Morning arrived with a lot of cries from cockerels and the scents of food cooking. It was probably very early, but I couldn't wait to get started. Rolling out of bed, I dressed myself in a long, loose tunic and a very fine cloak, it was a real struggle, though, sitting on the edge of the bed, to bring my foot up to a position where I could get a sandal on it. Should I wear my crown? For now, I just carried it in my hand.511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuMlPKG6bhb
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On leaving my room, a guard outside looked at me in astonishment before composing his face into a neutral expression.511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡatdmUPBS8T
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It suddenly occurred to me that I had no idea of my way around this castle, yet it would be very strange if I were to ask the guard. So I just followed my nose and again, was met with looks of disbelief and alarm by servants and soldiers until I found my way down and around some wide stairs to a hall big enough for a feast, though all the tables were bare.511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIx3Wk4o7vW
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'Ah, sire, we weren't expecting you for many an hour yet. I'll hurry the cooks.' A female servant came over as I sat myself at the top table in what was obviously the king's large, padded chair.511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtMJlOWzcuM
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'Just two poached eggs please and an apple and an orange.'511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7JYE51LtNB
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'We have apples, sire. Not the other.'511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRjJ5IQPN5y
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'Ahh right. Two apples then. And if you can press a few more to get juice out of them, I'll drink that.'511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI04y1btzqY
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'Yes sire.' The servant, a middle-aged woman, had worry lines across her forehead. 'So no roast pork?' She gestured towards a door that I presumed led to the kitchen, judging by the concentration of cooking scents from that direction.511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm9A3spnz4C
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'No.'511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq1mpSEVS7n
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'Er… forgive me, but just to avoid error, sire, no beef slices in horseradish sauce?'511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡimukq1ZCPy
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'No.'511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqj4b7ljbxN
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'Nor the chicken breast in garlic? The bread-and-butter pudding? The…'511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNNx3LU0HmX
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I caught the servant's eye and with a gulp she stopped speaking.511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp9LCuoLi1M
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'Nothing,' I said firmly, 'other than the eggs, apples and the juice.'511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwNYbpW1elf
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'Certainly sire,' the woman backed away with an anxious bow.511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWTYYNPm9Dr
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It would have been interesting to chat with someone and learn something about the world, but none of the guards and servants would dare look at me. The large dining hall was silent as though empty, even though I could count six guards and four servants.511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyXuFqW0oaI
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Oh well. I raised my right arm and cascaded some menus. Good, steel pickaxes had been researched, my town now had the knowledge of how to produce them. So I opened up the smithy and planned for a build of 84 new pickaxes, one for every miner. That left my research queue empty and I crunched on one of the hastily delivered apples as I eyed my options, there were hundreds of possibilities, grouped into three core categories: economic, cultural and military. Currently, the food crisis was my biggest concern and my plan to solve it was via exporting ores. Assuming all my neighbours were hostile (and even if they weren't, I wouldn't want any of them to have extra iron supplies), I needed to get my ores further afield. And that meant… Navigation. A six-day research project.511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgagP0IK6Ez
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After breakfast, with the help of a servant, I changed into tunic and trousers and good boots, then sent for my trainer.511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZzOdWI66Hf
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Carradock Goblinbane was missing an arm at the elbow. I didn't ask; maybe the king knew his story already. On the short walk from the castle to the barracks training ground, I briefed him. I needed strength training as rapidly as possible. I didn't voice it aloud, but I knew that I just could not risk progressing my character until I understood the issue of stats better and, in particular, whether I could push them up through training.511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBayevx679N
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'Strength it is, sire, and all-round fitness.' He looked at me longer than most people did. In fact, most people here didn't look me in the eyes at all. 'It will take a while. We must not rush. You're too big and too – excuse me – soft. You'll hurt yourself. For the first day, I just want to you walk around this ground fifty times.511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUMZDAaoWAv
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'Fifty?' How hard could it be to walk fifty laps of a square whose sides were only about a hundred metres?511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc1lWFL1KOr
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It was very hard. After one lap I was sweating. After the second my thighs began to ache and I found myself slowing down from my fast initial pace. After the third, I was panting and my huge body was complaining pretty much everywhere. On ten, Carradock handed me a tankard with cool water in it and I gulped it down. Then he offered me a sword hilt. It was a practice weapon, a rod of iron with no sharp edges. I reached out for it.511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwq9TNPhoME
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'Are you sure?' Carradock looked sceptical.511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb2p3vxSIte
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'Of course. I can do this.'511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡimHowCH9KH
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'No, I mean, your left hand.'511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIul9vjyv40
