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Morning arrived with a lot of cries from cockerels and the scents of food cooking. It was probably very early, but I couldn't wait to get started. Rolling out of bed, I dressed myself in a long, loose tunic and a very fine cloak, it was a real struggle, though, sitting on the edge of the bed, to bring my foot up to a position where I could get a sandal on it. Should I wear my crown? For now, I just carried it in my hand.473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC8mnbD2wnd
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On leaving my room, a guard outside looked at me in astonishment before composing his face into a neutral expression.473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMMTet5OMsP
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It suddenly occurred to me that I had no idea of my way around this castle, yet it would be very strange if I were to ask the guard. So I just followed my nose and again, was met with looks of disbelief and alarm by servants and soldiers until I found my way down and around some wide stairs to a hall big enough for a feast, though all the tables were bare.473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrU38oQg8Kg
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'Ah, sire, we weren't expecting you for many an hour yet. I'll hurry the cooks.' A female servant came over as I sat myself at the top table in what was obviously the king's large, padded chair.473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzf9sSbf45f
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'Just two poached eggs please and an apple and an orange.'473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC3WzniMWqp
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'We have apples, sire. Not the other.'473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ47XbozKgNP
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'Ahh right. Two apples then. And if you can press a few more to get juice out of them, I'll drink that.'473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡljqPqQsAA8
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'Yes sire.' The servant, a middle-aged woman, had worry lines across her forehead. 'So no roast pork?' She gestured towards a door that I presumed led to the kitchen, judging by the concentration of cooking scents from that direction.473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMuVChUzu6z
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'No.'473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYb8hqNXD24
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'Er… forgive me, but just to avoid error, sire, no beef slices in horseradish sauce?'473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1lUcuRY1mI
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'No.'473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr9BDqanSL4
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'Nor the chicken breast in garlic? The bread-and-butter pudding? The…'473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkQfXLixt5z
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I caught the servant's eye and with a gulp she stopped speaking.473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ91S4wT2AIE
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'Nothing,' I said firmly, 'other than the eggs, apples and the juice.'473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYqGZSz9BnH
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'Certainly sire,' the woman backed away with an anxious bow.473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfld2pfIskg
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It would have been interesting to chat with someone and learn something about the world, but none of the guards and servants would dare look at me. The large dining hall was silent as though empty, even though I could count six guards and four servants.473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC5MvcUplFi
473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIXdydTFV4S
Oh well. I raised my right arm and cascaded some menus. Good, steel pickaxes had been researched, my town now had the knowledge of how to produce them. So I opened up the smithy and planned for a build of 84 new pickaxes, one for every miner. That left my research queue empty and I crunched on one of the hastily delivered apples as I eyed my options, there were hundreds of possibilities, grouped into three core categories: economic, cultural and military. Currently, the food crisis was my biggest concern and my plan to solve it was via exporting ores. Assuming all my neighbours were hostile (and even if they weren't, I wouldn't want any of them to have extra iron supplies), I needed to get my ores further afield. And that meant… Navigation. A six-day research project.473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXIoCWnSP93
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After breakfast, with the help of a servant, I changed into tunic and trousers and good boots, then sent for my trainer.473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIHYRXVfdxd
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Carradock Goblinbane was missing an arm at the elbow. I didn't ask; maybe the king knew his story already. On the short walk from the castle to the barracks training ground, I briefed him. I needed strength training as rapidly as possible. I didn't voice it aloud, but I knew that I just could not risk progressing my character until I understood the issue of stats better and, in particular, whether I could push them up through training.473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4dmTNpkkH9
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'Strength it is, sire, and all-round fitness.' He looked at me longer than most people did. In fact, most people here didn't look me in the eyes at all. 'It will take a while. We must not rush. You're too big and too – excuse me – soft. You'll hurt yourself. For the first day, I just want to you walk around this ground fifty times.473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5gmlBwaMQ8
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'Fifty?' How hard could it be to walk fifty laps of a square whose sides were only about a hundred metres?473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJLU4tBRLMk
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It was very hard. After one lap I was sweating. After the second my thighs began to ache and I found myself slowing down from my fast initial pace. After the third, I was panting and my huge body was complaining pretty much everywhere. On ten, Carradock handed me a tankard with cool water in it and I gulped it down. Then he offered me a sword hilt. It was a practice weapon, a rod of iron with no sharp edges. I reached out for it.473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEQArsS7f6m
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'Are you sure?' Carradock looked sceptical.473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRQK0bAdT97
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'Of course. I can do this.'473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKoifIgkWHj
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'No, I mean, your left hand.'473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1yM4K9qUit
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I had grasped the sword and raised it in my left hand. I tried it then with my right, shook my head, and shifted it back. 'This is better.'473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1FCdIeD7Up
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Back on Earth, I was left-handed. Had the king been right-handed? Was this a sign to everyone I wasn't their old ruler?473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmsIOtjcECb
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'Carry it as often as you can. It will make your sword arm stronger.'473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYH0jG9PEcU
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'Now?'473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGraSHJZgJc
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Carradock nodded, perhaps with a hint of a smile on his narrow, fox-like face.473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVErQaUeFyw
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Then off I went again, with a new source of pain slowly moving up from my left wrist, my arm and along my left shoulder. At twenty I took another breather. One side of the barracks square was a two-story, grey stone building. The other three were enclosed by a low, wooden fence. And at the fence were gathered a dozen people, looking in at me. On their faces were expressions of dislike but also astonishment.473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqkTiBredpy
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All this walking had been good for my thinking. 'You,' I pointed to a woman with dressed in a tunic whose design matched that of the other castle servants. 'Get me the ambassador, Figus.'473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Db0NsYrcb
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'Yes, sire.' She curtsied, but I could tell from her body language she didn't like the duty.473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxxZPSAi1Ox
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'And the rest of you, get along with your business.'473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ6zKBc6iQ2
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No one spoke, but they all immediately hurried away.473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu28Kr3fKkS
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It was another two laps before my ambassador came to the square around which I was walking. No doubt I was red-faced and quite a sight, but that didn't excuse the smirk on his face. Figus was quite the rock star. Unlike everyone else here, his hair was not a natural colour, rather it was bleached somehow and stood up in clusters of spikes. With a grace in his walk and a cynical smile in his bright blue eyes, I could see his Charisma of 15 was definitely in play. What was mine again, 3? I suddenly felt very conscious of my frown lines and a posture that was sagging at every point, including my face.473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyiGysZsrSB
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The ambassador drew up close, took in a breath and then bowed. 'Sire?'473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlEVx63Ug5e
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This was a welcome excuse for a break, though I was aware that Carradok was watching and probably disapproved.473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHPVzDYYCvR
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'We need to trade ore for food, what's the best way to go about it?'473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi3EDp7PYo0
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Figus looked up with some surprise on his face. 'You are seeking my advice?'473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmacf07iJ3N
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'Uh huh,' I was still catching my breath or I'd have pointed out that he was our ambassador after all.473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhH9nTkfyoe
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'Well, as you know, we are at war with Southway and Trolland, our nearest neighbours. So they are out. That also blocks the inland routes. By sea, we could trade with Cantreth, the Kingdom of Lost Souls and Rockguard…' he paused in thought. I paused in tiredness.473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUEiRnh1Yq8
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'Your majesty has no scruples dealing with a Necromancer?'473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjOTGXEPWSh
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'Not at all, some of my best friends are Necromancers.' I was thinking of Storm Wars of course, but the look of consternation on the face of Figus made me feel like laughing.473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2UuIODHsuO
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To be fair to him, the ambassador recovered his poise quickly, 'in that case, I think the best deal we could make would be with the Kingdom of Lost Souls.'473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbtxHu6Gc2e
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'Right so, off you go and make that arrangement.'473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhwENFx72TR
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'Now sire?'473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkwrbjRk2EV
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I nodded.473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtm3MkRsvsB
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He hesitated. 'How much ore and of what kind and quality will we be offering?'473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvyZHOzOBEg
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I didn't have to call down the menu for the mines, we were currently producing 2 ingots of standard iron ore per day. Assuming that would rise with the new pickaxes… 'Fifteen standard iron ingots a week.'473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz1aa4Tphry
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Figus nodded and then with a temerity that was unusual in the people around me caught my eye. 'One more question, sire, if I may?'473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFNqqDtMfuO
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'Yes?'473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCGm7ezxIvX
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'We don't have a trading vessel, but we would get much better terms if this exchange happened in our ship.'473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGucROO2RVc
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'I'll make that a priority.'473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFOKS8HmIvf
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'Right so, I'll be off then.' There was a jauntiness to the man's step as he left me to my circuits. Had he deliberately just parrodied my turn of phrase? If so, I rather admired him for it.473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI9p8nK6wEh
