!BOOM! !BOOM-Boom. Boom. Boom.
Mike was sound asleep, when he woke up to a constant barrage of what sounded like explosions nearby, he was very surprised to see he was still in the other world. He had expected to wake up in jail or the hospital from the wound that he had on his forearm.
'what is all the noise. ah shit. so, I really did get stuck in another world.' Mike was still a bit tired.
He had put in long hours yesterday to read the materials, they were pretty interesting to begin with.
When he was shaken awake by the booming outside, the first thing he did was look for the source.
"Why are there people fighting outside my room?" Looking around, Mike could see the five girls sleeping in a pile in the corner.
They hadn't left yet, so it was a bit of a mystery as to what to do with them.
"That's them training, its like this every morning." March had been the first to wake up.
She was comfortable so she wasn't going to get up. It was likely that none of them would have decided on their own to get out of a warm sleep.
March answered Mike with another question.
"What are we doing today?"
Mike thought it was adorable, march couldn't have been very old. Her body was supple even if it was a bit malnourished. When he started formulating a plan of action for the day, Mike had come to a somewhat drawn out conclusion.
"We're going back to read more until I get back. I have to meet with Elder Po and Prince Troeg. When I get started we'll need supplies, its going to be a lot of setting up and rushing about. Be ready and try to keep collected, When things do get started it will be all that more important that you're familiar with how to put the equipment to use. Please read." Mike tossed his bag over his shoulder and inhaled.
"So. I'm going to the magistrate office. After you girls clean up, come find me." He said.
Mike really wanted a shower, but didn't know where they were. The girls looked well groomed, there had to be at least somewhere to clean up nearby. The bathroom closet didn't have a shower, only a bucket with a lid that would be emptied and rinsed by the staff.
"That shit is nasty, I've got a few ideas but it won't matter if we don't have anywhere to work." Mike kept muttering to himself.
As he strolled back to the Magistrate office and retraced his way to the Bookshelves he soon realized that he had free run of the place. No one bothered him in the slightest and there was even some tea waiting for him when he arrived.
"I said no slaves." Mike didn't want a repeat of what happened before, looking around three new women were standing at attention ready to hand him drinks and do his bidding.
"Master, It is the custom." They continued to try to convince Mike about the usefulness of the system they had in place.
Finally Mike had lost his patience, grabbing the teacup he poured it on the ground and stormed off to find Elder Po. After inquiring with the guards and demanding to be taken to him, Mike finally had his face to face.
Mike balled his fist and was ready to hit Elder Po.
"I am not participating in your custom of taking a slave. Its one thing for me to accept your customs, Its another to take part in them. I will not have slaves work under me, I will not have slaves." Mike got right up next to Elder Po's sneering face and grabbed his collar.
"The Prince says he needs me for something, Well.. I believe him, Do you?" Mike's expression showed his determination.
"If you send another slave to attend to me, someone who isn't free to do their own thinking..." Mike walked past a guard and took his weapon.
He started playing with it in his hand. The Guard didn't seem to mind or feel threatened when Mike began to toy with his weapon.
"These knives remind me of Machetes, they are a bit stronger though." Mike threw the Machete.
When it landed beside Elder Po's groin, Elder Po collapsed into a yellow puddle.
"I use to hunt with my friends, do you like to hunt? ..Po." Mike walked up to Elder Po, his ears had pulled back and he was cowering.
The scent of blood was in the air, even mike could taste it. Pulling the Machete from Po's bleeding thigh, Mike pointed it at his throat in a menacing manner.
"Send freed people, I don't want you to send me slaves. Fucking pay them, give them jobs, teach them. Don't do.. this." Mike threw the machete into the wooden floor, it rang a high pitch sound and vibrated to a stop.
Mike turned away for a moment and Elder Po went for the Machete. It took a moment for him to pull it from the floor, but Mike wasn't going to just allow himself to be killed in Elder Po's fit of rage.
Another guard stood in the way of Elder Po, they had been ordered to protect Mike. Very quickly his spear tip found its way into Elder Po's throat. Elder Po quickly fell to the ground with a gargling wheeze passing across his vocal cords.
Elder Po had died right then and there.
When Mike blinked again, he finally realized exactly what had just happened.
