Nero Walker, Book 3 Ch.69 (184) (Patreon)

Natalie Keening had been aware for some time that her growth had stagnated. It had been years since she’d felt the rush of progress, the indescribable sensation of her identity expanding deeper into the world around her. Without that feeling, she’d felt that the world around her had lost some of its luster. It was as if she’d lost her purpose.

‘The moment a person stops fighting to live, they begin to die,’ she reminded herself as thoughts of the past floated through her mind.

“So what do you think, ma’am?” she heard a voice ask.

Turning around, Keening brought her thoughts back to the present. She ran her eyes across the room, noting that everyone was eager to hear what she had to say.

The bunkhouse they had been given was larger than necessary. Considering their entire contingent was only 34 people at the moment, the amount of space they were using was almost wasteful. Yet, considering that Mrs. Salvatore… or now Lady Verana had intended for their forces to grow, the decision to convert the warehouse into a bunkhouse had made sense at the time.

She briefly wondered about what would happen to this place after they left, before quickly dismissing the question as pointless.

Steeling herself, she took a deep breath and addressed her troops, “What do I think? I think that as far as I’m concerned, nothing has changed.”

Before she could continue, one of her more impulsive recruits snapped, “We’re being disbanded before we’ve even gotten a chance to prove ourselves! Everything has changed!”

Looking over at the man, she replied, “Hodgins… First, shut up. Second, what I meant was that we all took this job because we knew House Walker was a house on the rise. But, more than that, Lord Walker himself was the reason we’re all here.”

Starting to pace, she continued talking as she looked up at the ceiling in thought, “Some of you know that I joined Precision Shipping around 10 years ago. Before that, I was everything from a village bounty hunter to a certified monster hunter. But, after I had a few rough years, I was looking for a change of pace, a place where I could feel like I belonged. And, while I found that with P&S, I also found that security breeds complacency.”

Pausing her steps, she turned back to address the room directly, “I forgot what it meant to push myself, to boldly step out of my comfort zone and face a challenge worth overcoming. That’s why I took this job. I wanted to join with a young man like Lord Walker. You’ve all heard the stories of the little lord, the smiling blade, Dorchester’s chosen. He dropped into our city like a meteor, ruining noble schemes and causing havoc with his every breath. While we’ve been training and building this small force, he’s been out there in the wilds, fighting monsters and kobalds despite being raised to the nobility. We’re all here because of who we know he will become… a legend.”

The room sat in silence, digesting her words.

One of the few people in the room older than her stepped forward, causing everyone to turn and see what she had to say. Keening looked over and asked, “You have something to say, Nora?”

The woman nodded, her face stoic. “No one is unaware of why we’re here, and what we hoped to accomplish by serving House Walker. We’ve had plenty of time to get to know each other. Our reasons for joining up aren’t in question. What matters now is what we’re going to do now that the House is being disbanded. I don’t know about everyone else, but I’m not looking forward to going back to running escort missions and putting up with snotty merchants demanding I help unload their wares. Are we really just going back to Precision Shipping without any complaints? Or are we going to join House Verena and guard Mrs. Salvatore’s house as if we were retired soldiers or something?”

Keening sighed, and replied, “No, Nora. I refuse to move backward. I won’t rejoin P&S, and I won’t be working for Lady Verena any longer.”

Many people in the room gasped, as the thought of a long-time guard like Keening abandoning her post was more than a little surprising.

“So, we’re just going to split up before we even got to do anything?” one of the younger troops asked.

Keening’s brow furrowed in determination as she said, “Lord Walker is now a unique. I’m sure you at least have some idea of what that means. We can no longer be part of his house in Dorchester because it will no longer exist. But, I plan on asking to follow him as an adherent.”

Once again, gasps of surprise filled the room.

The impulsive young man who started all this asked, “And you think he’ll just let you join him on his journey across the kingdom? He’s a unique for heaven’s sake. You may have the most impressive record of all of us here, but when it comes down to it, you’re a nobody just like us.”

