Four: The Loot: A LitRPG/Gamelit Novel (The Good Guys Book 4) Read online

  Four: The Loot

  The Good Guys Book 4

  Eric Ugland

  Air Quotes Publishing, Inc.

  Air Quotes Publishing

  Copyright © 2019 Eric Ugland

  Cover art by Katrina Chase

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of Fiction. All of the characters in this novel are fictional and any resemblance to people living, dead, or undead is purely coincidental and surprising. And, let’s not even begin to talk about the fact that it’s all in a fantastical world in some other universe. There may be mentions of real places in this book, and while these passing mentions of real locations might have passing resemblance to said real locations, that's really just incidental, and these locations are all used fictitiously. The science in this book is only accidentally accurate, and no medical or scientific value should be attached to any of the ideas espoused within. Similarly, the magic and spells have been researched in absolutely no way whatsoever, and any ill-effects after you attempt to cast them are completely on you.

  Friendly reminder, Kent is a jerk.

  Also by Eric Ugland

  The Good Guys - Epic LitRPG/GameLit

  One More Last Time

  Heir Today Pawn Tomorrow

  Dungeon Mauling

  Roseland - Private Investigator Mysteries

  Series One

  Series Two

  Series Three

  For Catherine,

  Thank you.

  You do so much I will never be able to adequately thank you. But I will try.

  Smooches.

  Also, the blankets and pillows are mine.

  You lost them in a bet.

  Get over it.

  I LOVE YOU!

  Chapter One

  I put my arm around Nikolai’s shoulder, realizing how much taller I was than him. “Let’s build a nice little town, shall we? Maybe forget about all this court nonsense, just make a place that’s relaxing and peaceful?”

  “Oh, you poor fool,” Nikolai said, “if you make a place like that, they’ll kill us all just to live there.”

  “What if we just make a place that’s, like, mainly for fishing by a lake?”

  “I admire your tenacity to follow this dream of yours. But I am forced to admit that will not happen. You are in too deep, Montana Coggeshall. You have already set events in motion, events—”

  “Let me stop you right there. I don’t want to hear what you’re gonna say next, okay?”

  “For now.”

  “Great,”I said. Looking at our group, I realized that I knew quite a bit about everyone there, mostly because we all shared the experience of the Dungeon of the Ancients. But there was, in essence, a stranger among us.

  “So, Nathalie — you know anything about her?”

  “Only vaguely,” he replied. “She has a measure of fame, being that she is a member of the Imperial family. Lesser, but she is still of the aristocracy. I know she has trained as a fighter, though not in the Legion or any other military. As far as I remember, she is more a part of the tournament fighting scene.”

  “Tournament fighting?”

  “It is a form of entertainment.”

  “Like gladiators?”

  “Well, gladiators are a specific career and Choice unto themselves. Gladiators typically fight in a colosseum, mostly against monsters, and almost always to the death. There are very few rules in the colosseums. Tournaments, rather, are often held on estates. They build up to the Grand Tournaments, which are held in arenas within cities. Fighters in tournaments fight other humanoids in specific types of combat with rigid codified rules. There is little to no death involved in tournaments, outside of accidents.”

  “Are the tournaments jousting?”

  “Jousting is often included in tournaments, but it depends largely on the organizer and the sponsor.”

  “Do you know what she’s specialized in?”

  “Combat wise? I believe you told me she is a mid-level knight, is that correct?“

  “Level 14 Knight.”

  Nikolai scowled. “Low-level, but getting the Choice of knight at level 10 is impressive indeed.”

  “Should we, I mean, she works for us now. What do we think about that?”

  “We?”

  “You are in my hirð and my mentor. You’re on the team.”

  He stopped, and looked over at me with a raised eyebrow. “We need to have a real conversation about what our plans are.”

  “Dude,” I said, “I have no idea what you’ve planned. As far as I know, you and Cleeve planned a ton of shit out and I only know what Cleeve told me. And the little bit you let me in on. As far as I know, we’re building a safe home for some people Cleeve knew. Right?”

  “There is more to it than that, but yes. That is one way of explaining it.”

  “What’s another way?”

  He smiled at me. “It is true we are building a home,” he said. “But it is more precise to say that we are building a space where some of us might ride out the coming storm.”

  “What storm? The civil war?”

  He nodded. “It will be a horror show, I have no doubt. Hopefully we are able to insulate ourselves from it. Now, returning to your original question, Nathalie Glaton, I imagine her brother sent her to you for a vastly different reason.”

  “Yeah, she’s a spy.”

  “You are a dingus, Montana. She is here because Léon is playing the long game, hoping she will make an impression on you.”

  “An impression?”

  Nikolai took a long breath, letting it out slowly.

  “What?” I asked.

  “You are an unmarried duke,” Nikolai said. “Unmarried and unallied. Undoubtedly Léon is thinking he will get ahead of the game by bringing his sister to you early. And this is just the beginning. ”

  “I don’t think so,” I replied. “Leon is not pimping out his sister.”

