Elsewhere

Duke stepped out of the Portal and into the entrance building or, as he had come to think of it, the killbox. He was greeted by a pair of guards with proper salutes and a hearty, “Welcome back to Havenreach, Your Majesty!”

Duke smiled at them, returning their salute, “As you were. It’s good to be back here after all this time. Anything I should know about?”

“You should speak to the Guard Captain or the Mayor. They will know more about what has been going on since you have been gone than I could tell you, Your Majesty.”

Duke nodded in agreement, “Sounds like a plan. Keep your watch on this place, vigilant as always.”

“Of course, your Majesty!” The pair of guards returned to their posts, symbolic they may be, they were good at their job.

The real defense of the entrance was outside the entrance hall and Duke greeted the Captain of the Guard as he exited the building, “Captain, have you already sent a runner on ahead?”

“Of course, You Majesty. Are you going to outrace the poor lad like you did last time?”

“Depends on whether we want to make this a thing or not.”

“That lad has been training for two and a half years every day before and after his shift. He means to beat you to the city.”

“Then it is already a thing then. What’s his fastest time to the city?”

“Fourteen minutes and twelve seconds.”

“Guess we have about thirteen minutes before he gets there, right?”

“That should be about right, Your Majesty.”

“Excellent. Gives me some time to chat. So, anything interesting from the past two and a half years that I should know?”

“Just the terrible productivity slowdown. It really frustrated everyone until we got used to it. The mayor called it ‘the new normal’ and told us all to get used it. At least he adjusted the taxes so that it wasn’t as bad of an impact as it could have been but it’s still bad out there.”

They continued to talk about the guards, how they were training and how much harder it had been to gain levels lately. Even Skill levels were coming slowly. They were holding fast despite it all – they had a city to protect even if it was a bit more tarnished than it had been. Duke noticed that the guards’ uniforms were nowhere near as clean and well-maintained as he remembered. That puzzled him somewhat but he could at least fix that.

After long enough had passed, Duke left the guards with a CLEANSE and a RESTORE and ran towards the city. His now 2,500 Agility score helped him to eat up the ground at speeds he could have only matched in his fighter back on Earth.

Duke arrived one step ahead of the runner, chuckling at the flabbergasted youth wheezing to catch their breath. He turned to the youth, and gave him a warm smile, “You almost beat me this time. That’s damned impressive and deserves some sort of award.”

“That’s” wheeze “not really” cough “necessary” wheeze “Your Majesty.”

“Necessary, perhaps not. But that’s the great thing about being King, I get to decide if I want to award someone or not. And I have decided that your dedication deserves it.” Duke reached into his INVENTORY and pulled out a heavily-enchanted sword he had taken from one of the higher-level mercenaries. “Here, take this. It’s dangerous out there.” The guard gaped at the blade unsure of what to say. Duke just kept going into the city.

Duke smiled to himself as he headed into the city. I have no idea what that sword does. I hope he doesn’t hurt himself with it. He put the thought aside as he realized that he had an INVENTORY full of items he had never taken the time to identify as well as the bodies of who knew how many fallen enemies. Why am I carrying all those bodies again? Oh, right, for Baslin. Something about handing my court wizard dead bodies seems like a terribly bad idea. Well, I guess I haven’t done that just yet but what else am I going to do with all these bodies? Feed them to monsters I create? Hmm…that might work out OK. Later. That’s a problem for later.

Duke finally made it to the city hall and was on his way to the mayor’s office when just how dirty and run-down the city looked to him finally struck. He paused and ducked his head back out to look at the city and indeed it was dirty. The colors of all the buildings looked faded and worn with signs of neglect everywhere. He even saw some trash strewn in the street. Duke’s mood soured and he did his best not to stomp his way to the mayor’s office. He wasn’t sure he managed it.

When he arrived, he was quickly ushered in and saw the mayor slumped behind his desk. The man looked haggard. He was fit when Duke had last seen the man, but now, he looked like he had lost at least thirty pounds that he could ill-afford to lose. Mayor Shellenberger looked up at Duke, his eyes dull and not fully focusing.

“Mayor, what the hell happened here? You look like a shell of yourself and the city looks like it has fallen into disrepair.”

Slowly, the man looked up to Duke, recognition slowly crossing his features. He stood shakily leaning on his desk for support, “Gone. Dried up. It’s all gone. No more ore to be found. Have to dig deeper. Have to send the adventurers deeper, but they went too far. Too many died. And the contracts, the contracts have to be met. No time for farming, have to meet the contracts.”

Duke let the man ramble on and realized what had happened with slowly dawning horror. This is my fault. The city was built on my Aura of Prosperity but when I left, they felt the effects most deeply with their temporal acceleration. Now, things are going to accelerate to a ridiculous level with my Psyche pushing it like this. I’m going to have to find a solution for when I head out again.

