Chapter 9
“You want me to kill it?” Mahini breathed.
“Of course,” I told her. “You may have killed the creatures that actually killed the Golden Swords, but this creature gave them the orders. They will not be truly avenged until the leader is cut down, once and for all.”
“W-Well, yes, but…” The desert woman looked at me with wonder in her blue eyes. “That honor should belong to you, Great One.”
“I’m already a god,” I said as I shook my head. “This is my gift to you. Elrin won’t care who lopped the goblin’s head off as long as we bring it back to him.”
I took several long steps back and left Mahini standing in front of the simpering goblin.
“Avenge your family, Mahini,” I said to her as I covered the door.
The dark-haired goddess stared at me for a long moment before her expression turned fierce. Every memory of the Golden Swords seemed to flicker in her eyes, and when she finally turned to face the pitiful goblin leader, she stood as strong as a mountain.
I shuddered at the faint sound of her leather-clad fingers gripping the hilt of her sword. The desert warrior woman was a force to be reckoned with, and I was so glad she was mine.
“This is for my family,” Mahini whispered as she lifted her sword.
The goblin couldn’t understand her, and its eyes filled with terror as it finally realized what was happening. It gabbled at me, but when the sword finally whipped through the air, the creature’s piercing wails were cut off like a record yanked off a turntable.
Black sludge splattered the ground and oozed from the decapitated body as it slumped over, and the severed head rolled across the room until it rested against my boot.
The copper mine was free of goblins at last.
“Well, that was fun,” I joked as I nudged the severed head with my toe. “What should we do with all the bodies?”
“Leave them,” Mahini suggested as she wiped her sword on the headless body. “The villagers will be awed by the prowess you have shown here.”
“Hey, come on, I didn’t do this alone.” I gestured to the pile of bodies the desert goddess had created. “We cleared this place out together as a team. I couldn’t have done it without you.”
“Don’t flatter me, Great One.” A radiant smile lit up Mahini’s face, and her cheeks darkened with a blush. “You would have defeated all of the goblins as easily as you slaughtered the kobold horde. I was merely your backup.”
I shook my head but didn’t try to argue with her. In a way she was right. It might have taken me another few thousand tries, but I would have eventually cleared out the mine without her assistance. Her humility was endearing and added to all of the other wonderful qualities about her.
After I snatched up the lead goblin’s head, I led the way back through the mine. When we reached the room where I got my feather sword, the two of us spent some time organizing the crates of ore to bring back with us, and since we had left a mess of bodies in the tunnels, it was the least we could do.
I put the severed head and Jax’s sword into one of the crates and placed it onto another crate with copper ore. Mahini grabbed the chest of copper coins, and she led the way down the tunnel. She tossed her cargo across the gaping hole and easily leaped after it.
“You will have to toss everything one at a time,” she said. “Empty the crates and throw them first.”
“Sounds good,” I said, and I created another save point just in case I fell in the chasm while trying to jump over it.
It was a bit of an annoyance having to chuck the severed head and each individual rock across the chasm, but it was better than overreaching and one of us getting impaled on the spikes below. Once we got a rhythm going it all went much smoother, and the whole process took maybe five minutes or so.
I cleared the gap, grabbed the two crates again, and then led the way to the entrance of the tunnel. I paused long enough to grab the other crate of copper ore from earlier before turning and heading back out into the open sky.
The sun had gone down while we were in the mine, and since neither of us had an empty hand, we would have to travel to the town in the dark. The moon and stars overhead gave us just enough light to see the winding path, and since I was such a grade A badass now, I wasn’t worried about nocturnal beasties coming to gnaw on us while we walked. We would just kill anything that moved and be on our way.
The air was clean and delicious with the scent of rain, and I took several deep gulps to get the smell of goblin blood out of my nose. It was hard to tell exactly what time it was, and since I had respawned so many times, I knew my internal clock was all out of whack, but I guessed we had been fighting goblins for several hours at least.
“We should hurry back to town,” Mahini suggested as she stepped to my side. “I don’t want to be out in the open when the rain hits.”
