The Blackstone Knights were cheering as the commoners outside the keep were silenced. Rodrick turned to Thaddeus, only to see him slowly drifting towards the cold stone floor.
Thaddeus was clearly strained from unifying his territory under the High King.
Rodrick reached his arm out and caught Thaddeus with ease. Then he gestured at Sofia and 5 Knights he could trust to watch over Thaddeus and Miranda for the time being.
He had some traitors to hunt.
------------
Eddy was awoke by a stray beam of sunlight coming past a cut in the curtain, 'What the fuckkkk???' He leaned up and felt the drool sticking to his face.
'Where am I?' He was sure he was in another world in a keep, but he wasn't sure what had happened to him.
[User, Thaddeus Blackstone, you have stabilized a sizable amount of your soul by claiming those within the territory for the side of the High King.] He felt the voice more clearly.
[Please. Refer to your artificial Status page for basic guidance.]
He blinked, 'Sure, Status?'
[ User: Thaddeus Blackstone
Titles: Viscount of Blackstone Province. Unprompted One.
Health: 92% Minor bodily issues noted.
Stamina: 23% A mental stress accumulation has disrupted natural recovery.
Mana: 2/2
Minor Effect- Aura of Nobility; you have unlocked a prestigious mark of the Soul.
No bodily statistics have been unlocked.
Skills: [Basic Iron Manipulation], [Basic Mana Manipulation], and [Basic Soul Binding].
Eddy felt the rush of power flowing within his veins, but it was incredibly short lived.
He could "feel" the information about his body. His soul was clearly strong enough to be measured by the system, but other qualities were being lacked for his actual statistics to be calculated.
'What a strange method? Most systems do tend to be arbitrary, but does that mean people can develop WITHOUT knowing their stats? Why does it exist? What is the purpose?'
He could feel the iron in the room instinctively, especially the iron his own blood, and in the blood of who else was in his bed.
'Wat.' He looked over to see Sofia hugging a blanket for dear life.
"AH!" He stumbled out of bed worried about the 'implication.'
He was, luckily, not stark nude, but he did have on a very thin pair of linen underpants.
'Stained...' He looked at the blotches from the reuse, but he was always pleased when his underwear managed to lack holes though.
With a shrug, he moved on to think about more important things. Like, dying, nearly dying, nearly being smashed, being a fucking moron.
He got so mad that he actually needed to sit back down on the feather bed.
"Ughhhh, why so stupid!" He bonked himself on the head and thought about how game like he had been treating this.
This was his actual life now, 'People that you do not know are trying to murder you. Big boy pants.'
He took a deep breath and tried to do his therapist's breathing guide.
He felt the air go in and out of his body, slowly, he could feel something stirring up. 'Mana? Stupid meditation. Stupid system. Stupid me.' He let his mind wander without getting stuck on anything.
'Weird...gold guy.' He felt pain when he tried to access those thoughts, but had bounced off it immediately, 'Stupid High King. Making me the fucking powder keg. Do I look like Archduke Franz Ferdinand?' He breathed out, 'Need allies. Sofia smart. Rodrick...strong. Need information. Need help.'
He opened his eyes, he was actually feeling a lot better. He felt like he was resolving the mental stress but he couldn't tackle the..elephant in his mind for the time being. They would have to wait.
------
Eddy was placing his course linen shirt back on when he was stopped by a voice, "Milord? Why are you putting that shirt on?"
He looked like the Hunchback of Notre Dame when he turned around with the shirt half on.
"Uh...I didn't know what to wear?" He answered.
She giggled, "Here, let me help you."
She grabbed some Noble garments from the chest he had seen loaded from the capital.
"Wait, we had that this whole time?" He was in awe for a moment.
She nodded, "Yes, but you were trying to sleep, so I figured you were comfortable in your own clothing." She grabbed multiple shirts, one had studded black cloth that looked incredible.
The next was a royal blue color and had small golden stitching, while the last held a mix of burgundy red and silver threading stitched in a diamond pattern across the entire dress?
They were quite long...
"We will have to tailor these tunics." She could see the immediate problems, but the short one would work.
"Blue?" She held next to his small chest and smiled.
He shrugged, "I am happy with any of those, they look amazing.." he was admiring the stitch work, the patterns were better made than some machines on earth.
She sat the clothing on his bed and he placed the standard black pants to the left, while leaving the bleached white underwear in the middle. Then she placed the blue tunic to the right. She finished off with a double pair of woolen socks and yellow-tan leather gloves.
'Damn.' Eddy was looking at the line up. The boots had golden stitching as well. This was fancy as hell.
He quickly shooed Sofia out of the room and noticed an issue, the boots.
He stood fully dressed, wearing but socks on his feet, "Sofia! Help...please."
She burst through the door, "Milord, are you alright?" He nodded, her being on guard reminded him to be more serious, but he felt...awkward.
"I can't tie my shoes." He sunk on the bed and attempted to reach his feet but he kept getting less than half way before the tunic and pants defeated him.
She smiled, "I will try to assist you."
She quickly tied the boots and folded his pants before tying them off over the socks, "This will prevent any snow from entering your boots, Northern tribes use the hide from their first kill and often keep it as an Heirloom." She looked up and smiled, he seemed in higher spirits for a member of the Nobility.
"Thank you." He did a small bow then jumped up, they were ready to do..stuff?
He was probably going to be a yes man for most of Rodrick and Sofia's ideas, he knew that, but that is why Erickson selected Rodrick, and that was Sofia's job from day 0.
He walked out of the room before realizing that Sofia wasn't coming, he turned around and poked his head in the door, "Sofia? You comin'?" She was placing items in the chest when she quickly turned, "YES!"
He waited for a moment, then they walked down the stairs. 'Thank goodness, I am so freaking lost.'
He was looking around at the curving stone walls, it made no real sense. The floor was the only consistent thing about the keep. They took 7 left turns in a row and went down the stairs.
Eddy was looking at Sofia with disbelief.
"Are you not seeing the crazy layout of this place?" He finally asked.
She smiled, "I knew you were perceptive enough. Milord, that is the enchantment that Sir Rodrick enabled last night."
He mumbled, "It's cool." He felt the destination closing in, then they walked through a thin membrane.
"MILORD!" Rodrick yelled, "Welcome to Blackstone Fortress!"
Eddy looked around and noticed that all of the knights previously in gleaming armor were now sitting in chairs lining a table.
Rodrick continued, "You are early. We are hours away before the festivities begin!" He laughed heartily, like he hadn't murdered a giant orc-thing and broke the laws of physics yesterday.
Eddy smiled at the fancy dress of the people present.
"How do you all do." He tried to put forward his most noble statement but received laughs in return.
Rodrick seemed to be having a good time as he walked up, "Lord Blackstone, we have great news. Your claiming of allegiance has extended to the reaches of Blackstone." He looked blankly, then Sofia nodded at Rodrick, "Ah! Right! Which means that the exiling has begun. We have hired forces to gather the forfeited property and bring it here." Rodrick seemed to be in a great mood, "I believe it will contain roughly 80-thousand Crowns."
Eddy nodded, "What about my sister?" He was focusing quite hard but couldn't help but ask to Rodrick's delight. He turned and pointed at the head of the table, "She sits in her rightful place as the Lady of the land."
She was beautiful. She had eaten and was eating now, but she had a grace like she had always been a noble.
He saw the actual head of the table open, presumably for him, and then two more chairs down the line were open for Sofia and Rodrick.
Rodrick smacked Thaddeus on the shoulder, "Come, we have war to plan!"
He nearly skipped to his seat, the man was definitely excited.