3 Oh sh*t, which one is it already OR the cliff is so high that we need to go down
So, let's go back to the subject…
After using most of my new life catching up to the knowledge I missed, and setting a solid base for the future, I started a desperate quest to have more magic power, even if it can possibly destroy my future (yes I know it's stupid).
When some protagonists, that I'm not at all actually stabbing in the back right now, get out of difficult situations with a speech about friendship, I on my side had two solutions: owning an artifact able to augment magic powers, which I can probably find in the Empire, or ask to Merlin. I hesitated a bit about what to do to reach my goal.
Merlin and the Empire are two equally terrifying entities, imagine if you had the choice between striking a deal with the president or going to North Korea, the difference being that the president presides over half the world, and North Korea is taking the other half… Merlin being an ally (with my previous life experience with illuminati and conspiracy theories on Earth I'm not so sure), it was better to ask him for advice. Also, my status in Nyggloth makes it easier for me to ask for an audience without any risks.
Two years later (yes it's a very long queue, but he was isolated in his laboratory the first year, so it's fine), finally! I had an audience!
That is how I had at another time, at a different place, a choice:
Going to do an errand (search an object) for Merlin. Or do nothing.
Going to find an object, it's easy, you say?
Normally yes, but this object is behind more than 4,000 km of ocean and 2,000 km of land!
You still don't see the problem?
It's in the Empire!
Still don't?
It's in the city of the god Vaal, the god of courage! Where everyone is armed to the teeth!
You still want more?
It's in the HEADQUARTERS of the heroes' guild! And I need to steal it!
I'm crying in my head… Somewhere, in a corner of my spirit, my consciousness is in the recovery position [1]. But I knew I had to do it… But seriously, Merlin is asking me that as if it was and errand for some bread to go buy in the morning! I'm sure that if I had now to imagine his head, I'd see a trollface…
But even then, I had to go! I dried my inner tears, wrote my will, dug my tomb, wrote my name and let a place for the date on it, kissed my child, shit I didn't have any, kissed my wife, shit I didn't have one either fuck I'm so lonely, I organized with magic the sending of my will to my parents if I wasn't back in a year, and I left, full of joy, delighted, and extremely positive about my survival chances.
[…]
Holy shit I do I hate the sea. I wasn't feeling well. A little bit bad. It's been a week I was on the sea and still no ground in sight. I supposed I was about to die on the sea before seeing the ground… I knew I should have invented the magic plane before going! Seems like we always forget something before a journey…
What was the use of knowing all these things if it was to not use them? I had to invent train (shit, god of strategy Prat already did this), plane, zeppelin (it's only a worse version of the plane but I only had to wait something like 10 years before releasing the plane that would make more money), cars (maybe a bit early, I don't know), and piles of things!
But I definitely had to establish myself in the black market, I would invent porn magazines (it would certainly be considered illegal) and drugs (I would be able to always sell more than the previous time to addicts, I'm a genius!).
While I was thinking about my pure and saint-like projects for the future, the ship started strongly oscillating. That movement was caused by a sea creature, huge, that was darkening the sea for kilometers, it seemed to be many times bigger than a whale (19 kilometers by 9 from what I could estimate), yet its species has the same name. And that bastard of a whale was making the water moving which produced something magic, beautiful, happy, clean, everything you want:
-Shit! I vomited!
[…]
Just arrived, already gone.
It seems that the crew of the boat was in a hurry, they threw out all the passengers (Of course, I had them believe that I was a simple unimportant migrant that traveled illegally), took some supplies for the travel, and left quickly.
The place of arrival was a little, tiny village, that seemed to be formed of a port and a shabby tavern. In contrast to Nyggloth that mixes magic and technology, the Empire IS the heroic fantasy itself.