“Are storms really bad here?” I asked and followed her as she started down the trail to the plains.
She shrugged. “I don’t think they are. Kotar sandstorms were worse than anything I have experienced while living here.”
“Ugh, I can’t even imagine a sandstorm.” I was lucky to have never experienced one back home, and I really didn’t want to. “The worst I’ve ever lived through is a pretty weak hurricane, and I thought it was amazing.”
“What is a hurricane?” the dark-haired beauty asked.
We trekked along the path as I did my best to explain what a hurricane was. Those blue eyes of hers widened when I told her the difference between a hurricane and a cyclone, and she had so many questions about meteorology that I could barely answer. The conversation lasted nearly the entire walk back, and since we couldn’t jog this time, it took us nearly half an hour.
“So a tsunami is a big wave, a tornado is a tube of wind, and a hurricane is like a tornado but over the water?” she asked once I’d finished explaining.
“Yeah, pretty much,” I said with a nod. “There were sandstorms, too, but the people that lived there had adapted to the climate so well that I never heard of someone dying in one.”
Or maybe those kinds of deaths just weren’t broadcasted like hurricanes and tsunamis were. I left that part out of the conversation because I really didn’t want to try to explain television to the bright young woman.
Mahini’s mind was insatiable. I was going to have to be careful what I said around her, or I was going to be trying to explain physics and other things I had limited knowledge of.
A shout rang through the air as the town came into view, and within a minute, the makeshift gates were glowing with torchlight and the people of the town surged onto the path. Several people were waving their arms, but most of the townspeople were murmuring to one another. The hum of their conversation vibrated through the air, and I could feel it long before I could make out individual faces in the crowd.
“You have returned so quickly, Great One!” one of the men shouted. His name was Myron, and I recalled that he had lost his brother to the goblins during an attempt at taking back the mine. “You’re covered in blood. Are you injured?”
I smiled at the man and shook my head as I placed the crates down at my feet. A few of the townspeople leaned forward to look inside, and they must have seen the severed head because they gasped.
“The monsters are no more!” I shouted so the people in the back could hear me, and then I grabbed the severed head by the ear and held it over my head. “Here is the leader of the goblins!”
The cheering that split the air caused my eardrums to pop. The ground began to shake as the townspeople surged forward, and soon there were hands grasping me from all directions as the people sobbed and chanted my title. I braced myself with the expectation that they would hoist me onto their shoulders like the people do in sports games, but the townspeople were content to let me keep my feet on the ground.
“The mercenary has coins!” a shrill voice rose above the loud cheering.
And then everyone was celebrating for an entirely new reason.
The welcome was better than I could have imagined. I knew that the townspeople would be thrilled to know the mine was free of goblins, but I never expected the amount of joy filling every face. I figured the mine was only a small step in the right direction when looking at the big picture. It had been out of commission for such a long time that it would take a while before the copper trade brought any revenue in.
But these people were acting as though I had brought back every little thing that they could need to survive. It didn’t seem to matter that they were close to rationing food or that general house supplies were extremely limited. To them, the clearing of the mine solved all of their problems.
I had brought back their hope, and that really was all they needed.
“Welcome back, Great One,” Elrin said as he approached from within the crowd. The lines around his eyes crinkled in the torchlight as he grinned, and the sparkle in his eyes made him look ten years younger. “I cannot begin to tell you how pleased I am that you have been successful.”
I scanned the crowd for a splash of red, but it didn’t look like Elissa was invited to my homecoming, so I returned my eyes to Elrin and raised an eyebrow. “And our deal?”
The town leader gave me a knowing smile. “It is an honor to join your name to our family, Great One. Elissa’s hand now belongs to you.”
I grinned and resisted the urge to pump my fists. It probably wouldn’t be the most sophisticated reaction to getting engaged, although I doubted anyone in this town would even know what I’m doing to judge me for it.
Holy shit. I just got engaged.
Before I could really process the thought, a gentle tap on my armored shoulder pulled my focus outward. Mahini stood beside me with the chest of coins and the crate with the severed head and Jax’s sword.
