Voldemar Geku, King of the Kingdom of Mordvein. He ascended to the throne at twenty, and now, at seventy one, his greatest fear is revolution. He forbids the heads of the various clans from gathering. For fifty years, he has held all of Mordvein in the grip of tyranny.
There's nothing for me to do here. Adults seem to think that if you just shove children into a room together, they'll magically become friends. Since we were technically acquaintances, we spoke, but mostly we just sat in awkward silence. Personally, I was busy reading The Scarlet Prince.
'Are you reading that too?' Laya asked.
Everyone was quiet except for her. Laya Gredal was a handful; she had no sense of decorum and wasn't shy about anything.
'Yeah, I am. You too?' I asked.
'I already finished it,' Laya said.
'I'm at the part where Vlad deceives Ikhora.'
'At the end, Vlad becomes a go'
'Oh no, stop. No spoilers,' I said, dripping with sarcasm.
She giggled. Then she turned her attention to Lin Wu. She probably giggled because she thought she had some kind of leverage over me. God, she loves being in control.
I ate a few more spoonfuls of salad and slipped out to the backyard. In about an hour, according to the original story, Bo Wu, Sarah, Sang Wu, and the original Sven were supposed to sneak off into the woods surrounding the mansion.
There, they'd be ambushed by cultists, and Sarah would be killed. Sang Wu and Bo Wu would end up with a mild case of PTSD. But this time, I'm following them. Halfway there, I'll just call my father, tell him they went into the forest, and that'll be it. Their parents will scold them, and they'll come back safe.
It seemed like a perfect plan. But first...
Agility: 12 Acrobatics: 13 Sleight of Hand: 11 Stealth: 10 -> 11 Stat Points: 0
And one extra point, which I'll also dump into Agility.
Agility: 12 -> 13 Stealth: 11 -> 12
(Back when my father tied my hands, feet, and eyes and left me alone in a room, for some reason my Strength increased by two and my Constitution by one.)
I sat on a bench for about an hour. I managed to read eight chapters of a novel called My Cute Rabbit—it was about a Yandere girl. Ugh, I hate those.
Finally, Sarah, Sang Wu, Bo Wu, and for some reason an orc in a dark tuxedo named Dzudji came out of the house and hurried into the woods, latching the gate behind them. I followed, sticking to the trees and bushes.
They were joking about something:
'So he says to me, "Why is there something bulging in your pants? Is it because of that nine-year-old girl?"' Sang Wu said.
'Ha ha! And what did you say to him?' Sarah asked.
'I told him, "No, it's because of her three-year-old dog,"' Sang Wu replied.
'Heh heh heh, that's funny,' Dzudji said.
'Ugh, how can you even joke about that?' Bo Wu said with a smirk.
Well, teenagers will be teenagers. I've seen them literally double over laughing at a photo of a kiwi with the word "banana" written under it. Ah, meta-humor. Maybe I'm just not funny, so I don't get it.
They hadn't gone far yet. I needed them to get scolded badly enough that they'd never even think about looking at the forest again. It's actually amazing they haven't noticed me. They're so relaxed they wouldn't notice a giant Tulshukh Crab if it crawled over them.
'My parents bought me a new car for the Academy,' Dzudji said.
'Wow, cool. I was given a stake in the Jergal Company,' Sarah added.
'I didn't get anything,' Sang Wu said, his voice quieter than the others. 'They told me to get lost and earn my own money.'
Spoiled brats, I thought. When I was eighteen, my parents kicked me out and told me to figure it out.
They ventured a bit deeper into the woods. I pulled out my smartphone to call the adults, but I realized I'd wasted the whole night on social media. My phone was dead.
'You really think I didn't see you?' Dzudji's voice rang out.
The moment I turned toward the voice, tree vines coiled around me. Dzudji stepped forward.
'Well, who are you?' the orc asked.
Before I could answer, Sang Wu spoke up.
'That's Sven, the son of the Blue Rose head,' Sang Wu said.
'So? Why was he following us?' Sarah snapped. 'Go back home.'
'Hey, why not let him come with us? He probably just wanted to join in. Right?' Dzudji said.
Despite his looks, he was a kind soul according to the game's plot.
'Yeah, I wanted to follow you guys,' I said.
From what I'd gathered on social media, the Golden Dragons and the Blue Rose had a good relationship. They wouldn't turn me away; they wouldn't want to look petty in front of a partner.
'I don't mind,' Sang Wu said.
'Fine. The more the merrier,' Bo Wu said with a forced smile.
Sarah Jergal just rolled her eyes, her expression remaining unchanged.