The Axe Falls 2 -ch 10-

Nick felt stiff.

Overworked, really.

As if his body was starting to warn him that he really couldn’t take much more, despite the fact that Claudia healed him every evening.

Over the last week they had almost done nothing other than grind out dungeon dives. All day, every day, from just after breakfast, till right before dinner.

Everyone had gotten to their next promotion level other than Nick. Given the experience distribution based on levels, everyone had started to level out to one another as well.

They were all at level twenty-three now and Nick was right on the cusp of hitting level twenty with all four of his classes.

It’d taken him doing some extra work after dinner each day but it’d been worth it. If he didn’t push himself further than everyone else, he would most certainly fall behind.

Today they had been forced into a day-off situation.

Something had happened in the dungeon and guards had rushed in. Rushed in and forced everyone else out.

Nick’s group had been forcibly evacuated by two soldiers while the rest of a platoon hurried past on to the next floor of the dungeon.

On top of that, he had gotten a response to his request to purchase a custom golem.

With all the required abilities he wanted it to have so he could utilize it the way he did, it would have taken every coin he had, and then needed three times that amount more.

For one golem.

It just wasn’t something he could afford right now.

Maybe if I’m really lucky, my deals with the Dukes will fatten my wallet to a point that I can make that happen.

That or I just work through Julie as an intermediary. That’d work too I suppose.

“This is rather nice place for lunch. I never would’ve guessed it considering we’ve only come for dinner,” Claudia remarked, delicately cutting into a pear-halve that’d been placed on her plate with her fork. “The location still feels strange, though more so during the day than at night.”

Nick nodded his head as he delicately worked at the soup that was his own apetizer.

“The lunch is quite good. I’m glad that they they don’t worry over people taking their time either,” Nick answered as Claudia gracefully maneuvered the pear to her mouth. “I wasn’t sure if their attitude to dinner would carry over to lunch.”

This was a newer restaurant that hadn’t been doing too well. The only reason it existed now was that the guild employees, city’s noble clients, and the merchants, all came here.

It’d converted itself from a middle-class restaurant to an upper end one in a last ditch effort to remain open. Which had worked so far.

Nick had only found it because he had wanted to watch his custom-built golem as it took orders.

This location gave him an easy spot to have a meal, linger, and watch what was going on.

He had already taken everyone here for dinner during the week, other than Rahak.

The wait-staff had been able to work through their dislike for Sara and Jessie both, but getting them to serve a Corvu would probably be something they couldn’t handle.

“Thank you for the invite, by the way,” Claudia murmured after she daintily wiped at her lips after she swallowed the slice of pear. “The dinner menu was lovely on it’s own, but the lunch one is equally enjoyable.”

“Of course, of course,” said Nick charitably. He was truly glad to have her here with him. “I genuinely enjoy having a meal with you, Claudia.”

The woman could hold a conversation without almost any help from him and he was still learning ‘the art of conversation’ as Lucian called it.

Sometimes, Nick just couldn’t help but blurt things out that he should probably keep to himself. Claudia helped keep a conversation inside respectable boundaries.

If Nick was going to be a king that could keep on top of the nobility, he would need to most certainly be able to handle a lot of fussy men and women who wanted to keep their power.

“Why thank you. I  find having meals with you quite enjoyable as well. You actually have a rather fascinating view point on things that still make me think.

“That and… well… if that agreement between ends up closing out without being replaced, I really do think we’ll need to be much closer as people to one another.

“Having meals frequently with one another is a great way to bridge any gap at all.”

Unable to deny that, Nick nodded his head instead.

“You’re right. That’s a really good way to put it Claudia,” Nick agreed with a chuckle. “Has Sara told you her elaborate plan?”

“Yes, unfortunately. I don’t think she’ll get as much traction as she thinks given that we’ll need to appease my father’s faction. But she’s welcome to try of course,” Claudia thought aloud with a small frown on her mouth. Then she shrugged. “Unrelated, I do wonder what happened with the dungeon. That was very strange. It makes me worry over something happening here as it did in Ashcroft.”

Claudia mused aloud then returned her attention back to her pear.

“After lunch let’s go ask what’s going on,” Nick offered up, once more tucking back into his soup. “We’ll need to plan tomorrows dive anyways so that works out to a degree. For all we know, they may not even allow dives tomorrow.”

With a light “hm” noise, Claudia didn’t immediately respond. This was her cue that she was considering his words and would answer in the near future.

Much as he’d expected, the conversation flowed naturally and smoothly. Claudia guiding him along in a way that didn’t even feel as if it had been done.

When they finally made it to the guild, he actually had a momentary pang of regret that they’d have to refocus on their business rather than where-ever the conversation went.

No sooner than he opened the door to the guild then it was obvious that there weren’t any real answers.

Adventurers were everywhere.

Sitting, standing, lounging, talking, and generally looking frustrated. Angry mouths discussing things while sullen glances were thrown at the counter.

Where there was only one guild member stationed. There was also a sign above their head.

