The 'Extra' Lord - A Plundering Kingdom Building LitRPG

Laying flat on his back in the sand, panting, Owen gazed up at the tall blue walls of his territory. Just outside, the orc Lord slammed his axe repeatedly. Sparks flew, but not even a dent would be a result of his barbaric anger.

Owen glanced to his left. Mirian’s chest violently rose up and down, wounds marrying her body. By some divine miracle, she had made it out of the camp and slipped out. As a result, she had been there to assassinate the powerful archer. Owen laughed, not one out of excitement—one out of disbelief that they were alive, and placed his hand on her shoulder. “You did well.”

She winced in pain. “Just doing my job,” She said cooly, but she couldn’t help her lips from curling.

Gazing to his right, was Rehan and the others. Everyone was laying down. The mad dash and the mission as a whole, had exhausted them beyond belief. Somehow, it had been a resounding success. Rizael was treating everyone's wounds while they were caught in excitement. They had earned it. They were Warriors, literally warriors, and Hunters. Such a mission, disregarding the loss of life that would come out of it, was a great success to them.

“So,” Rehan said while also looking up. “What’s the plan now? We have two days left.”

Owen sat up, looking directly into the eyes of the wrathful Lord. Such bloodlust, Owen thought, then said, “if he stays, we’ll use the tunnel system to Level away from their prying eyes. If he decides to stay here, we’ll get stronger as he throws his temper tantrums.”

“You really thought everything through,” Rehan said with newfound admiration. “Did you know all of this was going to happen?”

Owen rolled his eyes. “Like hell I did. The tunnels were meant to be a different way of walking across the sands without burning our skin off. It just worked out that way.”

“Just take the compliment.”

Smiling, Owen shook his head and with a groan, he stood up.

“We get no peace, even for a second, do we?” Rehan asked, sighing.

“You can rest when you’re dead,” Owen said, turning around to address his slowly growing army. “I’ll give all of you 20 minutes of rest, then we’re heading back out there. If you need longer, just let me know. If you want to stay behind, that’s also okay. Just tell me.”

All of his people rose to their feets, despite currently being healed by Rizael. Draed, who Rizael was working on, tried to also stand—only to be stopped by the prideful man. “Stay down will you, I’m almost done.”

It appeared that his words had caused offence. They were here to earn glory, not to sit on their behinds twiddling with their thumbs. Owen grit his teeth. When this was over, they deserved a holiday. Maybe he should create a nice cool spring? A public bath? Now there was an idea.

Bang. The orc Lord smashed the barrier again, but he was beginning to tire. HIs breath was ragged and sharp. Owen expected his anger to subside a while ago. He was impressive in that regard. Owen remained his cool, even if within he was a wreck.

“Rizael,” Owen addressed the healer as he was finishing up his work on the warriors. “Do you have anything to weaken the body?”

“For him?” Rizael said, raising his brows. “The poison should do the trick if I alter it a little. But remember, my expertise lies in my healing potions, not poisons.”

“That’s fine. As long as we can weaken him even a little, that’s all that matters. We’re going to need all the help we can get.”

Rehan groaned, sitting up. “I bet he’s so angry because we dealt with that archer. No doubt the Lord was going to rely on him for the future. Damn, I bet his breath stinks.”

Owen nodded in agreement. “Taking him out was a nice addition. But I don’t believe for a second that the sharpshooter was the only powerful warrior up his sleeve. He must have something else. Something dangerous.”

“Or he’s a meathead that has no grasp of strategy or tactics,” Rehan added.

“That’s a possibility,” Owen agreed. “But I won’t leave that to chance. We’ll go into any battle knowing full well that he has something hidden. We will remain cautious.”

“I agree with you there, Lord.”

“Continue resting up,” Owen said. “I’m heading to the mountain to check up on Bimpnottin. No doubt he’s busy shifting those poison plants away from our food supply.”

And so Owen left his warriors to recuperate while he checked in on the gnome farmer. Entering the main farm of the mountain, it was looking a little different. One section now had more of the water-enhanced cacti, and the tasty citrus fruit. The other plants were nowhere to be seen. Neither was Bimpnottin. But he heard the farmer sing a little tune from further in.

Owen followed the country tune, and walked into another large room. This one had the previously unidentified plant. It was actually a poisonous plant as Rizael had identified for them. It was what Rizael had used to poison the orc’s water supply.