I made a quick save point, just in case, and then removed the severed head from the crate. With a nod to Mahini, I turned and held the head out to Elrin.
“From one leader to another,” I said as I tried to make some kind of ceremony out of the presentation. “Your mine now belongs to you once more.”
The town leader grabbed the severed head by its other ear and the two of us lifted it over our heads. The cheering of the townspeople increased dramatically, and I wouldn’t have been surprised if someone could hear it a hundred miles away.
“The Great One has vanquished the evil that took over our mines!” Elrin shouted over the cheering, and everyone quieted down as he continued. “My daughter, Elissa, will be wed to our savior tomorrow evening!”
And with that, the cheering reached a fevered pitch. I clapped my hands over my ears and laughed as I was once again surrounded by the townspeople.
Elrin led Mahini and I into the center of the town and then went to work organizing the townspeople into a long line that snaked through the streets. When the first woman stepped up to thank me for saving the town and clearing the mine, I had a sudden idea.
“Here,” I said and flipped open the lid of the chest of coins. The chest was filled to the brim with the flat orange coins, and I knew that there was at least enough for each person to get a handful of coins. “I know it isn’t much, but I want you to have this.”
I may as well have given the woman a flawless diamond from the way she held the coins to her chest.
“Oh, bless you, Great One,” she said as she grasped my hand. “Bless you!”
It took well over an hour to distribute the coins to the town’s population of about forty people. Each person got fifteen coins, and when I included Mahini, Elrin, and Elissa’s shares, there were only four coins left. Both Mahini and Elrin tried to force me to take their portions, but I turned them down.
“I’m a god, remember?” I grinned at them. “Most people will just give me what I want because I’m so awesome.”
“You will receive Elissa’s share as part of her dowry,” Elrin said in a tone that allowed no argument. “I would also like to give you another gift, Great One, that will serve you well in your endeavors.”
The man gestured for me to follow, and after I grabbed Jax’s sword and the near-empty chest, I trotted after him with Mahini at my side. Elrin led us through the streets to his house, but then he turned right down one of the side roads. The buildings here were all boarded-up, and we came to a stop before the last one in the row on the left.
“It isn’t much, but I thought you would want your own home if you are to live with us,” Elrin said.
The house was a small two-story building made of bright wood that told me it was one of the newer houses. The windows on the lower floor were all shattered, but the door was still sitting in its frame and there didn’t seem to be any holes in the roof.
The inside was a little worse for wear. The entire first room was filled with holes in the floor and charred bits of the ceiling caved in. There was no furniture in the main room, and the dining table I could see through an archway was missing two of its legs. I didn’t trust the second floor to hold my weight so I wasn’t about to go investigating up there.
“This has the least amount of damage.” Elrin’s voice was small and wounded, as though he knew I wasn’t exactly impressed with what I was being offered. “I will bring proper beds from my home as gifts, and I’m sure others in town would be happy to supply you with whatever else you may need, Great One.”
I admit that if I had been given the choice, I would have wanted a house as large as Elrin’s, but a house wasn’t actually part of the agreement, and I knew the value of the gift he was giving me. If I could get Jax and some of the other men to help with getting new lumber, it wouldn’t take too long to get the place looking as good as new.
I wasn’t much of a DIYer, but a little home repair never hurt anyone.
“It’s great, Elrin, thank you,” I said as I turned to the man. “This will make a better base of operations than the Inn.”
“You will still need to visit Torya if you wish to bathe,” Mahini pointed out from the arch to the dining room. “Hers is the only building in the town that has hot water.”
“We could always do it the long way, though, right?” I asked. “With a fire and a big tub?”
“You could,” Elrin conceded, “but the nearest source of water is Jax’s stream, and that’s across town from here.”
“Torya’s it is,” I concluded.
Elrin left after that to organize moving the beds from his house, and Mahini offered to return Jax’s sword to the blacksmith. The desert goddess promised to come back after a hot bath at the Inn to help me come up with a plan for the following day. It was late, and I was ready to crawl into bed with my beautiful warrior woman, consummate our bond, and celebrate our victory over the goblins..