Duke activated a CLEANSE and RESTORE large enough to encompass the entire building before he spoke, “Mayor Shellenberger. Look at me.” The mayor slowly looked up at Duke. “Prosperity is back for now. Take all the excess in and store it. Build warehouses enough to hold raw materials and wealth to carry the entire city for ten years or longer. When those warehouses are full, build another set. The prosperity is not going to last forever, so prepare for the next drought.”

“Prosperity? Back? Is it true?” The mayor stumbled around his desk and nearly fell on Duke, gripping his lapels to keep himself upright.

“Yes, mayor, it’s true. And when was the last time you had something to eat?”

“No time. Have to meet the contracts. Can’t fail.”

Duke helped the man back to his chair and sat him down. Shaking his head, he pulled food and drink out of his INVENTORY and put it on the desk in front of the man. “Go ahead and eat. The crisis is over for now but remember what I said about the warehouses. Make more than you think you could ever fill because you’re going to need them.”

When Duke exited the building, he saw that his Abilities had brought the building back to life, at least in appearance. It stood in stark contrast to the rest of the city. I can’t leave it like this. No way. Duke spread his CLEANSE and RESTORE Abilities across the entire city, burning through virtually all his Mana to do so.

Suddenly, he felt dizzy and had to lean against a pillar. He flipped to his stat sheet to see what was going on and figured it out quickly. His Mana was refilling very slowly, roughly thirty-two thousand a second as opposed to the more than eight hundred thousand a second he was accustomed to. The time dilation affects my Mana regen? I never noticed it before. Odd. Guess I’m not sticking around here for long. Really, my main task here is done. Only one more visit to make before I head back out anyway.

Duke found himself being shown into Chal'barnah’s office within the Adventurer’s Guild. The otherworldly creature that was Chal'barnah smiled with her far too long and sharp teeth. She gestured to a chair opposite her, “You one told me to forego the formality when we were alone. I do hope that you meant that long-term. It has been quite a while since I have seen you here in this once fair city.”

“I would say that it is fair once again and things will turn for the better any day now.”

“You bring me optimism, but I have laid to rest too many of my adventurers to put such frivolous thoughts to mind. We have lost more than have come to settle here and it has left me somewhat pessimistic since we have had to delve so deeply just to make the bare minimum of the city’s needs.”

“Yes, I know. I have just come from the mayor’s office.”

“Oh, that poor man. He will work himself and all of us to death before he misses one of those precious contracts. Damn them!”

“When are your next adventurers due to come out of the dungeon?”

“In just a few minutes. It could be longer as they may have had to look longer to find any decent loot.”

“Let’s go meet them as they come out. I want to see what it looks like.”

“You’re the King,” She rose to her feet and prepared for the journey out to the dungeon.

“Allow me,” Duke smiled as he TELEPORTED both of them to the dungeon entrance near the “taxation” arch. The guards on duty nearly leapt out of their uniforms when the pair appeared a meter away from them. Chal'barnah took a step steadying herself.

“That’s quite the trick.”

“I’m quite fond of it,” Duke agreed. “Let’s wait a few and see what the team comes out with, shall we?”

“Not much choice unless we want to go in after them,” She responded with eagerness.

Duke laughed, “Haven’t been in the dungeon in a while, have you?”

“Not since it got stingy. Oh, looks like they are coming out.”

She was proven right as a group of five adventurers came out of the dungeon entrance grinning from ear to ear. Chal'barnah leaned over to Duke, “I haven’t seen a team this happy in years.”

They came out cheering and celebrating. Once they saw Chal'barnah standing there, they sobered up quickly as they passed through the arch and came to stand before the Guildmaster. She looked them up and down, “Have anything to report?”

“Yes, Guildmaster. We’re all full up on loot. There was nothing to speak of for most of the delve but we decided to hit one more monster before we left, and it just spewed out loot when we killed it. It was like a full run from the oldentimes. And get this. It was on the first floor!”

Chal'barnah looked back at Duke who kept his expression neutral, “You knew this was going to happen, didn’t you.”

“Why else would I have brought us here. Expect the runs to be very profitable for a while. But don’t expect it to last. Save up your wealth. Help the city stockpile everything it will need from the dungeon for the next ten years. Yes, I said ten years. Fat times are upon you for maybe the next year or three, but the lean times will come back so take this time to prepare for them.”

“As you say, Your Majesty,” Chal'barnah responded while looking longingly at the dungeon. Finally, she couldn’t hold back any longer, “Who is coming with me? I’m going in.” Five hands immediately went up. Duke even caught the guard start to raise his hand before remembering he had a job to do and putting it back down.

“It seems my work here is done for now,” Duke chuckled. “Enjoy your run but heed what I said. Lean times will come again. Be prepared.” With that, he TELEPORTED back to the castle and to his throne. He had other kingdom business to attend to.