A/N: Just a quick note, a few people have asked if this is an AU when it comes to details like how people see adventurers and martial training. The answer is yes. If some details of here don't line up perfect with the author's vision of them, (especially ones that are revealed way later past the point I've read) then assume its an AU. Especially with how much world building and how far off the track we go with this chapter.
Chapter 3 - Adventuring in a Dating Sim is Misery
Two weeks had passed and I was already regretting my choices, still I had nothing waiting for me back home but a loving family and a peaceful life… Oh yeah, and a poisonous bitch eager to kill me and profit from my death and misery.
People say that the food is the worst part of traveling Amish style, or its the discomfort of walking everywhere and wearing out your shoes. Some say it's sleeping without a bed. They all lied, -except maybe Game of Thrones when Arya told the Hound 'You can shit later!'
Trying to go to the bathroom was the absolute worst. At best it was a task filled with indignity, in times where I wasn't on an island with easy access to water it was… unhygienic. At worst it almost got me killed when a Leopard monkey jumped me, knocking me into my own refuse and almost slicing my throat before a panicked and lucky shot from my hastily drawn flintlock blew its brains out all over me… which was somehow not as bad as the disgusting wet feeling between my legs.
To my pets in my previous life, I owe you all a sincere apology for mocking you when you stared at me on the toilet. I get it now, you were protecting me at my most vulnerable. The people of the 21st century don't know what insecurity feels like until you get attacked with your pants around your ankles.
XXXXX
A month in and there were more than a few worries that I was never going to find Luxion and the Arroganz. I think it took Leon two weeks to find Luxon given the fact that his supplies were running low and he was ignoring all other islands to get there. Given that (Thank god) the Bartfort island wasn't on a corner of the empire's territory that left only a select few points in the borderlands where it would be.
Of course I say a select few, the amount of locations I had to cross off… I sighed and tugged up the goggles on my face, the skin around my eyes a lighter-shade than the rest of my face from wearing them so long. I was glad that at the very least even though I was only 14, I at least had the mind of someone older, otherwise I might have given up hope.
But I couldn't. All the indignities I was suffering through, this struggle, and the hunger I felt when I rationed out my food. The exhaustion of sleepless nights where I was barely able to snatch a few hours away from the cold. The constant feeling of being dirty.
I was not going to let it mean nothing.
More importantly, if I failed here what would happen to Little Colin? I stole this path away from him, sucked up Dad's savings with this fool's quest of mine and it meant poor, sweet, innocent Colin Fou Bartfort was easy pickings for that evil bitch and her society of hags.
Even with barely a dent in the locations made, I hardened my heart.
'Courage my lord, courage. You must stand alone for now' I don't remember where that quote came from, just a strong voice that swam in the murky pool of my previous life's memories… but it helped.
If I ended up crying myself to sleep a few times on my little boat, nobody would ever know except me.
XXXXX
It was only 5 months or so into my voyage that I had the misfortune of meeting captain Silverblood. I didn't know it at the time, but Silverblood was regarded as one of the deadly 'high-captains' of the border territories.
I mentioned before about the 'rings' of Holfort, but I haven't talked too much about the border territories that I was now in. The Border territories were not, as some might think, a set of territories between the borders of larger kingdoms. No, instead the term 'border territories' referred to the wild and uncolonized spaces of this world.
While Holfort lacked anything close to a 'world' map we did have some idea of the shapes of other kingdoms and their location to us and the best description I can give is a picture of outer space. There are colonized systems and empires between them that form their own little bubble, but they are unlikely to border any other empires and are likely instead surrounded by the void.
So, the Border Territories made up that 'void' but unlike in my metaphor they were far from empty. You see they weren't called the 'borderlands' because they bordered everything, no they were called that because they were impossible to map out to the constantly shifting borders.
While kingdoms and empires like Holfort were stable and had been for over a 100 years, Warlords, pirates, dark-magic users, wannabe evil empires, monster kingdoms, all kinds of things rose and fell all the time in the borderlands. Sometimes they collapsed due to attacks from rivals, or even kingdoms nervous about growing kingdoms next door. Other times an errant hurricane would sweep by and without a church full of holy magic to disrupt such storms, entire cities or towns were wiped out overnight.
Or it could be disease or famine, if a farming island is raided and burnt to the ground by pirates, then the city depending on it would starve. Such was the brutality of the borderlands.