I walked through the house taking inventory of my new belongings and making a mental note of all the furnishings I would require. The first level had a very basic floorplan. The living room was right off of the entrance with a dining room through an archway at the back. The kitchen was through the dining room on the left, and a small empty room sat at the front of the house off of the living room. An empty doorway at the foot of the stairs led to a short hallway and a larger room. From the empty dresser, I guessed that it was the master bedroom.
I assumed that the upper floor was smaller than the lower floor, and it probably had at least two bedrooms. I would know for sure once we patched up the worst of the damaged wood.
Mahini returned after about twenty minutes, and I made a new save point as I walked around and told her everything I had decided to fix right away. The entire floor of the living room and about a third of its ceiling would have to be torn out and rebuilt. The kitchen was okay except for its windows, and the dining room would need chairs and two legs for the table. The master bedroom would need half of its floor ripped up and all of its windows replaced.
Glass panes weren’t something that was available at just any store. It was a rare commodity that required artisanship in the same sense as iron or a sword but using sand instead of metal. I suspected that the technology to make single panes didn’t even exist so most windows were made of smaller shapes held together by strips of iron like the lattice in castle windows.
If I could convince Elrin to help me build my own castle, I could die a very happy man.
The promised beds arrived shortly after we had finished walking around the house, but they refused to let me help them get it into the master bedroom.
“I love being me,” I said as I watched them set up the beframe.
After they had left, I ducked out of the house to get my own hot bath at Torya’s, and it was pure bliss to scrub the dirt, blood, and sweat off after the long hours fighting in the tunnels.
Dinner was a simple affair, and I got to show off some of my domestic talents to Mahini. The warrior-woman assisted me in cleaning and chopping some vegetables she had picked up on the way back from her bath, but I was the one who actually cooked everything down into a hearty stew. The fresh meat was supplied by one of the young hunters of the town, and it seemed to melt in my mouth when I took that first bite.
The broth was a little on the thicker side, and it had a nice smooth texture. It was a little salty, but there was also a hint of spice that reminded me a bit of pepper. The meat had a smokiness to it that filled my nose, and it was coated with an even more intense kick than the broth. The potatoes and carrots were cooked down until they practically dissolved in my mouth, and each bite left me feeling warm and fuzzy.
The storm broke over the town just as we finished our meal. I listened to the pounding on the roof and waited for any telltale dripping that would indicate some holes. The building stood its ground against the rain and wind, and the house didn’t even groan as I would have expected.
“We have a long day ahead of us,” I said as I stood up from the table.
“Yes,” Mahini agreed as she took my plate. “You will be married to Elissa in the evening.”
“To the victor go the spoils,” I said.
“You aren’t just a victor,” Mahini said. “You are a god. You deserve her. She is beautiful.”
In less than twenty-four hours, I was going to be married to a gorgeous redhead, and I would be bringing her back here to make her mine. The whole idea was a bit strange since I didn’t even have a girlfriend back home, but I couldn’t possibly be upset at the turn of events. Knowing that I would get to wake up beside Elissa and Mahini every morning was enough to make my chest swell with delight.
I wondered if I could find some other women in need of saving in the future?
The bed Elrin had delivered was about the size of a queen, and although the mattress was lumpy compared to what I was used to in my old life, it was still very soft and inviting when I laid on it. The linens had been provided by one of the nice ladies of the town, and there were enough pillows on the bed that I could have made an awesome pillow fort and still have a few left over.
I made a new save point when I crawled into bed, and then I noticed Mahini started making herself comfortable on the floor.
“What do you think you’re doing?” I asked her, and I arched an eyebrow when she looked up at me in the dim light. “You’re not sleeping on the floor.”
“You are a man about to be wed,” she said with a furrowed brow. “It would be inappropriate for me to share your bed with you tonight.”
“No,” I sighed. “I’m a god who wishes to make love to his woman. Come join me, and I’ll give you pleasure for the rest of the night.”
