Might as Well

Sam followed the maid with a sour look on his face, desperately wanting to stay back and join the two shadow wolves in playing instead of spending time with the girl who was obsessed with him. On the other hand, Fitzgerald was literally whistling as he looked around the area curiously.

They were escorted into the building in short order by the maid, where they met quiet chaos as the guards and soldiers of the noble family used the first floor as their base. Messengers ran to and fro while officers were bent over giant desks filled with maps and papers.

Sam and Fitzgerald had a brief moment to take it all in before the quiet murmur of the space was broken by a very familiar squee. Instantly, almost all the soldiers jumped up, some unsheathing their weapons, some just placing their hands on it, and looking wildly around, hoping to identify the possible attacker.

They relaxed marginally when the body of the lady of the manor in all her splendor flew forward and hugged Sam’s rigid form.

He looked down on the young girl, dressed in a mix of armor and dress – well a cuirass over a full-body dress – as she tried to hug the stuffing out of him, looking up at him with big dewy eyes.

“Samuel! I missed you so much!” Sam stood there rigidly, letting the girl chatter on as he tried to ignore the deadly glare from the maid that followed the young girl, promising all sorts of terrible things if he said or did the wrong things. “I really liked this task but it was horrible that I couldn’t meet you but you’re now here and we can work together and destroy our enemies and create something wondrous! How amazing!”

Sam blinked as he took in the word vomit, then before he could react the young woman moved from hugging him to standing in front of Fitzgerald and giving him an elegant bow.

“Welcome to the base of our operation, Master Fitzgerald,” she stated, her previous excited behavior nowhere to be seen, looking exactly like a young noble lady should look.

“Thank you for the welcome, young lady,” he responded with a bow of his own and a small smile playing on his lips. Sam caught the glance at him and steeled himself. “However, it seems, you already knew my student. How did that come to pass?” he asked, the smile on his lips growing slightly malicious.

Sam wanted to curse but held himself back as he watched Lucrecia’s face light up as if the sun was shining on it and the young woman smiled and clapped her hands together.

“Oh my! What an excellent question! I shall tell you the entire excellent tale!” She turned halfway toward the staircase and motioned toward it. “Would you mind joining me in the tearoom, Master Fitzgerald? This tale requires the utmost comfortable seating and exquisite tea!”

“It will be my pleasure, young lady!” he replied while jerking his head at Sam toward the staring guards who were trying not to laugh. Sam recognized several of them from when he visited the Silvercrest manor.

Thankfully, that was enough for Lucrecia to actually forget about Sam, grab Fitzgerald’s willing arm, and drag him up the staircase, already starting to tell the heavily dramatized and romanticized version of her and Sam’s first meeting and the subsequent events.

“Well, that happened…” Sam spoke up as he stood with the maid who brought him to the building still in the same place he stopped when he stepped through the door.

“Indeed, my lord,” came the greeting from one of the guards with the captain’s insignia. The man saluted him and motioned him toward the room with the giant desk in the middle, the rest of his cohorts waiting for them. “If you would like, we have a report prepared.”

Sam nodded and followed the man.

It took a minute to get everyone situated, or called back from outside, but it gave Sam a few minutes to study the map on the desk. Instead of focusing on architecture and civil engineering, it focused on the movements of the guards, guild members, monster hot spots, and areas where it was easy to attack the ruins.

He could even see a few spots marked for scouting, overwatch, nightwatch, chokepoints, and other strategically important locations.

Sam turned to the captain and nodded. “Well, I’m here and ready to hear it, so don’t hold back, captain!”

The older man nodded, glanced around then began his report.

“Very well, sir! As you can see on the map, we had set up the defenses based on what Miss Lara had discovered of the ruins. The walls are currently being rebuilt but we created a few temporary lookouts and based our patrol routes on the walls. Patrols are being reinforced by the guild members, but we made sure those patrol rosters and timetables are generated based on a different system to confuse any potential adversary.”

“Tim?”

“Yes, sir. Master Tim was very helpful with his suggestions, though, somewhat paranoid,” replied the man good-naturedly while the others chuckled around the table.

Sam joined them with a smile. “Well, that’s why I pay him…”

“And has it been worth it?” came the question from somebody around the table.

Sam just shrugged. “Haven’t been assassinated yet…”

There was a small laughter hearing that before returning to the task at hand.

“What about the local monsters and other dangers?” Sam asked.

The captain began pointing at the map. “As you can see, we have nests here, here and there. The rest were removed by the guild.”

“Why did they keep those?”

“Based on our recommendation.”

“Really?”

“Yes, sir. Those nests are in areas where the monsters themselves create a sort of defense against invaders plus some of the materials you can harvest from them are valuable. The young lady insisted on harvesting them as long as possible.”

“What type of monsters?”

Instead of answering, Sam was just handed a paper with a list on them. He read over it, and while the monsters were nothing noteworthy, the materials they provided would account for a decent income. At least until the number of local residents increased to a level where maintaining those nests would become more trouble than worth it.