Interestingly enough the principality of Fanoss was actually originally a kingdom that'd sprouted in the Borderlands, then it was subjugated by King Richard 'The Bloody Fist' Rapha Holfort about 100 years ago. It broke free about 80 years ago after Richard's grandsons were all murdered and a civil war broke out in Holfort.
I know, blah blah history, but considering that I knew war between Fanoss and Holfort was inevitable I had read up on the situation as best I could.
But yes, Silverblood was a High-Captain of the Border Territories. High captains were the terms used for pirate lords, Merchant kings, or anyone who acquired a fleet so large it was a city in its own right.
Silverblood himself was a wild-man, prone to impulsive acts of violence, known as a scourge of the Borderlands. Holfort was incredibly wary of him as he had been known to sometimes raid those noble families who lived too close to the Borderlands. They'd steal the food, any valuables, women, children, and kill the men.
What both I and the Kingdom of Holfort didn't know at the time but he had just come off the loser of a massive battle between three high captains. His adversaries had been an enigmatic necromancer only known as 'The Lord of bones' who's fleet consisted of masses of scarcely repaired ships, the crews were all skeletons of those misfortunate enough to wind up his victims. The Lord of Bone's flagship was the ruined hulk "The King's Miasma" that was only spoken about by veteran Holfort troops, adventurers, and off-duty pirates in hushed tones when they convened in the border towns of Holfort.
His other adversary was High Captain Na'Kesh, a military man from a far off kingdom who'd been exiled some decades past. His entire fleet decided to accompany him into the wild unknown which meant either Na'Kesh was either incredibly charismatic, or the country a total shithole. Either way his fleet rather than shrink with losses, had grown as he absorbed other smaller fleets.
Silverblood had almost lost it all in the three-way battle, his own flagship destroyed and he was left with a small brigantine sized vessel that was similar to my own. A far cry from the epic cruisers like Luxon, or even the less impressive ones that Holfort or Fanoss would field.
I'd been spotted while I was sleeping and I was awoken by the sounds of shouting as the massive vessel bared down on me.
The moment I realized that despite my attempts at hiding my ship in the shadow of a few floating, house-sized shards of stone I'd discovered I threw myself into opening my sails and trying to escape.
If either of us had been on a higher level of tech, I would've gotten away, but unfortunately for me we were both still using sail-based propulsion, which meant that his larger size meant larger sails, larger sails meant a faster speed and despite my nimble maneuvers to try and turn and escape the vessel bearing down on me I heard the blast of a grappling gun fire and the sound of splintering wood as it made contact with the back of my vessel.
I fell forward cracking my head against the mast and groaning. But I knew I couldn't stay still and grabbed my sword, checking that my flintlocks were belted on. I readied myself for a fight. It was a hopeless situation, but I wasn't ready to die without at least paying them due.
As my ship was forcibly pulled up to level with the Brigantine I threw myself off of the edge and onto Silverblood's vessel. I knew that my only chance was being unpredictable and staying put on my vessel was an open invitation to be shot.
Shot by a rifle like the one-eyed greasy man in front of me was angling at my ship with a cackle. For a moment I froze, I had my flintlock ready to fire into him… but was I ready to kill someone? It's easy to scream about a life or death situation, but the act of taking a life was something I'd never done before in either life. Anyone who wasn't a sociopath would hesitate and flinch.
Hearing my landing on the front of the vessel, the rifle wielding pirate turned around suddenly, faster than I'd expected. He looked surprised, and I wondered if he was as old as he looked, or if he was just aged by the sun and the spray of water and salt that still came with sailing.
That expression of shock remained on his face as I panicked and instinctively slashed at him the same way I had with my brother with practice swords. Instead of smacking him in the side of the neck and making him whine at me that I was being too rough like had happened with Nick's, I drew a red ribbon of blood across his neck and he dropped with a wet gurgle.
A splatter of body coated my cheek and I paused as I reached up and dabbed at it with my thumb. I was in shock, I realized numbly, and I had no time for dramatic philosophical rants.
One of the pirates had seen my act of murder- for even in the heat of battle that was what it was I realized- and was calling out an alarm. Fortune still had some time for me though, because instead of having my head blown off my shoulders, a flintlock shot blasted part of the railing off the ship next to me and snapped me out of my daze.
I threw myself to the ground a few feet away just in time as rifle shots from the back of the ship flew into the air where I had been standing.