Keening didn’t shy away from the insult, and instantly replied, “And a few months ago, Lord Walker was a newly awakened commoner on his way to Dorchester to join the guard as a criminal recruit. What of it?”

Nora, who was still standing somewhat in the middle of the room, said, “Keening is right. We’ll never know if we don’t ask. This is our opportunity for something… more. If we’ve learned anything in the short time we’ve joined House Walker, it’s that Lord Walker isn’t going to be some useless noble that spends his days sitting on his ass and counting his valens. He’ll be throwing himself into danger, facing threats to humanity and civilization like a true Oglivarchian. I, for one, didn’t sign up for a cushy job. I’m here to see if I have what it takes to be more than just some 30 valen a day guard in the middle of nowhere.”

Feeling the hope in the room rising, Keening stepped forward and declared, “None of you need follow me. But for those who want something more, those who want to see the kingdom, to follow a legend in the making, then grab your gear and say your goodbyes. We’re heading to the Verena estate to see about joining our lord on his new path. And this time, we’ll be right beside him when he faces the dangers that we’ve all been hearing about.”

Almost the entire room shot to their feet and ran off to go pack. Although Keening had expected a few of the troops to follow her, she was surprised to see how many seemed to share her excitement and desire for this new, unexpected opportunity.

—--

Nero watched calmly as Ms. Keening took a deep breath as if she needed to prepare herself for what was about to happen. The woman looked like she was psyching herself up for an audition or something.

Looking Nero in the eye, she said, “As you know, I was hired to lead your house’s forces. Mrs. Salvatore offered me… Oh! I meant Lady Verena. No disrespect intended, m’lady.”

Nero tried to hide his smirk as he watched Ms. Keening’s wide-eyed apology to Vera. Glancing over, he saw Vera wave away the mistake as if she couldn’t care less. To Nero, it was obvious the two had known each other for quite some time.

Coughing lightly to clear her throat, Ms. Keening rolled her shoulders and resumed her introduction. “What I meant to say was that I took the job to organize, train, and lead House Walker’s forces. For many years, I’d worked for Lady Verena as a guard captain. Now, that’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy working for her, it’s just that I needed a change…”

Nero could understand that. Which to him, was kinda surprising. In fact, everything she was saying was a little surprising. She wasn’t at all what he’d been expecting.

For a good five minutes, she stood in front of him, giving him a brief but comprehensive overview of her life. He listened as she described her early years attending one of Dorchester’s training academies, her work as a bounty hunter throughout the villages surrounding the city, and her time on what sounded like the civilian version of monster-hunting teams. But what really caught Nero’s attention was how she talked about her family.

Ms. Keening’s parents ran a furniture store for Lord York. She had 13 brothers and sisters, none of which she was particularly close to. While her family tended to focus on scholarly and economic pursuits, she had always been more of a wild child. She felt the call of adventure at a young age, and it had distanced her from the rest of her family.

As a result of the family drama, she ended up spending a great deal of time away from her home. Yet, she eventually became disillusioned with the hum-drum life of a local adventurer. So, she ended up taking a job as a guard and working her way up to what sounded to Nero like an impressive rank in Precision Shipping’s mercenary forces.

By the time she was done speaking, Nero was sitting in his chair frowning. The woman’s life story was just so… boring. He didn’t want to feel that way. And it wasn’t like he was looking down on her or anything. It was just that her story reminded him of a typical middle-class woman who’d wasted her life looking for her passion. It was almost so normal that he felt like he’d been cheated or something. The fact that this world, which was full of monsters and magic, could take all of that fantasy and overlay it with something so unoriginal, made Nero feel a little sad.

After she finished baring her soul, Nero watched her shoulders sag, as if saying all of that out loud was somehow cathartic for her or something.

His voice barely above a whisper, he asked, “So, you’re here looking for some excitement?”

Shaking her head, she replied, “Not exactly, m’lord. It’s just that… Well, you changed your path! Every week or two, you end up on the link’s news feed. You’re always facing long odds, and coming out victorious. You are an inspiration. I want to follow you so that my path can go a little farther. I want to see more, do more… Does that make sense?”