"It wasn't me!" Mike threw his hands up and tried to back away.
The Guards did nothing, they simply went back to their post as if it didn't matter to begin with.
'So that's it?, What the fuck.. this place is a lot scarier than I thought originally.. maybe I should shut my mouth.' Mike calmly walked up to Elder Po and rifled through his belongings.
He found nothing but a ring. Mike had seen Prince Troeg use a spacial bracelet but didn't stop to think that a ring would also exist. Putting it on his finger, Mike watched the ring as it shrank to fit. The contents of the ring were immediately known to him, just like reading the table of contents in a book with his spirit. Mike didn't fiddle with it any longer and looked at the sash that Elder Po was wearing, he had already taken the ring.
'Is it really robbing if he tried to kill me' The thought of him stealing from a corpse was something he just wouldn't consider, however Taking loot from your murderer after stopping him would be an acceptable thing.. sort of.
Back in Texas it was a Capital Crime, even if you're the victim. Mike took the sash on Elder Po's waist and didn't stand on ceremony while putting it into his bag.
"When can I see Prince Troeg?" Mike asked one of the guards.
Mike had just watched someone die, even looted the corpse. He was eager for some sort of answers, but more importantly he wanted to clear his name before any accusation or insinuation began.
"Prince Troeg will arrive in a few hours." The guard who killed Elder Po stood at attention and answered rather loudly.
"Ready a Carriage, I need to see a Clock Maker, Blacksmith, Tailor and a Potter." Mike issued an order.
Mike stood by the entrance and had the guards get ready. Mike saw how they kept composure even when killing and sighed inside, he didn't want to get killed for something stupid so he took the two guards at the scene with him as a security detail.
Mike had some paper and a pen, while the carriage traveled to its first stop he drew diagrams and designs as rough sketches.
"Sir, we've arrived." The Spearman opened the door and Mike stepped out.
"Thanks, I'll be back after I discuss what I need with the potter." Standing outside of the shop, Mike saw a large door that was closed tightly.
'Guess I'll just have to knock' Mike pounded on the gate a few times and waited.
A few minutes later a caretaker arrived to deliver news about why the doors were closed. The owner had gone out looking for materials, he had been gone for nearly 2 months.
Mike was determined to find someone to make what he wanted.
He asked. "Where else can I get pottery made?"
It was important that he found someone capable of helping him, Mike wasn't about to just give up on the ideas..
The caretaker felt the guards would pressure him if he didn't give all the information and soon he had given up his owners probable location. The Guards knew where he was headed, It was a valley with a small lake bed. The area between the mountains had very good clay. It was where he had always been getting his supply.
The Blacksmith Shop was on the path to the small valley, but it was more important to see the Potter first. The bumps on the carriage made it hard to write cleanly, Mike missed his pickup and a good smooth blacktop. He would have driven it, but he didn't even have gas or parts to spare.
When the Carriage finally found where the potter had gone to, they only saw discarded bones and scattered pieces of several carts.
There were no heads.
It was uncertain if the potter was dead or alive.
"Lets get back to the castle, we should send out some more guards to check for tracks. Something did this and something or someone has died." The guard with a sword called everyone back to the carriage and they turned back to the city at a much faster pace than their arrival.
The tailor shop caught Mike's eye before they reached the Blacksmith. Mike chose to put in a rush order and dropped off a drawing of what he wanted. They were not in a hurry to report to the Castle. Very quickly, they got back into the carriage and made their way to the Blacksmith. The incredible smell of smelting metals permeated every cell on Mike's skin. He had finally found something similar to his old World.
"What can I do for you? All orders have to be paid for before any work is done." The Old man looked like he had been at this for a long time and had to deal with enough trouble makers.
'Sheesh, can't catch a break.' Mike pulled out a piece of paper.
A bunch of things were drawn and somewhat proportional, Mike instructed him that the things he needed were all the size of the drawing. Handing the Old Man a hundred gold coins, the old man glittered like a fanboy when he saw the drawings.
Before Mike left the blacksmith, he saw a pair of boots and requested to know where they were made. The blacksmith told him that the tailor had a friend who worked with monster skins and body parts, but If he wanted to meet the journey would be long. The tailor's associate lived hundreds of miles away.
