Episode 54: The Capital of Aezeokar (4)

******** Carolus' POV ********

Ah. Finally going to sleep.

My eyes are closed and my head is all cleared up.

Nothing will stop me from sleeping.

As I'm about to fall asleep, I noticed footsteps inside my room.

Ah! Not again! Is there another assassin? How many are there and why are they so persistent in killing me when I didn't do anything to them?

I'm tired of this so let's finish this quick and get back to bed.

I was about to shove away the blanket and face my enemy when I noticed something strange.

I know that pattern of footsteps. It is Rose's footsteps. I know it anywhere since we traveled together for quite a period of time.

I didn't get up on my bed and still have my eyes closed since I know it is not an enemy.

"What are you doing in here so late, Rose?" I asked.

"How did you know it was me?" She quickly asked while slowly walking towards me.

"Just answer the question and how did you get in here?"

Now, I think about it, I didn't actually know how the illagers managed to get inside my room.

"There are secret passageways in this citadel that only the royal family know. You can access a lot of places using those tunnels. That is also probably how the illagers managed to get inside this room and attack you." Rose said.

Great. Now it makes sense. I need to cover up those tunnels if I want some privacy in this place.

"You need to get up. We need to talk." Rose said while pulling my blanket away and throwing it on the floor.

God. What did she want now? It is already late and I want to sleep. Can't this wait until morning?

I just get up on my bed and prepared myself since I figured this will take a while.

I sit on the chair and grab a bottle of fresh water in my inventory and started drinking.

"I heard your conversation with the Prophet," Rose said.

Wait, what? She was listening to my conversation with the Prophet?

"I know what you are thinking. 'How did I know that?' My parrot here is unique and able to..."

Rose didn't get to finish her sentence since I quickly raise my hand to interrupt her.

"What do you want?" I quickly asked her to get to the point.

"What are doing agreeing to a suicide mission?"

"Suicide mission?" I didn't answer her question and just asked since I have no idea what she is talking about.

I can't really remember the conversation with Prophet since I stop paying attention after him saying the word "Destiny".

Rose place a map on the table and it is really crudely made but still passable for this world standard. Why do maps on this world are like hand-drawn? Wait. I remember that you need a redstone dust to create a magic map so they probably run out of it since this world is also run out of diamond.

I should give away some of my empty magic maps for them to use since they are really useful. I probably think about later.

"Here on this side of the deep ocean lies the ocean monument. This is where some of the pieces of the end portal are stored. It is guarded by three..."

"Elder Guardians." I finished Rose sentence since I remember that one in the game.

"You know about them? Then you know attacking that place is suicide and the Prophet even plan to use the entire fleet of the kingdom and most of its soldiers, especially the army of the eastern territory, to attack that place."

I see. So from what I can understand, there is an ocean monument in the west of Aezeokar but what does it have to do with me? Wait, she said that the pieces of end portal are stored there. I don't even know that end portal blocks can be mined or crafted but I guess it is different in this world.

I didn't say anything and just stared at Rose since I don't really know what to say.

"And the Prophet even said that after getting the pieces of the end portal, you will immediately travel towards the Phantom Island and attack the Woodland Mansion located in the middle of that island to be able to rebuild the portal there and attack the ender dragon." Rose continued.

Okay. Now my conversation with the Prophet is coming back to me.

"If that plan isn't stupid then I don't know what stupidity is and this is the part when you say SOMETHING!" Rose suddenly slam her hand on the table making me surprised but I still managed to remain still and calm.

Damn. I didn't know that the Prophet was talking about a full-scale attack with me on the helm. I should have paid attention at that time.

"Look. I don't know why you agreed with this plan but I'm not letting more of my people suffer for a plan that I'm pretty sure it is not from the Goddess since that Prophet is a manipulative and cunning old man." Rose said.

"What are you proposing?" I asked since I noticed that I'm too quiet with this conversation.

"I'm going to the church and tell the Prophet that he is crazy and I will not let him do this."

"How about to table this discussion for now and sleep since it is already late," I said to her and I made sure to keep my tone soft to make sure I can convince this hot-headed lady.

"What? No. I am going to tell that old man right now and you are coming with me."

And that is how my night got ruined. Again.

Rose sort of convince me to come with her to the tunnels to get to the church.

I actually asked her why not used the regular path to the church like a normal human being would do but she just replied that it is much faster to travel here and no one would be able to stop us.

The tunnels are really dark and the only light source we have are lanterns.

Rose asked me if we can use a Night Vision potion but I quickly replied that it is a waste of resource since we are just going to talk to the Prophet.

I was about to complain that this is madness even for Rose standard but I remembered clearly what Prophet said to me.

'You need to trust me.'

Those are the words that caught my attention and raise suspicion.

When someone asked me to trust them, I don't freaking trust them especially from a person I just met.

