Will You Stay or Go?

The next day, Gore woke up with Dane standing over him. His hands were on his hips. "Gore, wake up."

Gore's eyes flicked open, and Dane offered him a gauntleted hand. Gore took Dane's hand and Dane pulled him up.

Dane was in full armor except for his helmet, and he looked Gore up and down. "So, you have Magic. You know this is unheard of. A mage dedicates their life to making a soul core, and they don't achieve that until they are sixty typically. But you just shot a fireball that could melt through castle walls…"

Gore blinked. "I thought that you would be mad about the alcohol."

Dane chuckled and then frowned. "You don't understand much about this world, do you?"

He sighed deeply and then looked at Gore dead in the eyes. "Will you stay as a mercenary for me, or will you leave and make your own warband?"

"I want my own warband."

Dane sighed again. "That is the way it goes, isn't it. Well, on your quest to take over the human kingdom, do a favor and do not start a war with Talien, this small kingdom until you have conquered every other human kingdom."

Gore nodded. "For what you have done for me, I accept that request."

Dane nodded. "Good. Let me suggest to you what I would do if I were you. The easiest kingdom to start with would be Veros. The country is our neighbor, and it is a very large country that has a very small navy. What ships they have are used to export the farming goods they have.

That country would be a very good place to start raising a warband. No one is hungry in that land, and you could tempt young men with weapons and promises of glory if they follow you. 

Now obviously you can't take castles or cities by your lonesome, so you are going to need to create your own warband full of people that you train and come to trust. I'm not lying to you, that is going to take a long time.

With your power though people will want to follow you, even to death when you tell them how much money you are worth.

When you have a warband, work as mercenaries for a bit, maybe working on ships or helping with border conflicts, there are always many.

Once your band becomes well equipped, confident, and experienced… Conquer a city and then move on from there, conquering the whole nation. 

Obviously, it's far more complicated than that, but I'm sure that you will figure it out!"

Dane had lost Gore in the first few words. When Dane saw Gore sticking his large ass ringed finger deep down in his nose, he knew he wasn't paying attention, so he cut the dumbed down spiel short.

When the spiel finally ended, Gore offered his hand to Dane. "Thanks for everything, but uh. Which direction is this Veros nation?"

Dane shook Gore's hand. "It's West. In the direction of the setting sun. The sun is rising right now, so go in the opposite direction."

Gore nodded. "Yeah, I'm glad I didn't sleep in…"

"Hey, are you sure you don't want to have some more fun before you go? Maybe take a woman?"

Gore shook his head. "No. I'm leaving now."

With that, Gore turned around and left. He walked away from the castle and went off the road and through the woods in the direction that Dane had given him. 

In the woods, he began to run with Mana and his high stats energizing his body like a fucking juggernaut. He did not stop for the trees in front of him, he just raised his fist and smashed through him.

If Gore had been paying attention, he would have seen green Mana glowing on his fists as he smashed through each of the trees. He had Aura.

Within three hours, Gore came out of the woods and entered into a giant green wheat field. He smashed through the unripe wheat fields without hesitation. 

Another twenty minutes passed before he came out upon a gravel road. He turned down each section of the road. One section lay towards a city and the other lay towards a castle. Gore began to run towards the city. 

Within five minutes, Gore stood at the city gates. There were two guards at the gates, but peasants were walking through, and the guards were not saying anything, so Gore began to walk through the gates. 

Suddenly, one of the guards yelled at Gore. "Hold it giant! There's a dress code in this city of Silvia. Your clothes are too tattered!"

Gore turned to the guards with an ugly frown. "Do you know how far I've come? I will buy clothes inside."

The guard looked him up and down and the only thing he saw was the green glowing ring on his finger that looked to be made of stone. "Do you even have any money?"

Gore opened the leather bag that Alfred had given him, and he dropped a golden coin on the dirt. "I do."

The guard picked up the golden coins and quickly pocketed it. "Alright my fine man, you may enter."

Gore sighed, extremely annoyed, and he walked into the city. The gate of the city was far larger than the one at Lexton where Gore had met Alfred. His head did not come near the top of the arch.

Inside the city, peasants starred, but Gore was used to that. He was the first Giant the majority of the people had seen. To Humans, Giants were the stuff of Legends that were often used by mothers as scare material when bad little children wouldn't go to sleep.

Gore strode into a shop. He had to bend very low when he entered the place. Inside the shop, he bought a very nice leather jacket that barely fit him. He bought a pair of trousers meant for fat people, and they hardly fit him. 

The owner was a little disturbed when Gore went to put his new clothes on in the small changing room. After Gore finished, he pressed a gold coin against the counter, and the man's doubts disappeared.

Gore walked outside the tailor's shop and towards the bar.