  “Term it how you like,” he said, “but Léon is counting on his sister catching your attention. I know a little of Emeline, but I would not be surprised if her father or guardian was operating on a similar idea.”

  I opened my mouth, ready to say something, but Nikolai just raised his hand.

  “This is something I have seen before. I was around the Emperor when he was still unmarried, and I witnessed what occurred. There were plenty of men and women presented to the Emperor, all of whom used different tactics to, well, attain their quarry.”

  “Who won?”

  “The empress.”

  “I mean, obviously.”

  He smiled. “She was the sister of a duchess betrothed to Valamir. That relationship soured the brothers. Perhaps it can be said that marriage is the reason Valamir had the Emperor murdered.”

  “I’m not saying I agree with you about Nathalie—”

  “Does not matter. It is why she is here.”

  “But I suppose it can’t hurt to just keep an eye on the situation.”

  “Are you asking me to assist you in this matter?”

  “In what matter? Finding a wife? No. I don’t want a wife.”

  “A husband then?”

  “No, I’m not, I don’t want anything okay? I want to make a safe place for people to live, and I want to find a spot to fish. That’s the extent of my wants.”

  “As you wish, my lord,” he said with a smarmy bow. Then, he smiled at me and resumed walking towards our camp site.

&nbs
p; I watched him go. He moved differently than when I first met him. All his swagger was gone, replaced by a sense of sadness, hopelessness. It was hard for me to really come to grips with this new man being Nikolai. I wondered if it would be possible for him to regain what had been stolen from him. Given sufficient time and resources, sure, he’d be able to regain those levels. Theoretically.

  By the time I got to the tree, a fire was crackling and bedrolls had been set down. No one was talking though. Everyone seemed to have slipped into their own private little worlds.

  I sat down and leaned against the tree. The fire felt nice.

  “Yo Nikolai,” I said, “I’ve got a Choice coming up. Tips?”

  “Me too,” Emeline said.

  “Same,” Skeld added, then he looked pointedly at Ragnar.

  “What?” Ragnar said. “I know what I’m choosing.”

  “Is it true that the dungeon proved lucrative?” Nathalie asked.

  “I cannot tell you about the treasure,” Nikolai said, a pointed glance my way, “but the experience earned inside is like few others. And Montana, I cannot figure on how to guide you through this as I cannot fathom what choices the gods might present you on this night.”

  “Solid mentorship,” I countered.

  “You know the likely challenges we face,” Nikolai continued as if I hadn’t said anything, “so I would advise you towards a path that might give you advantages in dealing with the Court. Or building a settlement. But I fear you will only receive combat-based Choices.”

  “What of me?” Skeld asked.

  “You might do well with scouting or exploration. We are headed to tame the wilds—”

  “Which means combat,” I said.

  “You have plenty of combat ability,”

  “I could always use more.”

  “Unless your witlessness causes you to lose your dukedom because you know nothing about the politics of court.”

  “That’s why I have you,” I said.

  He returned my smile with a frown. “I will not be able to speak for you in all cases. I cannot be the Duke of Coggeshall. That mantle is on you. Skeld, you and Nathalie take first watch. Emeline and Ragnar, second. I will take third with Montana.”

  Before anyone could say anything, he pulled his bedroll over himself, and turned away from the fire.

  Chapter Two

  It took a while before I fell asleep. Laying there in the darkness, listening to the crackle and pop of the fire, watching the stars spread across the sky, I wondered if Earth was somewhere up there. If maybe, given how physics worked and light traveled, if I could get a powerful enough telescope, I might see something happening in the past.

  It was a nice thought, for a moment at least. But I knew it couldn’t be the case. The basic laws of this universe were simply too different to have any potential connection to my old universe. Thinking about Earth quickly brought about my past self. And what happened in the dungeon. What was that rage? A blood fever of sorts? Killing so many of those creatures sent me into a state of, well, slaying. But was that a facet of who I was on Earth or now? Was it a mark of evil? Something slipping through from my previous life of being a horrible excuse for a living being? Here I was, trying to be good, and yet I had managed to snag a bonus because I had killed over a thousand beings. Where was the good in that?

  Somewhere in that rambling thought dump, though, I slipped into slumber. It seemed that as soon as I saw the blackness of sleep, a notification blared up.

  In appreciation of achieving both level 15 and level 20 in a single day, you are hereby awarded a bonus of 25 levels of skill points in any one skill of your choice.

  IT IS TIME: YOU MUST CHOOSE:

  For reaching level 20, you are offered a Choice. You must make a choice. This prompt may not be minimized nor ignored.

  Second Choice

  You have been granted 11 options due to your skills, abilities, and actions.

  1) Nothing — Nothing is as it sounds. You receive no benefits, no penalties, nothing. You receive nothing. You will be nothing. Not the bravest of choices, but something you have been satisfied with in the past.

  2) Warrior — You will continue as a warrior. All martial skills advance double.

