Chapter 230: Journey to the Barony of James I
Chapter 230: Journey to the Barony of James I
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I slowly bring us down from the high altitude. Sally needs to use the restroom, and she was emphatic that it needs to be right now. I land us in a forest near a nice stream, and she jumps off my back before I can even fully land. She runs into the treeline and behind some bushes. I chuckle to myself and decide to use the bathroom too. As a man, it’s incredibly easy to go to the bathroom. I walk up to the stream, and I undo my leather belt. I pull it out and let loose. I close my eyes and sigh in relief. Very convenient being a man.
It goes without saying that this next quest will be a very personal journey for both Sally and me. She has rarely spoken about her past, but from what she has said to me, it is nothing short of hell for a woman. I hate the thought of Sally being used in such a way, but this all happened long before I was born. Long before my parents were born. Sally is over 100 years old, and she has lived nothing but a hard life until I came into the picture. I finish taking a leak, and I find a nice rock to sit on while I wait for Sally. I don’t bother turning my wings off.
After another 20 seconds, I hear the bushes behind me shuffle, and I look. Sally walks out, and I can tell by the look on her face she isn’t a fan of going to the bathroom outside. “Don’t give me that look. You have no idea how hard it is to undress in these tight leather clothes just to use the bathroom. Not to mention having to squat down, so I don’t get any on my clothes. It’s not a nice feeling to have grass tickling places that shouldn’t be tickled.” Scratch that. She actually hates going to the bathroom outside.
She walks over to me, and I scoot over to share the rock. “I’m sorry is the only thing I can think in response to that. It does sound like a big hassle.” I try to understand the place she is coming from, but it’s just out of my reach. I mean, if I was taking a dump in the woods, I might get it, but I’ve never been in the woods long enough to need to take a dump in it. She looks at me and rolls her eyes. “What?” I’m confused by her reaction. She cracks a small grin, and her cheeks puff out slightly, holding in a laugh.
She was messing with me, and she did an excellent job of acting, that’s for sure. “You’re pretty gullible when it comes to people you trust, aren’t you?” I’ve discovered something about myself by her words. She is right. When I’m with people I know and trust, I tend to have a bad habit of being gullible. “First time hearing this?” I turn my head to her and see her mischievous grin. I nod my head, and she smiles. It’s important to learn flaws about yourself. I’ve just discovered I have a bad habit that could eventually cause me a lot of trouble if I’m not careful.
She leans into my wing, and I hold her up with it. She sighs, already knowing what’s about to come out of my mouth. “We should get moving again. We have plenty of daylight left, and I don’t want to waste it sitting around.” I stand up as I finish talking. It was sudden and surprising enough cause Sally to fall on her back as my wings stop supporting her. She lifts her head and looks at me in annoyance. I hold out my hand and help her up to her feet. She dusts the dirt off her back and motions that she is ready to go.
I kneel, and she climbs on my back. Snuggling between my wings. As she gets a good grip and is secure. I flex my wings, and I launch off the ground. We reach the clouds in a couple of seconds, and I reach top speed within a couple of seconds. “The Barony of James is notorious in The Kingdom of Pleer. It is supposed to have changed since your time there. The nobles at the party gave the best information they had, and most of it is about the James family’s mysterious wealth.” I discuss with her what we are going up against.
The nobles were able to give some good information. Sally clears her throat to respond. “There mysterious fortune has come from their lucrative and illegal business of slave trading. It’s impossible to know how far their trading connections go at this point. If possible, I’d love to find how far it goes and if we can stop it.” She has big ambitions, and it’s awesome to see how motivated she is for all this. She truly is invested in getting her revenge, and that means she is ready to kill them. I notice a new message from the system, and I open it.
[Fighting the disease]
[Description: Sally wishes to find and root out all the evil and corrupted people tied to the James Barony.]
[Objective 1: Once in the land held by the James Barony, try and find connections that the Barony has to other slave traders.][In Progress]
[Objective 2: Kill or imprison all people that you find out about][In progress]
[Difficulty: Legendary]
[Rewards: Unknown]
[Note: This quest is directly tied to Sally’s Past and meets the same condition of being at the legendary in difficulty.]
[You have no choice but to accept this quest.]
Interestingly enough, this quest could lead to a much bigger effect. I don’t think it’s possible to free all of Gaia from slavery, but that doesn’t mean we can’t do some serious damage to it. “That sounds like something we can do while we get your revenge. I’m all for it, Sally. Once we get access to their documents and files, we’ll see just who they are talking to and who their biggest clients are.” This quest isn’t something I’ve ever seen in my time playing The Ancients World. Shutting down slavery in a part of the world, or at least in a kingdom, is special, all right.
That leads to the question of how special is Sally? She is the one giving these quests to me, and while the scale of her ambition affects the difficulty. There is more to it than that. It’s either something she knows or doesn’t know but has a profound effect on the world and her. It’s definitely a thing I have to watch out for. “I’m glad that you agree. It definitely adds more work to the table, but it needs to be dealt with. Too many people ignore it.” I’m sure if more powerful people cared, there wouldn’t be slavery. It just doesn’t matter to some.
[Worldwide Announcement: The Dryad Kingdom is back at full strength! If players wish to travel to The Dryad Kingdom, they must first be level 100 and do a set of preliminary quests to gain the trust of the Dryads!]
[Worldwide Announcement: Now that The Dryad Kingdom is back at full strength, they are going to take revenge on Bellvia! A war is brewing between Bellvia and The Dryad Kingdom! If players wish to participate, you must head to the capital of either Kingdom and receive war quests! Since it’s harder to join the Dryads side, the system has decided to increase rewards from the Dryads side!]
An announcement goes off and interrupts my chain of thought. It seems like the unavoidable collision between Bellvia and The Dryads has finally come. I killed many important and powerful nobles that day, and that’s sure to affect that war badly on the side of Bellvia. “Looks like everyone is getting revenge these days… Who do you think will win?” Sally asks a question not so easy to answer. There are multiple things to consider here, and while it’s very political to say each side has a shot. That’s the truth of it.
The differences in technology are quite great. Bellvia has weapons and magical advancements several centuries ahead of the Dryads. However, I don’t doubt that will stand for long. The Dryads will continue to gain more and more power. Snowballing the amount they have. Bellvia’s allies aren’t just going to stand by and let this happen, though. They are a big part of the coalition, and they’ll receive a lot of help from it. “I think the Dryads will win.” I give my answer with a grain of salt. It’s just what I think. Many kingdoms will weigh which one has more value in the end, and the Dryads will win that for sure.