Chapter Twelve
I stepped inside the treasure room and shut the door behind me. There was so much gold, it would take me lifetimes to count it all. I grinned to myself.
I had lifetimes.
Even though I didn’t want to spend too long with my soon-to-be wealth, I did want to get a good idea of what all was in here before I finished the rest of my plan, so I started with the left side and began to work my way around.
There was a shelf full of jewelry boxes, so I opened each one and checked it for magical stats. Almost none of them had any extra properties or abilities, and I was about to give up when I spotted a ring inside a glass case. It looked nondescript and undecorated for the most part until I pulled it out and investigated it.
The ring was made from a simple silver band, but runes were engraved on the inside of it. I had no idea what it said, so I checked it for stats. The floating text box appeared immediately, and my eyes widened when I read what it said.
Magical Item - Band of Invisibility
Weight - .01lbs
Durability - 100%
Magical Aspect - Mirror
Magical Ability - Grants wearer temporary invisibility
I was definitely keeping a ring that could make me invisible, and I wondered if it worked, so I slipped it onto my finger. It was a tight fit, and it didn’t feel very comfortable, but it would be awesome if it did grant me invisibility.
I looked down at my arms and legs. I didn’t feel invisible, and I could still see my own body. I wondered if it was a fluke, but I wanted to test it with human eyes other than my own before I discarded it. In the meantime, I pulled it off my finger and placed it back where I found it.
Next, I found a necklace with a bright purple oval gem in the center, and I checked the stats without expecting much, but the text box popped up just like with the ring.
Magical Item - Necklace of Virility
Weight - .01lbs
Durability - 80%
Magical Aspect - Strength
Magical Ability - Imbues the wearer with extended virility
Was this necklace a magical version of Viagra?
I snorted with amusement as I placed it back on the shelf. I wondered if the duke needed to use the spell often, since the durability was at eighty percent, and if the reason the duchess remained without a child had something to do with this necklace.
There was no telling what happened inside the duke’s bedroom, but I knew there wasn’t much going on at the moment, since Arginold had to still be passed out in his bed.
Either way, I didn’t need that necklace any time soon, but it could be fun to play with next time I wanted a marathon session with my three women.
Next, I found a long handled double-headed axe forged from some kind of green stone, and I touched the edge of the blade to check the stats.
Durability - 36 %
Weight - 10.5 lbs
Quality - Great
Magical Aspect - None
Magical Ability - None
It wasn’t anything super fancy, and I wondered if it was a family heirloom or something. Still, the stone looked cool, so I would definitely enjoy fixing it up to full durability. I hadn’t used many axes yet, and I was eager to experiment with new weapons, so I put the axe back and patted it gently.
“I’ll come back for you soon,” I assured the giant killing weapon in a loving tone, and then I returned my focus to the rest of the treasure.
I noticed a few other shiny things that caught my eye, but none of them had any magical properties. There was a small, round shield with the Arginold coat of arms painted on the front, which was three ravens flying in front of pale blue clouds. Laying close to the shield was a spear as long as I was tall with an obsidian tip, and my eyes widened when I saw the stats.
Durability - 100%
Weight - 5.3lbs
Quality - Epic
Magical Aspect - Fire
Magical Ability - +5 Fire damage
A flame spear sounded pretty cool, and I grinned as I twirled the weapon around in my grip experimentally.
Suddenly, I heard footsteps shuffling down the hallway outside the closed treasure room door. I inhaled sharply, stashed the spear back where I’d found it, and looked around for a hiding place.
Besides the piles of gold, shelves full of jewelry, and random weapons, there was only the door into the room and a window along the far wall. I darted over to the window, and I peered out at the steep drop below. I heard a nicker from a horse, and I realized the castle stables were not far away from this room. It was too high to jump without something to catch me underneath, so I turned away in search of somewhere else to hide.
There wasn’t really anywhere to go, and I started to panic for a moment, but then I remembered I was a god.
I grinned as I reset back to my save point in the inn.
Chime.
I was back in the inn with the girls all still asleep beside me. It was early morning, and I’d just woken up a short while before. I grinned with overwhelming joy as I thought about how much treasure was about to be mine. Bastianville would be the richest town outside Vallenwood before long, and I would be the most powerful man in all of Sorreyal.
“Good morning, Great One,” Mahini said as she blinked up at me.
