Chapter 12: Chapter 12: Morality? Can I Eat It?
(Note: I do not own J.K Rowling, same with Harry Potter.)
Life as a displaced former slave living as a pseudo-military force in hostile land was hard, no amount of compromises and fairness could ever change that.
Arthur was aware of this, aware of just how terrible of a lifestyle he imposed on his people. Of course, it was better than the gruesome fate their captors intended for them. But the existence of a greater evil didn't make it good, it merely gave the illusion of relief.
His men lived in such fantasy, but he as an outsider and instigator of this new reality didn't deserve such comfort. All he could do was find solace in the equity, peace and justice he offered those bold enough to follow.
And to do that meant listening to their complaints, requests and arbitering their conflicts. Dividing the tasks in the fairest way, and rewarding them accordingly. Allocating the manpower and resources to the most important areas, knowing others would be left wanting as a result.
All, and much more, formed a very peculiar set of abilities commonly referred to as stewardship; a key competence for all rulers of man.
Arthur was aware of this, yet would still prefer plucking his pubic hair with a pair of rusted scissors than spend another minute grinding it.
Quest Completed: Lord of the Fort
Reward: +1 Stewardship, +5 Fame, +5 Relationship with group: Arthur's men.
'How come slaughtering an entire ship is less troublesome than keeping the peace between a few dozen peasants?' He thought, rubbing his eyes while Ector took care of vacating the area.
!New function discovered: Fame
Fame is the measure of the political capital, social influence and goodwill you can use to achieve your goals. How well known and established you are will impact your ability to start wars, recruit soldiers, and make decisions.
Current Fame: 5 (Nobody.)
'Yeah, that's fucking depressing.' He thought, nodding at the men forming his makeshift council. 'I personally organized the death of more than a hundred men, took over a ship that once belonged to a legendary captain, can make grown arse men piss themselves with a stick and what do I get? Five miserable points?'
"Need a drink?" Boris asked him, the huge man snatched a mug of mead from a serving girl distributing them, the poor lass looked just about ready to faint.
"Ask me in ten years, and my answer would still be no." He scrunched his nose, the smell of alcohol disgusted him.
"Your loss." Boris bellowed, laughing, thankfully the rest of his council were less noisy.
!Retainer
Name: Boris
Title: Boris
Relationship: 25 (Drunk.)
"How could you act so disgracefully when our good lord Arthur is honoring us with a place in his council." The tall brown haired man chastised him, looking even more disgusted than his leader though it had nothing to do with the alcohol. "This isn't a tavern."
"Yes, that's a pity." Boris laughed, though he did watch him warily, getting punched by the strong armed man wouldn't be pleasant even for him.
!Retainer
Name: Erwin
Title: Arthur Black's Best Archer.
Relationship: 65 (Suspiciously Dedicated Friend.)
"Easy there." Arthur called out, a bit miffed by Erwin's…flamboyant relationship level. "No amount of complaining would change Boris's drinking habits, believe me, I tried."
"That's right." He laughed out loud only to stop when his ale caught fire, burning away in mere seconds.
"However." Arthur twirled his wand "You'd do well to remember that your place in this council, and the many privileges I offered you, is solely dependent on your value as a warrior and the advice you can lend me."
"Tell me, is a drunk warrior useful?" He asked him, but received nothing but silence. "That's what I thought."
+5 Relationship with Boris.
+2 Relationship with Erwin
+2 Relationship with group: Arthur's men.
'Weird, I expected him to be mad at me.' Arthur thought of maintaining a stern face.
"Da, it's good." Boris nodded "So you aren't all murder and magic, you do have some backbone. "
"Murder and magic…" He shook his head with a smile, "That's a surprisingly apt description."
" Excuse me, are you done with your dick measuring contests?" Ector coughed, "Some of us would like to call it a day and have a good night of sleep."
Everything from the maintenance of the fort's defenses to the management of the small number of cattle they kept was discussed, debated and determined. Reports were read, archives written and orders given.
A burdensome but necessary task, especially in a land where banditry was so common.
Fortunately, there was only one real problem they had to face. Unfortunately, it could spell their doom.
"We only have three months before winter comes." Ector said gravely. "Even if we hunt and forage enough not to rely on our reserves, what little food we have would be gone in two months."
"That would be the case with the food we brought on the Fancy, the fort's own supplies should give us another month at very least." Much to Arthur's displeasure, the old man shook his head grimly. "That's what their commanding officer reported, it couldn't be that far from the mark."
"It should be the case, but I've had our people recount it just in case and it ain't pretty. Those fools had done nothing but play and party, no trade, no hunts, no nothing." He said, dismaying his leader with every word. "They were counting on our ship's ressources, and the help of the other men to resupply."
"That's bad." Erwin said, "Really bad."
"Understatement of the fucking year." The only wizard in the fort sighed, the fat lard stuck in the dungeon didn't count. "So, we have to resupply with only sixteen able bodied loyal men in less than three months or we'll starve out. Any ideas?"
Unsurprisingly, nobody spoke up.
"That's what I thought." He sighed once more, he started to have a headache. "Bring me the maps."
A servant scurried off, coming back with a yellowed plan of the fort and its surrounding, one of the few things the Avery did right. It was poorly detailed, but it would have to do.