Nero nodded. ‘God damn this is sounding more and more like a responsibility I don’t want to deal with,’ he thought to himself.

When he’d first heard he’d be able to put together an adventuring team, he immediately thought of building a guild full of warriors and heading out to fight the good fight and experience everything this world had to offer. In the abstract, it sounded great. Now though, this woman’s story was forcing him to confront the fact that this world was not just filled with NPCs. These were annoyingly real people. And real people aren’t all that interesting.

Nevertheless, whether he wanted to admit it or not, he sympathized with the woman. Despite having a life filled with memories of fighting monsters and hunting bandits, she was a depressingly ordinary person. She was the kind of person he’d known in his old life… kind of. He’d never really hung out with middle-aged women who’d fought and killed before, but her tone of voice and perspective seemed close enough for the details not to matter.

“Alright Ms. Keening, you’re in. Welcome to the W.A.C., we’ll have cookies or something soon. We’ll get to your paperwork and whatnot after everyone gets a chance to introduce themselves,” he said with a warm smile on his face.

Seeing the overwhelmingly joyful look on her face, Nero couldn’t help but feel a little happy with himself. While he wasn’t exactly the nicest person in the world, he had a soft spot for the average Joe, of Joan, just trying to find their place in the world.

Like an alcoholics anonymous meeting, one after another the other former guards introduced themselves. And each of their life stories was just as depressing to hear as he worried they’d be…

Nora Falkner was an older woman who was already suffering age creep. At 72, she still looked 40, but apparently, she already felt like her time was over. Her kids were grown, and her husband was no longer in the picture. She wanted to rediscover what it meant to face an opponent in battle, and not just spend her days walking next to merchant carts, acting as a glorified bandit deterrent.

Oscar Hudgins was a 35-year-old man who still acted like a rebellious teenager. His only redeeming quality was that he was at least a little bit self-aware. He’d spent some time at a training academy before leaving due to his issues with authority. Joining Nero as an adherent was an opportunity for him to reinvent himself. In his own words, he ‘wanted to find something to believe in’.

On and on it went. 26 people. 26 life stories that were both filled with fantasy and weird cultural oddities, while also being incredibly boring and predictable. It took longer than he’d liked to listen to every one of their sob stories. But, needs must and all that.

Standing up from his chair, Nero looked over the room at the hopeful people spread out across the couches and chairs. Some of them were even sitting on the ground so they could be closer to the meeting. If there had been a campfire in the room, he’d have thought he was at a corporate retreat for middle managers.

“I appreciate you all trusting me with your backstories. While I can’t say I understand what you’ve all been through, I can say that I empathize with the fact that you’ve been through it. But, like I said in the beginning, the W.A.C. is going to be something special. We’re going to be completing quests, felling beasts of legend, and generally going around looking for excitement. It will be hard work, and more than a little dangerous. You’ve all made it clear that you’re not going to miss the lives you’ve had here in Dorchester, so I won’t be thanking you for your sacrifice or anything. But, I will say this… Whatever crappy life you had before today, you’ll be carrying around with you until you decide to let it go,” he warned.

Seeing as how everyone was looking at him with confusion, Nero clarified, “What I mean is that regardless of how stupid it sounds, your life is what you make of it. You’ve already taken a big step by signing up for the W.A.C., but now comes the hard part… following through. We’ll be training hard, watching out for each other, and trying to survive in whatever dumbass situation I find myself caught up in. So, focus on the here and now, and ignore all the crap that is holding you down. This is the first day of the rest of your life and all that.”

Behind him, Nero heard Academian Quincy reverently repeat his words as though he were committing them to memory. Looking over his shoulder, Nero narrowed his eyes. ‘I swear if that son of a bitch starts making money off the sayings I’m stealing, I’m gonna shove my foot so far up his ass…’ he promised himself.

Turning back to look at his new adherents, he said, “For now, let’s get some food and work on getting to know each other. Afterward, I’ll figure out how to get you all formerly signed up, and then put together some kind of organizational chart or something. Sound good?”

As one, they all immediately replied, “Yes, m’lord.”

