Nero Walker, Book 2 Ch.83 (115) (Patreon)

The king’s harem reconvened late that night, well after their husband had gone to bed. Hidden in a private chamber, they gathered to discuss how they felt about the recent revelation. As usual, the meeting was led by the ‘King’s firsts’, which was the clandestine name the harem used to refer to the leaders of the different power blocs.

Long ago, the current queen had learned from her mother-in-law about the responsibilities of the harem, and how the kingdom relied on their covert efforts. It had taken many years to create the powerful group of sisters she had come to rely on.

Queen Marrisa Newling-Oglivarch was their overall leader, and the different groups all reported to her. She was also the highest ranking Populator in the kingdom. Therefore, she was personally in charge of the 3 other Populators in the harem.

Lydia Collins ran the Household, while also leading the spy network. She had 23 women under her, and each of them had their individual sources and networks. Recruited from families across Oglivarch, nothing happened without them learning about it. However, their main focus was noble politics along with collating rumors and ensuring House Oglivarch remains in power.

Helen Wendel was in charge of the adventurers and problem solvers. Her 51 woman worked in teams to scout dangerous areas, and ensure that the kingdom wasn’t endangered by essence events they were unprepared for. Her network had connections across the kingdom through the Hunter’s Lodges.

Merideth Tellani ran the economic concerns. With 33 women united in purpose, she controlled the economics of the entire kingdom, while ensuring the financial dominance of House Oglivarch.

Finally, Carol Morrow was the leader of the law bloc. Although one of the smaller power blocs, with only 7 women, they monitored the laws of the kingdom. Their responsibility was maintaining the oversight of the nobles and private interests, and ensuring the stability of the kingdom.

Regardless of where they came from, each woman here was dedicated to House Oglivarch and the sisterhood they had joined. Without their leadership, they knew Oglivarch would fall to ruin.

Yet today, they were gathered for another purpose all together. Their love had been playing a private game, and manipulating events to destabilize the Tower of Fate. Each of them knew the power that the Tower held, and they needed to figure out how they were going to support their king in his efforts.

Lydia smoothed her dress as she stood up from the couch. Looking around the incredibly large room, she said, “Alright, let’s first sum up what we’ve learned. You all know how annoying he can be when telling a story, so we’ll strip down what he said and filter the relevant events into a timeline. Despite his efforts to obfuscate his actions, we’ve been able to determine a great deal of what he actually DID.”

While speaking, she made her way to the middle of the room which was kept open so those who were speaking could be seen by everyone in attendance.

Pacing back and forth, Lydia went over what they’d learned from their King and their investigations. “Approximately a month ago, an anomalous soul took over a freshly awakened body near Dorchester, which is located in the southern strates. As the soul came from outside this plane, it affected all of the calculations made by the matrix of fate. Seeing as that rendered the Tower of Fate blind, our husband decided to take advantage of the situation.

“First, we think he was responsible for dispatching an army unit on the road to collect the anomaly. We’ve confirmed that he made contact with their unit through an intermediary, but we’re not sure if he sent them or just took advantage of their identities. Our conjecture is that it was either because of the sergeant, who was related to the city-lord through his father, or the captain, who was a former-monster hunter without any noble relations. We all know how unlikely it was to find one of those.

“Then, he maneuvered the head of the Tower of Magic, Arch-mage Jennings into going to Dorchester in person. Which resulted in the death of the local court-mage, removing an ally from a local lord who was planning an overthrow of the current city-lord.

“We know that his efforts somehow changed the fate of the city. The anticipated noble war resulted in a defeat for the local lord, and a victory for the current city-lord. Marrisa was there under the guise of her Populator persona, and personally witnessed the actions of the anomalous soul who was able to use the conflict for his own gain. Due to the nature of the noble war, that soul ended up being raised the position of a new noble.

