I awoke the next day, immediately began screaming, and fell out of bed.
You see when you’re in prison and you wake up to find someone standing over your bed it usually means you’re about to get shanked. That had happened to me a couple of times. I made a couple enemies in prison, apparently, I had killed one of their relatives or something, I’m sure they deserved it.
That is why when I woke up to a construct standing silently over my bed I screamed, tried to roll away, got caught in the sheets and fell out of bed and onto my face. I disentangled myself from the sheets and stood up, glaring at the construct who hadn’t moved at all. He cocked his head curiously at me but said nothing. I realized he was holding a silver platter and when I indicated it, he placed it on the bedside table removing the silver dome and revealing a plate of waffles covered in strawberries, sunny side up eggs, two sausage links, lightly buttered toast, and a glass of water and OJ.
My stomach growled loudly at the sight of the food. I said a quick thanks to the construct who silently nodded before leaving the room. I made quick use of the bathroom before sitting back down on the bed and digging into my breakfast. While I did so I noticed a small icon in the corner of my vision and mentally focused on it. Screens appeared before me, and I quickly read over them.
You have been awarded 20 Experience points.
Congratulations! For completing your first combat, your Title of Demon King has doubled the Experience points you have gained.
Note: This is a one-time bonus that you will not gain again.
Your Total XP is now 40 and your Unused XP is now 40.
Congratulations! Your Title of Demon King has granted you 5 additional Health, Mana, and Stamina Points.
Congratulations! You have gained the Skill: Backstab
Backstab
Level: 1
Rank: Novice
Stamina Cost: 5
Effect: When attacking an enemy from behind, or from stealth, you score a critical hit dealing 10% extra weapon damage on your strike.
Cooldown: 20 Seconds
Congratulations! You have gained the Skill: Dodge
Dodge
Level: 1
Rank: Novice
Stamina Cost: 10
Effect: Grants you brief superhuman speed allowing you to dodge out of the way of an incoming attack that you can see.
Cooldown: 15 Seconds
Congratulations! You have gained the Skill: Danger Sense
Danger Sense
Level: 1
Rank: Novice
Effect: Allows you to sense danger or ill intent towards you or those around you.
Range: 30 feet
Congratulations! You have gained the Skill: Stealth
Stealth
Level: 1
Rank: Novice
Effect: Allows you to move more silently. You are harder to detect by those around you.
Note: Can only be used when not being directly observed by enemies.
Stamina Cost: 5
Cooldown: 10 seconds
Holy crap I gained a lot for just one fight! True all of my skills were only level 1 and novice rank, whatever that means, but still 4 skills was incredible. Curiously I didn’t see any sign of a character level on my sheet. The only level mentioned was the level of my skills. Since I had both a total XP and an unused XP, I had to assume that meant I could use my XP for something, but I couldn’t find anything on my character sheet that explained it further.
For now, that would just remain a mystery. I desperately needed to find a library so I could learn more about how best to use my new skills. I wondered if Gerald had a library and if he would let me peruse it. Thinking of Gerald reminded me that I needed to speak with him.
Stolen novel; please report.
He seemed to be under the impression that I was his new bodyguard and I needed to fix that real quick. I had no intention of being stuck in this house or following him around town like some kind of lap dog. I had more important things to do.
With my breakfast finished I showered and dressed, or I would have dressed except my only clothes were gone. I had left them in the bathroom overnight to dry, but they weren’t there. I frantically looked around the bedroom and bathroom to make sure I hadn’t misplaced them somehow, but they were nowhere to be found. I stepped out of the bedroom and saw my construct standing idle by the entrance to my suite. If his rectangular eyes hadn’t been glowing slightly and following me around, I might have thought he was powered off.
“Hey, where are my clothes?” I snapped at the construct. It continued to give me the silent treatment and merely pointed back to the bedroom. “I just checked the bedroom, and they aren’t there,” I snapped again, crossing my arms and nearly dropping the towel wrapped around my waist. The construct tilted its head slightly and then began moving towards the bedroom, still not saying a word. I followed him and he entered the bedroom throwing open the massive wardrobe in the corner of the room. I blinked in surprise, not only were my clothes clean and hanging neatly in the wardrobe, but two other sets of clothes were hanging beside them.
I quickly looked over the clothes and found they were all in my size. I stared quizzically at the construct, but it remained silent as ever. He then turned and left the bedroom, and I scanned the clothes, picking out a dark blue suit. I dressed quickly and took a moment to admire myself in the mirror. It was strange to see myself dressed in vaguely Victorian style clothing but that seemed to be the fashion here and since I didn’t have any other options, I went with it.
I strapped my sword and daggers to my hips and exited the bedroom. Now I just needed to find Gerald. I stepped up to my construct and said, “I need to speak with Gerald, can you take me to him?” The construct nodded and turned exiting the suite and striding down the hall. I followed behind, trying as best I could to map out the route we were taking in my head. Soon we were on the second floor and standing in front of a set of double doors. A construct standing outside the door stopped me as I approached and said, “Your pardon sir, do you wish to see the master?”
