Long Live the Emperor: Chapter 24 (Patreon)

Alvin thought recent events in East Water had been dramatic and nerve-racking. First, the town had been under military occupation, then had to deal with Magus Terrance from the Spirit Realm Monastery. Then shortly after that, they had to deal with covering up Magus Terrance’s untimely demise within their realm. With so much chaos at home, he’d made the mistake of thinking all was well in the outside world.

But that couldn’t have been further from the truth. Trouble had been brewing since before Aldrich’s fateful defeat at the hands of Count Grandhill’s armies.

According to the count, there were ten other self-ruling baronies in the lands surrounding Grandhill County. The historical relationship wasn’t clear to Alvin, but he refrained from asking since it was probably something he was already supposed to know. Count Grandhill and his people had a claim on all those baronies. After three generations of preparations, they finally had the resources to press that claim.

Count Grandhill wasn’t a man who craved war, but he was good at logistics and had a county with men and wealth both in plenty. This was all by design, for Count Grandhill’s grandfather had hatched a plan a hundred years ago to rebuild the duchy he’d lost. The long-dead lord had worked tirelessly to bolster industry and farming within his lands, lowering the price of steel and ensuring comfort and prosperity... along with a few laws and fertility festivals meant to encourage population growth.

Count Grandhill’s father had stayed true to that course. With the county more full to bursting than ever and with an armory and martial culture cultivated by two generations of counts before him, he would bring shame upon his ancestors not to invade his neighbors and complete his family’s long-held dream.

“The point, my boy, is that these barons were using you as something of a bellwether. They wanted to see how you’d fair against me. For all they knew, my army could be nothing more than green unblooded farmers armed with rusty pikes that would fall apart at the first sign of conflict. In that case, they’d have nothing to fear. But what they didn’t realize is that these knights around me have all seen war and know how to march in a proper army. It’s why I lured them to Grandhill at great expense. They trained my army into a martial instrument with more than enough power to claim all eleven baronies in our sights!”

Alvin frowned. “Why not attack sooner than if you’re certain you’re far more prepared than you need to be?”

Count Grandhill smiled. “Ah, that is what my father said on his deathbed, Aldrich, my boy. He wanted to attack then and there but knew he was too frail to command an invasion. So I promised to do so in his stead. But I delayed and delayed for thirty years, all because I wanted to be more than ready. I wanted the forces to utterly crush my enemies and to make that advantage clear from the start.”

Realization spread across Alvin’s face. “You wanted them to surrender without a fight.”

“Exactly, my boy!” Count Grandhill stroked his chin before reaching for the bottle of wine once again. “I want resisting me to look so utterly hopeless that these wilderness barons would give up before the fighting got started. That’s the way to take a barony. Their troops become your troops, and the people hold no ill-will to their liege’s new liege. Altogether, it’s a much cleaner way to take over than a bloody conquest. And the claimed lands are instantly productive, instead of costing a massive fortune to rebuild after a lengthy conflict. You were an unfortunate casualty of that strategy, though. If I was to prove I had teeth, I had to defeat someone. And it just so happened that someone was you.”

“So, how does this involve me going to war with you?” That still had Alvin nervous. He didn’t have Aldrich’s swordsmanship, so how was he supposed to fight on the front lines as some sort of master swordsman?

“Originally, this next step would have been far more difficult for me.” Count Grandhill’s grin was wide enough to split his face as he poured some extra wine to top off Alvin’s cup before refilling his own. “But you have proven a far better asset than you could possibly know. If I had killed you, the other lords would have thought me a ruthless conqueror. But that isn’t me. I want to be a glorious unifier, bringing prosperity to the entire duchy forged from these lands! The other barons will be far more eager to swear their loyalty to me when they realize you’re now my vassal and that for all our initial differences, I know how to let bygones be bygones to those who swear their oaths of loyalty.”

“I see. You want me to set a good example for the others!”

Count Grandhill clinked his glass against Alvin’s, chuckling to himself. “You know, my boy, you’re much smarter than people give you credit for. Most seem to think you’re a bit of a meathead, swinging around a sword and not caring about much else. Truthfully, I thought the same until we started having these talks. But enough of that! We have a wedding and a war to plan in that order! Some of those barons I mentioned will be in attendance, so things are going to be perfect! Not that I would ever have my daughter’s wedding anything less than perfect...”

For the next few minutes, Count Grandhill mostly voiced his thoughts aloud. He told Alvin about who would be coming to the wedding and suggested a few ideas of what he might say to them. He also mentioned that Mabel’s siblings would be there as well, and it would be important for him to get to know all of them since he’d be part of the family as well soon enough. He mentioned a few things about the wedding himself, mostly concerning how his wife would take care of the details. Along with whatever help she could wring out of Mabel.

