Otherlife Nightmares: The Selfless Hero Trilogy (10 page)

8:57am Sovereign Earth time

11/07/43

Katarina and Thana stood together at the back of the throne room. They were prepared to depart after the day’s events were concluded, dressed in their gear. Both had their new items on display. Katarina had her shield resting against her knee and Thana held her staff firmly beside her.

Runner stood in the audience section with Nadine and Hannah. He needed to speak with the king before he’d be allowed to leave with his “niece.”

I am unsure of what this will do. I will alert you should things change.

Scratching at his nose, he felt unease in his heart. The plan to reveal all and send the whole quest line crashing down had as much likelihood of going catastrophically wrong as it did of awakening everyone in the room.

Srit would be right in being a little nervous.

Can she even be nervous? I mean, she’s not Awakened yet, not really. Can she feel?

Blinking a few times, he returned to reality as the king seated himself in his throne. The herald thumped his staff twice into the ground, the deep booms reverberating throughout the hall.

“His Majesty shall now hear the case against Petros Damalis, son of House Damalis. Bring the accused forward.”

A Sunless man was carried forward with his feet dragging along behind him. No one could deny the treatment of the prisoner was severe. He sported a variety of status ailments and his health hung in the red zone.

“Your Majesty, rather than waste your time with this, I’ve already prepared the case for you. I assure you the proof is incontrovertible and the man is guilty,” Virgil said from beside the king.

Of course you’d say that, your own quest runs right through him.

Clearing his throat, Runner stepped into the center of the throne room. Gently easing one of the man-at-arms aside, he rested his hand on the young knight’s shoulder. Looking up, he caught the king’s eyes and held them.

“Your most honorable Majesty, I’m afraid I must make you aware of some uncomfortable truths. In doing so, I fear I may change the very fabric of your country. Would you hear me? I would not force this on you unwillingly.”

King Vasilios Moris propped his chin in the back of his hand, watching Runner. Once more, Runner had the distinct feeling the AI behind the scenes could only be checking quest triggers, flags, and nodes.

“This would be in regard to the young knight here at my side, your daughter, the chancellor, the steward of your house, your tax administrator, a number of your royal guardsmen, and a goodly amount of your servants. Treason would be the charge, of course.”

In that instant the room shifted, becoming as quiet as a mausoleum. Collectively the AIs of everyone in the room began running up to full speed at the unexpected triggering of countless flags.

Go.

“Majesty?” Runner inquired. He wouldn’t push this on the king unless he truly had to. It wouldn’t sit right with him to bring people screaming into the reality that their world had little truth to it.

King Vasilios eventually extended a few fingers towards Runner, accepting the responsibility. Pulling out the notes he’d made this morning, he started at the top.

“Your daughter sleeps with any nobleman who is willing to turn their hand towards putting her on the throne and disposing of your infant son. Half of your council has already been turned. I will provide you with the names at the end of this little fiasco. She now seeks to bring her power into blossom by recruiting an assassin. She approached me directly for said job. Once you’ve been taken care of she’ll then end your son’s life to assure her ascendancy.”

Squawking indignantly, the princess in question started to rise from her seat. Runner continued before her appeal could get off the ground. He had a lot more shit to shovel out.

Lotta shit. Shit for everyone. Drown you all in your own shit.

“Your chancellor, who has slept with your daughter as well, is beginning to broker a deal for power using the economy. It would be through a few interesting laws that he’d take the financial backing out of your military and power base. Then he’d have you ousted for tanking the economy, put your son on the throne, and act as regent until an appropriate age.”

Now Virgil started to make noise. Runner moved to the next tick point in his notes, speaking loudly to drive home that he would not be interrupted.

“Your tax administrator, who also has slept with your daughter, is robbing you blind at a rate of two to one right now. Nearly all of the wealth is recoverable in the national bank under his mother’s name. He has been hiding much of it through an improper accounting of your military assets and what is currently being fielded in the war comparatively to what actually is. In other words, ghost equipment.”

Runner glanced around the room to gauge the situation. What noise there had been no longer existed. All hung onto the edges of their seats, watching him.

Many of their AIs are jumping from node to node. A handful are already awakening.

“Next, roughly thirty percent of your royal guard has not only slept with your daughter, but they now back her directly. The guards still in service to you are at your back, those in service to your daughter are behind me. The trigger for this event is her direct approval of the attack. A Barbarian messenger will be arriving, requesting your aid in defense of their capital. The humans have attacked them rather than counterattack Crivel.”

Picking the next section, he nearly laughed out loud.

“Many of the cooking staff have also enjoyed a royal ride with your daughter. They’re in position to poison you should an assassin fail to appear. Perhaps when this is over, her highness could be sold to a brothel since she spends so much time on her back. She could single-handedly fund the campaign. Next, next, next.”

Taking a moment to brush the hair back from his eyes, he caught Katarina and Thana staring at him. Smiling, he waved at them a little before beginning again.

“The current Human ambassador is plotting with the Barbarian ambassador in an attempt to pressure them into agreeing to an armistice so the Human army can turn to attack you unopposed. The ambassador has been bribed and will condone this plan, though I do not think the crown will support such an action.”

Scanning the rest of his document, he found notes and details of the names involved so the king could sweep them all up.