  3) Executioner — The executioner kills whomever is denoted as deserving death. Judgement is not offered, only the penalty. Critical Hits do double damage on any target denoted by a superior. Bladed weapon skills advance double, diplomacy and social skills increase at half speed. Charisma checks are more difficult.

  4) Reaper — Reapers kill. Indiscriminately. A reaper provides death for any and all. Gain double XP from all kills. Gain zero xp from other sources. Do 10% more damage to living creatures.

  5) Noble — You have a title. Whether or not you deserve it. Leadership skill advance double. You gain a portion of your sworn followers’ XP. Bonuses to relationships with other nobles, penalties for Freemen.

  6) Explorer — The unknown intrigues you. You desire to uncover the hidden and reveal secrets. There is little better than touching that which has never been touched before. Tracking skills advance double, Map unlocked, Gain bonus XP for mapping areas not yet discovered or explored.

  7) Cleric — You have been touched by the gods. You may call upon the powers of your chosen divinity to assist you and yours in life and in battle.

  8) Weapon Generalist — You don’t want to be a swordsman, an axeman, or a maceman, you want to use all the weapons all the time. Forget defense, you are about the offense. All offense martial skills advance double. Gain bonus XP any time you use a new weapon-type.

  9) Master of Monsters — You have a way with the creatures that others fear. Monsters are your friends, companions, family. Bonus to taming attempts on all Monsters. Increased damage from Monstrous pets. Monstrous pets require less taming to become domesticated. Able to see breeding lineages of monsters.

  10) Monster Hunter — You understand the creatures others fear. Monsters are commonplace to you, but you hate them. Bonuses to damage monsters. Visualize monster weaknesses. Bonuses to harvesting Monsters.

  11) Burgmann — Not quite undisciplined enough to be a barbarian, nor so noble as to be a knight, you are still a grand warrior with honor who lives to protect those who cannot protect themselves. Martial skills advance double. You take less damage from all attacks as long as you are protecting at least one non-combatant. Gain bonus XP from protecting others.

  You have one minute to decide.

  The countdown clock came up.

  One minute wasn’t much time, and I hadn’t been expecting such a wide range of choices. It was definitely getting deeper into sub-classes territory, some of these were certainly pushing me along a path towards specialization. These choices seemed like second- or third- tier options, which was annoying because now it seemed like they really mattered.

  While I could continue along as a warrior, Nikolai had just made it clear that wasn’t the best decision. I was not at all intrigued by being a noble. It seemed like a stupid choice. Explorer was neat, had some useful abilities. But I had a feeling it’d be quite some time before I hit level 25, and I wasn’t sure those skills would be useful through the long term. Short term, as we explored the dukedom, it’d be great, but ruling? Building? Just didn’t seem to be within the realm of actually helpful. Executioner was interesting, if brutal. But I couldn’t imagine how new recruits would handle being introduced to the Duke of Coggeshall, Executioner. Rather similar line of thought to the whole Master of Monsters. Reaper was just out. I didn’t want to depend on killing to level, and I didn’t want everyone to think I was just about death. I didn’t think being a cleric would be wise, mainly because I had relationships with three gods, and choosing one would likely piss off the other two. Bad idea. That left Weapons Generalist which was really just like Warrior, and I couldn’t see how that was going to be good in the long term either. Burgmann, was, well, not quite cool sounding as Master of Monsters or Reaper, was probably my best bet.

  BO
NG. You have made your choice. You are a Burgmann. Martial skills advance double. You take less damage from all attacks as long as you are protecting at least one non-combatant. Gain bonus XP from protecting others. Let them come, they will crash upon you and perish.

  And there we were. I’d made a choice and I was now a level 23 Burgmann. Which meant, of course, someone was screaming at me.

  Chapter Three

  I woke up in a fluster to someone yelling my name. Confused as to where I was and what I was doing, I flailed around. Then I shook myself into wakefulness and accidentally shoved my bedroll into the fire, setting it alight.

  Looking around the campsite as my blankets illuminated the surrounding countryside, I noticed Ragnar stood next to me, looking at me like I was insane.

  “What?” I asked.

  “You need to sleep more if that’s your reaction being woken up.”

  “Don’t yell my name—”

  “You see anyone else awake?” he asked, pointing at all the others sleeping.

  “No yelling?”

  “Just poking and whispering.”

  “Guard time?”

  “Not quite. Just, well, two things—”

  “It’s always two things.”

  “Emeline darted off in the night.”

  “Perfect.”

  “And there’s something big and nasty lurking out in the dark.”

  “So?”

  “I have no desire to solo a monster,” Ragnar said. “So I woke you up.”

  “How long has Emeline been gone?”

  “Just a minute or two.”

  “Monster first then,” I said with a nod.

  I pulled the Xiphos of Sharpness out of the bag, gave it a bit of a swing, and spun it in my hand. While most of the treasures from the Dungeon of the Ancients had yet to be catalogued or identified, I was reasonably sure the sword was going to wind up being one of the highlights. It was just such a versatile little weapon.