After that, Count Grandhill suggested they play another of his wargame. He had a set of far finer make this time, as every piece was intricately carved and painted to look like a replica of the unit they represented. Each archer piece held a little bow, and each knight’s horse had wide eyes and slathering tongue as it charged across the gameboard, which was itself an extremely accurate replica of all the lands surrounding County Grandhill.

Once again, Alvin was fighting a hopeless battle, though not quite as hopeless as before. He was commanding a unified force of seven barons and all their knights and men. In terms of numbers, he actually had more pieces than Count Grandhill himself did. But those numbers were deceptive since most of the pieces on Alvin’s side were peasant levies armed with whatever tools their respective lords could slap into their hands and whatever thick cloth they could strap on before being sent off to be slaughtered.

In contrast, Count Grandhill’s men all possessed a few months of drills, and the worst equipped of them wore thick gambeson and wielded a solid spear. The core of his forces, though, consisted of a hundred professional soldiers and that number again in career mercenaries. Counting the count’s knights, the battle was obviously one-sided. However, Alvin still had enough men to pull off a single victory for the evening.

“Dastardly. Positively diabolical...” Count Grandhill muttered as he pulled back the last of his forces. He’d taken heavy losses, though Alvin had lost the entirety of his peasant levies. He’d pulled off a win by boxing in his own conscripts with his professional soldiers, preventing them from fleeing while his small cavalry force raided and flanked Count Grandhill’s encampment’s at will. “Well, I’m certainly glad you’ll be fighting on my side this time. We’ll have to remember not to let something like that happen when this day comes around!”

“Agreed.” Alvin chuckled darkly. He wasn’t sure if Count Grandhill’s men could even stomach hacking through that number of poorly equipped peasants. It would be an absolute slaughter and probably one that would destroy the productivity of the lands the count was trying to take for generations. Letting their enemies pull off a tactic like the one Alvin just used would be disastrous for the count’s plans.

***

“So... did he talk to you? Did you say yes?” Mabel asked the moment Alvin left Count Grandhill’s study. She toyed with her hair with one hand, and the other bundled her shirt into a tight ball. Her eyes darted everywhere around the hall except for where Alvin was standing.

Alvin looked at her. “You were waiting out here this entire time?”

“...Not the entire time...” Mabel muttered.

Alvin saw how nervous she was. And for once, he said the right thing.

“Yes, of course, I want to marry you, Mabel.”

“You will?” Mabel’s stiff back relaxed, and she leaned in toward Alvin to nuzzle his neck with her cheek. She looked like she was going in for a kiss when Alvin tilted her head to meet his.

“Mabel, don’t be so excited. I’m not the man you think I am.”

He couldn’t hide who he was any longer. Alvin wasn’t Aldrich, even if he was in Aldrich’s body. He couldn’t hide this fact forever, and he wouldn’t hide it from the woman who wanted to be Aldrich’s wife. He couldn’t keep a secret like this from her. Not if they were getting married.

“I know the man you are,” Mabel said as she poked him in the stomach. “You’re brave, the best swordsman anyone ever knew, able to stand on a wall alone against an entire army and hold them off for an hour with nothing but your grit and determination!”

Alvin sighed, feeling a little more guilty that he’d held off on this conversation until now. “Why don’t we go back to your room? I want to have this conversation in private.”

Mabel’s lip quivered, and she grabbed Alvin’s wrist and tugged him along behind her. They arrived in one of the smaller manor rooms, about half the size of Alvin’s own chambers. It reminded Alvin a lot of Aldrich’s room when he first arrived. There were swords and armor heaped on the floor and in the corner, and the drawers to her wardrobe were in disarray.

But Mabel didn’t care for any of that as she reached for the heavy cotton shirt she wore and pulled it up over her shoulders, revealing her bare stomach, shoulders, and a thick silk wrap around her breasts that probably served to support them while she was active on the practice field. She reached for the knot behind them to undo them while looking at Alvin expectantly.

Alvin realized where he’d gone wrong. “Wait! Mabel, I really did just want to talk.”

“Huh?” Mabel blinked in surprise. “But... we’re getting married, right? So it’s okay. Father already thought we were having sex. I told him we were just to make sure he wouldn’t have you killed.”

Alvin gave her a thin-lipped smile. “Mind if we sit?”

“Okay?” Mabel sat down on the bed, and Alvin joined her.

“The things I’m about to tell you are going to sound pretty crazy. Just bare with me until the end, please. I promise it’s all true. And if you still want to marry me by the time I’m done, then I’ll be a happy man. But at the same time, if you want to toss me aside after this, I won’t hold it against you.”

