Morning arrived with a lot of cries from cockerels and the scents of food cooking. It was probably very early, but I couldn't wait to get started. Rolling out of bed, I dressed myself in a long, loose tunic and a very fine cloak, it was a real struggle, though, sitting on the edge of the bed, to bring my foot up to a position where I could get a sandal on it. Should I wear my crown? For now, I just carried it in my hand.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVxhVU0dgzX
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On leaving my room, a guard outside looked at me in astonishment before composing his face into a neutral expression.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6KxC7EuQ7i
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It suddenly occurred to me that I had no idea of my way around this castle, yet it would be very strange if I were to ask the guard. So I just followed my nose and again, was met with looks of disbelief and alarm by servants and soldiers until I found my way down and around some wide stairs to a hall big enough for a feast, though all the tables were bare.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeamlsZdflt
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'Ah, sire, we weren't expecting you for many an hour yet. I'll hurry the cooks.' A female servant came over as I sat myself at the top table in what was obviously the king's large, padded chair.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuUHchJbH9V
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'Just two poached eggs please and an apple and an orange.'547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVdChHt5mG1
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'We have apples, sire. Not the other.'547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPLWc7tjUMf
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'Ahh right. Two apples then. And if you can press a few more to get juice out of them, I'll drink that.'547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnHg8barnQw
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'Yes sire.' The servant, a middle-aged woman, had worry lines across her forehead. 'So no roast pork?' She gestured towards a door that I presumed led to the kitchen, judging by the concentration of cooking scents from that direction.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeB3r3xXjux
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'No.'547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeVSNm1ouzI
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'Er… forgive me, but just to avoid error, sire, no beef slices in horseradish sauce?'547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxbaahYhKLW
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'No.'547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqSIMy8aKtQ
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'Nor the chicken breast in garlic? The bread-and-butter pudding? The…'547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCk6RoobDCz
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I caught the servant's eye and with a gulp she stopped speaking.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNexOO48HmW
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'Nothing,' I said firmly, 'other than the eggs, apples and the juice.'547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZMYKSOeA9Z
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'Certainly sire,' the woman backed away with an anxious bow.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB4C4n9tiUx
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It would have been interesting to chat with someone and learn something about the world, but none of the guards and servants would dare look at me. The large dining hall was silent as though empty, even though I could count six guards and four servants.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf8uNgwpLbS
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Oh well. I raised my right arm and cascaded some menus. Good, steel pickaxes had been researched, my town now had the knowledge of how to produce them. So I opened up the smithy and planned for a build of 84 new pickaxes, one for every miner. That left my research queue empty and I crunched on one of the hastily delivered apples as I eyed my options, there were hundreds of possibilities, grouped into three core categories: economic, cultural and military. Currently, the food crisis was my biggest concern and my plan to solve it was via exporting ores. Assuming all my neighbours were hostile (and even if they weren't, I wouldn't want any of them to have extra iron supplies), I needed to get my ores further afield. And that meant… Navigation. A six-day research project.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡToYX2NrdIB
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After breakfast, with the help of a servant, I changed into tunic and trousers and good boots, then sent for my trainer.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqboXZ4JAiV
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Carradock Goblinbane was missing an arm at the elbow. I didn't ask; maybe the king knew his story already. On the short walk from the castle to the barracks training ground, I briefed him. I needed strength training as rapidly as possible. I didn't voice it aloud, but I knew that I just could not risk progressing my character until I understood the issue of stats better and, in particular, whether I could push them up through training.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ38pOhRubSj
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'Strength it is, sire, and all-round fitness.' He looked at me longer than most people did. In fact, most people here didn't look me in the eyes at all. 'It will take a while. We must not rush. You're too big and too – excuse me – soft. You'll hurt yourself. For the first day, I just want to you walk around this ground fifty times.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjse5z3Dh8p
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'Fifty?' How hard could it be to walk fifty laps of a square whose sides were only about a hundred metres?547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbdBOo6jvfs
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It was very hard. After one lap I was sweating. After the second my thighs began to ache and I found myself slowing down from my fast initial pace. After the third, I was panting and my huge body was complaining pretty much everywhere. On ten, Carradock handed me a tankard with cool water in it and I gulped it down. Then he offered me a sword hilt. It was a practice weapon, a rod of iron with no sharp edges. I reached out for it.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqA80yLnyKt
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'Are you sure?' Carradock looked sceptical.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSz8jYN6IeE
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'Of course. I can do this.'547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUct1PHIKba
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'No, I mean, your left hand.'547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWaic4k2n8m
