《Road to the Crown》3 - Inspecting the system
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After the entire official ceremony, or rather its religious part, was over, all the nobles from the cathedral and the immense crowd from the town's square right beside it formed up. With the Great Marchal leading the whole procession with the Crown's banner raised high in the air - as compared to the procession that leads to the cathedral when it was kept low as a sign that the King-Elect had yet to officially start his duties.
While most of the nobles took the opportunity to use this great excuse to free themselves from the workload of counting the money and hurrying up their serfs, this procession was the last part where common folk actually bothered to take part in. For a single reason.
Right after the Great Marchal, a group of royal treasurers marched with their servants carrying huge chests filled with coins. Every so often, one of them would grab a handful of money and throw it at the crowd, making them praise the wise and generous king in the short moments between fighting between each other to grab just one more coin before others would take this opportunity from them.
This entire walk of pride lasted until the royal palace, located only a few stais (roughly 1 kilometer/0.6mile, the distance horse could run before resting step) away from the town's centre. Spawning on top of the greatest hill in the entire area of the mostly flatland lesser Poland, it was surrounded by a set of thick walls, separated every thirty meters by a sizeable tower.
After crossing the drawbridge that wasn't raised since the great turmoil almost two centuries ago, the entire procession passed through the majestic gate. While most of the nobles and rich citizens of the capital continued inside the castle grounds where the grand feast would take place, I followed the example of the commoners and lesser merchants and stepped aside.
There was no reason to waste the time on the feast if I could stock on the supplies that would give me any chance of improving the economy of my land! Additionally, from the detailed map of the area, I learned that my own fellowship was left in the suburbian tower along with the empty carriage. Thinking about this situation, I could only assume I used it to bring the royal gifts and taxes to the capital, but in the end, it was good I had a way to carry a greater amount of goods that what could be fitted to the saddles.
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Finally separated from the crowd, I could spend some time discovering the usabilities of the system. Regretfully, no matter how much I looked for such an option, there was no way to receive voice notifications that would bring this system a bit closer to a human companion, limiting me to the various flags appearing under the top bar listing the most critical resources and information about my own realm.
The more I played with the system, the more useful quirks of it I found. Starting with the ability to expand said bar almost endlessly to check out any resource that I could come up with and way more of those that would escape my attention, to the small options window that so far escaped my sight.
And it was the best finding I could ever hope for!
Starting with the personal status window akin to those I knew from the few RPG games I played with not only my basic statistics like vitality, agility or endurance but also a variety of other statuses ranging from the complete list of titles I held and ending at proficiency in all the skills that a noble could ever need.
At the same time, the bitterness coming from lack of the overall level that I could use as the gauge of the general strength of me or others was killed by the next window that I opened from this handy toolbar.
So far, no matter how thankful I was for the chance of living the life I always dreamed off, I had to admit that outside of vast knowledge about the future events and some general information that only a powerful spy network could gather… I was actually powerless!
Yes, my ideas could bring prosperity to my realm, but all of them required some unimaginable expanses of time to start working! I knew that about fifty stais east from the Tarnow, about halfway towards the major city of Lwow, there were several modest deposits of oil. Sounds like a jackpot, doesn't it?
But for my current self and the people living under my rule, it was worth as much as all the gold that continental Americas could hold. In theory, I could organise great expedition aimed at uncovering and importing said gold, but in reality, I would have to gain the permission from either Portugal or Spanish royalty to explore those areas, find brave navigators that would dare to sail to those places, fight my way through the natives towards the hinterlands of Americas…
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The list of challenges I would've to overcome to boost my economy with this foreign gold was almost as long as one filled with requirements to even start extracting the oil, not to speak about a way to make real use of it!
That's why, when I saw the word "crafting" on the toolbar, my heart jumped in joy. And when I actually saw its content, I thought that my jaw would fall as low as the bar of my excitement burst towards the skies!
With my current budget, creating any real industry that could serve as the backbone for the growth of my land, was simply impossible. Buying chickens, growing the size numbers of cows, breeding the horses… Without a specialistic knowledge in any of the fields that I would love to improve, I was limited to following the example of every other noble around me!
Not even my vast knowledge about future events would be of any real use!
The closest war in the area that I could influence would happen about two years from now, with the city of Gdansk, later known as the Danzig, rebelling against the rule of the new King, that would replace Henry after one and a half year of interregnum following Henry's escape from the country. Later on, the Muscovy would use the turmoil within the commonwealth to launch a powerful attack, aimed at conquering Latvia for the sake of gaining access to the Baltic ports… But what if I somehow informed the future King about this menace, without getting killed or forced into a monastery for heresy?
Would the Muscovy still dare to attack without the opportune chance to do so? After all, the Polish Crown was an actual behemoth in this day and age, and only constant warfare, rebellions and bad rulers not to speak about the degradation of the nobility or the diminishing of the royal power over the next two hundred years would bring the country to the point where it was unable to stand against its neighbours!
In fact, most of the historians agreed that even when compared to the tragedy of the second world war, the series of events starting with the great Cossack rebellion to the southern-east nearly seventy years from now and ending at the Swedish invasion so tragic that it ended up being nicknamed a deluge were actually far worse in the countrywide effects!