“Good morning, beautiful,” I said, and then I planted a kiss on her cheek.
“Are you about to go back up to the castle?” the desert goddess asked as she snuggled closer against me.
“Oh, I already explored everything,” I said. “I’m going to need your girls’ help with the next part of my plan. Even though I’m a god, I can’t be in two places at once, after all.”
“It would be an honor to assist you,” Mahini said in a solemn tone, so I squeezed her tightly in my arms. “What do you need me to do?”
“Good morning,” Elissa yawned from my other side. “What did I miss?”
“Bash was just about to explain his plan,” Mahini said.
“Oh, exciting!” My wife was instantly wide awake, and she pushed herself up into a sitting position. “I want to help!”
“Why must we always rise so early?” Eva groaned from Elissa’s other side. “You people are monsters.”
“Let her sleep,” Elissa suggested with a shrug. “She doesn’t want to be included in the plan, anyway.”
“What plan?” Eva rolled over and blinked away sleep. “I don’t want to be left out.”
“No one will be left out,” I laughed. “We have plenty of time to sleep longer if you like.”
“I would like that very much,” Eva breathed with a grateful smile, and she flopped back down into her pillow with a sigh.
“Sleepy head,” Elissa giggled. “But I don’t want to leave her out.”
“We will discuss the plan later once everyone is awake.” I grinned. “I don’t want you girls to forget your instructions, so I need you to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.”
“Later,” Eva moaned, and we all laughed.
“Alright,” Mahini sighed. “I can wait, I suppose.”
“Good.” I tweaked her nose, and then I climbed over her out of the bed.
A short while later, the four of us were sitting around the small table in our room eating breakfast, and I could tell Mahini’s patience was beginning to wear thin. The desert goddess’ knee bounced below the wooden surface, and she gripped her cutlery tightly.
“What’s up, Mahini?” I asked in an innocent tone.
The desert goddess pointed her fork at Eva. “She’s awake. Plan time. I want to be useful.”
“Alright, alright,” I laughed, and I held up my hands in the universal gesture of surrender. “We’re going to empty the duke’s treasury room without anyone knowing we were here. The only way to get in is by taking the key from around the duke’s neck, but we can’t just walk out with armfuls of gold, either.”
“So, how do we do that?” Elissa asked with a curious tilt of her head that tossed her flame-colored locks to the side.
“A diversion.” I grinned. “We need to cause a big enough distraction that it occupies all the guards in town.”
“Anyone have a dragon handy?” Eva smirked.
“I know, right?” I chuckled. “But I had a different idea. Eva, I need you to get a job.”
“Umm… Alright, but why, Great One? Do we need more gold?” Eva bit her lip and shot me an anxious look. “Have I displeased you?”
“No, no,” I laughed. “Nothing like that. I just need an inside woman in the stables.”
“Why the stables?” Mahini furrowed her brow with confusion. “I thought we were robbing the treasury?”
“You’ll see.” My grin grew even wider, which seemed impossible, but I was getting even more excited the more I thought about my plans. It felt like a George Clooney from Ocean’s Eleven moment, and that was like a dream come true for me.
“Mysterious,” my wife purred. “What about me? What shall I do?”
“You also need to get a job,” I teased with a lopsided smile. “But you’ll be working in the court wizard’s household.”
“Isn’t that dangerous?” Mahini asked, ever the protector of my tiny goddess.
“Not in the slightest,” I assured her. “I’ll be right by her side most of the time. Don’t worry. You, Mahini, will get to show off your sewing skills.”
“Oh, no,” Mahini groaned, and her ice-blue eyes filled with despair. “Great One, I am horrible at sewing.”
“No, you’re not,” Elissa comforted her. “You were doing really good last time we practiced.”
“It doesn’t have to be perfect, or even pretty,” I explained. “But I need you to buy all the tapestries from that guy in the market, bring them back here, and sew them together end to end. Think you can handle that?”
“Umm… Okay.” Mahini bit her lip, but then she nodded in affirmation. “I would do anything for you, Great One, even… Sew…”
I could only laugh at that because I knew I’d given each of the girls a challenge that took them a little bit outside of their comfort zones. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be as much fun.
“Oh, Mahini, I also need you to get a wagon to haul the tapestries in,” I instructed the desert goddess with a mysterious wink. “And hold onto it for later. It will be a surprise tool that will help with the final phase of my plan.”