He handed back the paper and nodded. “Good work.” The captain returned the gesture. “What about the non-monster type of enemies?”

The captain frowned as he answered. “Much more difficult. The local miscreants are easy to apprehend and even the weaker groups are not an issue for our patrols, but there have been several groups where the guild had to chase them away. And those were the ones we noticed…”

“Well, on that front I have some good news and bad news…” he replied.

The captain just sent him a forlorn look and motioned for him to continue.

“As you saw, I arrived with Master Fitzgerald, who is a…”

“Master of Runes. Yes, I’ve heard of him,” finished the captain for him. “Are you escorting him here for a task?”

“No. He is here to set up a workshop.”

“A workshop. Why?”

“Well, that’s the bad news, I’m afraid, captain…”

“Oh no… You don’t mean?” he asked, fear evident on his face.

“I’m afraid, yes.”

“Government contract?”

“Government contract.”

“Secrecy?”

“You squeal and nobody will ever admit that you existed,” answered Sam with a grimace.

The captain just cursed while the soldiers muttered among themselves.

“What’s the good news?” the captain of the guard finally asked after a few seconds.

“Lots of money, of course…”

“Naturally…”

There was a brief silence as everybody contemplated the information that Sam shared as he turned back to the map and began to take another look.

Based on his previous life he wanted to see if he could add anything to the defenses. Finally, after a minute he spotted it. He spoke up while pointing at a specific spot.

“Have you sent scouts there, captain?”

“Hmmm?” the captain leaned closer and took a look. “That’s the end of a small mountain range, we scouted it but aside from a few shallow caves, we didn’t find anything. Why?”

Choosing his words carefully, not wanting to explain his ritual that allowed him a brief overview of the area, he began to explain.

“You need some mages in your scouts, captain. There is a spot around there that is radiating magic, I can even feel some echoes from here,” he fibbed. The Silvercrest family was trustworthy but he didn’t know any of these guards. Better not tell them that he knew there was a fracture there.

The captain, instead of getting angry, just nodded tiredly. “I requested a magical unit, but the logistics…”

“Ah, say no more. I’ll have the guild scout it in case it’s something dangerous…” Sam offered generously.

“Thank you, sir.”

“You’re welcome. Now, before I go and greet the young lady, are there any questions?” he asked, looking around the room.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how one looked at it, almost everybody raised their hands.

Sam knocked on the wooden door and waited until the severe-looking maid opened the door for him. He bowed his head in greeting to the maid, then he focused his attention on the lady of the house, who was basically vibrating in her seat while trying to appear as if she was calmly sipping her tea.

“Miss Lucrecia, it’s lovely to see you!” he called out cheerfully while giving a deep bow. He straightened out and looked around theatrically. “I don’t see Master Fitzgerald? Did he already depart?”

“The good master has insisted that he wanted to look around,” came the clarification from the maid while Lucrecia just nodded.

“Good to know.”

The statement was followed by an awkward silence – at least it felt awkward to Sam – as they looked at each other until the maid cleared her throat, breaking the younger woman out of her daydream. She jumped a little but finally began talking.

“Would you-you like some tea, sir?” she offered with a hesitant smile while her eyes shined with hope.

Sam contemplated for a moment saying no, but upon looking at those eyes, he just didn’t have the heart to do that. ‘Damn those devs for making the NPCs so realistic…’

“One sugar, please,” he replied with a wan smile as he went forward to take a seat.

The blinding smile the young woman gave him illuminated the entire room.

“How is the apartment hunt?” Sam asked, leaning against the door.

Lara looked up from the plans she was staring at and just snorted. “I’m rich, Sam. If I want an apartment, I get it.”

“So, did you get one?”

“It is currently being cleaned and upgraded.”

“Cool. How is Dan?”

“Still lost a little…”

“At least he has a paper that says he is super smart…”

“Try telling him that…”

“You’re the girlfriend. That’s your job.”

Lara glared at him. “Did you come here just to annoy me?”

Sam shrugged, then retrieved a stack of documents and dropped them on the desk. “I brought you your first official client that ‘doesn’t exist and please don’t ask any questions, thank you’!”

She blinked and in surprise, took the papers and gave the top one a read. Then after finishing she frantically began paging through the stack, occasionally stopping to check something.

“Are you for real?” she finally asked.

Sam walked forward and took a seat in the only chair that wasn’t covered in papers, maps, and other planning-related materials. “And that’s just the things that can be put to paper…”

Lara grinned and leaned forward. “Do tell…”

The three of them stood in front of an empty plot deep into the ruins, with no NPCs or players nearby.

Lara was taking glances at Fitzgerald, while the man in question was looking around and checking out the plot.

“What do you think, sir?” Sam asked after a few minutes. “Is it large enough?”

Fitzgerald walked forward, spun to face them, and grinned.

“Perfect! I can’t wait to see what we can accomplish here!”

Lara and Sam exchanged a glance then gave a polite clap at the declaration.