CHAPTER 83 A Curse Word but Luckily not a Cursed Word

CHAPTER 83

A Curse Word but Luckily not a Cursed Word

Rufus

I pulled out a small golem thrumming with the barest hint of power. We were a long distance from Keith, and it was going to cost the Dark Magician King an arm and a tail’s worth of mana to activate—not that he had a tail. I did not care. “[Activate Call].”

The orb flashed, and the sound of the golem connecting echoed statically throughout the room. The sound was fuzzy, and I attributed that to the distance even though I knew absolutely nothing about golems.

Keith’s voice came through clear. “Report.”

There were a few ways Keith typically responded to calls. “Report” was the usual. If he was casting spells or spending private time with Henrietta, he just wouldn’t answer. There was also “What do you want?” for off-hours contact, and “But why?” that one time I’d called first thing in the morning to check in before going to a council meeting. My attempt to make morning small talk with the ruler of the Dark Enchanted Forest had been met with a curse word—but luckily, not a cursed word—and a dropped call.

“I’ve found a lead in the Hollow,” I explained.

“The duke?” Keith asked, referring to Duke Lector.

“Actually, both our poisoner and the duke will be in the Hollow. We will arrive at the elven city in five days’ time. I’ll need a tracking team.”

The rest of the table waited quietly. No one wanted to cut off the Dark Lord on a voice call.

“Alright … Does that mean you’ll be searching during Ria’s stay?” There was an edge to the Dark Lord’s voice that I ignored. He was probably just envious that I got to go when he was stuck at home working .

“Yes. Minstrel Bronwynn is here with me now, and she’s offered to drive me,” I stated, letting my king know there were others present.

“Brownie’s there?” Queen Henrietta’s voice sounded distant, like an echo in a cave. “Hi, Brownie!”

Bronwynn smiled and leaned in closer. “Hello, Your Majesty. My parents are here too.”

“If we may, love?” Keith said softly. She must have agreed because he followed up with, “Rufus, who are you moving?”

“As soon as I’m done here, I’ll order Puma’s guard unit to mobilize and move Chikli’s unit north of the Hollow, between the mountains. It’ll be a delayed post so they leave closer to the date, of course.”

“Of course,” Keith agreed. There was never a guarantee that the forest wouldn’t move everything between now and then.

“And I’ll be there if we need some muscle!” the Dark Queen said excitedly. Henrietta might by tiny, but her Strength was high enough to pick up a napping dragon.

Not that she would be so foolish.

I could hear the frown in Keith’s voice when he said, “Report again when you’re closer to the border .”

“Yes, Your Viciousness.” I smirked. The words let me know I had indeed inconvenienced him with the range of the call. Hah!

I could hear the aggrieved sigh from the other side of the golem, but it was faint enough that I didn’t know if anyone else on this side would have caught it. The golem went dark, and the Dark Lord was gone. I was already opening my character sheet.

To everyone in the room, I explained, “I’ll select a few of the high levels to encircle and sweep the region around the Hollow, including the best Tracker in the Dark Enchanted Forest, Mistress Puma.”

Name: Rufus Triever Occupation: Commander General Level: 54 Experience Points: 13397/13500 Hit Points: 616/616 Mana Points: 900/900

Class: Commander Titles: [Beastfolk], [Protector], [Mediator], [General], [Commander], [Connoisseur] Attributes: Strength: 26 Intelligence: 30 Dexterity: 19 Perception: 30 Constitution: 24 Charisma: 19 Skills: Keen Senses: 2 Leadership: 4 Secure: 6 Bureaucracy: 4 Patient: 6 Examine: 6 Perks: Sense Threat, Redirect Blow, Claw Strike, Force Palm, Empathy, Calming Effect, Inspire Honesty, Commanding Voice, Natural Poise, Sense Lies, Personnel, Detect Poison, Detect Fake, Identify Craft.

There were a few notifications I could preview in my logs at any one time before opening the notification or scrolling through the list.

[Passive Skill: Mediator has been activated by your Patient Nicole Fernand. Primary emotion: Fear, Anxious. Subject may run away. Threat Level: 1]

[ Sense Lie : Linden Stannard attempted to use Subterfuge .]

[You have activated Golem: Daniel .]

Nicole was a selkie from Plittsmouth who was probably in the city to watch Bronwynn’s concert, as she was a crystal holder. She was also cripplingly shy and struggled with leaving her house. Or talking. Or being near people. It would be a good idea to check in on her because she was wont to yell at people when she was too overstimulated … and her class-based sound attack was Area of Effect [Paralysis] …

It was fine for now .

I turned to my abilities.

Commander General

The kingdom is safe with you ready to guard against injustices. All denizens of the Dark Enchanted Forest recognize your leadership and wisdom. Bonus +4 Charisma when dealing with members of the Dark Horde.

Military Update:

Morale: 98%

Resources: 81%

Readiness: 90%

Reserves: 14958

Troops: 8279

Elites: 8/10

Total Defense: 89%

I paused for a second, realizing there was one more elite than I remembered there being.

Myself, General Knolith of the East, General Quinton of the West, General Derilla of the North, Chloe the Necromancer (who was supposed to be the General of the South but outright refused to let anyone call her that. Ever.), Lieutenant Patina of Plittsmouth, Puma of Gren’s Keep … The king and queen didn’t count, so who could’ve joined the army in the last month over level forty? Did I not notice a level up—Ah.

The bridge troll.

I had the titles Commander and General, both of which afforded me access to Dark Horde intel, including a map of the troop placements and any active battles. I could use my Commander points to issue orders to any member of the army, which I did now, reallocating experience points for job quest completion and paying out an advance travel fund to the teams.

When I finished, I found my three breakfast companions watching politely.

“If I can’t have the poisoner come to me,” I said confidently. “Then I can bring the army of the Dark Enchanted Forest to them .”

I took a deep sip of my tea and almost spit it out when Marigold said, “Are you sure you haven’t fallen in love yet? ’Cause you’d better jump on this one quickly, sweetheart.”