Everlast Online

Liz felt the act of moving back and forth between her mansion and the site of her new city to be tedious and so made a small detour.

She headed towards the village below her own home and found that ever so slightly, the atmosphere had changed. On the surface it was certainly more crowded as members of Magnus's gang and now her guild had shown up; Liz was glad to see they were helping fix up some of the most dilapidated areas. However, with a closer look the place simply felt... Better, like the people were happier.

Liz felt that perhaps she was overthinking things, indulging herself in the hypocritical self-righteousness that all more fortunate people felt as they did the bare minimum to help those with less. She knew what that kind of virtue did to people, did to her, but she felt she had no choice.

However, even those excuses felt hollow. She could do so much for the people of the village and yet she didn't - she had prioritised her city while telling herself that she would be helping the villagers by doing so.

Liz had begun to regret her detour, but as she saw the smiling faces of children her discomfort faded ever so slightly.

The undead Luthor had sent were still present with enough food to feed the village ten times over and that alone made the place more inviting.

As Liz walked through the village she listened to the villager's idle chatter. Most was about the little girls with the 2 giant, scary guards following them around - Liz wondered who they could possibly be referring to - but besides that there were the tiniest hints of hope that perhaps the village had not been forgotten.

Liz smiled. Perhaps she was a hypocrite who was only helping these people for her own benefit, but to hear that they were looking forward to a future they didn't think they'd have made her think that perhaps it was worth it.

There were other topics of course, but mostly about their survivability.

Many wondered about their new lord.

Others worried about what kind of work they would have to do to pay for all the meat they had been eating.

Some hoped that their new lord would build new houses.

But the most concerning was the hope that the new lord would deal with the territory bandits.

Bandits? Liz wondered, only for her questions to be answered immediately as if it was some kind of convenient plot development to have them appear right as they were first mentioned.

Liz began hearing the thudding of hooves making their way towards the village, a group of men on horseback rushing from the forest with weapons and raucous laughter. The bandits rode around the village as they yelled and jeered, striking fear into the villagers and making Liz's guild members raise their weapons, ready for a fight.

Soon the encirclement came to an end with the bandits fully surrounding the village, one bandit rode out in front of the others; a man larger than all the rest and covered in scars like Liz had never seen before. He rode into the village with a cocky grin as if he were invincible and stopped right at the centre of the village before shouting out, his voice carrying to everyone in the village.

"Oi!" He yelled, his grin never fading, but becoming much more sinister as he looked towards the skeletons with hands full of meat, "Looks like quite a party. Didn't think ya'd stoop so low as ta use black magic."

The bandits laughed, as they were just close enough to hear. One bandit rode forward slightly and shattered one of the skeletons with his spear, causing all of the other undead to turn directly towards him - he flinched, but nothing more happened so he pulled back slightly.

This was Liz. She had given the order not to attack as she saw that the situation may be advantageous for her - especially considering the bandit leader's level:

[Frank (58) (NPC)]

"Y'know. As a good upstanding man, I think it's my duty to kill all these horrible cultists. Whaddya think?" He called out, the bandits cheering and hollering in response, the villagers becoming even more fearful, "But I might be persuaded if you give me everythin' ya've got."

This was where Liz stepped in, giving her 3 guards the order to step in only if necessary.

"I don't think that's gonna happen you hairy bastard." Liz said, stepping up to the bandit leader. He looked down at her and burst out laughing.

"Whazzat pipsqueak, ya got summin to sa- " His voice was cut off as Liz looked up and revealed her appearance. The sewn on smile and button eyes unnerved the bandit leader as he had not expected the strange little girl to be so inhuman, "... You... Monster."

"I'm the new lord of this place." Liz said bluntly, barely registering his insult. This seemed to anger the bandit.

"Ya tellin' me that king made a monster a noble!?" He yelled, causing the villagers to flinch - their shock at the viscount being right in front of them the whole time.  The bandit jumped down from his horse, his spear in hand as he glared right at Liz. His weapon was raised high into the air as he glared down at Liz, "I'll exterminate you, ya monster filth!"

"Leave now or die." Liz said cruelly, causing a moment of hesitation in the bandit, one that did not last long.

"DIE!" He screamed, bringing his spear down and straight through Liz's plush head. The village screamed in shock, completely covering the sound of a pile of bones falling to the ground behind them. "Ha... Ha... Hahahahaha!"

 The bandits began laughing maniacally. They believed they had won, of course they hadn't - not even close.

"I shall respect your decision." A voice coming from the doll with a spear driven through its head silenced the crowd instantly - but the bandit leader did not even have a moment to retaliate, not even the chance to pull his spear out and attack again, before a mass of bones flew straight at him. The white spear was dyed red as it cut through his body and one barb pierced through his eye; killing the bandit in an instant.