“If you listened to his story, you’d notice that our king failed to mention that he had someone contact the keep after the soul’s ascension to nobility. After looking at the records, Marrisa and I are relatively sure agents working on his behalf were responsible for pushing the city-lord’s heir into attempting an assassination attempt the anomalous soul. As a new noble, he should have been under our protection. That failed attempt ended up humiliating both House Cranston, which we’d been having trouble dealing with, and removing the heir from the line of succession. It also allowed us to finally remove several outdated, and useless, laws.

“Which brings us to the first clue we found on our own, and the reason we learned of his plans. Marrisa discovered that he sent a case of dwarven wine to one of the city-lord’s consorts. He labeled it a gift from a local lord of House Bevin, apparently to explain away its providence. The consort in question was responsible for placating the remaining heir after the banishment of her brother. According to the consort, due to the influence of the liquor, instead of dissuading her from her vengeance, he mistakenly slept with the girl. Probably using the same predictive techniques which created the matrix of fate, our king manipulated events knowing what would happen. How that insufferable man managed to get two people to hook up from across the damned kingdom, I have no idea… but he did.

“Because of their liaison, rather than stop the girl, the consort decided to aid her. Her goal was complete what her brother started, and kill the new noble. With the consorts help, she almost succeeded.

“Unknown to him, the consort’s efforts were aided by a mage from Hennings, Mage-adept Catherine Newbanks. Our king convinced her to go to Dorchester, and once there, he used her to covertly smooth out any problems with the attempt. She did this right under the nose of Arch-mage Jennings, who now believes that the Tower of Fate had a hand in the assassination attempt.

“Which brings us to the end of our king’s story, and what we’ve just learned. When he ended the story, he spoke of the anomalous soul taking over Dorchester, and saving it from the upcoming beast tides. According to him, the new lord would refuse to bend to the whims of the council, and seize power with the help of the local general and Arch-mage Jennings. The city-lord’s house would be purged, along with the consorts. A deal would be struck with the council to avoid a succession war, and the new noble would become the new city-lord.

“However, that apparently wasn’t how the arbitration went. We just got word that the new noble accepted some monetary compensation and, and the city-lord remains in power. The anomalous soul did NOT take over Dorchester, and it seems that our king may have… miscalculated,” she finished her long summation with her voice full of irritation.

Silence filled the room, and every woman in attendance shifted uncomfortably in their seats. This was an unprecedented event. Many times the king had plotted, and it had almost always played out according to his script. It had been hundreds of years since their king had been so… mistaken.

Lydia calmly returned to her seat, and Queen Marrisa took her place in the center of the room.

With a firm voice, she said, “So, we have to decide if we’re going to get involved, and what this means for his plans involving the Tower of Fate. But more importantly, we need to decide who is going to go wake him up and tell him that his game didn’t play out the way he thought it would?”

Every woman in the room exchanged uncomfortable looks with the their fellow harem members. The queen could only put her hands on her hips, and frown in annoyance at the display. As usual, it looked like she was going to have to be the one to deliver the bad news.

‘Well, at least I’m good at telling him he’s wrong… I’ve spent the last 800 years practicing my technique,’ she thought with some amusement.

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Nero sighed as he luxuriated in the feeling of being in a real bed again. Before his time in the wilds, the closest he had ever come to spending time in the wilderness was summer camp. With a smile, he recalled how nice the cabins were, they even had air conditioning.

Now that he finally had some time to himself, his thoughts started returning to their regularly scheduled programming. His muscles relaxed as he laid in bed, his hands behind his head, staring at the ceiling. Without prompting, the events of the past few days started playing like a movie real in his head.

As he thought about what happened at the keep, he couldn’t help but shiver. He’d seen medieval television shows, and read about what it was like when his world still had nobles, but it was still weird to see it happen in real life. Lords killing their kids for their transgressions, plots and scandals involving assassination attempts and paying off witnesses. When it came down to it, whether he admitted it or not, he was payed off to cover up a pretty serious crime, and he was completely alright with that.

He had really changed.

The moment the thought occurred to him, he realized it’d been forever since he bothered to check his identity. As if he were recognizing an ignored injury, he realized how full his soul felt. During the past few days, he must have stocked up a ton of experience, and he could practically feel it trying to dissipate the excess as fast as possible.

