Chapter 80 – Home at Last

  “There she is.” Matt said while standing atop a hill and finally getting a look at Vil’ Krad after his little trip. “You will never find, a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.” He did his best impression and smirked to himself.

  “Wait I thought you said it was a good city?” Ash sounded a little panicked, but Van quickly smoothed things over.

  “Matt is quoting from a movie that he is fond of.” Van said. “The city and its people are actually rather friendly and considerate.”

  “Whats…”

  Matt cut her off. “It’s like the recordings I showed you but its all acting. Imagine a play made to be recorded and shown on a screen like you have.”

  “Oh, that… makes sense?” she didn’t sound so sure of it herself.

  “Just go with it.” Hope said in her mind. “Ask questions later when we have time.”

  They didn’t make it very far before the radio crackled. “Advent, Vil Krad X-ray.” Ash had heard the radio before, since Matt had put it through to the internal speakers, but this was the first time they called him.

  “Go for Advent.”

  “Advent, what direction is your approach to the city.”

  Matt stopped for a second. “We are approaching from the southeast.” He said.

  There was a pause before the voice came back over the radio. “Roger. Advent confirmed approach from south-east.” There was a pause before the voice started again. “Advent, expect to be met by Recon 3. VIl’ Krad X-ray, out.”

  Matt waited for just a moment and Ash felt like he focused on something before moving forward. “Hey, looks like Lisk is going to meet us.” He said while changing course to intercept the now visible construct.

  Not long after a new voice came over the radio. “Well met, my lord.”

  “Lisk, just… stop.” Matt sighed as he came parallel with the other pilot.

  “Hahaha. Whats wrong? The burden of nobility holding you down?” Lisk said. “You know what they say ab…Yahgah.” He suddenly cut out with a shout and Ash saw that there was a scaled shape crawling over the shoulders of the other construct.

  “What’s wrong? Drake got your tongue?” Matt laughed at the sight. He called his familiar off once Echo started chewing on the shoulder armor of Lisk’s construct.

  Ash noticed that there were troops on the ground, running along beside the two constructs and Echo was now bounding along in their formation. She thought she saw one of them feed something to the drake who then nuzzled into the hand after taking the scrap of food.

  “Also, Lisk.” Matt suddenly said. “I have a guest riding along with me so please behave.” He then turned to her and spoke both to Ash and over the radio. “Ash, say hello to Lisk.”

  “Umm, hi? Its nice to meet you.” She wasn’t sure how to proceed since she couldn’t see him.

  “Oh, I wouldn’t say its nice to meet him, but to each their own.” Matt quickly interjected.

  That apparently offended the other pilot. “Hey! Bold of you to say I have to behave when you act like that.” Lisk huffed before continuing. “Ash, it’s a pleasure to meet you, or whatever this is. Also, I am terribly sorry that you had to suffer with Matt as your only company.” He laughed.

  Matt was slightly impressed with the demon. He was actually being cheeky and his normal self, clearly not as affected by his aura as before. He briefly wondered if that was because the ability was more under control or if Lisk had grown. He decided to inspect the other pilot and find out.

  Construct (Allied) Threat: Mild.

  Nope, same as before so Matt guessed that it was more on him for improving his control. He then inspected the rest of his squad and saw they were in the high thirties and low forties for level. Seeing that they hadn’t been slacking in the two weeks was nice but the sudden jump was concerning since he had only been gone a couple weeks.

  “Hey, how have you leveled so quick?”

  “Hmm? Oh, right you don’t know about that yet.” Lisk said, seeming to remember something. “So, the creatures in the area have been, ah, changing. Its like there has been a migration of sorts and those that didn’t get stronger were pushed out by new creatures.”

  “Between that and the arena, we have seen a massive boost in our growth and actually, a lot of us are seeing better growth and skills after training in the arena.” He hummed thoughtfully for a second before continuing. “Its like we are pushing ourselves more to really know our skills and abilities. It allows us a risk-free environment to push boundaries and really get into the finer points of fighting.”

  Ash keyed her microphone and spoke up. “What is this arena?”

  “I think the actual name is called a ‘training hall’ but its not exactly like that. When Frank summoned and placed it, it took the shape of a stadium.” Lisk was pantomiming with his constructs hands which Matt thought was rather funny looking. “It actually has a lot of features, but the popular ones are set scenario battles and the games that Tobias put in there.”

  “Games?” Matt asked. LIsk then went on to explain that his friend had managed to upload several of the popular titles from Earth. Apparently, he even created traditional controllers and screens for the players while the match would be projected to the crowd in the arena.

  They talked all the way back to the gates where Lisk parted ways and his squad returned to their patrol around the city. Apparently, the increased level of the local beasts was enough to warrant regular patrols to cull them back.