A bald man with a scar ran up on me while I was on the ground and raised a brutal looking spiked mace threateningly. I responded by shooting him and I watched him fall down the stairs in shock. Because who the hell was stupid enough to use their sword before they were out of ammo?
It was the last mistake he ever made because I knew the shot was fatal after I pulled the trigger. As my ear rang, I could taste the ash of gunpowder in the air and I sheathed the empty gun. Pulling the second from its holster as I got onto my feet with shaky legs.
Just in time to jump back as a wiry looking fellow tried stabbing at me with a crude polearm. 'That's a billhook' a part of my brain that had played video games like Chivalry observed. Which was neat to know but now was not the time as I slapped away another clumsy jab and stepped into his guard.
I saw the fear in his eyes and I realized that he was not a wiry adult like I thought, but just a tall gangly youth that was probably barely the same age as Nicks. Instead of stabbing him I kicked him as hard as I could in the gut and sent him crashing onto the ground.
Then a finely dressed man in his late thirties stormed up the stairs with a cutlass, a wild black beard and finely combed black hair with streaks of gray at his temples.
He slashed at me and I recognized immediately from the way he moved that unlike the others I'd fought he was trained- or at least had learned how to wield a blade from experience.
I parried the attack with a swing of my own arming sword, feeling that blow rattle my limbs and I realized in that moment I was going to die if we dueled with swords alone. I was only four-teen after all and he was a grown man.
I pulled back out of his reach desperately, but he followed with expert and sure footsteps that high-lighted how out of my depth I was. In response to this I lunged forward and 'persuaded' the captain to keep his distance with a stab, he twisted the blow away and I ducked down on some wild instinct screaming at me.
It was fortunate I had, and it was more so that I was shorter than a fully grown man, because if it weren't for those two things I'd have lost my head. Instead a few hairs dropped down in front of my face as I realized his guard was open.
It was as though we were in slow motion, I could see the older man realize his mistake and the same thing I did at the same time. Instead of the rage I saw in his eyes before, I saw a flash of acceptance and he closed his eyes.
I let out a cry as I lunged forward, ready to impale the man through his chest before suddenly something slammed into my head and I stumbled to the side before my feet met open air.
I fell down the stairs of the ship onto the main deck as I realized the youth I'd spared before had repaid me by throwing a bucket the crew used for shitting at my head.
Groaning, I was in a daze from the heavy impact of the wooden and iron missile on my head. I scrambled for my weapon as I heard the man laughing in a mixture of amusement, battle-craze, and relief that he was not dead.
He strolled the stairs slowly and I realized that I couldn't find my sword because he held it in his hands.
"You fight well for your age lad! -and with the devil's luck too!" he called out to me. "I'd know the name of such a brave young warrior before I send him to the depths of the ocean." he spoke and I grinned as my other weapon lay between two barrels on the main deck.
"My name-" I scrambled backwards away from him on all fours like I was in terror, but the captain realized something was up as he started to move faster after me.
It was too late though as I felt my fingers close around the familiar feeling of my spare flintlock as I raised it ready to fire. "-is Leon Fou Bartfort and I am the man who killed you!" I announced with a wild feeling in my soul, the expression of shock and despair on the finely dressed man's face was sweet as victory to me as I pulled the trigger.
Only for nothing to happen as the trigger clicked and the shitty fucking gun didn't shoot like it was supposed to.
The man began laughing and the members of his crew that by now had arrived and were fully armed, all surrounding me laughed as well. I was not laughing, even when my life was spared and I was taken prisoner.
XXXXX
I was forced to my knees in front of who I now knew was High-Captain Silverblood. One of my eyes was rapidly swelling shut, and the other half of my face had a massive bruise on the cheek. I was fairly certain that one of my ribs were cracked and the rest of my body felt like one large bruise.
Even while I had no weapons I did not go quietly and the assembled pirates happily beat me into submission. Still the guy on my right forcing me down and holding my arm spat on me angrily as a bruise formed on his cheek and he had one tooth less since meeting me.
Or rather, since my fist had met his mouth, the stinging cut on my knuckle was totally worth it.
"So Leon Fou Bartfort hm?" Silverblood said sitting on the stairs of his ship with an odd tone to his voice, I didn't like the way he spoke my last name with such certainty… as though he was noting it down for later. Worry for my family flared in my gut and at that moment if I'd been able I'd have thrown myself off the ship for shame of having brought the attention of a pirate to my family name.
"You fight well lad. Better than most boys your age running around on adventures." he said as he gave me a measuring look.
