The Dragon's Wrath: Shadows in the Flame (19 page)

Admiring the work that was taking shape, a real sense of pride was filling my chest and heart as I relaxed and enjoyed the moment. The little things in life needed to be enjoyed, the small successes that were achieved along the way.

The big picture, the big goal was great.

Yet, so too was the small goal.

Chapter 92: Growth

(Monday, January 3rd Game Day / Tuesday, May 4th Real Day)

“And now, it is complete,” I said with arms spread wide open, embracing the magnificence before me. “It’s beautiful, ain’t it?”

“Far too grand for a place like this,” mumbled Brodd as the bags under his eyes gave away his tired state of being. “I’ll be making furniture for the rest of the winter….’

“Sigurd… are we expecting more… visitors?” asked Katherine with some hesitation. When she heard that I had brought yet another female back with me she flew into a fit of jealousy and rage until she actually saw Annalie. She instantly cheered up after that.

As long as I wasn’t bringing players with me, she felt safe.

And if they were females, well, her confidence might have been coming around but that didn’t stop her from wondering. She was acting the part of a girlfriend all right, except my view on the matter was hardly the same.

She wasn’t real.

Whatever relationship had developed, there were no titles coming from me. She was an NPC Companion in every sense of the phrase. My attachment was there, I couldn’t stop that… still, I wouldn’t let it control me. My ideas on monogamous relations were slowly eroded by Selene’s efforts and now… she was no longer in our picture.

Maybe I haven’t really come to terms?
I thought to myself.

“Eventually people will come,” I said with a shake of my head to try and change my train of thought. “I want to be ready for them, that’s all.”

Enjoying the four-story building in all of its glory, the balcony was probably my favorite but wasn’t accessible at the moment as the stairs had yet to be finished. The attachment points were already there and the holes in the floor or ceiling had already been cut. All that was left, was for Brodd to carve up something fancy and elegant to fit the theme. He didn’t want to do it of course, but despite that he would have it done soon.

Soon enough, at least.

“Needs windows though,” I mumbled more to myself than to the people surrounding me. “And where is my Town promotion. Eh, this stupid game with its lack of details.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t quite understand the meaning behind your words,” inquired the nearly self-aware Katherine. “What do you mean, when you say promotion and game?”

Letting out a cough as I rubbed my throat, I pretended to have something caught as I played the fool. “Oh, mental slip… don’t mind me dear,” I said while turning away and walking towards the back side of the building. The fire-setting had worked miracles as the fractured rocks were extremely easy to remove once the pickaxes arrived and the end result was a nice smooth wall not too far from the building.

Small braces were extended out from the building and into the rock wall, serving as anchors to keep the building from leaning if a heavy storm or earthquake ever rolled through but in truth, there really was no need for it. In some ways it might have been detrimental as the interlocked structure was insanely sturdy already.

Tying it to the rocks might have denied it the slightest degree of movement and could lead to stress fractures if a strong quake did hit. Those thoughts left me wondering if the braces should be removed but so far, there had never been an earthquake in-game.

If the first was here in Dragon’s Breach, then be damned, that would be my luck.

Opening my [Menu] and browsing the tabs until I reached [General Information], the details that were displayed before me were rather simplistic as they had always been. It detailed the range of my territory which had plateaued at a rather sizeable ten miles, along with details of the number and type of buildings available. There were other details too but they were as inconsequential this time as they were the first time I opened the tab.

Viewing the list of unique buildings, I had completed a [Luxury Inn] by way of size according to the game’s brief description. That was nice and dandy but it didn’t bump me into the Town designation and my patience was starting to wear thin. Three large residences along with five fortified structures served as housing for the NPCs, with my minor cabin also counting as its own unique building too.

Next on the list was the farmhouse across the river with the recently expanded fields now roughly four acres in size, at an acre each. Each individual field was recorded in the system but only one counted towards the unique building count. Strangely the residences which were identical, each counted as a unique structure as far as the tabulation was concerned. Whether they counted or not was another matter altogether.

There was also the barn for the farm animals that Kaia maintained and that Roald conspicuously visited more often than not, then Ansgar’s and Enok’s blacksmithing shop along with the open market, Stigr’s shipyard, Gisli the bowyer’s shop, Horik’s leatherworking shop, Mari the weaver’s shop, Aesa’s shop for her apothecary business that had yet to produce, and Brodd’s carpentry workshop.

That was fifteen buildings at the very least and up to a potential twenty-one if every tower and lodge was added to the total. Ah, that was a large list already and yet after all that work, the village remained exactly that.

A village.

Was the magic number twenty-five perhaps?

Maybe it required a border larger than ten miles?

Or was my Reputation stat too low, even though it was one of the highest in the game by way of forum searching. The population was large… the buildings were there, everything was there.

“Bah! What am I missing?” I said as I racked my brain in an effort to figure it out. The only thing lacking… was a leisure-related building. The restaurant wasn’t finished as there was no kitchen and my original design had the kitchen being built in a separate building to contain any loose fires that might spread in an accident. The bathhouse had yet to take shape, there was no entertainment… in fact there was only industry, defense, and residences. It was a simple answer really.

Ah, how could I forget
? I thought to myself.

Caught up in the excitement of having finished the main building I forgot about the need for leisure-related buildings. The bathhouse and restaurant probably should have come first. I already recruited a cook with the first wave and even had barkeeps to serve as waitresses. The only thing missing was the obvious.

