The World of Tactics

Chapter Twenty-Four III: A Conspiracy

"I am Alex, an orphan. I wander the slums until one day. I found a newly titled lord gearing up for my newly granted fief. It was Sir Roylis Smith. I secretly follow from behind, eating grass, and drinking dew. Until one day, Sir Roylis Smith found that I was secretly following their band. I was not shunned but welcomed and granted a few pieces of land to grow crops.

I was immensely happy to be accepted and I have survived for many years since then. Since then, I have felt that there is no purpose in life. Wife-less and childless, I was not popular nor good-looking. With smelly teeth and a slow mind, I only know the difference between hunger fulfillment and the need for sleep. But, I was content.

Content until a few weeks prior, I was scrambling for my life. A farmer that turned into a soldier and I have a realization. I was not born to live peacefully like a farmer, but to become a soldier that marches to war. My heart burns like fire and it can not be stopped. I just want to do what my heart wants me. Stronger, I was destined to fight in battle."

---

A few moments later, with a little walk at speed, the short passage opened up to a room. The reason why he had a speed walk was due to his increased hearing. He hears the murmurings and talking of the straight ahead. It was likely a gathering of other people and he was right. In front of him was Henry along with two soldiers and within a gathering of two dozen people. Behind Henry was an open door and to his left side was also another open door.

Henry approached him, but he did not even notice because there were two tiny figures huddling in the corner of the room. It was Hugo and Savannah. He finally found the two. His heart leaped in happiness while staring at the two. He took the very first shaky step forward, then a much more stable step. Within a split second, he was already before the two. Hugo's eyes stared at him with a strange, calculating mindset, but he almost cried his eyes out when he saw the blank look on Savannah's face. There was no emotion in its eyes at all and it was pretty dull compared to other people. Even Dork's eyes seemed livelier than Savannah's current blank stares at him.

His eyes were reddened and he was about to hug the two, but little Savannah was much quicker than Hugo. Even if little Savannah was traumatized by the experience, her habits remain. Savannah was already hugging his left leg with a blank look that stared back at him. It was only now that Hugo finally realized who he was. That was right, he was who Hugo thought he was. He was their older brother! It had been a year, but his figure was about as tall as an average adult and how muscularly toned he had become. Even his clothing was ragged which was unlike the ones that he was used to wearing. It was no wonder how Hugo remained confused until now.

He had almost shed tears in front of his younger siblings, but he remained strong and emitted his 'elderly brother' aura. He just smiled as the dim room barely gave off and his eyes were already glistening and reddening. Savannah's next sentence almost broke his façade, "Hugo. Found, big, brother!"

Her voice closely resembled the same little voice within his memory, but the structure of her cute little words had such a meaningful impact that he could not even begin to describe. The two had suffered. Before Hugo could utter any word, he had already hugged Hugo in his right arm, and in his left hand, he was patting Savannah's head. Hugo was already tearing up and the cries Hugo had already attracted dozens of other people's attention. The same goes for the approaching Henry and the soldiers.

The reunion lasted for fifteen minutes before Hugo finally stopped crying at the looks that Savannah was giving. By now, he reckons that it is starting to get dark. The thought of going back to the village has to wait until tomorrow morning. As explained by Henry, all of the villagers were happy knowing that it was safe again within the village now that all of the undead monsters were eliminated. Of course, the credits go to him and Lawrence. Other than that, he also had taken the chance to talk to Savannah and Hugo. The two were still cautious and he could only slowly open up his heart to him again.

The result was that the two did not utter a single word to him. His heart just froze and panicked. He was utterly devastated. This was not the result that he was aiming for. It was not until Henry came and grabbed him for a talk that he finally stopped bothering Hugo and Savannah. So, he carried on into a room where he and Henry could talk in private.

A few stops here and there later on.

Henry finally stops in a room that has a proper desk, a single bed, some chairs, and tables. He sat at the opposite end while staring at Henry. He could feel Henry's complete despair that he just barely found hope in the depths of Henry's eyes.

Henry was the first to speak, "My lord, I am honored." With a slight pause of stress and depression, Henry continued, "This has been the best of my time, here. I-I hope to give you some information."

Henry paused and he could feel that Henry was still looking for the right word to form a sentence, "Your father was the strongest person I have ever met." Staring sadly at him, Henry said, "A few weeks before. Well, it was a few months ago. Captain Froggers finally found out your father had turned into an undead..."

Henry was quite hesitant but still marched on, "At first, w-we couldn't believe it, but one investigation led to another. The truth finally came out." At this point, Henry's voice became lower, "Captain Froggers had secretly sent a letter to the capital as the last resort. We had also carefully crafted a rescue plan."

Henry continues to recall, "The reinforcement came quickly after the letter was sent. It only took five days. The reinforcement was unusually large in number along with a strange dark mage." Henry's eyes began to burn with hatred, "It was the dark mage!"