“Great One…” Mahini sighed in the darkness. “I… This… The… I feel for you. My heart beats quickly when you look at me, and… I want to give myself to you. It’s just been so fast. This morning, I barely knew who you were, and now… I wish to spend every moment with you for the rest of my life. I wish to serve you. I wish to be your wife, just as Elissa will soon be, but can I beseech you for a few more days to collect my thoughts in my head? Between the death of my family, you saving the town and gifting me with the vengeance I craved, and… telling me you love me. I--”
“I understand,” I sighed. “I’ve kinda forgotten that you just really met me this morning. Feels like it’s been years for me, and I know everything about you, but you don’t know that much about me.”
“I know enough to know my feelings for you are pure,” Mahini said as she bowed her head to me slightly. “I am yours, Great One, and if you really want… you can take me tonight, but… I would--”
“It’s fine, Mahini,” I chuckled. “I can go a few days before I make love to you for the first time. I want you to be happy.”
“Thank you, Great One,” Mahini whispered. “I feel foolish for asking for a bit more time, since I do feel this intense love for you, and the way you look at me makes my skin heat and my legs tremble, but--”
“You don’t have to explain anything more,” I said as I patted the bed again, “but… it’s also inappropriate for a woman to sleep on the floor when there’s more than enough room for her up here. I’ll let you be so you can sleep, but if you are feeling frisky, you just have to roll over and start riding me. Okay? I won’t mind.”
“You tease, Great One,” the dark-haired beauty replied, and though it was hard to tell in the darkness, I could have sworn her cheeks were flushed. “I will do as you ask, just for tonight.”
The bed rustled as the desert goddess slipped under the covers beside me. She kept to the very edge on her side, but her woodsy scent so close to me was enough to get me excited. Her breathing was hitched as she laid down, and I ran my fingers down her back before we both sighed.
“Goodnight, Mahini,” I said as I rolled over to face away from her.
“Goodnight, Great One,” she whispered back.
Dawn rose in a watery light as the last of the storm ran its course. The rain had done little to interrupt the wedding preparations that had the women of the town in an absolute frenzy. The center of the town was quickly transformed into a sitting area for the entire population, and an elegant wedding arch sat on a raised dais.
“What about the other guy?” I asked Elrin as he oversaw the preparations. “Wasn’t the duke’s son on his way?”
The town leader let out a deep sigh. “Yes, well... He is not going to be happy with this outcome, but my promise to him was for clearing the mine, just as I promised to you.” The man shrugged. “You defeated the goblins first, therefore you get to marry my wonderful daughter.”
“Simple, I like it.” I grinned.
The duke’s son had written that he would arrive tomorrow night, but I wondered if he would be late. From the various conversations I’ve had with the villagers here, Lucian had a large foot-army that would need to rest frequently, and it also sounded like the Duke of Bullard was in no rush to save the small town. If his son arrived to find the place destroyed, then the kid could just turn around and go back home. They would lose nothing by taking their time.
I got bored of watching everyone work on wedding stuff, so I left the mayor to continue the preparations, and then I made my way back to my house. Jax and some of the townsmen were supposed to be meeting me there to discuss the amount of lumber that would need to be harvested for the repairs. The whole process was going to be absolutely fascinating because I had never seen the archaic methods of carpentry before. Afterall, there were no chainsaws in this world to chop down a tree.
“Axe or bust, baby,” I said to myself.
Most of the townspeople had heard by then that I had been given a house and were bending over backward to help me get whatever I needed. Before I had even made it to the end of the main street, I was laden down with baskets for storing things in, some extra pillows, a set of cookware and eating utensils, and three vases for flowers. I returned to the house to drop off my new belongings, and the people started following me to offer me more gifts.
By the time the men arrived to help with the lumber, it felt like my new home was the most lavishly decorated in the entire town. I had to put most of the offerings into the small front room, and even then the gifts were piling out into the living room.
I really was a god to them.
The men were raring to go when they finally arrived. Two of them were well-versed in logging, and they had a much better plan of action than I did. While they explained to the others how many trees we would need and which trees would be best, I listened carefully and thought about the new skill I was about to learn. If I saved before we started felling the trees, I could impress the townsmen by taking down a tree in one swing or something.