"Not good enough apparently." I said bitterly, wishing that I had left behind some sort of clue for my brother on how to find the Luxon, or future events, or well anything. Instead I'd stupidly, selfishly pinned all my family's hopes on myself and went gallivanting off into the borderlands like a moron, and now I'd die like one.
"Hm, you just need experience, -and time to grow." he said, consideringly looking me up and down before sighing. I didn't know it, but at that moment Silverblood recognized himself in me. It didn't matter how carefully I'd planned, or how valiantly and well I fought, I was fucked the moment I was ambushed.
Just like his fleet once it was double teamed by those damned bastards.
"What are we gonna do with him boss?" the man on my left asked, and the crew began to offer suggestions.
"I say we behead him. Simple and done." one offered, a pragmatic looking veteran of the seas.
"I say we keelhaul him!" A more violent man suggested, for a moment I thought the bald man I'd shot had survived and grown a shitty haircut before I realized it was his brother. Which explained his bloodthirsty idea as that was a painful death reserved for blood enemies and traitors.
"Pah. I say we take him in. We need new blood, and I reckon I can break the lad into our way of thinking." the man on my right offered and the crew began to raise their voices in agreement or disagreement.
I noticed the youth from before was silent, refusing to meet my eyes as he rubbed at his chest where I'd kicked him.
Silverblood himself said nothing, staring at me for a moment before standing up and rolling his shoulders. I could tell that he had come to a decision now and I closed my eyes, maybe if i was reincarnated again in another life it'd be somewhere more peaceful like my first life.
"Aye. We could kill him, or enslave him, steal his provisions and his ship." Silverblood said before reaching into a crate that I recognized as the one I carried my rather tasteless provisions. "But his bread is stale, the meat dry and tough like leather we're not short on food lads." he said as he carelessly lifted up some hunks of dry bread that fell onto the crate with audible thumps.
"His ship? Its a cheap thing, I'd sooner trust a Fanoss tugboat than that ragged thing." he said before kneeling down in front of me. "And as for breaking him in as a slave? Y'really think you can accomplish that? Cause looking in his eyes now, I don't think that will happen."
Ah, execution it was.
"Look at me Leon Fou Bartfort." the captain spoke and I met his gaze. "You won't be meeting your death today. For I want to see what you do when you're a warrior full grown." Silverblood said as he grinned down at me, despite his words the bloodthirsty expression never came off his face.
His crew looked almost mutinous at that, but none were stupid enough to criicize Silverblood's choice. For a moment I felt a little spark of hope that this might not be so bad-
"But you did kill two of my men. So I have to make an example of you." the captain continued. "-Besides, I can tell that you're not content to lie down and let life do whatever she wills. No Leon Fou Bartfort, you're going to become a legend."
"And I'm going to make my mark on it." he said as he brought his knife to my face and began to make me scream.
While it was only moments, it felt like days. I was only aware of the blinding pain as he drew the sharp blade expertly down my face. I screamed and struggled, but the men holding me down gave me no chance of escape.
While captain Silver blood did not take my life that day, he instead took my eye, as well an innocent part of me that I didn't know existed until then. A part of me that still thought adventures could be fun, that like the idea of being a heroic adventurer. That thought of myself as somehow 'invincible', that I couldn't have bad things happen to me.
While Leon Fou Bartfort survived the encounter, in truth, a part of me died the day that Silverblood decided to 'leave his mark' on my face.
A/N: I've heavily changed elements of this chapter, creating new characters and scenes. I wanted to emphasize the dangers of the borderlands and why adventuring is seen as suicidally brave. I hope I evoked a sense of mystery, danger, and allure in you all. Apologies if the writing is rough, I still need a Beta-reader. This will be the last public update on this story for a while as I get my other starting stories to chapters 3 and 4 respectively. That way the voting on the BIG POLL isn't skewed with a recency Bias. Chapter 4 is available on my P*a*t*r*e*o*n.
Finally, my new story 'Zombie w/ a Cursed Runeblade' is available on my P*a*t*r*e*o*n. It'll be posted up next week here.
This is one of six starter stories I'm releasing in order to promote my P*a*t*r*e*o*n! Only 2-3 of them will get updates beyond five chapters though, so if you'd like to have your voice heard, head there! Also the next chapter is available on my P*a*t*r*e*o*n at least 2 weeks ahead of time so if you want more, now? It is available.