“There is no news at this time,” Claudia read aloud in a pinched tone. “Well, that’s unfortunate.”

“Isn’t it though,” muttered Nick and then huffed. This was the last thing he wanted to see. A lack of information after a panicked response that left everyone scratching their heads. “Maybe it’s the same thing as last time after all. Just… in a response to the other one.”

“That’d make sense,” offered Claudia as the two of them shuffled out of the way of the entrance. “Tit for tat after all. How could I let my opponent have something I don’t.

“It was balanced previously, admittedly precariously, but still balanced. After Ashcroft it most certainly is not.”

Nick shook his head as he considered the whole of it.

It made sense the way Claudia had said it.

He just genuinely didn’t think it was the best thing to do for either side. That regardless of whoever won the war, the Dukes, the King, or even Nick, everyone would lose for the loss of dungeons.

There was the possibility of cultivating one with a dungeon crystal taken from elsewhere, but even then, it’d likely take a few decades for it to grow to a size that could support a city.

“It’s a loss,” hissed Nick. He felt like he was being robbed and it wasn’t even something he owned. “One is a loss, two is a disaster.”

A thought sprung into his mind at the same time.

Gramps, any chance we can buy a high end Dungeon crystal that would cause a dungeon to grow? Quickly?

Or like… I dunno… dungeon-miracle-fertilizer?

“I’m sure there’s something, Sire,” answered Lucian. “Where there’s a buyer, a seller will try to find an answer.”

“Regrettable. Yet it isn’t as if it was never a possibility. There’s a reason the crystals are often guarded,” murmured Claudia. “Even the way to them are guarded. This is somewhat of a failure on the part of those who ran the dungeons for not defending them as well as they probably should.”

“Complacency,” Nick muttered. He turned his gaze to the side a fraction. It had felt like someone was watching him.

He spotted Julie sat down at a table with a man he didn’t recognize. She looked incredibly bothered, yet also frustrated.

The man on the other hand seemed confused, uninterested in Julie, and looking around at everything around him.

Hm.

Did Julie end up coming back with someone?

Someone who wanted to talk about what’s on offer and why it’s this way? Well, we’ll make sure to not reward that mentality.

Work through Julie or not at all.

Julie gave him a grimace, blinked, then looked back to the other man. Clearly bored out of her mind and very uninterested.

Nick did note that Julie was nicely dressed up and looking as great as she had been last time.

“Is… that Julie?” Claudia asked in a very quiet whisper. “You briefly described her. You tend to undersell people and she… stands out.

“She was also staring at you pretty hard for a moment there.”

I didn’t think Claudia was that observant.

Has she grown up that much?

“Claudia, when did you grow up?” Nick blurted out instead, turning to look at her. “You barely noticed that every man in a room was eying you not that long ago.”

“Yes. I’m aware. I’m… I’m aware and working toward it. I’ve asked a lot of people for help and am actively doing all I can,” Claudia replied, catching his eyes, and smiling at him. “As to when I grew up, well, that’s easy. When you fell into a pit and your constant concern over me, saved me.

“I was a detriment. I’ve been working on that. I never want to put you in a position like that ever again. I think I’ve done well and I can do better.”

“Let’s get moving. Julie looks like she doesn’t want to talk. Whoever she’s with, she doesn’t like much,” Nick said and then exited the guild building, pulling Claudia along with him. “Let’s go chat with everyone else and update them, see if they heard anything.”

“Oh, yes. A good idea,” Claudia said and slipped her arm through his, leading him along without a word. “By the way, my father had mentioned something interesting—”

***

Nick looked up from his work.

Julie was there, only a few feet away.

He felt it when she threw up a magical bubble around them.

Which he couldn’t blame her for doing.

He wasn’t exactly in a private area right now.

As much as he didn’t want to admit it, about the only place he had available to him to work on his gear like this was the pen area attached to the stables.

It stunk like horse crap and hay was almost everywhere, but it didn’t bother Nick. His life had been full of terrible smells and this was nothing new.

Thankfully Table and Ker weren’t far off so he didn’t feel alone either.

Everyone else was lounging about and generally enjoying themselves. Nick was grateful that he had time to himself, by himself.

As much as he enjoyed having company, he did enjoy being alone almost as much. To just be able to sit with his thoughts and let things go as they are.

“Hey there, saw you had a friend,” Nick murmured, then turned and looked back to The Fall. He was currently working at replacing the haft with better wood. “Let me guess, they didn’t really like what you said and wanted someone else to handle it. Or something like that.”

“Not quite but also true in a different way,” Julie confirmed and sat down heavily on a small footstool. It made her dress tent out oddly. “They trusted me to handle the situation, since I was already allowed to purchase resources, but felt like I wouldn’t be able to handle recruiting this individual into the Dukes army.”

“That’s kinda funny,” Nick said with a hissing laugh. “Whatever. If they want to waste someone’s time, that’s on them.

