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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.285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRRHMby4Yya
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On leaving my room, a guard outside looked at me in astonishment before composing his face into a neutral expression.285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8r5Ig0HKE2
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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.285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWqJeKcqouE
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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.285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzQXGa5Bvds
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'Just two poached eggs please and an apple and an orange.'285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjdfnc0t7Qy
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'We have apples, sire. Not the other.'285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFafHCYi5vv
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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.'285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg4ABVLyV40
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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.285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5jfNkxzUOO
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'No.'285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRDMbysphWr
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'Er… forgive me, but just to avoid error, sire, no beef slices in horseradish sauce?'285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0jeimeYlup
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'No.'285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAGlVNnJLxz
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'Nor the chicken breast in garlic? The bread-and-butter pudding? The…'285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu8XJvo4rNZ
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I caught the servant's eye and with a gulp she stopped speaking.285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4LhHEkkCXp
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'Nothing,' I said firmly, 'other than the eggs, apples and the juice.'285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl9im4qJV0v
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'Certainly sire,' the woman backed away with an anxious bow.285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ88bu1dJNl
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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.285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVXI3Clc9Jm
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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.285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDWFjcWMZH1
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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.285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUA7OhSFMLo
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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.285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZa4HTW2TYs
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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.285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGQJ6T8RQUo
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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?285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPDYoL2ZHA1
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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.285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFxTCRNh65t
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'Are you sure?' Carradock looked sceptical.285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡySPWi9XUxl
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'Of course. I can do this.'285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzuGxogvcf5
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'No, I mean, your left hand.'285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXHn1fDWDMK
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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.'285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHbS8o52rFi
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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?285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTl34MlZrDg
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'Carry it as often as you can. It will make your sword arm stronger.'285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIj5NJWWkUH
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'Now?'285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDoTnE3mnxY
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Carradock nodded, perhaps with a hint of a smile on his narrow, fox-like face.285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIu6dhbWI6c
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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.285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5HzQEFJUwj
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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.'285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6gbDHZDnGv
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'Yes, sire.' She curtsied, but I could tell from her body language she didn't like the duty.285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpckHvV9fhE
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'And the rest of you, get along with your business.'285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLBhALCxdon
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No one spoke, but they all immediately hurried away.285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPvz5vC7wqb
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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.285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡteq5qSOoHk
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The ambassador drew up close, took in a breath and then bowed. 'Sire?'285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡenE7bnjwFA
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This was a welcome excuse for a break, though I was aware that Carradok was watching and probably disapproved.285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUdCnb7WFJy
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'We need to trade ore for food, what's the best way to go about it?'285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8WALL811hN
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Figus looked up with some surprise on his face. 'You are seeking my advice?'285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTuqWhiWPxa
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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.285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHCna5jeHzn
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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.285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0tmHD6Moy5
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'Your majesty has no scruples dealing with a Necromancer?'285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYKw1ZEMNaN
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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.285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvekdUKGFEn
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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.'285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUqRp9aUBm6
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'Right so, off you go and make that arrangement.'285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ19b6tvfMQO
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'Now sire?'285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmvGeaa0BPC
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I nodded.285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLCTtm7BWlH
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He hesitated. 'How much ore and of what kind and quality will we be offering?'285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHO0uInxQiE
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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.'285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDVyEkDzCR3
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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?'285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf6PElbL7NQ
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'Yes?'285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaxrVqkoAFS
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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.'285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5ctRovR0ti
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'I'll make that a priority.'285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwX5YWnKSCl
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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.285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡybcxvEqRl5