“A wagon?” she asked as she raised an eyebrow.
“Yep,” I chuckled. “A heavy-duty one that we can hitch some horses to. Make it much bigger than you need for the tapestries, and get a canvas cover to go over it so that no one can see inside. Use as much of the five-hundred gold pieces as you need to get it and the horses. Just make sure it’s capable of carrying a heavy load.”
“I will get one for you.” Mahini nodded.
“What are you going to do?” Eva asked. “Where are you going to get a job?”
“I’m going to do what I always do.” I shrugged. “God things.”
I’d decided I was going to spend some more time trailing the duke until my plan came fully into my mind. I knew I wanted to teach both the court wizard and Arginold a lesson, and I didn’t want anyone to know I was there, but I hadn’t quite put all the pieces together just yet.
While Mahini went down to the market, and Eva to the stables, I took Elissa with me up to the castle. I’d stashed uniforms for each of the households and the guards in the inn, so my wife and I were already wearing our disguises when we approached the side entrance.
“Halt!” the guard called out as we drew closer. “I don’t recognize you two.”
“Gertrude hired us yesterday,” I told the guard. “We’re already late.”
“Gerty, huh.” The guard jerked his chin over his shoulder. “Fine. Carry on.”
“Thanks, man,” I said with a grin, and I took Elissa’s hand to lead her past them.
It didn’t take us very long to get to the wizard’s household, and I got Elissa into the servant’s quarters without seeing another person.
“Wait here until someone shows up,” I instructed. “Then ask for Gertrude. Tell her Marty hired you, but the duchess doesn’t like you, so he sent you over here.”
“What if she sends for Marty?” Elissa bit her lip with worry. “Do I run?”
“She most likely will not.” I gave my wife a comforting smile. “But if you feel like you’re going to get found out, by all means run back to the inn. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”
“It’s kind of like acting in a play,” Elissa giggled, and her emerald eyes brightened. “I’ve always wanted to be a performer.”
“You have the face of an actress,” I said, and I kissed her forehead gently. “I’ll come check on you soon. Be good, and tomorrow the real work will begin.”
“Alright, I love you,” she said with a dazzling smile. “I love being involved in your secret plans. This is so exciting!”
“It’s fun, huh?” I smirked, kissed her again, and then turned to leave. “Oh, and the court wizard and his wife are kind of assholes, so just ignore anything they say to you, okay?”
“Got it,” Elissa called after me in a cheerful voice.
I felt pretty confident about choosing Elissa for this role since she had a bit of thicker skin than Mahini and Eva did in this regard. Mahini would likely deck someone for talking to her the way Racine and Sarisha addressed their servants, and Eva was more used to being waited on as a duke’s daughter. While there was a danger of Elissa snapping back with something equally as mouthy, I didn’t think she would take it personally, so that’s why I’d chosen her.
Plus, I got to see Mahini be all flustered about having to sew, and that was entertaining all by itself.
I trotted down the hallway to the servants’ quarters below the duke’s rooms to change into the uniform for his household. It was easier to match Elissa while I got her situated with her task, but now I wanted to see what ‘ol Arginold was up to.
Once I was properly disguised as one of the duke’s servants, I made my way upstairs to find him, but I spotted Marty coming in my direction, so I darted into an empty room to avoid him. I didn’t want him to know my face unless I planned on resetting, and I’d just gotten started with this run through.
I waited until he walked past me, and he headed in the direction of the servants’ quarters, which meant he would be gone for a while. Then I found the duke sitting in a study with the door open, so I began to slowly pace the hallway outside just in case I heard him call for a servant. I wanted to be the one he called on, so I could find out what he was up to.
And if I thought I could get away with it, I’d go peek over his shoulder.
Several minutes passed, but the duke didn’t call out for anyone. I paused my pacing and frowned at the door, but then I smirked.
Ah, fuck it. I could do whatever I wanted.
I strode into the study and toward the desk where the duke was sitting with his back to me, and I was about five feet away from him when he suddenly whirled and glared at me.
“What are you doing in here? I didn’t call for anyone,” the duke snapped at me. “I require privacy.”
I ignored him and peered over his shoulder at the paper on the desk. Large letters at the top said, “To my dear friend, Duke Edinburg,” and I inhaled sharply.