“Oh, your wife is sleeping with the chancellor. Your son isn’t yours, he’s his. You are in fact childless. She doesn’t know of the plan to take the throne, though it’s likely she’ll support it. Ah, yes, and finally. Knight Damalis. He would have laid his life down to protect you, so multiple factions sought to implicate him in a frame job to see him disposed of. The messenger for the Barbarians will be arriving today, more than likely before noon, though I’m not sure, to discuss the aid I mentioned earlier.”

Finished, Runner let his hand drop and he looked towards the king. The man sat still as death. His eyes glazed over as he tried to process it all.

With a scream of fury, the Human ambassador lunged at the Barbarian ambassador and began stabbing him with a dirk. In the same instant, the Queen had started screaming at the chancellor that she’d been tricked, and she had no idea of his plot.

Then the whole room went crazy as the guards loyal to the princess charged the king and the guards loyal to the king charged the traitors.

Apparently he’d triggered more than a few events and flags.

Deciding this would be the time to leave, he dragged Petros towards Katarina and Thana and dropped him against a stone wall.

“Kitten, protect the king. I’m sorry, I still have your sword. Keep them busy even if you can’t fight back. Lady, pick off targets who are marked and low health. Hanners and Rabbit already have similar orders. I prepared them ahead of time in case this happened. I’ll work on keeping people alive and marking. Go.”

Katarina bolted forward, her shield held up before her like a battering ram. Sliding to a standstill in front of the shell-shocked king, she immediately shield bashed an attacker to the floor.

Quickly giving the room a once-over, he picked out the traitors and marked them. Selecting the sergeant he’d spoken to the day previously, he cast
Heal
and then
Regenerate
.

He was eager to try out his new spells, but he felt keeping as many loyal guards alive as possible would be the better political move.

Moving from guard to guard, he worked to keep them healthy and in the fight. Thana utilized her new staff to great effect, ending the lives of several of the traitors.

Nadine and Hannah worked in tandem, bringing down three themselves. Katarina stood at the foot of the dais, allowing no one by her position.

It took only a minute, though it felt like hours, but the throne room returned to its previous state. Plus some twenty-odd corpses.

As if on cue, a Barbarian woman rushed inside, falling to a knee in front of the King.

“Your Majesty, your cousin requests your aid immediately. The Humans march on our capital.”

The king looked from the messenger, to the corpses, to Runner.

“She’s good, that’s the truth. Though it’s not as dire as you think. It’ll take a week to travel there normally but the Human army won’t arrive for two weeks. The dates were listed in the quest nodes.”

Many of the AIs in the room are irrevocably broken. The king nearly did not make it through his own Awakening. Those who are broken will no longer accept any type of influence if it does not run along the lines of their original programming. I do not recommend repeating such an action in the future.

Runner opened his inventory, pulled out a beetle, and devoured it. The small relief it provided was enough to let his mind catch up.

For this court of nobles, it wasn’t as if he’d had a choice. There had been far too many actually involved. With a sigh, he closed his eyes and sat down heavily on the ground.

“I need a nap. Four hours isn’t enough sleep. Not at all.”

Looking over to Petros, he patted the young knight on the shoulder.

“No worries, Two-shoes, you’re safe now. I’m Runner, by the way, friend of your sister.”

“Two-shoes?” the knight asked.

“Yep, Goody Goody Two-shoes. Enjoy your new name. One more thing—this is really just to make sure—when was the last time you went to the bathroom? Visited the turd tomb? Dropped some convicts off in the poop prison?”

Quest Completed

“The Knight’s End”

Experience Reward: 10% of current level

Reputation: 10

Fame: 5

Money: 15 Gold

King Vasilios Moris proceeded to corner Runner in an interview room, demanding answers and to know how Runner had predicted everything that happened.

He spared the king nothing, listing out the exacts of the truth to this world and his place in it. At first the king had the appearance of a man shattered and broken. After a minute of quiet reflection, he said a prayer to the goddess of the night, Brunhild.

As her moniker implied, her domain was that of the night. It included the moon, shadows, were-beasts, the night, and the normal host of aspects one could expect.

Once he’d determined a course of action, the king had Runner spend the day cloistered in an interview room with him.

One by one, everyone who had been in the throne room sat before the king.

Each person was put to an interview by the king himself. The king would then consult with Runner to determine any culpability as well as what quests they were a part of. Srit assisted on a few deeply layered nodes, though most of it he was able to ferret out on his own. The databases were becoming much easier to read and sort through with experience.

Runner found himself privately impressed by the monarch halfway through the day. He’d taken the situation in stride, leveraged Runner as a soothsayer of sorts, and set to righting his kingdom.

It took time, but Runner felt like this would be a relationship to foster, even at the cost of time. He would be the one to benefit the most out of this down the road.

In the end, everyone on Runner’s list ended up in the dungeons. Even those who weren’t present were scheduled to be rounded up and carted to a cell.

For his part, Runner felt a vague sense of guilt over it. There was no doubt that many of those in cells below, including the princess and the queen, would not survive tomorrow. He didn’t make their choices for them, yet he’d sealed their fate nonetheless.

This dilemma brought him to where he now stood. An empty church to the pantheon of this world. Public hours were long since over at this deep hour of the night, and he’d been forced to
Stealth
in order to get close, let alone inside. He’d had to break open a locked window to get inside.

He couldn’t explain the need to be here, other than that he feared what actually would happen to an NPC. Did they simply get deleted? Were they carried over to the afterlife they believed in? He had asked Srit for an answer, and her response had been much like his own. She didn’t know what happened.