The only difference is that there was neither elf, nor dwarf, nor any other humanoid creature had been censused for over a century. The world having a continent, an island, and a second hidden continent, there weren't a lot of things. Originally, the world of Moth was filled with many kingdoms. Their number was varying a lot, but the main ones were about forty. Then the Empire grew, and absorbed everything.
All of this is to say that the humanoid kingdoms have also been absorbed in the Empire. There should still be some, but discrimination and all the talk, so those that weren't exterminated were forced to leave. Some said that they were on an island, like Nyggloth, but no one really knew. Perhaps they were all already dead, but what we were sure of is that there weren't any in the Empire. At least, any that were left were sold as slaves for exorbitant sums of money a long time ago.
Anyway, I need to stop losing myself in my thoughts every time I tell something.
I started my journey of 2000 km to the city of Vaal. Fortunately, the mages were also very common in the Empire, so I could use magic to be faster.
[…]
At the end of my journey, I arrived at the city of the god Vaal, intelligently named Vindi Vaal (Vaal the divine), they don't overdo it in the Empire (and the gods have a fucking huge ego). By the way, the region has the same name .
I arrived at night. The gates were closing.
I sprinted the last 100 meters, but was stopped by a guard:
-Halt you, the gates of the city are closed until dawn.
-Listen, the gate is not even completely closed, can't I pass?
-10 silver coins.
-What?
-If you want to pass it's 10 silver coins.
-Are you kidding me?
-Hey, you hear that, Hagas?
-Yeah I hear, Crayg!
-This guy, he thinks that it's free! Now cough up the 20 coins!
-Seriously! Wasn't it 10 coins?
-Hey, you hear that, Hagas?
-Yeah I hear, Crayg!
-He thinks we don't know how to count! Now cough up the 50 coins!
I needed to pass, I didn't want to give them money, but I didn't want to be remarked either, I accepted reluctantly that armed robbery:
-Take…
Anyway, I dropped the respect, YOU are not respecting me I am not respecting you.
-Honestly, did you think you can corrupt us?
He said while putting the coins in his purse.
-Hey, you hear that, Hagas?
-Yeah I hear, Crayg!
-So, what do you think about going to sleep?
-Well why not.
Fucking NPC! On top of that, they weren't going to sleep, they were about to spend my money for alcohol! I know guys that could dive in an eternal sleep, if I get hold of them in a dark alley!
Never mind, it seemed I had to wait until dawn…
However, I hated it, I had already used a lot of gold pieces to find a smuggler, with more than 50 silver coins (half of a gold coin!) that just left my pockets, I had the feeling that I didn't have a lot of budget left for this trip! Almost all my money was left at Nyggloth!
[…]
The next day, after a night without sleeping, I entered the city in the morning. I went to the inn Merlin indicated to me, I took the designated room, and slept all day.
After waking up, I used a magic method to read secret inscriptions on the wall of the room. It was a detailed map of the city, of the different possible ways of escape, with the distances thoroughly copied. There was also a plan of the headquarters of heroes, also detailed. It seemed a lot of work was necessary to obtain as much information. Even then, the closer it was from the treasure room, the less the map was precise, and the room itself was an empty rectangle. It seemed there were limits to gathering information on an adverse power… I quickly memorized the plan, the superior memory of mages being certainly efficient and useful.
I ate, went back to the room, prepared one at a time the tools that could be of use, and turned over in my head multiple times the map and the spells I could possibly need.
[…]
Everything was going smoothly, I arrived at the treasure room by aura's marked teleportation (the teleportation with a marker is more precise and more discreet, because almost undetectable magically, than a basic teleportation, the use of aura adds to the discretion, but on the contrary lack in precision). I evaded all the physical like magic traps (seems like videogames are useful sometimes, especially when the heroes are all plagiarisms of heroic fantasy heroes and are all extremely predictable). I entered the room.
And then, in front of thousands of treasures of the heroes' guild, I just realized something: superior memory of mages my ass, I forgot which treasure I had to steal!
-Oh shit, in doubt I take everything!