  The first thing Matt did was head for his house to drop off Van. He had already called for Franklin and Rohm to meet him at the hub later and didn’t doubt that Tobias would follow soon after. As they moved around the ring road, he noticed a lot of changes to the area.

  First and foremost was the increased size of the walls and the terrain changes around the city, something he had seen from the outside but had also expected. The second thing was all the people and new buildings that were popping up. Sure, the pilots all had their abodes around the exterior ring road but it was now a little more populated on the inside of that road.

  He could see what he thought was the arena but also noticed that the roads were all paved, covered in something like concrete but some how smoother while being coarse enough to grip. There were also lights along the streets and sidewalks that bordered the roads. He even recognized one demoness in particular planting a few bushed in some green space.

  When he got to his home, Matt found it was still on a large plot with some slightly bigger trees in the yard. His house was a little more secluded, being at the far end of the pilots’ rows and mid-way between gates. His neighbors were still pilots, judging by the constructs in front of the homes on either side of his house.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  After settling Van into his space near the house, Matt and Ash hopped out and he showed her inside. “This is my house. Though I don’t really use it much. Hell, I only just got it before the event then I left right after.”

  Echo pushed past them before flopping down in a sun beam coming through one of the windows. The drake flashed the image of a party then the event then Matt waving goodbye as he set off.

  “Anyway. Umm. I guess you can set your stuff here? Wait, you probably want to keep it all with you. Yeah, storage rings make travel easy.” Matt said.

  “It’s a lovely home.” Ash said while looking around. She was unfamiliar with a lot of the furnishings but recognized some based on what it looked like they did. “Can I see the rest?”

  “Oh, sure.” Matt said and gave her the tour. She liked the look of the kitchen and commented on the layout of the bedrooms being ‘novel’ in their design. She was briefly fascinated by the shower concept and wondered about the large basin in the floor until Echo flopped into it with room to spare. They did briefly split and he changed out of his armor, storing it in his ring while putting on more casual clothes.

  When they reached the basement, Matt noted that there were a few new additions. Over against the far wall was a cabinet that he didn’t remember and then there was a box near the work bench. When he opened the box, he saw it was filled with little devices that he couldn’t begin to figure out but the note from Tobias said to talk to him before touching.

  The other cabinet was mostly empty but had some items stacked inside. Among those was some potions that he recognized as being Venri’s handiwork. There were also a few other trinkets that looked familiar, but he couldn’t place them. With nothing else to do, they left for the hub.

  Echo followed after them but ended up splitting off at one point. He was on a mission to investigate what restaurants were open and likely to bully or beg is way into food. That being said, the scaley companion’s begging looked an awful lot like ‘feed me or I eat you’ to most people.

  “Is he ok to just… roam?” Ash asked as the drake slinked off through the streets. She was still clutching Hope’s core to her chest as they moved.

  “Yeah, don’t worry, most people wont even see him.” As soon as the words left his mouth, Matt watched as Echo blurred and faded from sight. “And there he goes.”

  Matt saw a lot of new faces around town. Naturally there were a lot of the original Kradians? Kradites?... a lot of the original citizens. He waved to some that he recognized, even stopping to say hello to one of the other pilots that he knew.

  Soon they were standing in front of the round, tower like structure of the hub. People were constantly moving in and around the building, all hustling as they moved to work on whatever task they had assigned. After climbing up to the second floor, they found Franklin and Rohm sitting in the orc’s office.

  “Welcome back!” Rohm said, standing as Matt and Ash entered. “How was your expedition?”

  Shaking hands, Matt summed up his trip to the rolling ridges and hills where he found Ash. “Ah you know, saw some things, fought some stuff. I met a bunch of people, killed most of them, but that was their fault.”

  “Aha.” Rohm said while looking to Ash. “And your…friend?”

  “Rohm, this is Ash, short for Ashley. Ash this is Rohm the commander of our more militant citizens when we need to organize as a cohesive fighting force.” Matt introduced them. “And the big man behind the desk is Franklin, our governor.”

  “Umm, i-it’s nice to m-meet you.” Ash said while trying to duck behind Matt.

  This was interesting. While Matt hadn’t experienced much if any real shyness from her, the presence of others seemed to cow her a little. Apparently, the look on his face said as much because Franklin decided to speak up.

  “Well, Ash, as the governor of our city I would like to welcome you to Vil’ Krad. I hope we can work together and grow as a community. Here, let me do this.” Franklin said before making a motion in the air.

  Ash seemed to stiffen slightly then her eyes lost focus for a minute before she returned to her previous state. It seemed she was a little more relaxed since she wasn’t trying to become part of Matt’s shadow anymore.

  “Thank you, I promise to work as hard and be a value to the city.” She said and bowed a little.

  “Do or don’t, its your path.” Franklin said. The comment seemed to confuse Ash, so he explained. “We take the approach that those who want to excel will, and we will help them. Those that don’t want to wont, so we let them be.”