Mike brought out some more gold coins and bought the boots. He put them into his bag and returned to the carriage.
"Lets get back to the Tailor and then go visit the Clockmaker." Mike wasn't sure if his plan would work, most of it relied on chances that he wasn't sure even existed.
It had been about 2 hours since they left the Tailor, When Mike walked into the door he saw a clothing dummy wearing one of the designs.
"Good, How many did you make so far." Mike felt awkward asking, but he still needed an answer.
"I could only manage the first five, I can make more but I need time and I do have other orders." Mike picked them up and put them into his bag, the bulge in his backpack was making it very hard to close.
As the backpack was about to spill its contents out on the floor Mike swept his hand across the air and took the falling items into the storage ring. Mike felt like his reflexes were lacking, but when he noticed how quickly he moved.. he couldn't help but smile.
The Carriage doors were shut quickly, he was thankful that no one saw what had just happened. Mike was the only one that knew, but it was still something else to see. Normally it took concentration and at least a moment for the spacial items to activate, however Mike had done it nearly instantaneously.
"Take me back to my Lab and have the blacksmith come over to plan some changes to the building." Mike knew what he had to do, It would be fun as well if he did it right.
Mike opened the door to the main hall in his building and saw the girls all desperate to absorb the books in front of them.
"Girls, I have something for you all." Mike pulled the gifts from his storage ring and placed them on the counter before grabbing one and showing it to them.
"These are called Lab Coats. They make you look official, and its part of your new uniform. Keep them clean and always wear it while we're working." Laughing at the expressions on the girls faces, Mike reached his arm outward and handed the Lab Coat over to Mona.
"Put it on, don't be shy." Mike wanted to know what they looked like with them on, so he quickly encouraged them to try them on.
After Mona tried it, she spun around and winked.
"Looks good to me!" Mona said before she rushed over and handed the other four out to the girls.
As they giggled the time away, Mike stared at the roof and the square footage of the building. 'It would make a fine workspace if it was just upgraded.'
Taking a stroll while the girls played with each other over who looked better in the coat, Mike saw the planter where he had planted the seed last night. There was no change in the soil, It took mike at least 3 days to germinate a seed back on Earth and he had the aid of root cubes and cloning gel.
"Mike, Prince Troeg is asking for you at the magistrate." One of the guards came up.
They had sent a few knights to escort him back.
Mike looked at the building again and had some more ideas but it would be radical for this place. Laughing under his breath, Mike was led back to the Prince at the Magistrate office.
Prince Troeg had a very poised attitude, he sat up straight and didn't beat around the bush when he spoke. "Did you kill Elder Po?"
"No" Mike was quick to defend himself.
"Then why is he dead?" Prince Troeg slammed his fist down on his chair.
"He attacked me while my back was turned, the guards ordered to protect me stabbed him in the throat." There was no way that Mike was going to catch the blame for it, He would do his very best to deny involvement.
"He had other wounds... and he seems to be missing his personal items." The Prince wasn't wrong, Mike did take them from him.. On earth that would have been a capital crime, depending on who was the Judge.
"Yes, He tried to kill me. I feel its only right that I took it." Mike puffed out his chest. He did instigate the ordeal, but it wouldn't be a good idea to lay blame on anyone other than Elder Po.
Blinking in disbelief, Prince Troeg finally coughed to break the tension and spoke. "Very well, I also heard you don't like having slaves brought to you, serving you, or helping you in any way. That doesn't seem like you're interested in having workers."
Mike wasn't about to be trampled like that, so he replied in an angry tone. "I need workers, Not slaves. Pay the workers.. Its not that hard."
Mike was just about to finish his rant when he thought about something else.
"Also, Where is my Lab?"
"....," Prince Troeg.
"....," Mike.
"....," The Guards.
"I have some plans that I'll need your cooperation in completing, here is a rough sketch of what I need done to the building you have me living in. If that's suppose to be my lab, It needs equipment, ventilation and several magic items I've heard you have in your possession at the castle." Mike was tired of watching the rich treat others like trash, even if they were slaves. Knowing full well that he could wring money out of Prince Troeg, Mike laid down a massive building plan for his Laboratory.
Mike had hit the 'Fuck it Button' in his mind.