Surprised, he opened up his identity.

Name Nero Walker

Level 12

Race Human

Growth 100%

Tier 1

Condition 100%

Age 14

Center 100%

Body 3

Mind 5

Soul 2

Confluence 10

Stars 0

Pillars 1 / 1

Body 3

Base/Operative/Level Stress/

Presence 15/24/16.8

Durability 18/28.8/19.8

Recovery 34/54.4/23.2

Speed 21/33.6/8.3

Adaptability 41/65.6/13.1

Power 20/32/9.6

Mind 5

Base/Operative/Level Stress

Weight 32/64/9.6

Control 39/78/12.3

Field 36/72/21.4

Precision 55/110/19.1

Endurance 65/130/15.1

Focus 61/122/17.3

Soul 2

Base/Operative/Level Stress

Size 29/40.6/2.3

Density 101/141.4/1.4

Intensity 76/106.4/1.9

Pressure 27/37.8/1.8

Harmony 24/33.6/21.7

Adaptability 270/378/1.1

Nero stared at his status sheet, a little confused. Although he wasn’t super clear on how level stress worked, he was relatively sure that it was supposed to be much lower than this. ‘Didn’t Nick or Jennings say that it was hard to get it above 10? I’m positive that they said it what happened before was unusual. They said it was a one-time thing, right?’ he thought to himself.

Grimacing, he struggled to remember the conversation that he had only half listened to. ‘At some point, I’m REALLY going to have to figure this stuff out,’ he told himself firmly.

Rather than dwell on it, he tried to recall his plan. He was positive that he had a plan about where to allocate his stars. ‘It definitely wasn’t ‘mind’, that’s already at 5. ‘Body’, maybe?’ he wondered.

Annoyed at the problem, he decided to get a second opinion. Using his link, which was sitting on the bedside table, he tried opening a connection to Nick. After a few seconds, the connection opened and Nero felt Nick’s annoyance come through loud and clear.

“What’s the matter? Someone kidnap you again?” asked Nick with some anger at being interrupted during whatever he was doing.

Nero quickly replied, “No smart-ass, I just have a question about where I should spend my star.”

Feeling Nick’s mind grind to a halt brought a smile to Nero’s face. He had forgotten how fun it was to exasperate the man.

“You’re leveling again? How did you… Nevermind! I don’t care. Nero, I haven’t seen my wife in a while, so I’d appreciate it if you would just go to sleep. I’ll talk to you in the morning. And don’t you dare ping Vera!” he nearly shouted, then slammed the connection closed, hard enough to rattle Nero’s brain.

For a moment, Nero was offended, then the realization of what he probably just interrupted caused him to suffer a full body shiver. Although Nick and Vera weren’t his parents, thinking of them naked was just as traumatizing.

After shoving it in a mental drawer and locking it, Nero returned to his identity issues.

Remembering how much it sucked when he let his ‘mind’ stat level stress get too high, he wasn’t looking forward to going through that again. Gritting his teeth, he closed his eyes and tried to fall into his mental space.

Finding his mental path was easier than he remembered, and he immediately appeared in a cluttered realm full of floating clouds filled with memories. Groaning in annoyance, he started with the first memory he could find.

The sight of Rose coming down from the tree after they tracked her through the wilds played out in front of him. He remembered how it felt when he stared at her tight backside, and he shifted his feet uncomfortably. He hadn’t realized how closely he had payed attention to that.

Moving on, he fell into a trance going through the past few days. Some memories were less detailed, but each one seemed to add some weight to his existence as he processed them.

He recalled the pain of the arrows piercing his chest. The smell of blood when he stood over his friend’s dead bodies. The feeling of pulling their souls back from the other side. Images of the fighting through the wilds flashed in succession. The spells he cast rang like bells in his head, and he could feel his center pulsing with each memory. His confusion and awkwardness at the confrontation with the nobles. His embarrassment when he realized he should have known about the ambush. The repressed guilt at what his friends had gone through. He faced it all, internalizing as much as could.