*Pant* *Pant* *Pant*

Henry was grasping in anger, before calming down to continue the story, "We were ambushed from all sides, a-an... but I was lucky to escape."

Due to Henry's anger and grasping, he could only remember the general gist of the important part of the information. Otherwise, he realized that the rescue plan was a failure. The mastermind was a dark mage and he had a candidate, who was Victor. He felt a little glad that he got rid of Victor. Then he turns his attention and seriously continues to listen to Henry.

The story was closing to the end, but Henry persisted, "Afterward, I-I cowardly left all of the others behind." A look of looming regret appeared on Henry's face for the longest time, "These are the family members of my squad along with a few other villagers that managed to escape." Henry then left a final warning, "Beware, the higher up is suspicious. They are corrupted by the evil darkness."

At this point, he could feel that Henry had recovered a lot from the event and he could only sigh at how many changes there had been within a year. On the other hand, he had always thought of the warm welcoming of his family. Of his home and accompanied by the laughter of the villagers. Along with the pleasant, shiny, golden days until old age. Who could ever have thought that life could turn out like this? He would never have thought of it.

The dinner for the night was a thin soup of rice and some potatoes. Nobody complained because of the additional meat strips that tasted good. Of course, the meat strips were still warm and appetizing since they came from his inventory. For tonight, he was also preparing himself to be the first few night watchers. This is the wild and anything could happen, so a few night watchers are still stationed. Even with Henry's suggestion that a lord such as he would not need to do any night watching, he thought differently than those within this one-sided thinking process. That a noble would need not bother doing such things or certain low things.

As for Hugo and Savannah, he had already taken care to make sure that the two got some proper rest before the morning came. It might not be easy for the two since the two are still thin and weak. Naturally, he wanted the best for the two, which is why he was also willing to be the first to be one of the night watchers. He stationed himself on one of the towers that were side near the gate, he was partnered with a soldier. The soldier was Alex, who was level fifteen.

Compared to a standard military discipline and weapon mastery rank, Alex was completely unable to match, but he found it quite surprising that Alex even still had an uncommon overall growth rate. After all, a class change might have some side benefits to the overall stats, but their growth rate is shortened by a few points. If Alex kept on changing classes later down the line, even if Alex were to level up. There would barely be any improvements to Alex's growth rate. Alex's status screen is listed below:

[Name: Alex][Class: Soldier (Grade 2)][Level: 15/35][Rank: 1][HP: 15/15] +3

[STR: 6(20) / [1][2][3][4][5][6][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] ] +1

[MAG: 0(10) / [][][][][][][][][][] ] +0

[SKL: 4(20) / [1][2][3][4][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] ] +1

[SPD: 5(20) / [1][2][3][4][5][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] ] +1

[LCK: 2(30) / [1][2][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] ] +0

[DEF: 5(20) / [1][2][3][4][5][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] ] +1

[RES: 1(10) / [1][][][][][][][][][] ] +0

[Hidden: [CON: 12][MOV: 6][SKILL: [Class Changed]][EXP: 3/100][WEA: Lance E]

[Growth Rate][HP: 31 (32-1)][STR: 29 (30-1)][MAG: 0][SKL: 21 (23-2)][SPD: 27 (30-3)][LCK: 16 (20-4)][DEF: 23 (24-1)][RES: 11 (16-5)]

[Equip: Wooden Lance (14/15)]

[Wooden Lance (Crude): Might +1, Hit+80, Crit+0, Weigh=2.0, Durability: 15/15 (Lance E)]

[Class Changed (Forced, Villager, Soldier): Change class to soldier, from a villager. (Permanent effect: HP+3. STR+1. SKL+1. SPD+1 DEF+1. All Growth Rates -1~5.)]

He sneaked out some hot meat strips and handed a couple to Alex and went back to gnawing on his own. This should be able to help Alex fight off the night cold for a bit. As for him, he got the benefit of peace and inner quietness to think of things. Even while staring at the vines that were not moving, the shuffling tree leaves from the night winds and the echoing sounds of life from all around nature. His mind wandered back to what he saw with his two younger siblings' status. He did not know if this was just a blessing in disguise or something, but he was not happy even though the two gained something out of it.

[Alex - A natural birth from a father of a barbarian and a mother of a human. The blood of the great barbarian courses through his veins. He was the result of two indecent beings that were careless of the consequences. His true mother was a p********e, while his father was just a regular customer of his true mother. His true mother never admitted that she was his true mother, instead, she labeled herself as an older sister of his. At the age of five, his true mother cast him away into the slums. He was slow, but lucky and survived. He had a great amount of pure barbarian blood hidden within his veins. Joined the main character during the start of the turbulence and later became an incomparable veteran.]