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Morning arrived with a lot of cries from cockerels and the scents of food cooking. It was probably very early, but I couldn't wait to get started. Rolling out of bed, I dressed myself in a long, loose tunic and a very fine cloak, it was a real struggle, though, sitting on the edge of the bed, to bring my foot up to a position where I could get a sandal on it. Should I wear my crown? For now, I just carried it in my hand.329Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ44mr3DcXw2
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On leaving my room, a guard outside looked at me in astonishment before composing his face into a neutral expression.329Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0k5GG0Q9Xr
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It suddenly occurred to me that I had no idea of my way around this castle, yet it would be very strange if I were to ask the guard. So I just followed my nose and again, was met with looks of disbelief and alarm by servants and soldiers until I found my way down and around some wide stairs to a hall big enough for a feast, though all the tables were bare.329Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGBIJ1t7isT
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'Ah, sire, we weren't expecting you for many an hour yet. I'll hurry the cooks.' A female servant came over as I sat myself at the top table in what was obviously the king's large, padded chair.329Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡurEP2idu3m
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'Just two poached eggs please and an apple and an orange.'329Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUsjF73BUKY
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'We have apples, sire. Not the other.'329Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFqpoUczeul
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'Ahh right. Two apples then. And if you can press a few more to get juice out of them, I'll drink that.'329Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHbsazzpq2H
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'Yes sire.' The servant, a middle-aged woman, had worry lines across her forehead. 'So no roast pork?' She gestured towards a door that I presumed led to the kitchen, judging by the concentration of cooking scents from that direction.329Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAPQLwsHcL7
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'No.'329Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpE04os5cTN
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'Er… forgive me, but just to avoid error, sire, no beef slices in horseradish sauce?'329Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrQ7WtJdfLs
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'No.'329Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5rY14foBWP
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'Nor the chicken breast in garlic? The bread-and-butter pudding? The…'329Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAkZyJaq3AW
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I caught the servant's eye and with a gulp she stopped speaking.329Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBvFm5OuIoe
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'Nothing,' I said firmly, 'other than the eggs, apples and the juice.'329Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8hOcshhDp1
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'Certainly sire,' the woman backed away with an anxious bow.329Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ52Vy4mLOuz
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It would have been interesting to chat with someone and learn something about the world, but none of the guards and servants would dare look at me. The large dining hall was silent as though empty, even though I could count six guards and four servants.329Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8lqhGOvItQ
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Oh well. I raised my right arm and cascaded some menus. Good, steel pickaxes had been researched, my town now had the knowledge of how to produce them. So I opened up the smithy and planned for a build of 84 new pickaxes, one for every miner. That left my research queue empty and I crunched on one of the hastily delivered apples as I eyed my options, there were hundreds of possibilities, grouped into three core categories: economic, cultural and military. Currently, the food crisis was my biggest concern and my plan to solve it was via exporting ores. Assuming all my neighbours were hostile (and even if they weren't, I wouldn't want any of them to have extra iron supplies), I needed to get my ores further afield. And that meant… Navigation. A six-day research project.329Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5IuK0Cnui1
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After breakfast, with the help of a servant, I changed into tunic and trousers and good boots, then sent for my trainer.329Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNAZEA90TmM
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Carradock Goblinbane was missing an arm at the elbow. I didn't ask; maybe the king knew his story already. On the short walk from the castle to the barracks training ground, I briefed him. I needed strength training as rapidly as possible. I didn't voice it aloud, but I knew that I just could not risk progressing my character until I understood the issue of stats better and, in particular, whether I could push them up through training.329Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWGVptjAywC
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'Strength it is, sire, and all-round fitness.' He looked at me longer than most people did. In fact, most people here didn't look me in the eyes at all. 'It will take a while. We must not rush. You're too big and too – excuse me – soft. You'll hurt yourself. For the first day, I just want to you walk around this ground fifty times.329Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBIE7NekGRE
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'Fifty?' How hard could it be to walk fifty laps of a square whose sides were only about a hundred metres?329Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTwqInY1l7s
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It was very hard. After one lap I was sweating. After the second my thighs began to ache and I found myself slowing down from my fast initial pace. After the third, I was panting and my huge body was complaining pretty much everywhere. On ten, Carradock handed me a tankard with cool water in it and I gulped it down. Then he offered me a sword hilt. It was a practice weapon, a rod of iron with no sharp edges. I reached out for it.329Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQM8bszNbCf
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'Are you sure?' Carradock looked sceptical.329Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡezTv4pBrMl
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'Of course. I can do this.'329Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡajqReeD2pz