Nero didn’t know how long it took, but soon the path in front of him was clear. The cobblestone path was once again beneath his feet, and seemed more solid than ever. The woods still surrounded him, and the shafts of sunlight forced their way through the trees. He felt lighter than ever, yet grounded at the same time. Everything was clearer. He felt like he had just gotten back from vacation, rested and ready for a new challenge.

He didn’t know it, but the essence in the room was swirling. The sheets on the bed were whipping around the room, and the walls were almost vibrating in conjunction with his heartbeat.

Opening his eyes, he felt himself panting. ‘If that was a level, what’s going to happen when I use a star,’ he wondered?

Name Nero Walker

Level 13

Race Human

Growth 68%

Tier 1

Condition 100%

Age 14

Center 100%

Body 3

Mind 5

Soul 2

Confluence 10

Stars 1

Pillars 1 / 1

Looking at his new level, he realized he was already almost at level 14. He couldn’t help but wonder how much extra experience he wasted by putting off the level for as long as he did. And how was he able to stockpile so much extra experience? Shouldn’t that have been impossible?

Rather than dwell on the unknowable, he decided to get it over with and pushed his star into his ‘body’ stat.

Like a flood of acid into his veins, he felt the infusion spread out from his gut. Reaching the bottom of his toes to the hair follicles on his head, every square inch of his body hummed with power. Nero felt like he was at the starting line of a race, primed to move. It was the feeling of playing shortstop, waiting for a batter to hit, knowing that you were ready to move in any direction. He felt anchored to his body, in tune with his physical form. Seconds passed, and he tension faded. The aftermath left him panting in exhaustion.

With a groan, he forced himself to sit up from the bed. Looking around, he saw the sheets and comforter splayed out on the floor. The table’s lamp had been knocked over, along with the chair. The room looked like his mom had tossed it looking for his hidden stash of pot.

With a herculean effort, he got up from the bed and made his way to the bathroom. The exertion had left him grimy, and he desperately needed another shower.

Stumbling through the room, his updated ‘body’ stat hovered in front of his brain, and he marveled at the changes.

Body 4

Base/Operative/Level Stress

Presence 22/39.6/0

Durability 26/46.8/0

Recovery 47/84.6/0

Speed 25/45/0

Adaptability 47/84.6/0

Power 24/43.2/0

‘Holy Crap… That can’t be normal,’ he thought in confusion.

Pulling his attention away from the stat panel, he stared at himself in the mirror. Rubbing his hand through his messy hair, he scowled at his anime-character-like reflection. His pale blue eyes and silver hair, along with his thin, toned frame made him look like some kind of emo, angst-ridden, vampire.

His annoyance with his physical appearance caused him to forget all about his stats, and he decided to just take a shower and go to bed. Tomorrow morning he’d be returning to the wilds, fulfilling his obligation to the army, and taking one step closer to completing his noble trials so he could finally enjoy his well-earned reward. Eventually, he’d be able to just sit back, study magic in his personal tower, sip some drinks with umbrellas, and earn his 20%. Just like the infamous Hanz Gruber in ‘Die Hard’.

While he fine-tuned the temperature of the shower, he had a thought. ‘Is my team reuniting? It will be nice to see Rose again.’ But then his face paled as he realized Wesker will probably be there too. ‘Oh well, I doubt he’s still pissed. It’s been like a full day. I’m sure he’s over it by now,’ he reassured himself.

Before long, Nero was back in bed. He hadn’t bothered to fix the room, mostly because it hadn’t occurred to him.

Once again staring at the ceiling with a smile, he let his thoughts wander. ‘I wonder what Vera’s going to serve for breakfast. I hope it’s not pancakes. I nearly stuffed myself with the ones from the keep. How cool would it be if they had the equivalent pop-tarts here?’ he thought to himself.

Soon enough, Nero was asleep, dreaming of facing monsters with magic spells and being able to summon snacks out of the ether. Tomorrow he’d return to the wilds, and his new life of adventure.