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I had grasped the sword and raised it in my left hand. I tried it then with my right, shook my head, and shifted it back. 'This is better.'511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmDo2aHMOMB
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Back on Earth, I was left-handed. Had the king been right-handed? Was this a sign to everyone I wasn't their old ruler?511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQc3SR20RBe
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'Carry it as often as you can. It will make your sword arm stronger.'511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl7gVV30jdU
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'Now?'511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHYYDtZSAVk
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Carradock nodded, perhaps with a hint of a smile on his narrow, fox-like face.511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8Ehe4HxDCx
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Then off I went again, with a new source of pain slowly moving up from my left wrist, my arm and along my left shoulder. At twenty I took another breather. One side of the barracks square was a two-story, grey stone building. The other three were enclosed by a low, wooden fence. And at the fence were gathered a dozen people, looking in at me. On their faces were expressions of dislike but also astonishment.511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXC8lJUmar1
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All this walking had been good for my thinking. 'You,' I pointed to a woman with dressed in a tunic whose design matched that of the other castle servants. 'Get me the ambassador, Figus.'511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0TTARFxDUq
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'Yes, sire.' She curtsied, but I could tell from her body language she didn't like the duty.511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtXs4msLsj7
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'And the rest of you, get along with your business.'511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnuvBeXC19O
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No one spoke, but they all immediately hurried away.511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2Ymus9Jr7w
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It was another two laps before my ambassador came to the square around which I was walking. No doubt I was red-faced and quite a sight, but that didn't excuse the smirk on his face. Figus was quite the rock star. Unlike everyone else here, his hair was not a natural colour, rather it was bleached somehow and stood up in clusters of spikes. With a grace in his walk and a cynical smile in his bright blue eyes, I could see his Charisma of 15 was definitely in play. What was mine again, 3? I suddenly felt very conscious of my frown lines and a posture that was sagging at every point, including my face.511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgFvwikK78T
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The ambassador drew up close, took in a breath and then bowed. 'Sire?'511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJrnuGKal4z
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This was a welcome excuse for a break, though I was aware that Carradok was watching and probably disapproved.511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO8d5vaObvr
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'We need to trade ore for food, what's the best way to go about it?'511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx8i1O0319s
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Figus looked up with some surprise on his face. 'You are seeking my advice?'511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡACpFilhRyG
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'Uh huh,' I was still catching my breath or I'd have pointed out that he was our ambassador after all.511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsn974w7yAo
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'Well, as you know, we are at war with Southway and Trolland, our nearest neighbours. So they are out. That also blocks the inland routes. By sea, we could trade with Cantreth, the Kingdom of Lost Souls and Rockguard…' he paused in thought. I paused in tiredness.511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiTcvtf0lMH
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'Your majesty has no scruples dealing with a Necromancer?'511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡErwUoN8ePS
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'Not at all, some of my best friends are Necromancers.' I was thinking of Storm Wars of course, but the look of consternation on the face of Figus made me feel like laughing.511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ98V03kZ3da
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To be fair to him, the ambassador recovered his poise quickly, 'in that case, I think the best deal we could make would be with the Kingdom of Lost Souls.'511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUW0BjJlijH
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'Right so, off you go and make that arrangement.'511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpYo0u804lZ
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'Now sire?'511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh4sAR1ahpO
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I nodded.511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPyWqlNUf3f
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He hesitated. 'How much ore and of what kind and quality will we be offering?'511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxb06LyqdBB
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I didn't have to call down the menu for the mines, we were currently producing 2 ingots of standard iron ore per day. Assuming that would rise with the new pickaxes… 'Fifteen standard iron ingots a week.'511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8BD1JmTXfJ
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Figus nodded and then with a temerity that was unusual in the people around me caught my eye. 'One more question, sire, if I may?'511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4sCWp8ZvJE
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'Yes?'511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8dGw2JcK3F
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'We don't have a trading vessel, but we would get much better terms if this exchange happened in our ship.'511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsy3g4uM9al
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'I'll make that a priority.'511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhhhpTSepwH
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'Right so, I'll be off then.' There was a jauntiness to the man's step as he left me to my circuits. Had he deliberately just parrodied my turn of phrase? If so, I rather admired him for it.511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcBGuPNMNyJ
and then Add to home screen.