The next morning, as the sun was rising. Malbin was sleeping soundly in his large bed, drool was seeping out of his mouth while he snored. Suddenly, the door slammed open which jolted Malbin awake and stirred up as he rubbed his eyes to see who walked in.
"Young master, Its almost 7am. Lets get you ready for today as you need to prepare for the upcoming battle." Edwin spoke calmy as he looked blankly at the still tired Malbin.
"Yeah yeah.." Malbin shortly replied as yawned and got up from his bed, the blankets fell as he moved.
"Your bath is ready young master. I will prepare your clothes so you may get ready." Edwin gave a slight smile, seemly looking assuring and helpful. 'Please forget about yesterday.' He thought as he closed his eyes, keeping his posture up and still keeping a smile.
"Alright.. thank you Edwin." Malbin slouched as he walked out of the room.
Edwin slightly turned back, one of his eyes opened as he waited. Then his raised his fist up and let out a quiet short "yes.." feeling relieved. 'Now.. I don't have to be with that dumbass all the time-' As his mind was still processing the words it was cut off by Malbin who came back suddenly.
"Ah, don't forget about yesterday, I just remembered." Malbin spoke as he then turned back and left.
"Shit.." Edwin said as he collapse to the ground in defeat.
As Malbin relaxed in the waters, his arms rested on the rims of the bathtub. His body relaxed as he leaned his head back, collecting his thoughts. 'Alright.. the upcoming battle is going to probably be more brutal... the death count will be high for me while the morale will be low for troops, which affects the physical stats of the units. Alright, ogres.. they are one of the species led by one of the 20 leader player characters. They usually have 30 troops per unit, intelligence is one of the lowest in game so research is the lowest for them in the game but they are physically strong, with a good player they could easily be a great early to mid game characters. However, the ones I am fighting are orges. That aren't controlled by any leaders and classified as monsters due to that unless of course you make them surrender and they join as apart of your kingdom. I am just thankful that I am the only person who got transported in this game or else, progressing will take probably years." He sighed as he sank himself deeper into the waters until up to his nose.
A knock interrupted him and a voice called out
"Y-young master? Are you done yet?"
It was a female voice, one of the maids serving the Quietfang Manor.
"Yeah, give me a minute." Malbin shortly replied as he got up, he quickly dried himself off with a towel then wrapped it around his waist as he brushed his teeth and spat out the paste afterwards. Getting into his silk clothes and exit out of the bathroom. The maid gave a slight bow as Malbin walked out of the door, a few servants behide her as well. Malbin gave a slight nod and a quiet thank you came from his voice as then with a quick turn walked off back to his bedroom, the servants were quite shocked by Malbin actions.. "He.. thanked us?!" they started to mumble amongst each other , flabbergasted by what they heard.
Malbin opened the door to his bedroom, Edwin standing handing over an officer uniform. It was smooth and the yellow epaulettes really help stand it out, as Malbin dressed into the new outfit. He turned around and looked himself in the mirror.
"Well, It certainly looks amazing.. what you think Edwin?"
Malbin turned and saw Edwin having his eyes closed his mouth puckered up but gave a thumbs up anyways and nodded "It looks well on you, young master. It certainly does pop out your expression."
"Very funny Edwin." Malbin quickly catching on.
"Sorry young master.. Its not the outfit. Its your face that made it look like a jester outfit after all." giving a slight snicker but returning his composure after some time.
"Argh. Alright, so did you talk to Alessia about where we would meet?"
"Well, I did told her a meeting place would be somewhere more refined. However, she picked a tavern instead. We had a argument and overall she won that argument, she is a very persistent woman." Giving a sigh as he looked down and pinched the bridge of his nose as if he remembered the exact agony of how the discussion went down.
"Alright, lets get quickly going then."
Edwin nodded and they exited the manor and entered the carriage, Edwin gave a signal to the coachman and which the coachman shortly answered with a nod. The horse neighed and galloped as the coachman did a tug on the reins. Malbin looked out of the carriages windows seeing all the citizens working hard while the children are playing with their friends, it was different.. no carnage, shouting.. just people living there lives. It brought a warm smile to Malbin, it reminded how his father and mother used to bring him to the park while he ate snacks. It was cut short with Edwin giving a calm voice.
"Young master, we arrived."
Malbin got off the carriage and looked at the taverns wooden doors, it was huge and looked quite historic. 'In the game The Last Tower the tavern is usually where you find new commanders by recruiting them to join, but not without its cons.. after all you have you give absurd amount of gold the higher the rarity of the commander.' as his mind starts to remember.
"Young master, I'm sure you would be disgusted and such as you don't want to be in this old place. However, don't try to cause a ruckus as its filled with adventurers from all over the continent. Warriors, mages all that and this building has a long history due to its cheap alcohol and good quality of taste as well as it still stands after well hundreds of sieges and take overs. Never tried the drinks myself but I overheard it from the servants."