Bimpnottin had now reached Level 18. As a crop grew to its full height, he would gain experience from it. Judging by how fast he had Levelled up over the past few days, Bimpnottin had never stopped.

Then, he checked up on the Miners. Bron had reached Level 6 already. The tunnels were reinforced a lot better than Owen’s own work. Admittedly, he didn’t really know what he was doing when it came to mining. All he knew was that he had to support the ceiling. He didn’t know how far apart they needed to be, or where to place them. But thankfully the mountain didn’t collapse on him.

Other than creating one long tunnel, they had also placed whatever other ore they had managed to mine at what they were calling the ‘hub’. It was essentially a large room used to store ore and whatever else they found. Regarding the ore they had mined, Bron said that it was a sturdy and flexible ore that would make excellent armour and weapons. But without a Blacksmith, Owen had little use of it for now.

Thankfully, that wouldn’t prove much of a problem for long as when he was inspecting the ore, a notification popped up.

Quest Gained: Harvest 250 tonnes of Sandsteel.

| Current progress: 32 tonnes.

| Reward: 1 Summoning Ticket: Blacksmith.

Well, that solves that problem. Owen thought, but completing that would take time. Time they didn’t have. If everyone had heavy armour and spears and shields, then fending off against the orc threat would be that much easier. But such was life.

Owen thanked Bron and the others for their hard work before finally heading back to the main camp. The orcen Lord was still banging at the barrier.

Moving away from that disturbing sight, the wall was coming along nicely. It reminded him of ancient architecture, Egyptian, for that matter. It was amazing. If his land survived for centuries, what would historians say about him, his people, his land? It was a surreal thought.

In the wall, was also a built in smoker room for the storage of plundered meat. A builder was in charge of looking after it, tending to it. That was another unit he desperately needed not just for nutrition, but for morale—a chef. Owen was sick to death of eating dried meat. Although his people were managing so far as they had no memories of how food was meant to taste, it wouldn’t be long before they grew tired of it as well.

Owen had a plan for the rest of the day, but it was a crazy one filled with risk. He hid his gaze from the Lord as he glanced over to the west where the golden desert had turned purple from the tear in space. A rift. It was where the Sand Hounds were coming from. If he could clear the rift, the rewards would be bountiful.

He gazed at the quest he had gained when he had entered the Land Between.

Quest: Clear the Sand Hound Rift.

| Reward gained: Summoning Tickets 5x Warrior, Apprentice Rank Fragment Weapon, Extra Experience.

The quest rewards were nice, not to mention the corpses he would gain to Plunder during it. The Fragment was only of the Apprentice rank, but depending on what it was, would prove to be useful; like a spear, or something like that.

But, did he really want to risk clearing the rift? For all he knew, the orc Lord had troops stationed there, trying to clear it as he thought. It was time to make a move.

He called over Rehan and told him to take a team to scout the rift using the hidden passage. While he was doing that, Owen headed into the building that was essentially Pyris’s resting place. Walking in, the usual cool wind descended from the wind tunnel, casting a calming blanket over his shoulders. Tiredness hit him like a wall, but he ignored it to the best of his abilities and wandered over to Pyris’s bedside.

Owen purchased another anti-corruption elixir and gently fed it to her. Rizael said it would have to be a daily occurrence. And that required a constant need to earn money. The tax from the market was rapidly adding up to become a sizable amount per-purchase. But he didn’t feel bad. It was all worth it.

“Well,” Owen said, looking at her face. “We made it. It was close. That orc Lord is something else. The power he holds, it isn’t something I can contest with. He must have received a huge Lord Emblem that involves strength or something. While I specialise in growth, even his warrior units are stronger on average.”

Owen clenched his fists. “But we are almost there. Rizael is going to make a weakening poison against him. Ruining their supplies, that will weaken them even more. And if we’re successful today in clearing the rift, we’ll become stronger. We’re almost at the finish line. I can feel it.”

Talking for a while about his plans and what was happening, the door swung open. Rohan appeared. “My Lord, there are orc troops stationed at the rift, hidden. But I sniffed them out. The orcen Lord is still at the gate, so if we’re fast, we can take out the units, and claim the rift as our own. That must be how he’s grown so much, grinding that rift down like fuel to fire.”

Standing up, Owen said with conviction, “Ready the troops. We set out immediately.”