Chapter 7: Ace

“I decline your proposal, Earl Yosef. No camps shall be seen in the borders of Aswain.”

He is taken aback when I called him by his title. Looks like he wanted to keep it a secret as much as possible.

“I suggest you go back to your land now. Any negotiations with Aswain in your name or the Marquess shall be rejected.”

He stood up and looked at me with fury. “How insolent! You are nothing but a mere archduke of this poor land!”

Right, right. Even a child can foresee this kind of reaction.

“Yet you came to me for this matter? Adam, inform the Earl that they must depart at first light.”

I left the meeting room and went to the kitchen.

sniff sniff

Something smells delicious. Bread?

“Madame, what are you doing here?” Oh! It’s Lyra.

“Perfect timing! Do you have something to do right now?”

She nodded her head. “The kitchen is busy because one of the cook’s helpers got sick. I have to fill in.”

“Is it flu?” These characters can get sick? How thorough their game is.

“Yes, she’s been quarantined so there is nothing to worry about.”

“I see. Come to the office after you finish your work here. I have a favor to ask of you.”

“Favor? Madame, what is it? I could tell the chef-”

“It’s all right. Help them out first. Later then.”

It’s still 3 o’clock in the afternoon and I got nothing to do. I don’t want to roam around the house. I might accidentally meet the Earl. Eugh.

Horseback riding sounds perfect.

“I’ll return your horse later!” I shouted as I mount myself on the horse. The coachman hurriedly ran to where he left his carriage, only to see one of his horses being detached.

“Madame!” He tried calling out to no avail.

[instrumental music]

I tapped the horse to make it walk a bit faster and went to the highest ground possible so I can clearly see the landscape. And boy, I am not kidding when I say that the developers went all out designing this game. I got off the horse and tied it to the nearby tree as it cannot possibly stand to the small cliff ahead. I looked down and got shocked on the view below.

Is that a volcano?! An active one at that! It’s literally ejecting lava.

Then again, this is a game. It doesn’t have to be logical. The developers might’ve created it to enhance the gaming experience of the players. There’s also a blue lake on the right side of the volcano. It somewhat looked like a crater.

While the volcano is active, it’s probably something the players should not worry about. The instrumental background of this place is soothing, doesn’t that indicates a peaceful environment when you are inside the game?

“Magnificent view,”

I turned around when I heard a voice from behind. It’s Trevor.

“Greetings, Madame.”

What is he doing here? They were supposed to be busy since I ordered them to be out of this place at dawn.

I looked back at the landscape. “Hello, Sir Trevor. It is indeed magnificent.”

He went closer to me.

“Why did you follow me here?”

He chuckled. “I was sent to kill you.”

Not an hour has passed since I declined the Earl. He is rather rash in making decisions.

“Why don’t you try? One of us will be seeing this view while we breathe our last. Quite romantic if you ask me.”

You know, I kind of regret what I said at the banquet. He isn’t an average-looking guy. He is beautiful, especially when he smile while thinking of ways how to kill me.

“I’ll gladly obey the Madame.” He quickly jumped out of his horse to attack me.

As he swings the sword at me, I can do nothing but dodge because first of all, I have no sword and I only came here to enjoy the landscape!

I ran towards the first stick I saw and pointed it at him.

“It’s a shame that you are the Earl’s ‘Ace in the deck of cards’. A lot of ladies adore you so I can’t kill you. What am I going to reason out if you cease to exist in my residence?”

“You can tell them that I was killed by your beauty, Madame.”

“Only a fool would believe that, Sir Trevor.”

I left my right side open and he took it as a chance to stab me, unlucky for him—that’s what I wanted him to do. I took a single step and hit his arm with the stick, hard enough to make it in pain for some time.

The sword he was holding flew so I picked it up and stabbed his leg.

“This is enough. Tell the Earl that you can’t kill me. If he still insists to erase my existence, be sure to be on par with my skills.” Besides, if there is someone who can erase me, it’d be the developers. Hah~

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“No, I was sent to kill you. I shall finish the order immediately.”

He tried standing up to no avail. Brother, your leg and arm is busted. Let it rest.

“Did you not hear what I said? If you continue right now, you will end up being killed by me. I defeated you easily. I don’t want to fight someone weaker than me. Suck it up and go tell that flamboyant master of yours. I still want to admire the view.”

I held his arm and tossed him back to his horse.

“I’ll be back after sunset. Make sure to have someone treat your leg. The stab is quite deep.”

The horse huffed before going back its way. Good riddance.

The volcano isn’t the only wonder in this place. Beside the volcano stands a tall rock formation and they’re almost the same height. There’s also a floating land filled with village houses on the farthe—wait, floating?! Then, does that mean that the land I am standing on right now is also floating? Hmm, this just piqued my interest. What could be the storyline of this game? It’s a magical world, for sure. Lol.

“MADAME! MADAME!”

Can anyone not disturb me for once?!

“What is it, Adam? You looked like you are in a hurry.” With his monocle hanging on his ear and his clothes in disarray, anyone can tell.

“Please get away quickly. I had the scroll with me so you should be able to teleport to the next town.”