"I see." Malbin gave a response, turning his head to the doors and he opened it. The doors swung opened with a loud swish, adventures and the bar workers turned with slight curiosity but upon closer look they saw Malbin. The adventures muttered between each other side eyeing Malbin as he walked further into the tavern. Malbin could hear whispers of everyone in the tavern "Isn't he the son of the duke, who's a well known hooligan?" "I heard he caused someone's house to burn down.." "Disgusting noble just like the rest of em lot." Malbin felt uneasy.. his breathing was quick, his heart racing, his eyes widen and began to pant. He felt.. overwhelmed. Weak. 'I-I felt this before.. this sense of inferiority.. back in the US when I arrived, I always felt like an outcast due me being the only Korean in that school. Bullied due my accent, I tried to adapt.. I managed to get that accent but It wasn't enough. I locked myself and played games that made me feel at ease and in comfort.' Malbin thought as he started to remember everything.
Edwin took notice of Malbins unease, Malbin looked pitiful from where Edwin was standing. He should bad talk him while he was weak and unable to do anything.. but why.. he can't do it? 'Dammit... Malbin I should mock you here right now..' Edwin reflected in his mind conflicted something holding himself back 'Dammit..' Edwin reached out and patted on Malbins shoulder along with a smile assuring him to keep moving and ignore them.
Malbin turned and saw Edwins assuring smile and felt bit relieved, he knew it was a relucent and forced gesture but it was still warm. With a deep breath and exhale then-Malbin face turned into the most terrifying, grotesques face. The patrons surprised by this recoil in shock and fear, Malbin continued walking to find Alessia but not without getting into peoples faces making them squirm and shiver. Edwin stared silently with his brows furrowed at Malbin as he followed closely behide, regretting assuring Malbin as he terrorises the patrons and workers of the tavern 'Is he an imposter..or did that battle changed Malbin!?!?' Edwins mind race jumping to conclusions. They finally saw in the corner, Alessia waving at them.
"HEY YOU GUYS! COME OVER HERE!" Alessia exclaimed with a huge smile on her face.
Malbin and Edwin walked over still receiving looks. They all sat down on the chairs as they begun speaking.
"So, Alessia quite a place you picked.." Malbin said as he felt the floors creaked almost as if adding more pressure would snap the wooden floors.
"Come on, its the best place! I go here every Friday to relax. Now, before we start.." Alessia waved her hand at the nearby barmaid "FETCH ME SOME BEER!" she exclaimed as the barmaid nodded in response and went to fetch it.
"D-drinks in the afternoon!?!" Edwin taken surprised "Its quite early for that, don't you think? Plus we are discussing plans that will result the outcome of this siege!"
"Don't worry! Just drink up, it helps me focus anyways." Alessia laughs as the Barmaid returns with the drinks in hand and puts it down on the table.
Edwin turned wanting Malbin to atleast take his side but to his horror, Malbin was already drinking his beer. Edwin slumped back to his seat and starts to contemplate these two. 'Great. I'm suck with two idiots, who are going to get drunk and discuss plans.' His eyes closed accepting his inevitable fate.
Alessia drinking her beer then with a loud thud as she slammed it down on the table and wiped her mouth with her hand. "Ahh... that's the stuff.! Now what's the plan. Has to be a smart one though, afterall we are outnumbered probably 10 to 1."
Malbin putting down his beer, he put his hand on his chin started to envision his plan in his mind 'Alright.. since I was taken aback and surprised when I got here and wasn't able to fully take command, my losses were dropped higher than expected. However to exploit a game mechanic, monsters usually pick the easiest entrance point. This means I have to open a gate for them to charge through but that doesn't mean I have to open it fully.. I just have to open a tiny gap and make a kill zone.' Malbins mouth slowly stretched into a sinister smile, his mouth watered as he can taste the victory of this exploit.
Edwin and Alessia looked puzzled with Malbins face with Alessia speaking up first "So.. you got a plan already?" Alessia looked a bit concerned with the way Malbin looked almost as if planning to do a mass murder in broad daylight.
Edwin stared as well with his eyes squint. 'Why am I even here..?' as he started to reflect on his life choices that sent him to this current situation.
Malbin spotted their eyes on him with a concerned look on their faces, he balled up a fist and cough into it then made composure as he then spoke about his ideas. "Well, this is our battle strategy. First of course the cannons and archers will be shooting as usual upon the enemy to slow the advance but lower the numbers. We will also create small traps outside to also weaken the army letting them bunch up together so the cannons start wiping large hordes of them and finally We have a small second group aiming at the gate while the ground soldiers start to kill any orges making through the gate."