“Aldrich, what’s gotten--“

Alvin held up a hand. “My name isn’t really Aldrich. It’s Alvin. And I’m from a place very far away from here.”

Alvin started his story back on Earth. He told her about technology, his job, his school classes, and everything else that had been important to him until that fateful dream when he and Aldrich had swapped bodies. He told her of his first night here and the realization that it had all been a trick. Then he told her about his fight with Aldrich over his original body and how he’d been stranded here in Aldrich’s.

It must have seemed like a wild, fantastical fairy tale to Mabel, but she didn’t laugh or interrupt him a single time as he spoke and told her everything.

“That’s who I really am, Mabel. I’m not Aldrich. I’m Alvin. I’m not a baron, just a college student and a part-time dishwasher. I know this probably comes as a disappointment to you, but--“

“You big dummy,” Mabel gently pounded her fist against his chest. “I barely even knew the original Aldrich. He was cool, tough, and kicked my ass in a duel more than once. But compared to you, he was an asshole. When we first met, I thought spending time with you would finally break me from my childhood crush. But you were kind, friendly, funny, and everything I dreamed of. As far as I am concerned, you are the real Aldrich, at least to me.”

She pressed herself against Alvin’s side, and he felt tension he hadn’t known he’d been holding flow out of him. She pushed him back onto her bed, and he held her tight in an embrace a while longer.

“So...” Alvin prodded.

“Yes, dummy. I’ll still marry you, Alvin.” With parted lips, she placed a gentle kiss on his cheek.

Alvin wrapped a hand around her back, breathing deeply. Had Mabel always smelled this nice?

“Thank you, Mabel. I promise I’ll do right by you. Even if this isn’t my real world, I’m stuck here now, and I plan to make the best of things. I’ll take care of you as best I can.”

Mabel giggled. “I think you’re going to be the one who needs my help, not the other way around. Although this does explain why you would never spar with me again. I’d probably kick your ass. Was that time we fought the first time you’d ever held a sword?”

“Pretty much. Well, unless you count my buddy’s katana, and one time, I almost cut my finger off.”

“Ha! I guess I should have taken it easy on you then. Maybe I can be the one to teach you something for once.”

Alvin stroked her hair as he nodded. “We’ll have to do it soon. Your father wants me on the front lines.”

“I’ll talk to him. I don’t want to risk losing my new husband just after our wedding, after all. But it is a shame you don’t have Aldrich’s swordsmanship. That would be really helpful, and it’ll be hard for you to keep pretending to be him without it. He was rather famous for having an open invitation for anyone to challenge him to a duel. He was that confident he’d never lose. The last time he was at a ball, he just started insulting people, trying to goad them into challenging him and dying.”

“Well, crap. We’ll have to put an end to that.”

“I wish there was a way for you to take Aldrich’s confidence and skill and leave the rest,” Mabel sighed. “I truly did look forward to sparring with you again. There was a lot I could have learned. Maybe the knowledge is still in that head of yours. Or maybe you have to reach all the way across universes to get it. Oh well...”

Alvin was silent for a long moment. He remembered how it felt to ride that horse and the flash of Aldrich’s memories that had come to mind to pass the skill along to him. There had been other flashes like that, though none quite so vivid. Most were nothing more than briefly remembering where the maid’s closet was in the manor. They were odd, but even after all this time, he’d never thought to mention them to Clover.

Maybe there really was a way to get Aldrich’s swordsmanship after all...

“Alvin?” Mabel asked as he sat up.

“I need to talk to Clover.”


Note:

Two last things I want to explore. One last look at magic and some of the politics stuff I'm hoping to get into in the rewrite.

I'm trying not to make myself fall too behind on my publication schedule, so I'll probably set a deadline to myself by the end of the month to switch over to Amazon Apocalypse 1, which should be my next publication. You guys may see more of this story past that date, but I'm going to write all the content I intend to publish for the time being before then.

I may have to start Amazon Apocalypse with an intro I'm not completely satisfied with, but at this point I think it's smartest to just go ahead with what I've got and fix it later if it needs fixing, since a lot of the issues I'm worried about won't become issues until at least book 3.

On a related topic, if you were an all-powerful inter-multiversal system with absolute rule over multiple worlds and a mandate to integrate more worlds into your collective, what sexual thing or fetish would you develop and encode into your system?

Nothing too weird, but I feel like billions of years of isolation combined with godlike power would make me give some people some rather freaky items/classes/quests/dungeons just for fun.

I also think there's a lot of unexplored territory there, since most system apocalypse novels tend to be sfw. No promises on covering any of it, but I might if I like the idea enough.