“Uh- yes,” I said stupidly. The construct nodded and opened the door a crack announcing my presence to Gerald who mumbled a reply. The construct opened the door wide and waved for me to enter. Stepping inside, the room was large and ornate with several tall bookshelves lining the room, crammed full of books, odd ornate statues, and other strange nicknacks. A massive wooden desk inlaid with gold sat in the center of the room. Gerald was seated at the desk in a tall high-backed winged black leather chair. He was leaning forward holding his head and staring into a mug of steaming black coffee.
Knowing he must have one heck of a hangover I briefly considered keeping my voice down, then decided I didn’t care. “Is that a hand?” I said loudly, pointing to a mummified hand sitting on a velvet pillow beneath a glass case sitting behind Gerald. He groaned and glanced at it before answering, “Yes, the hand of Artosha, the last queen of the great desert empire.”
“Wow impressive,” I nodded, no idea if that truly was impressive or not.
“I was about to summon you, I wanted to speak with you about today’s agenda,” Gerald said. I sat down in the chair opposite him.
“Yeah, I wanted to talk to you about that. You said last night I was your new bodyguard; the funny thing is I don’t remember ever agreeing to be your bodyguard,” I said putting on a soft smile. Gerald gave me a puzzled look as if he was struggling to recall our conversation. “Uh… I was sure you did,” he replied weakly rubbing at his temples.
“You asked me to get you home safe, which I did, and then you offered me a room for the night. Beyond that however our deal has come to an end, I have better things to do than protect you,” I said flatly before standing from my chair.
“B-but I need you to protect me,” Gerald whined, a hint of panic coloring his voice, “I need someone with your skills to keep me safe.” I couldn’t help but laugh at that.
“I’m not that skilled dude,” Gerald gave me a curious look at the strange word, but I continued, “If that assassin hadn’t had his back turned on me that fight would have ended very differently,” I said honestly and started heading for the door.
“Then I’ll hire some skill trainers,” Gerald said frantically, “I know some people who owe me favors. I can probably get you whatever you want.” He was begging now but it made me stop. I turned and looked at him, narrowing my eyes as I took him in. I could see the fear in his eyes, and the desperation written all over his face. I knew the guy had to be freaked out after last night's attack but even this seemed excessive. However, I couldn’t pass up the chance at learning from skill trainers. In some video games you can find skill trainers wandering around town and with a bit of gold they can up certain skills by a level or two. Some could even teach you new skills you didn’t know.
If that was what he was offering me then I couldn’t exactly pass it up. I would need every edge I could get if I truly wanted to be the Demon King. Seeing my hesitation Gerald blurted out, “I would pay you of course, how does five gold crowns a day sound?” I plastered a thoughtful look on my face and took a step towards Gerald.
“What sort of skill trainers are we talking?” I asked.
“What kind do you want?” He replied a little too eagerly.
“Someone who can teach me how to better use my weapons, maybe someone who can improve my stealth, and if possible, someone to teach me some basic magic,” I said as casually as possible, even though the thought of having magic powers filled me with excitement. I mean who doesn’t wish they had cool magic powers right?
“I’ll have to contact a few people, but I should be able to get them here by tomorrow or the day after at the latest,” Gerald said hastily and then started making notes on some paper.
“Alright I might be able to make this work, however, I do have a few conditions,” I said, dropping into my most serious tone, Gerald locked eyes on me nervously awaiting what I had to say. “First, I won’t be going bar hopping with you, so if you intend to go out every night and get drunk, you’ll have to find someone else to do it with you.” Gerald nodded at this.
“Second, I didn’t come here to be a bodyguard, I have my own business to take care of, which may take me away from town once in a while for a day or more,” Gerald started to protest but I held up a hand to cut him off, “If you can’t handle that then find someone else,” I said with deadly seriousness. I wasn’t about to let working for this guy stop me from at least trying to contact some monsters, somehow.
“Finally, if you have a library, I would love to peruse it at my leisure. If we can agree on this, then I think we have a deal,” I said standing and eyeing Gerald for his reply. He was silent for several moments as he thought it over. I noticed his eyes travel down to his desk where I saw the photo of him and his sister that I had found on the assassin. I saw something pass over his face but couldn’t tell what it was. Then he looked up at me and cleared his throat.
“After last night, I have no interest in going out and getting drunk like that again,” he started slowly, “I understand you have your own business, I am asking a lot of you, and I appreciate your honesty. So long as I am at home, I should be safe. Each of my constructs is programmed to defend me and my wife should anything happen. As for the library, feel free to peruse it as much as you wish.”
“Sounds like we got a deal, boss,” I reached out and shook his hand before retaking my seat, “So what’s the plan for the day boss?”
