CHAPTER 11 Have You Thought About Joining the Fan Club?

CHAPTER 11

Have You Thought About Joining the Fan Club?

Rufus

I probably should’ve gotten out of the hot spring a while ago, but I had a high Constitution, and there weren’t any tasks demanding my attention. I could take the time to relax for once.

Sitting around in a dungeon all day was hard work.

Or maybe overdoing it for years until I finally slowed down and felt the crushing weight of it all was just making my work feel hard. Sigh. I complained a lot for someone with a roof over my head and delicious food on my plate.

This wasn’t so difficult until a year ago. I’d been a competent and well-respected member of the Dark Lord’s army … And now, I was all of that and restless.

My mind turned to the night everything changed.

One Year Ago

“You can sit ’ere at the bar, then,” the troll ordered, showing me to what had to be one of the last free seats in the house. “Just don’t tell Ol’ Malley it were me that let you in.”

I thanked the man too quietly to be heard, but he didn’t need my words with the pouch full of silver coins in his pocket. It was shockingly expensive to bribe my way into the event. Luckily, it paid well being commander general, and I didn’t have much to spend the money on back home.

No one here knew who I was, though, since I’d switched out my primary title from Commander to Connoisseur.

I sat at the end of the long counter, waiting. Tankards clanked and glasses thunked as the crush rushed to grab a drink before the show started. I ordered a red wine myself .

After reaching Constitution twenty, regular alcohol didn’t affect me much, but I enjoyed the taste. It was more bitter in this form. Or maybe it was just the quality. I spent so little time in my folk form that it was hard to get used to seeing the light-brown, tan skin of my furless fingers gripping the glass instead of a padded hand with sharp claws. At least my golden-streaked ruddy hair resembled my natural coloring, and my canines were still sharp. I sighed.

In the corner of my vision, my notification tab was signaling more pop-ups for me to review. It was better than usual, since I wasn’t in the Dark Enchanted Forest managing updates as well.

I chose to ignore them. Tonight, I was supposed to be relaxing .

Hah.

“Fine friends and good gentles.” An older tigerkin man in black roguish attire stepped onto the stage, and the crowd started shouting. He smiled, showing sharp teeth. “I would like you all to welcome the one, the only, Bard Bronwynn Lyriel!”

The entire place exploded into cheers as a half giantess walked onto the stage. I sucked in a breath; she was a vision .

Bard Bronwynn was a half giantess with long curly hair that caught the flames in the lamplight. She wore a red dress that clung to her curves, and a belt with three knives and a mug clipped to it. She held a custom-made lyre harp that fit into her large palms, and she strummed a chord dramatically.

A skill amplified the sound and made it more powerful, filling the room.

“Who’s ready for a good time?” Bard Bronwynn called to the crowd. Everyone shouted affirmation, and then there was a sudden, ethereal calm as the entire place stopped to listen to the opening notes of her song.

It was an old song about the knight Sir Eglamore, who took up his new sword and set out to fight a wyvern … only to have the grand battle end when the sword got stuck in the beast’s teeth before it flew off. The knight, feeling sorry for himself, went to the pub and got drunk, telling anyone asking after his sword that if they fetched it, they could keep it.

I was laughing before I knew it. The music, the lyrics, and the overwhelming beauty of the experience of watching Bronwynn Lyriel perform floored me. Something about the show calmed my overly frayed nerves and left me with a sense of exhilaration. For the first time since I’d taken up the mantle as Commander General, I felt like a person again. She was the most beautiful and incredible woman I’d ever seen.

“Ah, another convert! I haven’t seen you before. First time?” A voice broke into my revery. “Isn’t she amazing? Have you thought about joining the fan club?”

“A fan club?” I pulled my eyes away from the bard as she took a pause to drink some water .

An older black woman with antlers was sitting beside me. Her hair was twisted into locks and pulled into a half updo. Her deep green eyes were smiling. She was accompanied by a pink pixie no bigger than a fairy godmother’s wand sitting on her right shoulder.

“You look how I felt when I first heard Bard Bronwynn!” the pixie piped up, his wings fluttering to keep him poised on the older woman’s shoulder. Enthusiastic shock-blue eyes met my golden. “We all love Bronwynn’s music and keep track of her shows so we don’t miss any new songs! I’m Ross, and this is Frida.”

Frida looked back at the stage. “She’s starting again; we can speak later.”

Later, after the show, I was dragged off to spend the rest of the evening talking about the bard. Her history, her likes, her songs. I regretted only finding her music tonight. Years of concerts and shows I could have attended.

For the rest of my week stay, I bought my way into her concerts. I got front-row seats.

The group knew her schedule, and I painstakingly planned to be at all of her major concerts going forward. I wrote her letters. I sent her gifts. I got to know the other members, and we became good friends. It was a lot of work to keep a fan club running; paperwork, missives, newsletters, etc. I was very good at all of those things, and my responsibilities rapidly grew. And after a few months, I was the leader of her fan club. Frida and Ross laughed at me when I gave a passionate speech and accepted the position.

The president was in charge of telling everyone the bard’s schedule over the club’s Cast system, running events, and keeping everyone up to date. The hard work had all been worth it when Bronwynn accepted a request to perform at a dinner party in Sumbria.

I took my job as president very seriously. I rented a tavern, inspected the food, and handmade a gift basket for Bard Bronwynn, complete with chocolate, baked goods, and a spatial ring full of flowers.

It was perfect.

And then it all burned down.