Before I could read any more, though, the Duke of Arginold rose from his chair, placed his hands on my chest, and shoved me backward.
“I said get out!” the duke yelled, and spittle rained into my face.
“Gross.” I grimaced, but then I reset to my save point since I didn’t want to fist fight the duke.
Chime.
I explained my plan to the girls again, took Elissa to the wizard’s wing, and then donned my servant’s gear to stalk the duke. I didn’t go into his study to attempt to read the letter he was writing this time, but I was determined to get my eyes on whatever was written on that piece of paper. The duke was way too protective over his privacy at the moment for me to think he wasn’t up to something.
Why he didn’t just shut the door was beyond me, but I supposed this was his castle, and he could do what he wanted in it. For now.
Soon, he’d face his reckoning from me, but he would only be able to blame the universe since he would have no idea I was here.
The thought made me giddy, and I had a spring in my step as I paced the hallway and waited for a command. The duke took several hours to write his letter, and then he stuck his head out into the hallway to flag me down.
“You there,” he called in a much more friendly tone than he’d used during the last run through. “Fetch me a courier.”
“I can take the parcel to the courier for you, sir,” I offered in an innocent voice.
“No, this is a private matter.” The duke shook his head. “I need my personal courier. Go and fetch him. Now.”
He didn’t say anything else, and he turned to walk back into the study. Just then, Marty approached, and he shot me a quizzical look before he gave the duke a small bow.
“Ah, Marty,” the duke greeted. “This servant needs more training. I gave a direct command, and he ignored it.”
“My apologies, sir.” Marty eyed me for a moment. “I don’t recognize him. He’s probably a new hire. Gertrude has been hiring many new people lately.”
“I was tired of waiting around for a servant to appear, so I said I wanted one in sight at all times.” The duke waved his hand dismissively. “Anyway, I need a courier still.”
“I will fetch one at once, sir,” Marty said, and he gestured for me to follow him away from the duke’s study.
“Sorry about that,” I said. “I got confused.”
“No worries, I was new once, too.” Marty gave me a sympathetic smile, but then he quickened his steps. “Let’s hurry. The duke is less patient when he’s frustrated.”
“Did I frustrate him?” I asked. “I just volunteered to save him time by taking the letter to the courier.”
“He’s… concerned about spies,” Marty said in a cautious tone. “I’m not sure why. Probably comes from being so rich and powerful, someone’s always after what you have.”
“Some people are just paranoid dicks, too,” I said with a coolly arched eyebrow.
Marty eyed me sideways, but he didn’t respond, and I figured that was probably for the best. He was a good employee, and he didn’t want to risk losing the chance to see Penelope again by agreeing with me, but I could see it in his face that he did.
I followed Marty down into the servants’ quarters to a row of strings attached to bells I hadn’t noticed before. There were labels on them that said things like “kitchens” and “stables,” and the one Marty pulled said “courier.”
A short while later, a thin man in a cream-colored tunic trotted into the room, and Marty flagged him down. I scanned him over as he approached us, but he didn’t seem like much. He had thinning brown hair and a similar-colored mustache that seemed to tickle his nose since he wiggled it constantly.
The effect reminded me of a mouse, and I swallowed down the chuckle that rose in my throat. There was no need to offend this man, after all.
“You’re to go to the duke’s study to retrieve a letter,” the servant informed the courier in an authoritative tone that surprised me.
Maybe couriers were lower in the ranks than ‘ol Marty, or maybe he got out his frustrations by projecting them onto whoever he could. Either way, I had the courier in my sights now, and I wasn’t about to let him out of them again.
“I’ll show him how to get there,” I volunteered in a cheerful tone. “I’d like to make it up to you for almost messing things up with the duke.”
“That’s fine.” Marty nodded. “Report back to me when you’re done.”
I nodded curtly and then gestured to the courier. “Follow me.”
“I know how to get there,” the thin man said, but he followed me anyway.
“I just want to make sure you go straight to the duke,” I said in a nonchalant tone.
“Everyone in this castle is paranoid,” the courier grumbled, but I had to agree with him.
There was good reason for it, though, since it seemed like everyone was up to their own nefarious plans. Now, I was about to figure out what the duke was really up to, and a shiver of excitement rushed up my spine.