“Though it does make it a little harder to do trades with you, doesn’t it? Or does the lovely court wizard have some tricks up her skirt to handle such a thing.

“You did kind of just about appear out of nowhere when you kidnapped me.”

Julie huffed then groaned.

“I certainly do have my tricks,” she agreed. “We can meet up in secret without anyone knowing about it. That’s where we can do the trades.

“I want to start with the most desperate need that the Dukes have, mercenaries. You did say they could hire them, right?”

“Indeed. It’s certainly possible and not an issue,” Nick murmured as he fit the axe head into place. “Thankfully whoever put together the Ledger’s foresaw problems that could come about from communication from such contracts.

“Anyone hired through the Ledger is provided a translation amulet. Anything they say will be in a language that anyone hearing can understand and they’ll easily understand anything said to them.

“Though it doesn’t prevent them from talking about their home-lands and worlds. I can’t imagine that they would want to talk about it, but it could happen.”

Lucian had already warned Nick about this aspect of hiring people already. That unless he personally ordered them to not speak about their origination, it was something they could indeed discuss with anyone they wished.

But that’s not a problem for me.

That’s a problem for the Dukes since they’re the ones hiring.

“Great. I’ll hire up to the edge of my budget on that,” Julie said, watching him work. “After that, I’ll spend my resource budget on healing potions. Those always go faster and faster.”

“Not a problem,” Nick stated as he flipped the axe head over and peered into the top of it. The wood was ready to receive a shim and be slammed apart till it had no possibility of slipping free. “You’ll need to pay everything up front. The Ledger operates through coin first, delivery after.

“Oh, and your own items came through. Give me a moment and I’ll fetch them for you.”

“That’s wonderful! I’m glad to hear that. If I’m going to be heading into the dungeon with you I really do need to look my best and be my best.”

“Mm. Everyone else is in their early twenties by the way,” Nick said as he gave the shim a quick dry fit to make sure it would be appropriate. “I’m of course lagging behind. I always am though. I have to gain four times the experience for everyone else’s one.”

“I was wondering about that,” admitted Julie. “Before you ask, I don’t know anything about what’s going on with the dungeon. Other than someone showed up at the end of it and tried to shatter the crystal.

“They were killed by the guardians quickly. Then all the reinforcements went down there.

“Last I heard, Count Had is actively reinforcing the crystal’s room and no longer allowing entry to the bottom floor. It’s being absolutely restricted and anyone who might attempt to pass will be killed on sight after a single warning.”

“Damn,” grumbled Nick as he then poured wood glue into the open slat at the top of The Fall. He was generous with it and didn’t care. He’d just wipe up the excess after he was done. “I was genuinely afraid of that.

“Losing dungeons is a great way to squander the future of the kingdom. I know you said the Duke’s didn’t attack Ashcroft, but someone clearly took it upon themselves to do it.

“Claudia mentioned it was distinctly possible that it was also a possibility that it could have been someone inside of the King’s camp who just didn’t like the Duke of Ashcroft.

“In either case, losing one dungeon is a tragedy. Losing two would be a calamity. I really need to level up as quickly as I can.”

“There… isn’t anything you can buy from the Ledger?” Julie asked.

“Already checked. Potions to grant me a limited percentage gain to my experience, but that’s about it. I already bought them and have been using them to keep up,” answered Nick.

“Well… we’ll just have to work really hard,” stated Julie with conviction. “I think the Dungeon will be closed for a few days. A week at most.

“That’s how long it’ll likely take the count to reinforce the crystal room and the bottom floor. After that it’ll open the dungeon again.”

“A week,” fretted Nick as he pushed the shim into place and then began hammering it into place with a wooden mallet. As it went down it would force the tip of the haft apart and lock the axe head into place. “Is there somewhere else we could go for a week?”

“Well, there’s a band of deserters that’s been spotted a few times to the west. They’re all in their late teens to early twenties on levels. They were just line troops.

“They’d be good experience and loot. People always offer up significantly more than monsters after all,” Julie offered up. “They also have a bounty and… well… you know me. A bounty is a bounty. Coin is hard to pass up.

“The bounty was only just put up the other day and I was the one who received the notice to post it. No one else would have it in this area but us.”

That’s not a terrible idea. It’d give Claudia a chance to harden her heart a bit. Having to kill someone will eventually happen as an adventurer. It’s practically a guarantee.

Starting with a criminal would be best.

I mean, that’s where I started after all.

I can even call them to account to make sure of it all.

“A wise suggestion from our Court Wizard, Sire,” agreed Lucian. “Try not to stare at Julie.”

Slamming down on the shim glue bubbled and seeped out. Flowing out even as he hammered the shim to the bottom.

When he was done he grinned, looked to Julie, and held it up.

“Look, it’s you after we finished up that first day,” he said, displaying the top of the axe head and it’s very messy appearance. “You were really needy that day.”

“You’re-you’re going to get me killed,” whispered Julie, a pained look on her face.

She did turn a bright red color as well.