Oh, “Did the Earl wreak havoc in the manor?”

His eyes grew wide and nodded. “How’d you know?”

“It’s to be expected. I declined his request.”

“But to harm the only archduke of this country? I get that we are weak but that doesn’t mean he can just dispose of us!”

“Why not? You said it yourself, Adam. We are weak. Anyone can march in this place and take it as his own.”

And I can simply ignore that but for the sake of preserving this beautiful scenery I witnessed, it’d be a shame if it falls in the wrong hands.

“Now, let’s go back to the house.” I tapped the horse and turned away from the landscape. I will get back here sometime.

“WHAT? No, Madame! You need to escape-”

“Oh please, Adam. Save me from those cliché lines. ‘Madame, you need to save yourself. We will hold the Earl blah blah blah’. Hurry up!”

As soon as I entered the manor’s vicinity, I can see the trail of dark smoke in the sky.

“Madame, this is really a bad idea. You can--”

I ignored Adam. I only stopped the horse when I saw the Earl standing outside the manor, ordering his troops to gather every house worker in the center.

“Looks like the Earl can’t take no for an answer. Why are you throwing your tantrums here? You are disrupting the orders of the palace.”

He turned his head and raised his hand.

“Kill her!”

Ah, this is tiresome.

His troops charged at me and I spared no minute knocking them all out.

I looked at Adam and picked up the rope that was lying around conveniently. “Tie them all up.”

I walked around the manor to check for more of his troops but it looks like they all gathered in front of the manor. That was all of it.

“Ugh, imbeciles! Why can’t you kill a single woman!” He tried to mount himself on the horse but I am quick enough to reach him and strike the side of his neck, knocking him out.

“Put out the fire!” I shouted.

The workers are quick to follow my orders and managed to kill the fire in a few minutes.

“Gather all of these men around the fountain. They’ll wake up in a few minutes so make sure they are tightly tied.”

I grabbed the Earl and dragged him until we reached the fountain. I sat on the floor and stared at him. His figure reminds me of a sewer rat covered in glitters.

“Madame, please hold onto this in case the merchant wakes up.” Lyra handed me a wooden sword.

A wooden sword. Really.

“I can just knock him out if he does something funny.”

“I am aware, Madame. Just take it as a precaution.”

Sigh.

“Give me that.”

I suddenly want to drink something fizzy. With all the movements I did earlier, it’s understandable. Then have some crispy snacks with it. Ahhh, damn. This thought is making me hungry.

“Ugh, my neck…”

Oh, he’s awake. Took him longer than I expected.

His eyes widened as soon as he saw me.

“You should’ve brought a lot of men.” I sneered.

“You! Where’s Trevor? I sent him to kill you! That useless punk!”

“Punk? I thought he was your ace. Adam, can you assemble a small group to look for Sir Trevor? Looks like he is lost on the way here.”

“Yes, Madame.”

“Do you know what will happen to this country now? Let me go!”

He wiggled his body so I pointed the wooden sword at him.

“Do you even understand your situation now?”

“Preposterous! Not only did you decline our benevolence to keep this country safe from the war, but you also dare tie me up! Does your shame know no bounds?”

“Preposterous, benevolence… those words sound nice. I’ll add it to my dictionary. Anyway, why are you fussing so much about my rejection? Did you stop even for a moment to think about how your decisions would affect us from our perspective? I bet you did not since you are so caught up in this border skirmish!”

His eyes widened again. A little bit more and his eyes might pop up!

“SKIRMISH! YOU DARE CALL THIS WAR A SKIRMISH!”

“Why not? Your king doesn’t even know about this, correct? If he did, he would’ve sent his own soldier instead of yours because you will be against Cerres but he didn’t. You got so cocky and thought you can win this with a little help from the Marquess when in reality you can’t. I can even defeat your troops without using a sword, think hard. I’ll give you 5 minutes.”

I stood up and stretched my leg. Dang, my leg felt a bit numb.

clip clop clip clop

“Madame, we found the body of Sir Trevor.”

He died? But I made sure he won’t bleed to death unless…

“I see. You are quite thorough, Earl. Looks like your ace got owned by the poison you put on his sword.”

He has a lot of words to say earlier, now he is quiet.

“Adam, drag the merchant and his troops into the hall and send them their dinner.”

“But they are tied?”

“Spoon-feeding, heard of it? Not unless you are willing to fight them, you do you. I am tired, I’ll see them off at dawn.”

zzip… zzip...

Hmm? There’s a light coming out of Trevor’s hand.

The soldiers holding him didn’t seem to notice. It might be worth checking.

“What is it, Madame?” One of the souldiers asked.

“Nothing. Just gonna check his pulse to make sure he’s really dead and did not just faint from exhaustion.” I crouched down and subtly touched Trevor’s hand.

A paper?

“He’s really dead. Poor guy.” I said and turned my back to check the paper I got.

Hah! Hahaha!

Amusing.

So the developers finally found me. I still don’t know what’s the deal of this game but since you sent a letter to a curious being, I’ll listen to your tips for now, Mr. Anonymous.

Trevor is a code that the developers sent to kill you. Do not get yourself killed, that’s the only way for you to safely migrate.