Can you imagine that? A war that swallowed millions of people destroyed innumerable cities and ended up with over fifty years of communist occupation, was still considered less harmful than what was about to happen in the next one hundred years!
But thinking about all of that was pointless right now. Armed with the knowledge of my system newly found capabilities, I looked towards the north, where a small trade city of Kleparz (Klepash for you, normal people unable to spell Polish words :D) was located.
With its fitting location at the northern gate of Krakow where the main road leads countless travellers and merchants to the Crown's hinterlands, it was one of the biggest trading hubs of the entire province.
That was where my journey to greatness would begin!
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Malevolent
Within a generation, the sky, once blue, bled a deep scarlet. Feral beasts roamed the lands and mutated men ravaged civilisations. They carved destruction in their wake. The spawning of new idols worshiped by cultists marked a terrible turn. Finally, a crippling insanity plagued the very few survivors left. Written in the journals of antiquity, lost in time, a scholar wrote: ‘This horrific cataclysm that we face was brought about by humans…’ However, these events are long gone. A longstanding peace has descended to Orbis. Yet, to spite the efforts of the saviours of yore, a progenitor of this calamity has been invited back by ritual. It seeks the return of these very ancient events. A silent peril is on the way.
8 71Glory? Honor?
We fight for Glory of our Nation. We must always act in a way that honor our Nation. Yet, does our nation honor us or do they glorify our deeds on the field of death. All the while ignoring who we really are? What we really achieve? I didn't want to be a nobody. Yet, I didn't want people to know all I was good for, was swinging my sword. Will the Goddess ever forgive me for doing what I felt was honorable? Will she offer me the same mercy I offer her subjects who went astray? Or will my name forever be riddle with curses. Glory and Honor is what made me a Knight. Love and fear is what made me fall.
8 132The Hellish Incursion Part I: Demon Dogs Conspiracy
When one journey starts, there is always one with a different path. Lilac Rezmirn thought that she would lead a dull life while waiting for her brother, Hans Rezmirn, to return with the glory and fame for being one of the pioneers who discovered a new land. However, she did not expect her life to follow a different adventure. Her fate was set when she met a lupine stranger who didn't look and act like a typical Lycan. She soon found that this lupine stranger, who had limited knowledge of her language, was in fact a hellhound, a humanoid lupine dweller of the Underworld in the Hollow Earth. Meeting the hellhound proved to be the start of her adventure. She met companions along the way, and she slowly discovered that the hellhound she met was involved in something sinister, which would undoubtedly changed the Continent of Ternor forever. This is the story of Lilac Rezmirn, sister of Hans Rezmirn, and Ifrit Schelkz, the lupine hellhound from the Underworld. The Hellish Incursion is a spin-off story set in Ternor which started several weeks after Hans and his friends reached Main Continent. It is part of the same continuity with 'Light Bane', but can be enjoyed without referring to the other series other than knowing who Hans Rezmirn is.
8 85Living as a Demon
Jonathan was living the life of a normal human male in modern-day society, until he was rudely awakened one night by a summoning circle that ripped him out of his reality and dumped him into a new world filled with magic, demons, and…mouthy young orphan girls?! Now Jonathan must navigate the trials of playing guardian to a preteen, learning to unlock his inner demon, and somehow managing to find a dang pair of pants! Welcome! I'm E.O. Tenkey; thank you for considering Living as a Demon, my third released work here on Royal Road (following Not a Manga and Mr. Familiar)! Let's set some expectations, shall we? • Not much hard profanity (chapter 1 is the exception!)• Human MC! Our protagonist is a bona fide homo sapiens. Which is not to say there won't be demons, demonic powers, and what-have-you, but this isn't some grimdark exploration of the life and times of a nihilistic, amoral killing machine.• Slice of life. My previous works always ended up there, so might as well get ahead of the curve!• Weekly updates, and a completed story: I will post a single chapter per week on Wednesdays until the story is complete (extra chapters are rare, but do happen).
8 121Short River Songs
This shall be a place to post my shorter tales and poemsWriting prompts from forum threads, or maybe little tomesWhen you’re done here, please check out my fiction, “Hero’s Song”For a novel, it’s quite short, but for a poem, quite long
8 75Escaping the Abyss
Genre specific: Crime/Mystery/Thriller/BLEditor: Waning_Crescents Synopsis: Chains, bottles of liquids were scattered across the dark room. If your hearing is sharp enough, you could hear screams echoing throughout the building. “Will I always be alone and remain caged in this hell?” ––– Dark clouds gather around the city, a mastermind in the shadows giving rise to turmoil and doubts. Blood and pain filling the streets. Mysteries arise that needs to be solved. Cal, a young investigator joins the Conciliators, an Organization that fights against crimes with...unusual methods. While rising to the occasion of his new occupation, he gets assigned to team up with a man that has a quite unpleasant attitude. “I won’t take responsibility for that, not again!” Tormented by the past, Sigal pursues a path of solitude until he is forced to team up with Cal to solve crimes. Regardless of their clashing personas, the two have to overcome their conflicts to unravel the mysteries that lie ahead and uncover the truth. “I won’t give up!” Blood splatters on the ground, while laughter in the distance can be heard. As Cal wakes up, he finds himself in a warm embrace.
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