TCOB: CHAPTER TEN

You have bad karma… Life will become hard for you.

“Ah…”

Clyde exhaled, a hint of irritation bubbling within him. It was a mostly peaceful night, only the sound of singing crickets hidden in the vegetation disrupting the tranquil solitude.

The faint moonlight only barely allowed Clyde to make out Lorin's features in the darkness. The peasant farmer stood a few metres away from him, blocking the path.

I was hoping to avoid this… Clyde mumbled as he dropped the items he held.

"Your silence is worrying, Clyde," Lorin said, ignorant of Clyde's rising annoyance, "I am going to find the constables…".

"Wait," Clyde finally called out with a solemn sigh. Shaking his head helplessly, he walked towards Lorin. "Are you sure you want to do that, Lorin? Don't be unreasonable. Surely, there must be a reason for me to want to just leave everything behind and disappear, right?"

Lorin paused his steps, feeling Clyde pull on his right shoulder. A baffled expression crossed his face. "Then tell me, why?" he asked, his tone worried.

But surprisingly, as he turned back to face Clyde, he was met with a cold, emotionless stare. Clyde's eyes were like tranquil pools of still water.

"You should have minded your own business…" Clyde muttered ominously. Only then did Lorin realise the dangers of his folly.

"Huh―" the peasant farmer made a sound of confusion, his eyes widening exaggeratedly as he attempted to backpedal away from his neighbour; a futile effort.

Clyde's right arm cocked back in one fluid motion before punching towards Lorin's forehead. His form was somewhat clumsy due to the many discrepancies between his new body and old, but under the influence of past experiences and cultivated instincts, the blow held true.

With a dull thud, Clyde's fist struck. Lorin stumbled backwards for a few metres before keeling over, unconscious.

[You have dealt 21.7 base damage | You have inflicted 19.6 effective damage]

[You have inflicted a knockout blow | You have inflicted comatose(temp.) status | Status effect induced]

[You have suffered 0.9 recoil damage | You have failed to resist]

'Annoying…' mumbled Clyde. It was unknown whether he was referring to the unconscious Lorin, his new body or the throbbing pain in his fist. Glancing around once to confirm no one else was in the vicinity, Clyde gave one last dismissive glance to the unconscious Lorin before walking back to the startled donkey.

After taking a few moments to calm the creature down, he proceeded to flee the village.

***

The outskirts of Longboat village

Loue Province - Ashcol Duchy,

Eris - Ethania.

…

A procession of armed men escorted a loaded carriage towards the village. A group of five yeomen and three squires marched solemnly alongside the vehicle, which was being pulled by two horses. Seated on the carriage were two knights having a solemn discussion.

"But isn't the lord asking for too much?" The younger of the two said with a hint of resentment in his voice. "The village's total population barely caps a hundred and fifty. Telling us to provide thirty men to supplement the dungeon-delving effort is basically asking the village to cripple itself. Everyone knows only two-thirds of the yeomen who are sent under make it back in one piece. And in some cases, none at all."

"We have little say on this matter, Teil," the older knight sighed as he leaned back into his seat on the carriage to stare up at the night sky. "To be honest, we should be glad Lord Gaeb even bothered providing us with this much compensation. I heard from Sir Lorne that Logger was instructed to provide forty men and only received three bags of grain for their effort."

"Isn't Logger smaller than our village?" Teil asked, baffled.

"It is," the older man nodded solemnly. "Word is, Lord Turiel's spawn unknowingly got in a fight with the Lord's heir over a merchant's daughter. Now the people of Logger are going to pay the price for his folly."

The conversation simmered into a sober silence for several seconds before Teil spoke again.

"...That's dreadful," the younger man said with a faint shiver.

"It is."

"The breaches have started to get worrying," Teil mumbled with a sigh as he changed the subject uncomfortably, his expression solemn. "Wasn't the last one just a month ago? Usually, dungeon breaches are about five months apart, right? Why the sudden increase in intensity?"

"I don't know, son," the older knight replied as he stared up at the moonlit sky. "The baron mentioned that the capital sent news stating that the frequency of breaches would increase to about two a month in the coming months. It is for this reason we can do nothing but accept Gaeb’s rather unreasonable demands. Ignoring a warning from the Mage's tower is utter foolishness and going against the Gaeb’s decree is tantamount to rebelling against the grand duke himself. We have no choice in the matter."

The older knight sighed again. "The coming months would be tedious at best," he said, sombre. "A great calamity is festering and soldiers would have to be groomed to face it. Many will die before the year is over and there is little we can do to avoid―"

THUD!

The carriage shuddered as it abruptly came to a halt.

"What happened?!" the older man asked, startled but mostly annoyed. He looked to the side of the carriage to see it was angled precariously into a ditch at the side of the road.

"We slid off the trail, milord!" One yeoman called back as he bent over to examine the accident. "A wheel is stuck, sir!"

The older knight frowned as he glanced at the wheel in question. Mud? the knight thought suspiciously, in the summer? There hasn’t been rain for weeks!

The suspicion in his heart grew stronger as he turned to Teil, who was urging the horse to pull, but to no avail. The carriage was stuck.

"On guard!" the knight ordered as he got down from the carriage and unsheathed his sword. The rest of the group quickly became alerted seeing the older knight's behaviour and also unsheathed their weapons.

"Should we unload the goods, m’lord," one yeoman asked as two of his brethren attempted to push the carriage out of the ditch, albeit unsuccessfully.

The knight thought for a moment but shook his head. "No," he replied as his heart grew uneasy. 'Was this really an accident?' he thought to himself. Experience had long taught him to think otherwise.

Just as he was about to give further instructions he noticed a figure approaching in the darkness.