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'No, I mean, your left hand.'329Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCJajcjYKij
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I had grasped the sword and raised it in my left hand. I tried it then with my right, shook my head, and shifted it back. 'This is better.'329Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf4WlnHCaSw
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Back on Earth, I was left-handed. Had the king been right-handed? Was this a sign to everyone I wasn't their old ruler?329Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0pDnCAWHpx
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'Carry it as often as you can. It will make your sword arm stronger.'329Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn7P4PtuHBG
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'Now?'329Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbclV3KMel4
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Carradock nodded, perhaps with a hint of a smile on his narrow, fox-like face.329Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwLd5iJq2I0
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Then off I went again, with a new source of pain slowly moving up from my left wrist, my arm and along my left shoulder. At twenty I took another breather. One side of the barracks square was a two-story, grey stone building. The other three were enclosed by a low, wooden fence. And at the fence were gathered a dozen people, looking in at me. On their faces were expressions of dislike but also astonishment.329Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ17f8F3ABlb
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All this walking had been good for my thinking. 'You,' I pointed to a woman with dressed in a tunic whose design matched that of the other castle servants. 'Get me the ambassador, Figus.'329Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7b1ocW01wG
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'Yes, sire.' She curtsied, but I could tell from her body language she didn't like the duty.329Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1VNNKDd1O3
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'And the rest of you, get along with your business.'329Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpDSwUmfzpZ
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No one spoke, but they all immediately hurried away.329Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYksOzqWegv
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It was another two laps before my ambassador came to the square around which I was walking. No doubt I was red-faced and quite a sight, but that didn't excuse the smirk on his face. Figus was quite the rock star. Unlike everyone else here, his hair was not a natural colour, rather it was bleached somehow and stood up in clusters of spikes. With a grace in his walk and a cynical smile in his bright blue eyes, I could see his Charisma of 15 was definitely in play. What was mine again, 3? I suddenly felt very conscious of my frown lines and a posture that was sagging at every point, including my face.329Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVyNYdiPlAw
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The ambassador drew up close, took in a breath and then bowed. 'Sire?'329Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnIvYnShGzQ
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This was a welcome excuse for a break, though I was aware that Carradok was watching and probably disapproved.329Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhYSRtUjVFx
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'We need to trade ore for food, what's the best way to go about it?'329Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLRtBqY8w6K
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Figus looked up with some surprise on his face. 'You are seeking my advice?'329Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRxl2LQCK2e
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'Uh huh,' I was still catching my breath or I'd have pointed out that he was our ambassador after all.329Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSOFtwXvZ5l
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'Well, as you know, we are at war with Southway and Trolland, our nearest neighbours. So they are out. That also blocks the inland routes. By sea, we could trade with Cantreth, the Kingdom of Lost Souls and Rockguard…' he paused in thought. I paused in tiredness.329Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw5LCcXv8y4
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'Your majesty has no scruples dealing with a Necromancer?'329Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJdWQb24o9w
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'Not at all, some of my best friends are Necromancers.' I was thinking of Storm Wars of course, but the look of consternation on the face of Figus made me feel like laughing.329Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYPBK5KcI5G
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To be fair to him, the ambassador recovered his poise quickly, 'in that case, I think the best deal we could make would be with the Kingdom of Lost Souls.'329Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2rZEjtFdPB
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'Right so, off you go and make that arrangement.'329Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpwyvgHVegv
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'Now sire?'329Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVmgvqb1bIN
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I nodded.329Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZLLrvQGojb
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He hesitated. 'How much ore and of what kind and quality will we be offering?'329Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUdiYdjaCwD
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I didn't have to call down the menu for the mines, we were currently producing 2 ingots of standard iron ore per day. Assuming that would rise with the new pickaxes… 'Fifteen standard iron ingots a week.'329Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡndjPpk8ixr
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Figus nodded and then with a temerity that was unusual in the people around me caught my eye. 'One more question, sire, if I may?'329Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtrQs6NLyM0
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'Yes?'329Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnXRLeg3H6y
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'We don't have a trading vessel, but we would get much better terms if this exchange happened in our ship.'329Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH5p7JnTS08
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'I'll make that a priority.'329Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8FXwFpNVBF
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'Right so, I'll be off then.' There was a jauntiness to the man's step as he left me to my circuits. Had he deliberately just parrodied my turn of phrase? If so, I rather admired him for it.329Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuQ5XvDsxiP