Everyone was silent, but this only served to make Liz's persona that much more imposing as she called out to her undead.

"Kill every last bandit here." She said, not even having to yell, "Don't let a single one escape."

Before the bandits could even try and run, undead had begun to swarm attacking and ripping them apart. Those furthest from the undead handing out food were not spared either as Liz summoned more to ensure they were completely destroyed.

It did not take a full 5 minutes for the bandits to be exterminated entirely. Liz's show of power frightened the villagers, they did not know much about their new lord - only that they used undead, but were also kind enough to offer food - but now, they had witnessed the kind of power she wielded. These bandits had terrorised the people of the village for years, taking what little they had and killing anyone who dared to stand up to them. And in a mere 5 minutes they had been entirely decimated like swatting flies.

The villagers watched as the little girl looked around, her fabric body looking much less cute than it had only moments ago.

"I am the new viscount of this territory." Liz yelled out, "And the neighbouring baronies are also led by my subordinates!"

"I was awarded this land due to my work in stopping a coup in the capital; working as a hero of this kingdom! But I do not plan on improving this village, I do not plan on fixing the buildings or promoting agriculture."

"Within the wasteland a city will be built on my orders, labour performed by tireless undead and dungeons that can be entirely controlled by a fearless army."

"I am certain it will become a hub of activity that cannot be rivalled not just within the kingdom, but also within the entire continent."

"But I cannot offer you anything more than these meagre rations and the possibility of a future within the walls of that city."

"Know that I am powerful and merciless to my enemies; know that I am in no way virtuous, my kindness towards you a mere hypocrisy to soothe my pity and guilt. But I will build a better future that I offer you a part in."

"Wait for that future. Place your trust in me and your lives will become like those of your dreams."

As Liz's speech came to an end the village was silent and she didn't stick around to find out their reaction, heading towards the mines to see how they were going. But as she left, she could hear chatter behind her, chatter of their support for the new lord and an air of happiness that had long been forgotten. A village that had long been prepared to die became revitalised, their desire to rebuild the honour their previous lord had taken from them burned brightly behind their eyes.

In time that village would become a fortress that served the expansion of their lord's territory, one with impregnable walls that even the greatest armies could not bring to ruin- a legend in the making all spurred on from a half-assed speech.

When Liz knew she could no longer be seen from the village she pulled out the latest corpses she had collected. During her speech one of Liz's dolls had been placing the bandit corpses within its inventory and now Liz was looking forward to seeing if she could make any new undead or at least bolster her army if that was not possible.

Her first course of action was to use [Soul Sight] and check for a grudge, but unfortunately there was none. With a death knight no longer an option, Liz turned through her book to try and find an undead that might fit the corpses she had in front of her.

With a number of new, but ingredientless, pages available to her Liz was looking to see if bandits could possibly be a necessary ingredient.

After a while Liz finally settled on one, activating [Create Undead] with a certain image in her mind. As usual black magic circles dissolved all of the corpses, horses included, before spitting them back out in a puff of smoke filling in the ingredients of a certain page, but not the one Liz had expected:

[Skeleton Rider]

[Abilities: {Horseback Combat}, {Skeleton Horse Summoning}]

[General rank estimation: D+]

[As mounted soldiers they make for excellent units on the plains, even being one of the lowest ranked mounted undead. Their speed and accuracy make them excellent undead for any necromancer to employ during a skirmish]

[Ingredients: {10 Corpses}, {10 Mount Corpses}, {Mana}]

[Reduced ingredients: {75 Corpses}, {Mana}]

In front of Liz were 3 skeletons sat atop skeleton horses - whose ingredients had also been updated. At a glance Liz could tell they were taller than both the warriors and soldiers Liz typically employed, but their bones were slightly thinner as if to cut down on drag as they moved, both the riders and their horses had glowing eyes that looked down at Liz awaiting orders. In each of the rider's hands were not the spears used to create them, but ones that reminded Liz of a weapon from Chinese history known as a pudao - however, Liz was more pleased with this as she could tell at first glance that they made for superior horseback weaponry.

I was going for a cavalier, but this is good too. Liz thought with a smile as she immediately stored her latest undead, continuing her journey to the mines.

She had no use for riders at the moment, but she was certain she would at some point.

As Liz walked, Gloria, Eren and Demeter followed behind silently. Gloria was naturally stoic, Demeter was merely pleased to watch her queen work, but Eren was instead contemplating. She had never really seen Liz act like a leader and while she was certainly sloppy, she had excellently inspired the villagers to work harder.