I set up a new save point at the outskirts of town and grabbed myself an axe with the rest of the men. We paired up for most of the trees and had to tackle the larger trees in groups of four. It was grueling work swinging that axe around, and I quickly became tired as I overtaxed myself trying to take out a tree in as few hits as possible.
Chime.
As soon as I got the rhythm down of where to land my axe, the work became invigorating. I loved the way the impact vibrated up my arms, and I could practically feel the extra weight in my body just melting away. With all of the physical activity I was putting myself through, I was bound to start shedding pounds like a dog sheds its winter coat. If I ever did make it back to my own world someday, I would probably return looking like a cover model for Men’s Health magazine.
Chime.
I respawned at least a dozen times during the tree felling process as I learned more about what I was doing. Each time I respawned I spent time learning the best techniques from each of the men before restarting, and I just restarted when I had mastered the perfect swing. Finally, the men shared looks of awe as I selected the perfect trees each time, and when I managed to hit the mark every time, I earned myself claps on the shoulders.
They liked that I was a god that didn’t mind getting his hands dirty. There was no higher form of respect than what I got from those men.
The day passed quickly with the forestry work we did. By the time the sun was sitting low in the sky, the men were all teasing me about the wedding that was about to take place. There were no bachelor activities in this world, but one of the men did disappear for a while and return with a canteen filled with a very strong kind of alcohol. The canteen was passed around the group, and the drink felt like some kind of initiation.
I truly belonged to the town at that moment.
On the way back from the tree field, I stopped at the Inn for a hot bath before the wedding. I still wasn’t used to not having a tub in my own home, but I always enjoyed the short conversations with Torya. Despite all of her recent grief, her brilliant smile just seemed to light up the room.
The seamstress, Bellona, arrived at my house with a finely made outfit to wear for the wedding. None of it looked anything like a tuxedo from my world, but even I could appreciate the high quality of the clothing given to me. The only bit of clothing different from what I was already wearing was a kind of overcoat that Bellona called a doublet. It was made of some kind of soft green material, and there was very fine gold stitching to create a lattice-type pattern. The sleeves were kind of poofy at the shoulders, but the forearms were straight and form-fitting.
I looked fucking amazing when I figured out how to put it on.
“Elissa is a lucky girl,” the blonde seamstress sighed. “Oh, if only I were twenty years younger.”
I laughed and held my arm out to the woman. She accepted with a formal curtsey and allowed me to escort her to the town center.
The wedding was similar to the few I had attended back home except that there was no bridal party for my side. There was some local tradition involving the bride and some other young ladies, but I hadn’t been told anything about it so I assumed I wouldn’t be involved.
As soon as I stood beside Elrin on the raised dais, the air was filled with a peaceful melody played on a flute and what sounded like a violin. After a few measures of music, five women in flowing red dresses appeared at the opposite end of the dais. Their faces were completely covered by thick veils, and they were all about the same height. They waited another few measures before making their way to the dais in a single file.
The five women eventually stood on the dais with one close enough for me to touch. With a nod from Elrin, I drew back the veil covering the young woman’s face, and Elissa greeted me with one of her dazzling smiles.
“Hello, Sebastian,” she purred.
“Hello, yourself,” I purred right back.
The beautiful redhead giggled, and the two of us turned to Elrin to begin the ceremony.
But just before the man could get out so much as a “Dearly Beloved,” the air was split with what sounded like someone smashing two trashcan lids together.
“What the fuck?” I turned around again and saw that I wasn’t too far off with the trash cans.
At the end of the aisle that Elissa had just walked stood a muscular man with brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. He carried a wooden round shield in one hand and a broadsword in the other. His face was bright red, and he had the look of a toddler that had just gotten his new toy taken out from between his fingers.
“Attention, people of Addington!” One of the four soldiers standing beside the angry man-child stepped forward and slammed the butt of his spear down three times. “Lord Lucian, third son of the Duke of Bullard, has arrived!”