  “It’s very much a system of rewarding hard work.” Rohm said, confirming what Franklin said. “You are a pilot and I don’t doubt that you will naturally excel at whatever you do.”

  Ash bowed again. “Thank you, commander Rohm, Governor Franklin.”

  “Just call me Frank, its what everyone else does.” He said with a laugh.

  “Just Rohm is fine unless we are conducting military operation then use the appropriate call signs.” Said the felid man.

  Half a second later, there were steps in the hall that heralded the last person Matt was waiting for. “Sorry, I am apparently late to this party.” Tobias said after catching sight of everyone standing there.

  Matt stepped forward and wrapped Tobias in a hug. “Good to see you.”

  “You too buddy.” Tobias said, giving him a few firm pats on the back. “How was the trip?”

  “I will show you the highlight reel later, this is Ashley, she goes by Ash, the pilot I met on my trip and someone who has some potentially valuable information to share.” Tobias greeted her and they all moved to the small sitting area with some couches and low tables.

  Ash followed Matt to a couch and sat right next to him as the rest of the people turned to her. He found that interesting since she hadn’t really come withing more than arms reach at any time in their journey back to the city. Apparently in the presence of strangers with a focus on her, she needed some support.

  She began to tell them of the tower she had come from. They all listened intently as she explained the last thing she knew of it and gave some additional context about the people that lived there. She did skip around why she was chased out, only stating that there was a religious disagreement.

  “Which god or pantheon?” Franklin asked.

  “Ah, none that I am aware of. I didn’t know about them until Matt and even then, was unsure until I met one.” She answered.

  “The kid is just a delusional psycho from what I know.” Matt said. “And from how is lieutenants spoke, I think he might have a problem with non-humans in general.”

  “Ah, one of those.” Franklin sighed. “There were more than a few of those on my home world. Every race had them and every time they would get folks riled up for no good reason.”

  “Look, there isn’t much we can do about him or that he can really do about us.” Matt began. “From my understanding, he can’t even move his mechs out of the area he is in. Right Ash?”

  She looked at him in confusion as she mouthed the word mech then it seemed to click for her. “Oh, the constructs. Not easily. There are some areas that were passable but there wasn’t a straight path in this direction. It’s partly why I came this way, so the delta would slow them down and I hoped I would make it far enough with my endurance that they couldn’t catch me on foot.”

  “Tobias, can we look into getting some airlift capability at some point?” Matt asked.

  “Oh sure. While I am at it, I might as well start planning to colonize the moon.” He grumbled. “How the hell are we supposed to create an air force?”

  “Look, it doesn’t have to be C-17’s and Euro fighters, hell if its just a utility zeppelin design, that allows us to cross things we would normally sink in.” Matt said while patting the air.

  “I will consider some options but that’s all I promise.” Tobias said.

  Franklin stood then. “Well, I think that is all we can really know for now. Matt if you can send that mapping information to operations that would be great. Ash, it was very nice to meet you and I hope you find our city to your liking.”

  “Hey, Frank, a couple things before I leave.” Rohm said and walked with him to the desk while everyone else filed out.

  “So, are you ready to get your construct back?” Tobias asked Ash as they walked back onto the lawn outside the Hub.

  “Wait, now?” Ash seemed surprised.

  “How about tomorrow?” Matt suggested. “That way we can clear out the inventories and get some credits. I get the sneaking suspicion that this is going to be expensive.”

  Tobias shrugged. “Suit yourself, I don’t have any projects that need my direct oversight at the moment.” He looked around for a minute. “How about some lunch?”

  They began following the forge master along one of the streets. Matt thought he knew where they were, but things had changed to the point that he wasn’t sure anymore. After seeing a few landmarks, it was confirmed that they were going to a particular tavern. A tavern that currently had a crowd of people huddled around the far side of the street.

  Matt didn’t need to ask what was going on as he walked over to the door, he knew exactly what had happened. One bystander ran over to them, trying to warn them.

  “Wait, sir, don’t.” The man said. “There is some sort of monster that just appeared inside and seems to have the owner cornered. He had been keeping it at bay with food but we don’t know how long that will last.”

  Sighing heavily, Matt pinched the bridge of his nose and looked at the newcomer. “It’s not a monster, he is my familiar. This is his favorite restaurant because the owner gives him free smoked meat.” He pushed the door open. “Here, just look.”

  The man and several of his companions all looked around the frame of the door and saw the jovial elven owner at the center grill, chatting away happily with Echo while flinging the occasional bit of meat at him.

  “Oh, Lord Matt! Welcome back.” The man said as echo groaned and rolled over, acting like a cat and basking in the warmth of the grills.

  “See, just a lazy familiar looking for handouts.” Matt said and pushed his way inside