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I had grasped the sword and raised it in my left hand. I tried it then with my right, shook my head, and shifted it back. 'This is better.'547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS41CQjAR5c
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Back on Earth, I was left-handed. Had the king been right-handed? Was this a sign to everyone I wasn't their old ruler?547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdiy4zCMjky
547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGlb11TyZwl
'Carry it as often as you can. It will make your sword arm stronger.'547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Wj4C3gg3f
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'Now?'547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1zUhzW1PKK
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Carradock nodded, perhaps with a hint of a smile on his narrow, fox-like face.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWZOHW8HKW6
547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbzVzwcoOot
Then off I went again, with a new source of pain slowly moving up from my left wrist, my arm and along my left shoulder. At twenty I took another breather. One side of the barracks square was a two-story, grey stone building. The other three were enclosed by a low, wooden fence. And at the fence were gathered a dozen people, looking in at me. On their faces were expressions of dislike but also astonishment.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHPz8NGty0O
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All this walking had been good for my thinking. 'You,' I pointed to a woman with dressed in a tunic whose design matched that of the other castle servants. 'Get me the ambassador, Figus.'547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡESzi1lo0LQ
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'Yes, sire.' She curtsied, but I could tell from her body language she didn't like the duty.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRpN6TsMUfi
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'And the rest of you, get along with your business.'547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWdK45948YT
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No one spoke, but they all immediately hurried away.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8jnbqT1HRV
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It was another two laps before my ambassador came to the square around which I was walking. No doubt I was red-faced and quite a sight, but that didn't excuse the smirk on his face. Figus was quite the rock star. Unlike everyone else here, his hair was not a natural colour, rather it was bleached somehow and stood up in clusters of spikes. With a grace in his walk and a cynical smile in his bright blue eyes, I could see his Charisma of 15 was definitely in play. What was mine again, 3? I suddenly felt very conscious of my frown lines and a posture that was sagging at every point, including my face.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLO1XKJHB6D
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The ambassador drew up close, took in a breath and then bowed. 'Sire?'547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBQhcMBpzMY
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This was a welcome excuse for a break, though I was aware that Carradok was watching and probably disapproved.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrElQqtks7I
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'We need to trade ore for food, what's the best way to go about it?'547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiO0NYVsNKu
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Figus looked up with some surprise on his face. 'You are seeking my advice?'547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡScpnTUR0GV
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'Uh huh,' I was still catching my breath or I'd have pointed out that he was our ambassador after all.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxw9QIpkpen
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'Well, as you know, we are at war with Southway and Trolland, our nearest neighbours. So they are out. That also blocks the inland routes. By sea, we could trade with Cantreth, the Kingdom of Lost Souls and Rockguard…' he paused in thought. I paused in tiredness.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2Nfim42sMB
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'Your majesty has no scruples dealing with a Necromancer?'547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQbgHAOkpaO
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'Not at all, some of my best friends are Necromancers.' I was thinking of Storm Wars of course, but the look of consternation on the face of Figus made me feel like laughing.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKjlKM9i201
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To be fair to him, the ambassador recovered his poise quickly, 'in that case, I think the best deal we could make would be with the Kingdom of Lost Souls.'547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdPE7qcJSgI
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'Right so, off you go and make that arrangement.'547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVotduerlZy
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'Now sire?'547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3jAZbjDJn9
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I nodded.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRSm2XqIeye
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He hesitated. 'How much ore and of what kind and quality will we be offering?'547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJnj3KViEuC
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I didn't have to call down the menu for the mines, we were currently producing 2 ingots of standard iron ore per day. Assuming that would rise with the new pickaxes… 'Fifteen standard iron ingots a week.'547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBM0UVijJPO
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Figus nodded and then with a temerity that was unusual in the people around me caught my eye. 'One more question, sire, if I may?'547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpQyqnfj60n
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'Yes?'547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZdkuFKcVyS
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'We don't have a trading vessel, but we would get much better terms if this exchange happened in our ship.'547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa68PFAF6j1
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'I'll make that a priority.'547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡefQViRQD6U
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'Right so, I'll be off then.' There was a jauntiness to the man's step as he left me to my circuits. Had he deliberately just parrodied my turn of phrase? If so, I rather admired him for it.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd1k8bDF9wr