Nero’s eyebrows shot up at their overly serious reply. ‘I’m really going to have to work on sounding and acting more presidential if they’re going to keep looking at me like that,’ he thought to himself.

Before long, they’d arranged several tables into a line and created a poor excuse for a dining table. Unsurprisingly, Vera had pointed out that they could have just used one of the various dining rooms within the estate. But Nero wanted the impromptu feeling associated with making them ‘build’ their meeting hall. As far as he was concerned, this was a team-building exercise. Hell, if they had access to a karaoke machine, he would have forced everyone to sing a ballad or two while getting rip-roaring drunk.

Their meal went predictably well. Everyone seemed to get along, and there was a spirit of camaraderie building quickly among everyone. The ether was almost singing with the shared feeling of excitement and determination.

No one was surprised to hear Nero’s plans for taking a few quests in Dorchester concerning the kobalds before they left for other cities. He told them all that despite signing up with the W.A.C., they’d still be spending the next while defending the city they’d been living in for most of their lives. While that tempered some of their enthusiasm, it also seemed to address some of the concerns they’d been repressing. After all, regardless of how much they wanted to move on, they still had ties to the city that weren’t easily forgotten.

After the meal, Academian Quincy and Vera were kind enough to arrange for the paperwork to be filled out. Nero found the entire thing more amusing than he thought he would. Seeing an entire table full of combat-ready people bent over a table filling out piles of paperwork in silence was almost surreal. The entire time, Vera, Academian Quincy, and Scholar Idrius were walking around, leaning over to help where they were needed like they were teachers watching over their students taking placement tests.

By the time everyone was done signing their lives over to Nero, the reality of the situation was really sinking in for the poor young man. He’d never wanted this kind of responsibility, and he found the situation more than a little intimidating. However, despite looking like a teenager in the throes of puberty, on the inside he was a middle-aged man with years of leadership experience. Granted, his leadership experience was more geared toward dealing with underachieving potheads and lazy bastards more interested in video games than doing anything with their lives, but he figured it still counted.

While they were all working on their paperwork, Nero was busy dealing with his own. He had to pick his house colors, which after careful consideration and a little help from Vera ended up being Teal and Dark Gray. Vera had recommended Pink and Gold, which according to her meant ‘loyalty’ and ‘greatness’. Yet, Nero refused to look like an idiot, so he went with Teal for ‘tradition’ and Gray for ‘neutrality’. While multiple people pointed out that as a new noble, he had no traditions, he replied with what he thought was the most logical argument one could make… Teal and Dark Gray looked a hell of a lot better than anything else they were proposing. Besides, he was planning on figuring out some traditions at some point, so they could all shut the hell up.

Next came his house words. Academian Quincy was particularly interested in what core belief Nero wanted to be displayed on his house’s crest. Nero, not being the kind of guy who worried overly much about disappointing anyone, quickly decided on stealing one of his favorite tag lines from back home, namely ‘Game. Win. Repeat.’

No one had any objections, and Academian Quincy was once again found himself shocked at Nero’s wisdom.

Finally, Nero was faced with having to decide on a house crest. Although he’d never actually noticed anyone displaying their crest, he was assured that each house had one. Lacking any better ideas, he went with the old standby of the evil smiley face he’d once used as a profile avatar. Unfortunately, that didn’t go over nearly as well as his stolen house words.

After 10 minutes of Nick showing him various house crests from the city's nobles, explaining in excruciating detail what each part represented, Nero eventually buckled under the pressure and assigned Nick the task of doing it himself. As far as he was concerned, if it was so damn important to choose things that represented his house’s founding, then considering the way history was constantly being revised around here, he could always just rebrand himself later.

Despite all the paperwork, Nero had to admit it was fun to sit around a table and do his homework with a bunch of new friends. The entire situation reminded him of college, and it brought on a sense of nostalgia that he just couldn’t shake.

Looking around the table, he thought to himself, ‘I’m in a totally different world. The people here have lived lives that I can’t begin to comprehend. But at the end of the day, humans are still humans. In a way, it’s comforting that people can still annoy me regardless of where I find myself.’