Edwin and Alessia were nodding their heads seemly pleased but at the end of Malbin sentence they processed what he just said then froze on the spot, their eyes slowly widen as they began to freak out
"WHAT!? YOUR GOING TO OPEN THE GATE!?!" They shouted in unison Edwin quickly followed up with "SO YOU WANT THOSE MINDLESS BEAST TO RAMPAGE THROUGH THE CITY? I KNEW IT YOU ARE A IMPOSTER! A MADMAN! YOU AGREE WITH THIS ALESSIA RIGHT? AFTERALL YOU ARE THE COMMANDER OF THIS CITY!" He grabbed and shook Malbin back and forth
Alessia still taken aback by Malbins absurd plan started to imagine the plan in her head then gave a short calm reply "Well.. I suppose it can work as orges are known to be single minded species, even with a leader they have been known to always fall for simple easy to spot traps. So even with the gate slightly opened can lead them to charge blindly leading them to Malbins so called kill zone. It could work." She shrugged and leaned back to take a gulp of her drink.
Edwin paused as he glanced at Alessia when he was about to speak up, he paused and slumped back to his seat. He grabbed his drink and swallowed the beverage then slammed his empty tankard down. "Alright.. I give up reasoning, if I die and you guys survive. I'm haunting you as a ghost." he said exhausted "Another round please?"
Alessia laughed heartly by Edwins request and she stood up and waved her arm around "ANOTHER ROUND!" she exclaimed to the barmaid.
THE NEXT DAY
Malbin was seen commanding the soldiers. Some soldiers cutting up the branches into stakes, some checking the supplies and carrying to its destinated position, cannons reloaded and ready for the attack, archers bringing up crates of arrows to the walls and some started to make traps outside of the walls.
Malbin tried to concentrate still feeling the effects of the hangover. "Shit.. my head hurts still. Shouldn't get back to my old habits." He muttered under his breath as he then continued shouting commands to the soldiers who seemed more compliant than usual.
Edwin walked up behide Malbin followed up with his voice "The soldiers seem more likely to obey your commands, would you like to know young master?"
"Nah, let them be I don't really care as long as they do the work properly and efficient." Malbin responded with a quickly reply.
"Well, its because of the last battle. I overheard it from the soldiers they talked positively about you about how you fought that ogre, but I will take that as more than rumours afterall your history is quite unliked."
"I see.. well thank you with your input Edwin" Malbin shortly said.
As Edwin left to go to talk with the troops and aswell as Alessia, the UI window screen popped up infront of Malbin
** MISSED ME? [Smiley face] Anyways, Edwin seems to trust you more. **
Malbin stared at the screen blankly then swatted it away as he continued to do his duties.
** That's not nice! [Pouty face] Aside from that, you look like you finally got use to this world. Quite strange isn't it? None the less, we hope to see you do well. Raven Lord. **
The UI popped out of Malbins face as he was processing that word. 'Did the box said we? Was it not always one? Is there others that brought me here..?' Malbin looked up at the sky suspiciously then around him as if he felt stalked and being observed like a lab rat. He shrugged it off knowing that this wasn't the time to question things and continued commanding. He walked up to the top of the wall and met with Alessia and Edwin who were watching the soldiers outside preparing traps.
"So the situation?" Malbin said as he was trying to regain his stamina.
"Well, seems fine for now but I sent scouts and they haven't arrived." Alessia spoke in a concerned voice.
"Its safe to assume they have to hide or were killed in action." Edwin added on.
"Recall the troops back inside, we need to get them into formation. get the archers ready to fire and let the gate open just a tiny bit enough for a single orge to pass through, just in case so the front lines don't get too overwhelmed." Malbin composedly said as he put his hand on the battlement staring into the grassy lands, watching as the sun slowly going down as if death has a grip over them.
"Alright, just don't get killed and come back in one piece." Alessia strictly said, as she put on her helmet then put her hand over the hilt of the Judicator.
"So.. I suppose this might be my last proper talk with you, young master. If we ever fail of course." Edwin spoke.
"Don't worry, Edwin. We will talk some more after the battle." Malbin answered back.
Edwin nodded and went down the walls, Malbin stared one last time then went down to start arranging the troops, Malbin put the stakes in a semi circle around the gate as the Milita were equipped with pikes, the knights at the front ready to tank and absorb the blows and the Footmen who were positioned on the sides to provide support.
Malbin stood at the back alongside with Alessia and Edwin. However, Malbin glanced at Edwin who had his fist raised and into a fighting stance.
"Where's your weapon.. Edwin?" Malbin whispered near to Edwins ear.
"I'm more comfortable with using my fist, young master. I have experience during my childhood days." Edwin replied in a quiet tone.
Malbin nodded and stood composed even with the soldiers nervous and anxious faces and stance, but they knew that they have to defend the city or else their families will suffer the same fate as them. Malbin waited for the horns and trumpets to blare each second felt like hours.. then... MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.
The sound of death has approached to the battlefield.