Eldrian found himself in a rather run-down room upon waking. Taking a quick glance at his map, he confirmed his location. "Am I heavy? Why did they leave me here" Eldrian grumbled.
Sure, the others hadn't left him lying at the gate (where the dungeon entrance was). But they also hadn't taken him very far. They had dropped him off in one of the abandoned buildings inside the fort.
Not even one of the inns (not that any of them were still open). Technically, this abandoned building used to be an inn.
While abandoned, the building saw use whenever a new army of undead marched on the kingdom from the south. As such, it wasn't a dust and cobweb-filled room.
But it also wasn't getting much maintenance. Just enough to be serviceable in cases where rooms were needed in emergencies.
They had even put Eldrian on a bed. Though some dust had accumulated on the linen on which he laid. Which, naturally, made Eldrian frown upon noticing.
Standing up, he slapped his cloak and clothes to try and get the dust off. During his 'sleep' his armor had slowly absorbed his mana to repair itself.
As such, the darkslime was back to its sleek black appearance. Though it was still thin, the other metals that had been lost in the battle would need to be added to bring the armor back to top shape.
That, however, was a job for Solvi. While Eldrian could manage some forging with brute force magic. He couldn't do anything as intricate as repairing his armor.
As Eldrian tried to shake off the dust, it built until it became unbearable. Coughing, Eldrian quickly fixed the problem with a spell after throwing open the room's only window.
"Then again, I can't complain, can I?" He joked after enjoying the fresh air coming in from the window. Eldrian stood by the window, watching the dim interior of the fort from his perch on the second floor.
The fort, for the most part, was almost abandoned. With soldiers stationed across the entire border wall, this was to be expected. If Eldrian had to guess (he didn't bother calling up his map to confirm) there would only be a hundred or so soldiers manning the place.
Considering the size of the fort (which once upon a time had served as a fort and town), that number was pitiful. It could easily house thousands, up to ten thousand. Having only a hundred soldiers manning it, made it a ghost town.
Naturally, though, no one wanted to live here now that war had broken out. While things have calmed down, the fort was still the front line. Villagers and peasants weren't about to leave their homes (even if newly settled) for such a dangerous place.
The same could be said for the Kyno Northeast—which their guild managed. It also only had the soldiers manning it staying there. Though quite a bit of players often visited, going to The Forsaken Caverns in the hope of finding some rare metals.
The only fort with a lot of people moving about in it was Fort Phoenix.
Trade with the vampires (negotiations had made quite a bit of progress) has made it a popular location for merchants.
While the undead were still in the area (vampires excluded), the fort was across the river. Which meant that it was rare to run into large hordes. Not to mention the soldiers did culling as often as possible.
Thanks to this, some brave souls (upon hearing of the treaty with the vampires) dared to make the journey. However, they had not dared leave the lands of the living for the drylands of the vampires.
No, Fort Phoenix served as the hub of trade. And due to the contract magic—which everyone had to agree to upon entering—merchants found it a safe place to do their trading.
Sure, the contract limited the underhanded tactics they could use. But this held true for those they were making deals with too. Since both sides were being affected, it allowed peaceful negotiations. ραпdαs `n?ν?| сom
The current largest import for the kingdom was mana crystals, while their export was, shockingly, food.
Despite the ravages that the war had brought to the lands of Taurus, they were still far better off than the drylands when it came to produce. And since hydroponic farming was spreading (albeit slowly), Taurus's farming economy was only going to grow.
The meat from the monsters they slayed was also well received. Monster meat in general was healthy, and often beneficial to eat. And since the army often culled entire hordes, there was more than enough.
Naturally, as the technical ruler of the fort, Eldrian could levy taxes on these sales. But he hadn't. After all, he had left most of the management to Pelaros and Aspen. 'Wait, is there a tax or not?' Eldrian wasn't even sure, now that he thought about it.
"Ah, I'm such a bad boss." Eldrian laughed. Poor Aspen was handling everything that Eldrian was supposed to handle as a noble and owner/manager of a fort.
If the wolfkin wanted, he could rob Eldrian blind—seeing as Eldrian never really inspected the reports in great detail. Always only glancing over them before asking for some new novel idea to be invested into.
His current project was darkslime, but the material was too rare to really buy. As such, most of the funds that his estate (and his fort, Eldrain now realized) made, went directly to the magic herb farm that had been created on his estate.
'Wait, wasn't there a report about Aspen buying some farmland beyond the inner walls?' Realizing that the scale of this farming might be larger than he had thought, Eldrian realized just how terrible he was as a boss.
That realization sucked, so he decided to distract himself with something else. "But, man... did I stay out for longer than I meant to," Eldrian grumbled. Night had fully fallen.
He had intended to only play unconscious for a few minutes to avoid being bombarded with questions. However, had ended up getting struck with inspiration and then muddled in uncertainty when that inspiration deflated.
Minutes had turned into hours as a result.
Taking a quick look at his map, Eldrian found that half his group of friends were offline. And those who were online had returned to Kynigo—or to the new fort in the Chaos Lands.
Certainly, they didn't have the luxury to wait for him to wake. While the situation in the kingdom had calmed significantly, enough even for the military to shift its focus from defense to clean up and repair.
But there was still constant fighting and danger of further invasions. And players played an absolutely pivotal role by now in making sure those invasions didn't strike them unaware.
"Our maps really are cheating," Eldrian mumbled. When it had just been him, sure it had been cheating too. But the cheating had been limited. Now... their enemy really didn't stand much chance.
Sure, there were still some kinks to work out. But the fact that the enemy's tactics would always be known, and even their strength revealed (to a certain degree), was fatal.
The only reason the kingdom hadn't been able to completely push back their enemies was their lack of manpower. The constant war had drained them of soldiers.
But that was fine. Perfect even. Eldrian didn't hate all those called devils, but he did consider anyone who invaded another kingdom to be in the wrong. They might not be evil, he didn't truly understand their circumstance, after all.
But they were in the wrong, nonetheless.
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