As a saintess Eren believed she worked for the people, that despite being one of the highest ranked officials in the entire kingdom she was born to work for the common man. Eren felt some conflict as she walked, her usual chattiness shelved as she remembered both her passion and what that passion led to. She wanted to help others, but didn't know if she could find the courage.

"You okay, Eren?" Liz asked, turning her head as she walked.

"Yep, Lizzy. It's just... You're a good leader." Eren responded, causing Demeter to look at her with annoyance as she referred to Liz.

"Haha... Hardly. I just said what I wanted." Liz responded, either not noticing or not caring about Demeter's look.

"Still... I just hope they won't take advantage of you." Eren said, half mumbling as though she didn't want to be heard. Liz was silent as she faced forward again and Eren thought for a moment her master had ignored her, but as those feelings began to peak, Liz spoke.

"If they try. I'll kill 'em." Liz said, not turning back and as though she were talking to herself, "And if I can't I'll just leave. I'm an undead right... I can wait a couple hundred years to start again."

Eren was shocked by the response, the merciless cruelty... It was something Eren wished she had for herself. 

"Kindness without power is like poison." Liz muttered and for the rest of the walk the 4 women were silent.

---

As they arrived the mines were in a much different state than Liz had left them.

She had passed by Luthor on the surface who was making great progress already with the giants Liz had assigned him, but the greatest change was to the mines. It wasn't that they were just more well organised and structured, they simply looked better.

It was a peculiar site as the entrances to tunnels no longer looked like random holes in the wall but genuine entrances and exits. While not complex, they were certainly altered to look more civilised.

I'll have to ask Ralt. Liz thought as she made her way deeper into the mine, heading where one gravedigger had called the metal storage. The inside was not as Liz had expected it, rather than a room it was more like a pit full of ore.

From different tunnels that lined the wall different skeleton miners appeared, threw in chunks of metal and disappeared back into the tunnels.

Liz was amazed not at the lack of organisation, but the size of the pit and how much it was filled. It was entirely magic iron, but that was irrelevant as she looked at the quantity of metal they had mined. Dwarven blacksmiths and gnomish mechanics would drool at the sight of how much magic iron was available and for a moment Gloria thought she saw her master's black button eyes change shape into a strange green $ sign before returning to normal.

As Liz was staring the heavy footfall of a gravedigger came from their side. Demeter raised her bladed tails as was usual, but again as usual it was not an enemy.

"Calm it lady." Ralt laughed before turning to Liz, "Heya boss. As ya can see, we got a lot."

"That's a bloody understatement." Liz joked back.

"It's just a shame we can't process it, is all." Ralt said, Liz agreed with a nod before remembering a small detail. Her mind went off to connect with Luthor, instructing him to come down into the mine and bring maps.

It would take a while for him to arrive, so Liz thought of bringing up the thing that she was most curious about - besides the shocking amount of metal they had discovered.

"Hey, Ralt. What's up with the tunnel entrances?" Liz asked, only for Ralt to let out a brief sight.

"That'll be one-a tha diggers." Ralt said with a shake of the head, "The idiot spends too long makin' things look nice and not enough time digin'. I'll lay inta 'im."

"No." Liz responded, seeing another possible fortune in her hands, "Bring him here, I wanna see him."

Ralt looked confused, but did not question the order. As a result another grave digger was placed before Liz, he was much taller than the other gravediggers to the point that he was even slightly taller than Ralt and despite his lack of meaningful intelligence Liz felt it was clear there was something hiding behind his eyes.

"Why are you taking time to make the place look fancy?" Liz asked, not wasting even a moment.

"Because I like to." He responded, as blunt as the other diggers thanks to its lack of intelligence, but where it differed were the contents of its bluntness. It had expressed... An interest.

I was right. Liz thought with a quickly widening grin. This one's special.

"I like you digger." Liz said out loud, shocking Ralt who had expected the digger to get into trouble and stored, but this was not the only shock, "I give you the name: Michelangelo."

With just the word a part of Liz's soul left her and entered the digger, clearing up the mistiness behind his eyes. Michelangelo looked around in slight shock before turning back to Liz.

"T-Thank you... Boss!" He called out, his voice deep yet timid.

"You don't have to work on digging tunnels. Just do what you want with your digging." Liz said with a smile. Both Ralt and Michael looked shocked, but Michael quickly recovered, nodding frantically.

"Yes boss! Thank you boss!" He said before rushing off into a different part of the cave. Liz watched him go and after he had left earshot she turned to Ralt.

"Keep an eye on him." Liz said with a smile, "He might turn out real useful."

"Haah... I don't really understand ya boss, but I understand." He said, sighing but still smiling a toothy grin that one of his brothers had been recognised as special. With that, Ralt also left and Liz, with her trio of guards, sat and watched ore hit ore in the pit of metal - waiting for Luthor.