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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.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHlIwstR2z1
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On leaving my room, a guard outside looked at me in astonishment before composing his face into a neutral expression.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaK5vESf8mF
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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.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV2iZ7nrW2j
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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.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqqQljABd4z
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'Just two poached eggs please and an apple and an orange.'365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡon4Nilr7pi
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'We have apples, sire. Not the other.'365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU7ZBaVutZH
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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.'365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAlXVNm9xdv
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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.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgTIhuiBDkx
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'No.'365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2hbUKpSoSI
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'Er… forgive me, but just to avoid error, sire, no beef slices in horseradish sauce?'365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtnl0giGs41
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'No.'365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYmduhGW67y
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'Nor the chicken breast in garlic? The bread-and-butter pudding? The…'365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSPq7cPgFlr
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I caught the servant's eye and with a gulp she stopped speaking.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLE7HPaLKqF
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'Nothing,' I said firmly, 'other than the eggs, apples and the juice.'365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmND1igaIJ1
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'Certainly sire,' the woman backed away with an anxious bow.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡud3WYvb8B0
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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.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKww5e30Jb0
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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.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD9yIVnKBH2
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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.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdnT3bnX50V
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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.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSMcMqGzVTO
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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.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ66DemNlxw1
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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?365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW9LvYznQZn
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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.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFtXxgQMikw
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'Are you sure?' Carradock looked sceptical.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPz4Bu47UbD
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'Of course. I can do this.'365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEjclspyglw
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'No, I mean, your left hand.'365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzx2pkIFqF7
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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.'365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcSWekMvvqn
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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?365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡawhtiy6b8t
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'Carry it as often as you can. It will make your sword arm stronger.'365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdK70hYxZyW
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'Now?'365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUZojcVYxLA
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Carradock nodded, perhaps with a hint of a smile on his narrow, fox-like face.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw1qOfqgEkr
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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.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp2O2n5Tg1o
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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.'365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmJK87Cmq13
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'Yes, sire.' She curtsied, but I could tell from her body language she didn't like the duty.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvGizN2HGCM
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'And the rest of you, get along with your business.'365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBEEwoLSmqY
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No one spoke, but they all immediately hurried away.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwwnQ9EIoV6
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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.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeTmsw6b4UH
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The ambassador drew up close, took in a breath and then bowed. 'Sire?'365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡneUDMzVeeN
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This was a welcome excuse for a break, though I was aware that Carradok was watching and probably disapproved.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOvmLWUpYgN
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'We need to trade ore for food, what's the best way to go about it?'365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmxnggGwuym
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Figus looked up with some surprise on his face. 'You are seeking my advice?'365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ajlSS4VrJ
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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.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5qmguwbXVB
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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.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8qLqhNRy6x
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'Your majesty has no scruples dealing with a Necromancer?'365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡErBKqAuZxl
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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.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM50blC0jN7
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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.'365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOcdfwsFeHx
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'Right so, off you go and make that arrangement.'365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPsilU1L4k7
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'Now sire?'365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJfB0xR3xqR
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I nodded.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaNa0AkQjqT
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He hesitated. 'How much ore and of what kind and quality will we be offering?'365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9XtRqODyyN
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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.'365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwlKCTA8oq0
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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?'365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkRV3gUKbHC
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'Yes?'365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4aYcS49Fa8
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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.'365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡplqQrdcXuv
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'I'll make that a priority.'365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNfyeAqKYa4
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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.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Zu7nIJsKl
