Magic Kingdom at War Volume 5

=Chapter 1=

Matt woke up the next day, groggy and tired. He had been tossing and turning the whole night, unable to sleep well but certain that there was nothing that he could do. He had risen out of the four-poster carved wooden bed at various times, thinking that he should get something to put him to sleep but instead choosing to slump back again rather than try to make his way down the steps with a candle to wake a grumpy Alchemist.
Maybe he should ask the man to give him something to keep by his bedside. Though, it likely was a one-off and short-term brew if the Alchemist had anything at all. After all, everything nice was like that in this damn world.
Ever since he had been killed and then reincarnated, Matt had realised that much of this challenge was set up to annoy a man like him. Indoor plumbing was at least sort-of available, though a giant hole that you sat upon and took a shit into was not much better than a bowl. Then again, at least he never had to worry about flushing – just, you know, falling into the garderobe and never emerging.
Same with the food. The semi-sentient, half-real servants that dealt with the basics of survival made food. However, after multiple weeks – and boy, did he wonder if there were years and months and seasons in this place, because so far, it'd been all one weather – the meals were getting tiresome.
At least it wasn't just a single meal, but they had about a half-dozen dishes they had on rotation for each meal and that was it. Matt had taken to keeping some of the food from one meal to the next, just to mix things up and slop together the bread from breakfast to go with the stew.
He really, really wanted some good ramen. Or, hell, good old BBQ. Fried chicken so greasy and wrong that your heart was about to give way if you had it. You know, the good stuff.
Instead, as he finished swallowing the gruel with a touch of dried fruits that made up breakfast, he trudged up the stairs sad and tired and exhausted.
They'd beaten the harpies back, and that was good. They were even stronger, significantly, than their opponents. If the team could link up with the reinforcements and then push forwards again, hopefully finding the harpy base, they could call this the end of things. A base with the harpies and having an aerial formation could be very useful. How useful, he was not certain; but they couldn't hurt, now could they?
Of course, right now, he had numerous single unit armies strung out all across his map, ready to be defeated in detail. If he got attacked, he had nothing to stop these units from being wiped out individually. Which was why he had not found sleeping easy, nor would it be relaxing at least for a few more days. If not weeks.
"Braskar. You awake?" Matt asked as he finally made it into the map room at the top of the keep. He flopped down next to the magical map, not bothering to look at it. Nothing new would have happened overnight, he assumed, though that wasn't always the case. If some unit had a three-unit movement rate, it was possible they could have appeared later in the day.
Or maybe units with night movement? Now that would be a big twist. But first, and more importantly, he had a question for his Warlord. Of course, he opened the channel for Lasya too. She had earned that much consideration.
"I am, my lord."
"Present, sir."
"And?" Matt asked, tensing as he leaned forward. He eyed the units left, noted the new numbers. Seems like they had increased a whole sapling overnight, which was amazing. The Priest's presence and magic were definitely making a difference in how fast the army units recovered. Whole new possibilities spiraled, with having a Priest for each army and...
Then reality set in as the constraints of the contest came into play.
"We have discussed our options and we have decided that it is worth the risk of pushing ahead, my lord. Together, we believe we can see off any attack, especially with two firecracker flower units." Braskar's voice was full of confidence as he spoke.
"Even if they bring in more Heroes? Because we've only seen one."
"Unless it is a Warlord, I believe we will triumph."
"And if it is?"
"Then we will endeavor to win," Braskar said.
"Not filling me with confidence here." Matt shook his head after a moment. "Alright, get moving. Hunt that fortress down. If we get it, we'll be one more town up." He just hoped the Scout wasn't smart enough to flee in a different direction than their town, leading them astray.
"And you, my lord? What will you do?" Braskar said.
"Not much I can do," Matt said with a sigh as he stared at his gold. "We're still waiting to hit two hundred, which is as far away again as it was before because of the last minute purchases. We'll get there tomorrow if nothing goes to hell." He eyed his information, noted he was literally building everything he could, and then added, "Which is unlikely."
"And have you decided which cavalry unit you wish to purchase? Or mayhap a ranged unit for the saakal?"
"No real point, not yet. I mean, we're a little constrained by having to build everything here, but we just don't have the gold to support multiple rally point towns. If anything, I should be buying more gold-making places for the second town," Matt said. "If not for the obvious..."
"Obvious, sir?" Lasya asked.
"Ah, the potential to lose this town. We don't have a lot of people there and the most recent attacks have been coming from the north."
"That is obvious." Lasya shut up for a time, leaving Matt to consider next steps. After a while, he felt the connection that linked them and allowed them to talk to one another fade out, leaving an empty space where it had been. A quick – though thorough – check of the map showed nothing new and forced Matt to get up and walk out.
There was no reason to hang out here any longer. Other than sending his saakal unit in the east chasing the cavalry group that was still avoiding it, there was nothing more that he had to do. He would have to return at some point and could do so later. Instead, he took the stairs down till he reached Irvine’s alchemy laboratory.
He pushed the door open carefully, peeked in, and made sure the man wasn’t doing anything strange, like stirring a pot with one leg raised and a feather held in his left hand, before he cleared his throat to announce his presence.
Irvine looked up from where he was – thankfully – just hunched over a notebook. He had his quill out, though there was no ink on it and he was just letting it hover over the page. The man was looking a little more tired than before, though that could be hard to tell. After all, at over sixty with a giant white beard and wrinkles everywhere, Irvine was not exactly in the prime of his life.
On the other hand, as had been evidenced not so long ago, he was also surprisingly well built underneath his wizard robes. When asked about it, Irvine had snorted and pointed out that standing around for hours on end wasn’t the work of someone frail and retiring. Nevermind the constant grinding, stirring, and pounding that was part of an alchemist’s job.
“Yes?” Irvine asked irritatedly. He never even looked up from his book as his lips moved, sending wisps of long beard hair dancing before it.
“Just checking in. What are you up to?” Matt said, trying for bright and cheery. Which he knew he was utterly horrible at, but he tried.
“The only thing I can do. Making more potions.” Irvine gestured to the side where a small rack of potions was available. There were five green-yellow potions that glittered a little and another three darker grey potions right beneath them in little wooden slots, just waiting. “Those are what we have now, Greater Strength and Defense. I’m researching Hardened Skin right now. That’s what I was doing, but I could switch to Speed if you want.”
“No. Keep at it. Hardened Skin is important if we can get it,” Matt replied.
“No if. I’ll have it. I just have to figure out how to dissolve the tri-antlered beetle hide into the solution properly and find a substitute for the nightmare sheddings.”
Matt felt an eyebrow twitch at the words as he realized what the damn Alchemist had been feeding him. Then again, what did he expect? It was alchemy. At least he wasn’t putting in eye of newts and puppy dog tails after all.
"Right, I guess. Well, keep at it." Matt put on a false cheery smile and winced. He sounded like the worst kind of middle manager he had ever worked with, the kind who never had anything useful to say when they came to bother you while you were working at the task they'd set for you but definitely felt the need to say or do something to feel useful.
For the first time in his life, Matt was feeling sympathy for them.
And if that didn't show how cursed a game this world was, he didn't know what did.