We made our way up the stairs and down the impossibly long hallway to the study where the duke was, and the Duke of Arginold was waiting impatiently with a toe tapping incessantly on the floor.
“It’s about time,” the duke huffed when he spotted us. “This letter is urgent.”
“Where’s it going, sir?” The courier shot me a sideways glance, but he didn’t comment on me still being there.
“To the Duke of Edinburg,” the duke said with furrowed eyebrows. “Swiftly.”
“Yes, sir,” the courier said as he accepted the sealed letter from the duke.
“And wait for him to write a reply to return to me,” the duke added as an afterthought.
“Yes, sir,” the courier repeated, and then the two of us turned away from the study.
I followed the courier down the hallway as my mind raced over what I should do next. I had to get that letter away from him somehow. I had to do something before he left the castle, so I fell back a few paces before I pulled my dagger from my boot.
Then I flipped the weapon around in my grip, and I trotted forward to smack the courier in the back of the head with the hilt. A sharp thud sound emitted from his skull, and the man crumpled to the floor in a heap.
I hurriedly pulled the letter from his grip and ripped it open.
To my dear friend, Duke of Edinburg
The Great One of Legend continues to evade me. The men I sent to Wyndvale ahead of his arrival never returned. He is stronger than we surmised during our last meeting. I think we should go ahead with the next stage of our plans, this God of Time fellow cannot stand in our way if he is too late to save the king. Bullard and Mistvale will either bow down or you can kill them, I care not what you do with the lesser nobles. I only want my lands and liberty. Act now, Edinburg, or risk my ire.
It was signed by the Duke of Arginold in big curly letters, and I frowned as I read it over again. This confirmed the Duke of Arginold and the Duke of Edinburg were working against me, and that Arginold had sent the mercenaries to Wyndvale. I didn’t understand what he meant by “too late to save the king,” though, and that part concerned me.
What were they planning to do to the king?
It didn’t sound like they had good intentions, and I seemed to be the only thing standing in their way. The Duke of Bullard wouldn’t be much of an issue for them to either dispatch or buy loyalty from, but I didn’t know much about the Duchess of Mistvale. I’d met her while in Vallenwood, but she’d seemed like every other vapid and shallow noble I’d been introduced to.
Either way, the Duke of Arginold was at the heart of a plot to hurt the king, and I wasn’t about to let that happen on my watch. Anger stirred in my belly, and I knew I had to do something, so I turned and strode back up to the hallway outside the study. Then I marched straight up to the Duke of Arginold with a glower of rage.
“You want me, motherfucker?” I growled as I entered the room. “Well, here I am.”
“Who are you?” Arginold asked as he stood up from his chair and faced me with a frown. “Are you not a new servant in my household?”
“I am Sebastian, Archduke of Bastianville, and the God of Time you’ve been looking for.” I grinned, but I was so pissed it probably looked more like I was baring my fangs. “If you think you can kill me, go ahead and try.”
“How did you get in here?” The duke was equally pissed, and his frown deepened as he took a step backward. “Guards!”
I growled as I lunged forward, and my dagger flew out of my hand before I fully formed the mental command for it to do so. I watched in rapt fascination as it spun end over end until it buried itself in the duke’s chest.
The Duke of Arginold froze as the blade slid into his chest just below his left shoulder, and then blood pooled from his lips.
“You… You bastard…” he gasped out before he fell back against his desk.
His legs crumpled out from underneath him, and he scattered the papers on his desk to the floor as he fell. I watched in silence for a moment, and then I swallowed when I realized the duke was dead.
Well, that wasn’t as much fun as I had expected it to be. My anger dissipated as soon as the life vanished from his eyes, and I sighed. I wanted to punish the duke for sending mercenaries after me, but this death felt anticlimactic.
Since the duke had already called for the guards, I’d have to fight my way out of the castle, and Elissa was still in the wizard’s wing. There was too much at risk, and I wasn’t satisfied with the outcome, so I decided to reset back to my save point.
I would find another way to punish the duke for his crimes.
Suddenly, I had a light bulb moment, and an idea flashed through my head. Then a wicked grin spread across my face as the thought latched on and grew. I knew exactly what I wanted to do.
Racine would be the one to kill the duke, and all it was going to take was a rumor.
Oh, I couldn’t wait for this.
Chime.