It seemed too risky but then I noticed the villagers behind, and my mind quickly changed. When I saw their faces, I knew the noble needed to die as quickly as possible.

What the villagers were pushing themselves to do was nothing to do with the noble’s cruelty towards them or forcing them to follow him. In their eyes was pure hatred and hope that the bastard will die eventually, it was then that I knew he needed killing as soon as possible

This plan that currently ended with me watching over the dead noble didn't come to my head instantly. It started by getting some more information about oaths and the general information that Falyr had about the noble. I did not tell my plans to anyone even my apprentices, but I did ask them to appear to be my servants and that part went off without a hitch.

I still feel oily about acting the way I did but you can't argue with the results. About 10 to 15 minutes of acting like a complete psychopath allowed me to anger the noble so much that he completely forgot about his oaths and how he should not act without reason because otherwise, they will break.

Still, it was a close one as I am not sure if an order from his mind will still need to be followed even if he didn’t have a good reason for it. I could see in his last moments that he wanted to give the order to kill me. Thankfully I was able to control the energy in my sword well enough to end him quickly, but this reminded me to always go for the head if there was a possibility the target could retaliate with his last moment.

When I looked, I noticed that everyone under the noble was rushing towards me. Their face seemed to be happy yet grim. Did I mess up or was I too late and they still had to retaliate against me?

I started to prepare to run but then I noticed the two wizards doing nothing of the sort but were happily hugging themselves. I then knew what was going on. “I believe your oaths should not have triggered because this was self-defence,” I said in a clear voice that carried a long distance.

I could see there was a moment of pause as everyone stopped moving, they were almost questioningly looking at themselves and then smiles broke through as they realized they didn't need to kill. I was of course also happy that I wouldn’t have to run and I had just saved a lot of powerful people from the torment of their former master. Hopefully, everything will go well with the undead as well.

…

The guard commander was taken aback by the words that he heard the young man say. He was now halfway towards the man and found that he was able to pause and think then halted his movement. Looking into himself he found the oaths that bound him for so long were gone and he could breathe out a sigh of relief.

He looked at the man to truly take him in for the first time. What he saw was someone willing to do the dirty work to make the world a better place, someone who could stand tall even after murdering someone of the nobility. The man looked comfortable in his armour and for some reason, an image of the armoured man was replaced with a happy-looking farmer for a moment.

He then looked around and noticed that his wet eyes were not the only ones as some were even crying quite openly. The villagers were a lot more open and showed their emotions even more. Cries of happiness and open weeping were common as they all looked at their former tormentor that was just gruesomely killed to everyone’s enjoyment. The guard commander quickly gave some orders, and everyone put their swords and weapons back.

….

Falyr's brain had finally started to work normally, and when it did, he had to give credit to Rich. He found a way to quickly gain the noble's trust and turn it against him. He eventually made the noble so mad that he attacked without any excuse for the consequences of his actions.

It was a dangerous move on Rich’s part, but it seemed to have worked out brilliantly. When he saw Rich starting to move back towards his apprentices he moved there and congratulated him for a job well done. “Good work and brilliant move but please next time give me a heads up.” Falyr only got a stupid smile in return and a quick nod.

“There is still a big problem and that’s the undead horde moving this way,” said Rich in the clear but this time not so arrogant and commanding voice. This reminded Falyr of this reality but the smile on his face didn't go away. “I thought we already had a plan. I mean you said it so confidently before,” he said to Rich in a joking manner.

To his surprise, Rich didn’t seem to joke back to him but gave a quick nod. Rich then called over the guard commander to join them before he continued speaking. Rich still talked in a loud voice so everyone could hear. “Do you both think, if the undead came out in a line and then the quick ones ran towards us faster than the main horde, will we be able to handle both their first wave and then the bigger but slower undead if I would be able to hold the centre for some time?”

This question dumfounded both the guard commander and Falyr, but they didn’t outright dismiss this claim but seriously thought about it. They both thought that perhaps Rich had some information they did not.

Falyr almost agreed with what Rich said but there was one problem with his thinking. Even if it was possible that he could hold the centre and the undead did as he said there was still the big undead and there was no way Rich could hold against that.

It seems that they both came to the same conclusion as they started to speak at the same time. The guard commander and Falyr looked at each other but Falyr gestured for the guard commander to continue.

He explained the same thing and came to the same conclusion as Falyr had and he just nodded to that, but Rich added. “You would be absolutely correct, but you see the big undead does have problems with the snowy land and slips often. If we handled the main horde quick enough the big undead will most likely be behind everyone else by hopefully a good distance.”

Again, this dumbfounded Falyr and from the looks of it the guard commander also. Falyr didn’t understand where this information was coming from as his scouts reported nothing of the sort. And why was Rich talking in such a loud voice even though they were right next to them?

It seems that today Falyr learned that Rich was a more complex person than he first thought and his ability to scheme seems to be a lot higher than he ever would have given him credit for. This made Rich’s evaluation in his head go up a lot even if not taking into account the strike that killed the noble.

When Falyr thought back on it he couldn't understand how Rich had access to such a high tier of energy that he should not be able to have let alone be able to wield it. For once he didn't think that the culprit was his weird main class but perhaps some trait but whatever it was it made him dangerous to even people who have passed the first threshold.

They continued to speak about the upcoming battle that was going to happen most likely tomorrow morning. But Falyr was still confused as to why Rich was talking so loudly about their battle plans and why he thought the undead will act the way he described.

…

Falyr was not the only one confused about Rich’s actions, but no one dared to ask him why he was doing something like this. But there was one person who knew. He was similarly overjoyed and celebrated when Lurd died.

But that excitement quickly died down with the realization that the undead were still moving this way. Panic had started to set in, and he didn't know what to do. Then as he heard Rich calmly explain what was going to happen, he was able to get his panic under control. He started to listen to Rich’s every word knowing this might be his best chance at surviving.