While my elf kin is busy waging war for me, I am busying myself with my tiresome itinerary. At this point, I could actually just relax and wait for things to blow out of proportion, and only then would I make my next move.
But no, I would rather not. It is not just out of conscience, but also practicality. I dare not waste my time when I am on a deadline. Anytime now, the King's Army might sniff me. I cannot even afford Count Urden to learn of my existence and my band of heroic elves.
My itinerary is quite simple.
If Zeraya is in the village, I would spend my time with her training my combat skills. I cannot remain a defenseless wuss. The moment I corner Count Urden shall be the day where I shall march with my people.
The problem is Zeraya has been giving me the cold shoulder lately, especially after the shitty speech I pulled in my war declaration. The people in the future would see the records of how the foolish self-proclaimed King insults his people, and I would roll in my grave just laughing at it off.
"Hey, hey… I am not ready yet!" I shout at her as I fumble in an unsightly manner. My sword which should be in my hand is on the ground already all thanks to Zeraya's too much eagerness.
"Then stop holding the sword in that dumbass way!" It looks like Zeraya is running out of patience with me already as she pummels me with the blunt side of her sword. For someone who prefers to use daggers, she is also proficient with the sword.
Daggers are a much more difficult weapon to learn after all, but still, you don't have to punish me like that! I am the King! I curl up on the ground trying my best to reduce the surface she can hit me with.
"Sigh…" Zeraya stops beating the hell out of me. "Your majesty, you shouldn't do this, you know? This is not where your abilities lie. Just continue on being a good King, and concoct some plans to get the count's head on a pike."
Zeraya wouldn't understand. In RTS games, it is a necessity for 'leaders' to be on the battlefield. It is not simply creating a bond of camaraderie, but it is proof of your kingship. How hard can fighting really be? I have a lot of my lifespan left, so surely, I can pick up a weapon and fight to my liking someday, right?
This is not wishful thinking as I believe that with my elf constitution, I will be able to quickly pick up some stuff.
I raise my sword in a very familiar manner. I place it over my shoulder and exaggeratedly take a wide stance. With my chest out in the open, I feel like some awesome anime protagonist with a big ass sword on my back.
Zeraya frowns at my stance, and I see her forehead visibly throbbing with a hashtag. "Your majesty, I will surely beat the hell out of your ass."
After hours and hours of a good beating, I feel rejuvenated. I am not being a masochist. I am just purposefully angering Zeraya as in often instances, she has this tendency to hold back against me.
Among the elves, only Zeraya would dare accept my request for her to train me. Moreover, she is the only fighter I know who has time to return to this former bandit village, now our base of operations.
I also take lots of my time to converse with the merchant Wisley. As someone from the further west, and a citizen of the empire, he is certainly knowledgeable. The empire takes highly on the education of its citizens. The very 'idea' of this just makes me fear them more. Education in an empire suggests a far more mature government system.
"So, Wisley… How many levels of education are there in the empire?" I ask him nonchalantly engaging him in this intellectual conversation, but it looks like I was hoping for too much.
"Excuse me? What do you mean by levels, your majesty?"
I frown at his answer. I was hoping to hear something that resembles the K-12 curriculum, but it seems that the Empire is still far from the modern education that I have in mind. For the elf kin, we have the method of apprenticeship to pass knowledge. For human villages, it appears that they also share the same practice.
I talk more with Wisley on the most random topics just getting the feel out of the merchant. He gets more comfortable and comfortable around me, so I decide to be done with him and leave him to his own.
Aside from this, I also spend time discussing with the young Kara. She is quite an intellectual. I didn't even ask her so, but she exceeds my expectations as her insights proves to be valuable to me.
Most often, if Zeraya and Wisley are out on their mercantile adventures, I only have Kara to accompany me. My itinerary by then would simply consist of (1) writing random stuff from my past world that I might find useful in this world, (2) the usual physical exercise supplementary to it are me trying to recall my Physical Education class in High School and also the other subjects that I vaguely remember, and lastly, (3) my militaristic planning of how I should gobble the two baronies in one go.
I arrive at the shed where Wisley stores the goods I ask him for. I see Kara checking on them, and accounting for them in inventory.
"Hey there, champ…" I causally greet the lass.
"Greetings, your majesty…" I am starting to miss the fiery little lass now. Zeraya's 'your majesty' play is rubbing on her. Still, this is good progress as this proves that Kara can adapt. From henceforth, I desire to mold her as I like, and one day, maybe she'd replace me as the elves' bearer of hate.
I casually start a conversation with her. "Who do you think among the two baronies had a connection with Count Urden?"
Kara rubs her chin and thinks for some time. "According to the Heroic Tales of Talme Jeremy, he was a rival to the young Jan Urden. They are blood brothers who fought together for a long time, and even had adventures to which this date remains a source of connection to the relationship between the Urden and the Jeremy."
I nod at her in approval as I too have the same suspicions, but it is still just suspicion in the end. There could be another version of this story we don't know. "Until we confirm this suspicion, we cannot act. This friendly relationship doesn't really tell us that Jeremy is involved in the raid of Lorekleim Forest."
Kara nods, but she doesn't understand it at all. I can tell by the confusion in her eyes. They are all humans in the end, why bother finding who is responsible for allowing Count Urden's army passage to Lorekleim? In Kara's eyes, all of these humans should just die.
I grin all too happy at Kara's too-obvious thinking process. I really am nurturing an anti-human, am I not? "It is not so good to be bloodthirsty, Kara. It will cloud your judgment, and make you weak…" I tell her.
Kara understands my words plainly.
I challenge her once more. "Kara… What do you think is easier? Allying with your friend to get what you want, or fooling your friend to get what you want?
Kara doesn't understand my question, so I elaborate more.
I don my poker face. "Let's say you have a friend. This friend has an apple tree. You want some apples. If you ask your friend to allow you passage so that you can climb the tree and get some apples. What would happen next?"
Kara doesn't need to think twice to give an answer. "After you get the apple, you have to share it and at the same time, you will be put in debt…"
I approve of her answer giving her the thumbs up. "What if this friend has a sibling? This sibling and you are not acquainted, yet you choose him over your friend to ask permission? Just why?"
Kara has an enlightened look on her face. "It is because you won't be indebted to this 'sibling,' instead it was the opposite. The sibling will be indebted to you… A friend wouldn't feel indebted to you… A friend would think they did a favor for you. They gave you permission because you are friends."
"Exactly," I proudly look at Kara. "It is a friend with benefits, and with benefit comes a cost. If Count Urden doesn't want to pay the cost for crossing borders in coming into Lorekleim Forest, chances are it was Baron Zaun that he is shaking hands with…"
It was just another suspicion but I am banking on this one more than the other. For now, I can only wait and grind my necessary skills and farm the untapped knowledge still hiding in my head.
In the shed are all sorts of 'monster' parts with unique properties on them. I should take my time to engage in lots of experiments. The power and potential of DIY work are limitless, and I should maximize my use of every resource I have in hand.
Thus, the work on my itinerary continues to pile up.