“Guys, we’re not done yet,” I said with a serious tone as dozens of people threw their hands up or shrugged their shoulders and sighed. “I promise, this building is specifically for the lot of you. It will be done quickly.”

After an hour of organizing the remaining wood and setting up a quick twenty by twenty structure, the roof was being assembled as I went down into the lodge and pulled the iron cauldron that had been brought back from Andal after I killed the Earl. Hauling the cauldron with it slung over a shoulder, stares of confusion followed me through the village as I made my way to the new structure.

The kitchen would need major revision but for now, I wanted to see if adding the final piece was enough to classify it as a functional restaurant. I needed to know the results, the end had to be near. I could taste it in the air.

With the roof finished, the twenty by twenty feet structure was now complete only eight feet away from the so called [Luxury Inn] but nothing had happened. The system message that prompted me every time a building was completed simply asked me to designate the type and that was it.

Looking at the [General Information] tab, a kitchen appeared on the unique building list but the restaurant that I was going for had yet to make an appearance. It wasn’t available as a designation either. Confused, I thought back to when I originally created the first tavern that was lost, and realized that the kitchen was connected.

Grabbing my axe and walking over to the [Luxury Inn], I stopped short of the western wall on the first floor that lined up nicely with the [Kitchen] eight feet away. Taking my axe and hacking away at the wood, I was creating a doorway in the side of the building that would connect the two. Smashing my way through with brute force and caring little for aesthetics at this point, I turned around and did the same to the kitchen structure.

Flash stepping over to the pile of logs, I grabbed one and tossed it over a shoulder then grabbed a second and walked my way back. Dropping the two logs down, I began to chop the rough thirty feet of log down into three sections of eight with the extra left on the side. Taking my six newly cut eight foot logs, I dropped three down on either side of the doorway to create a path.

Repeating the process four more times and completing the roof as the rest of the populace sat and stared, I finished the enclosed hallway that joined the two buildings in roughly ten minutes as a system prompt came up on my screen.

[A building has been modified, do you wish to make changes?]

[Yes / No]

Selecting [Yes], I waited for the next message.

[A previously designated Kitchen has been attached to a previously designated Luxury Inn, do you wish to modify the Interior Room Designations?]

[Yes / No]

Selecting [Yes] once again, my mind and heart were racing in anticipation.

Filling my view was a list of potential selections that included the [Restaurant] that I had so desperately wanted. Filled with excitement as I believed this to be it, I selected it.

[A previously Unclassified Room within the Luxury Inn has been designated as a Restaurant. The Restaurant has been classified as a Unique Building.]

[Do you wish to confirm these changes?]

[Yes / No]

Selecting [Yes] for the last time, I was greeted with a flood of other system messages as a massive beam of golden light shined down over the entirety of Dragon’s Breach. As if the entire settlement had leveled up… well, it actually did.

It really did, this was it.

This was it!

My eyes wide with excitement, I stared up at the sky while a hundred or more faces turned with me to watch as the golden beam engulfed and swallowed us whole. Filling us all with its warmth, the cold chill of winter was washed away in an instant as we relaxed and enjoyed the moment. Five seconds later and the light left us, returning our Village back to its normal state, except now it was a Town.

[Congratulations!]

[Due to meeting the Requirements for Settlement Progression, the Territory Designation: Village has automatically been upgraded from a Village to a Town.]

[Information within the Land Management Tab has been Updated.]

[New Options have been Unlocked within the NPC-Recruiter.]

[Information within the NPC-Recruiter Tab has been Updated.]

[Due to Settlement Progression, Settlement Level has increased. Lower Level Settlements can now be incorporated within your territory or near your border. Details are provided within the Pacts, Treaties & Terms Tab.]

[Information within the Pacts, Treaties & Terms Tab has been Updated.]

[Due to meeting the Requirements for Settlement: Town, use of a new Title has been granted. The Earl of Dragon’s Breach is now available for use.]

[The Earl of
Town Name
: As the ruler of a sizeable territory, you receive a permanent bonus +50 Reputation points. Usage Rights of the Title can be lost due to Abandonment or Loss of the Settlement: Town. Bonus Reputation will be retained regardless.]

[This bonus is granted to those who meet the Requirements.]

[Do you wish to make your Town known?]

[Yes / No]

Quickly selecting [No] as I had no interest in players spawning in my Town, I was ready to explore the differences in the Menu but another series of system messages kept me occupied for a minute longer.

[Your Town will not be known as a Starter Location.]

[If you wish to change this at any time, please check the corresponding Tab.]

[Information within the Land Management Tab has been Updated.]

Waiting for another system message to appear, I waited for nothing as another minute passed and silence remained. My visual field no longer filled with messages, my chat log instead contained the history for me to check as needed.

“Hell yeah!” I shouted when it was all said and done, no longer holding in my excitement. Reaching over and grabbing Kate, I kissed her for the hell of it and jumped for joy as the others looked on with curious eyes.

Not understanding the reason for my happiness, they simply watched and smiled with amusement as I began to dance. Finally, after all the hard work, the long hours sweating it out in the cold, and the insane patience required… it was done.

We had finally achieved the status of a real Town.

I was an actual Earl now, by Title.

“Haha!” I laughed out as I picked Kate up and twirled her around. “Today is a great day! A feast, prepare a feast!”