***


Global Status Report
Day 83 (Start of Day)
Pooled Gold: 183.25 (+44 Gold per day)
Total Units: 8 Woodlings, 7 Firecracker Flowers, 1 Saakal
Cooldown: Spell Casting (1/7)

Unit Organisation
Town 1: Irvine, 2 Woodlings, 1 Firecracker Flower
Town 2: (Empty)
Army 1: Braskar, Lasya, 2 Firecracker Flowers
Army 2: 1 Saakal (chasing raiders)
Army 3: 1 Firecracker Flower (en-route to Army 1)
Army 4: 1 Firecracker Flower (en-route to Town 2)
Army 5: 1 Woodling (en-route to Town 2 from Town 1)
Army 6: 1 Woodling (en-route to Army 1 from Village 2)
Village 1: 1 Woodling
Village 2: (Empty)
Village 3: 3 Woodlings, 2 Firecracker Flowers

Town 1 Status Report
In Production: Basic Greenhouse (13/20), Firecracker Flower (2/5), Woodling (1/4)
Structures Completed: Grove, Road, Stall (II), Ranged Copse, Harbour, Village #2 – Watch Tower, Blacksmith, Fishing Dock, Road to Village #3, Village #3 – Watch Tower, Village #3 – Horse Farms
Structures Available: Grove (II), Watch Tower, Tavern, Marketplace, Ranged Copse (II), Stone Harbour, Shipyard, Trading Post, Temple, Blacksmith (Upgrade), Fishing Wharf, Brisk Nursery

Town 2 Status Report
In Production: Saakal (1/5)
Structures Completed: Den (II), Tavern, Wall, Temple, Stall (II)
Structures Available: Den (III), Javelin Range, Training House, Watch Tower, Blacksmith, Temple (II), Granary, Running Kennels

Release Date: September 7, 2024

Pages: 68

Genre: LitRPG Fantasy

eBook ISBN: 9781778552045

Language: English

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