After walking for a while, Rose's parrot suddenly started making noises that I didn't think I would hear in this world.

"What is that, Jack? What noises are you making?" Rose asked her parrot sitting in her right shoulder.

"Iron Golem," I said without noticing that I voice my thoughts.

"What?" Rose suddenly turned around and face me.

Right. I didn't actually expect to meet any optional mobs in this world like the iron golem and snow golem since I tried creating them but ultimately failed so I just assumed they don't exist in this world.

You can summon an iron golem in the game using 4 blocks of iron place in a T formation and a carved pumpkin on top. I tried doing that back in my castle in the forest so I can have guards protecting me or a companion since I got lonely living alone but nothing happened.

I also recently tried summoning a snow golem in the eastern territory of Aezeokar using 2 blocks of snow and a carved pumpkin but nothing also happened so I just assumed that there are no optional mobs in this world.

I began explaining the iron golem to Rose and she just listened carefully to every word I said.

"Wait. A creature made out of iron? How is that possible and why no one in this world knows about them?" Rose asked after hearing my explanations.

'I don't also know, lady.' I said in my head but didn't voice out since I don't want to anger her.

I just started tapping on the wall on the side of the tunnel where I believe the parrot heard the iron golem.

Hmm. I don't know how thick this wall is but I'm really curious about this iron golem.

I equipped a diamond pickaxe in my hand.

"What are you planning to do?" Rose asked.

I just ignored her and started mining the stones in the wall.

It didn't take long for me to get into the other side of the wall since my diamond pickaxe is enchanted with Efficiency V. I can also make the process of breaking blocks go faster if I drink a Strenght potion or have a Haste II beacon but I don't want to waste my potion supply and I don't have any beacon in my inventory.

"We are probably beneath the church judging from the distance we traveled but I don't remember the church having a basement," Rose said while observing the area.

We are standing in the middle of a really dark hallway and I don't know which way to take.

I look at Rose and was about to ask what to do next when I noticed the parrot head is pointing to the right.

Okay. Right, it is.

We started walking in the hallway until we managed to reach a door with two soldiers guarding it.

Rose quickly blew the light of our lanterns.

What is she doing? Aren't we supposed to talk with the Prophet? We can just ask the soldiers that we need an appointment with the Prophet.

"I will take care of this." Rose suddenly whispered.

What? What is she talking about?

Before I can even ask Rose a question, she whispered something to her parrot and the parrot suddenly started flying towards the guards and started distracting them.

"Where did this bird come from and how did it get inside?" one of the guards said while trying to drive away the bird.

Rose started running towards the guard on the right and I don't really know what she is planning.

She is really fast and managed to grab the soldier in the head and slammed it on the door rendering the soldier unconscious.

Okay. This is not what I was hoping for. I thought we only came to this church to talk to the Prophet. Well, I can't really complain considering that I just mined my way through to this place out of curiosity about the iron golem.

The other soldier noticed her and tried to defend himself but was too late when Rose charged at him and he got grabbed. Rose quickly smacked her head to the soldier's head also making him passed out.

Wow. How hard is Rose's head to be able to knock a man unconscious who is wearing an iron helmet with a headbutt?

Rose motioned me to move forward.

Ah! Fine! I'm really curious about the iron golem so I guess I have to follow Rose for now even with her craziness.

Rose tried to turn the knob of the iron door but it is locked.

"Do you know how to lockpick a door?" Rose suddenly asked.

I didn't answer her question and just kicked the door down.

Rose already attacked two innocent soldiers who are just guarding a door so there is no point in covering our tracks.

"I guess that works too," Rose said while staring at the broken iron door on the floor.

We slowly stepped inside the room and was shocked at how massive this room is. The room is also filled with lanterns so it is well-lit.

"What is that?" Rose suddenly asked a question while staring something in front of her.

No. That is impossible.

What is this thing doing in this world? I thought this will only exist in the game. I didn't even know that you can actually build this here. Building this thing didn't even cross my mind because of how cruel and immoral to make this thing to work in this world but here it is. It is right in front of me.

I'm sure I'm not mistaken since I built quite a lot of this when I was playing the game.

The thing I'm staring right now is an "Iron Farm".

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Author's Note since I can't make this fit in the box below

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I'm going to have to explain what is an "Iron Farm", don't I?

Well, it is an exploit in game mechanics that let you farm irons without having to mine any blocks on the ground using the clever placements of doors and entrapping quite a lot of villagers to summon iron golems to kill and "harvest" their loot (iron golems when killed in the game drops irons and poppy).

I know that this will confuse casual gamers in Minecraft who are reading my novel but I really want to try to feature everything in the game so please bear with me.

You can also search what is an "Iron Farm" in the google or youtube since it is actually pretty common in the game for people to build to have an unlimited supply of iron.