"Stop right there!" he ordered the approaching individual.

There was a brief pause as both sides observed each other silently. The stalemate didn't last long though as the figure seemed to unfreeze as they backed away slowly.

"I said stop!" the older knight shouted again. There was another pause before the figure did stop as they raised both hands above their head.

As the older knight peered at the figure, two yeomen quickly approached the individual while holding torches. Under the crimson illumination, he could now make out the image of a peasant youth with a nervous donkey in his wake.

As his men brought the peasant closer, the older knight could now properly make out his features. Dark chin-length hair, a somewhat freckled face and amber-coloured eyes that glowed reddish-gold under the light of the lit torches.

For some reason, a crude wooden bow and leather quiver hung on his shoulder.

"How may I be of service, my lord," the youth asked calmly as fell to his knees.

…

Earlier.

Clyde crouched by Maggie the donkey as he watched a pair of yeomen walk away in the distance. The duo weren't doing a great job at patrolling the village outskirts; just as Clyde had predicted.

From his inherited memories, Clyde had learnt that Loue Province was a relatively peaceful place. Neighbouring nobles avoided engaging in open conflicts, bandits were heavily outlawed, killed on sight, and the entire region was just prosperous enough to not draw unwanted attention; good enough to get by, but not enough to warrant incursions from possible rivals.

In fact, the region was so peaceful that Clyde has no memory of any major incident that resulted in unrest aside from the occasional dungeon breach and a few incredibly stupid bandit packs. Hence, as expected the forces of this region had grown complacent. From the viscount at the top down to the common peasant soldiers, a lackadaisical attitude towards security festered.

Sneaking out of the village was easy enough if one ignored Lorin's stint. Clyde had long been aware of his neighbour's suspicion. It couldn't be helped though, regardless of whether he had the previous Clyde's memories or not, it was impossible to perfectly replace him. Clyde the peasant farmer and Clyde Kim Seong-ho were two vastly different people; hence, anyone who knew either for any given length of time would easily be able to tell the difference.

As for attempting to blend in using the previous Clyde's memories? Kim knew it would be an inefficient waste of time, hence, he didn't bother.

It was fine though as he didn't have any plans of returning here soon, if even at all. Bridges could and would be burnt without any regard. It was more efficient that way.

Clyde led the donkey down the path to Neverna, his first stop. As the village was at the outskirts of the Grand Duchy of Ashcol, going in the opposite direction would take him across the bandit-infested border into the kingdom of Lorne, a bad choice for a relatively defenceless farmer like himself.

The plan was, upon arrival at Neverna, he would collect information on the neighbouring villages and towns before committing to his next destination. Sadly, the village wasn't the best place to gather info, hence his next target after Neverna still largely remained a mystery to him. Though a proper town would definitely be preferable over a village in his opinion.

With only the sound of crickets and Maggie's breathing to fill the silence, Clyde traversed the darkness with his eyes peeled and ears opened.

His solitude didn't last long though as he soon noticed a rowdy group(possibly a merchant and his escort) ahead of him. The group remained stationary for some unknown reason.

Clyde stopped, hesitant about revealing himself. He looked around as he contemplated going around through the woods but quickly discarded the idea. Doing that ran the risk of running into dangerous wildlife or simply getting lost and losing valuable time. Inefficient.

He glanced back at the group before letting out a sigh. He had two choices. One, hide in the nearby bushes until the group sorted out whatever was preventing them from proceeding. Or he could just continue on his path and attempt to keep interactions to a minimum.

Clyde waited for a minute while observing them and soon realised they might not be going anywhere soon. The group seemed to have gotten their cargo stuck in a ditch and were still struggling to get it out.

Waiting for them to leave would cost a lot of time and time was a resource Clyde was currently short on. The village yeomen might soon discover his stunt and come searching for him.

So, with another sigh, Clyde urged the donkey to continue moving. Hopefully, they wouldn't bother me too much… Clyde mumbled as he walked towards the group. While most would keep to themselves, Clyde knew there would always be a few eccentrics amongst the population who loved to behave otherwise.

But as Clyde approached the group, he suddenly heard a shout.

"Stop right there!" a man waving a longsword threateningly said, seemingly toward Clyde.

Clyde froze for a few moments, shocked, before backing away slowly. Wtf… he muttered with a baffled frown on his face.

"I said stop!" the individual shouted again. Clyde considered his only other choice. Run away? Clyde instantly discarded the thought. He knew for a fact that even the weakest yeomen in the village ran faster than him. There was no way he could escape them if they decided to pursue.

So, with another sigh, Clyde raised his hands in the air in the hopes of calming the potentially dangerous individual. He watched two others approach him with lit torches in hand. As the duo got closer, he realised they were yeomen. For some reason, they felt stronger than the ones he managed to hoodwink back at the village.

Thankfully, I didn't delude myself that I could escape… Clyde mumbled as he watched them quickly close the distance with powerful strides. The pair soon arrived by his side to lead him towards the figure who demanded he stop.

It was then a few prompts appeared in the corner of Clyde's vision.

[You cursed the system | You have bad karma | Life will become hard for you…]

[Status cannot be lifted until rendered invalid | Status will remain valid until you repent]

What?... A cold chill ran down Clyde's spine.

As he approached the group, the features of the man who demanded he stop became visible.

Clyde's blood ran cold.

He recognised the knight from his many memories. Sir Tuile Longboat. The lord of Longboat village.

"..."

Clyde sighed…

Then he sighed again. With visible effort, he schooled his depressed expression into a neutral stare.

"How may I be of service, my lord," He asked calmly as he stared at the landed knight before him. An errant thought flashed through his mind.

Fuck…

I am screwed.