" As you should know, unless drinking this filth made you lose your three remaining brain cells, an unprepared winter is synonymous with inevitable royal fuckery for any poor arseholes enduring it." Arthur said while he studied the map, never before has he been thankful for the mandatory geology courses he attended as a biology student.
"But unlike them, you have me, lucky bastards that you are. So don't mess up, and we might just be able to unfuck ourselves again." He smiled at them.
Fortunately, his men weren't completely suicidal and had enough sense to know that obeying the young murder wizard who took over an entire ship by himself was their best bet.
"We'll have to make full use of every asset we have, starting from this bad boy." He showed the fort on the map. "We have a good amount of fertile soil within the walls, we'll use the horses to plow the field and use the chicken's manure to enrich it. We have a good supply of potatoes, arrange for the women to select the smaller ones and plant them as soon as possible."
"They should grow fast enough, if we're lucky they'll mature in three months." Ector nodded.
"Aye, pulling an Ireland is the best move." He chuckled, unsure if the joke was magic friendly.
"The carpenters are to drop all important projects and start making some boats. I want at least half a dozen fishing nets woven by the time they're ready, I don't care if you have to whip them to have it done." He continued "While they're at it, have them make some bird traps, we'll put them around the fort and the surrounding area."
"It might not be enough." Ector said, looking uncomfortable.
The old man hated asking for more, which puts him above most of his men in Arthur's books.
"I know." The young wizard answered, "These are just preemptive measures, in case the main plan fails."
Hook, line, and sinker. Arthur had them hanging on his words like a bored reader waiting for a chapter that might never come, however, he was not cruel enough to leave them like this.
Usually.
He slid the map on the table, allowing them all to see the poorly detailed work representing the fort, surrounding forests and river and a few strange blobs scattered around. They should be four hours away on foot, barely half an hour on horseback with a good steed.
"Oh…I see." Ector muttered, making an unusually pensive face
"Can you explain this to someone who can't read?" Boris said, and an embarrassed looking Erwin nodded.
'We'll have to fix this.' Arthur thought, finally deciding that any remedial education would have to wait until winter. 'They would be stuck inside anyway, greatly limiting the kinds of exercises they could do, so why not cultivate their minds?'
"Of course." The old man nodded, "There are two settlements on this side of the coast, roughly thirty miles away from here. It says that those Avery men didn't bother getting involved with them, only exploring from afar."
"Indeed, a hamlet to the east and a larger village to the north west." Arthur spoke, face stern.
His men looked at each other, the realization slowly dawning on them. Erwin looked anxious, but determined. Ben, Jeremiah and Obadiah; older spearmen who doubled as artisans, simply downed their drinks in one go.
Boris smiled wildly, and Ector was satisfied with his thoughts.
All had an opinion to express, an advice to give and an argument to make. All that was for their leader to question them.
"What do you propose?"
"I say we attack them." Boris, the loudest and fastest bellowed with a fiendish grin. "A good ol raid, as the old ways would have us do. We have horses now too, we can charge in when the night falls, take what we need and come back home."
"Are you out of your mind?!" Ector asked him, incredulous. "Those people have done us no harm, how could you even think of slaughtering them like…like…like fucking animal?!"
"What?" He shrugged "We killed them Averys, we did. Jumped them when they didn't expect and slaughtered each one of them just so. We're all killers here, so why are you acting squeamish old man?"
"The Avery's dogs attacked us first! They were soldiers, if you could even call them that. These people are innocent, you can't compare them with those who tried to enslave us." Ector spoke, biting every word with vehemence.
"What do you suggest?" Erwin asked him hopefully.
"Let us approach them as friends." The oldest and wisest of them spoke "We have furs and arms and all kinds of goods anyone would be glad to trade for some food, a thick blanket or some warm clothes are more valued than wheat."
"Especially when armed men are asking." Arthur nodded.
"I didn't mean it that way…but yes." The old man sighed, "We could also sell our services, these lands are filled with beasts and scum, a village wouldn't miss some food if it gives them safety."
"We will defer to you on this one." The rest of his men said, a less embarrassing way to admit they want nothing to do with an ethically ambiguous decision.
"Nobody's innocent." Boris spoke up, knowing his leader would soon judge the situation on his own and decide. "There are only circumstances, wants and wants not. In our situation, these people wouldn't think twice about gutting us to feed their families. Thinking otherwise only shows how naive you truly are."
Both sides had good arguments, both of them carried their shares of problems.
An attack would not only be morally wrong, it would also put the lives of his men at risk. However, if successful, they would certainly have enough food to last for this winter and then some preventing starvation among his people.
Ector's way seemed to be the least damaging one, at least in theory. But it relied on so many assumptions he could write an essay on it; What if the hamlet had no extra resources? What if they had those resources but were unwilling to sell for any given reason? What if they mistook the armed riders approaching for a raiding party and attacked, catching his own men flatfooted?
Approaching them would alert them of their presence, needs and willingness to venture out to fulfill them. He'd be a fool to assume they wouldn't up their defenses in preparation of a possible attack.
It was a hard decision, but as the one who was too independent to let someone else make choices for him and made the grave mistake of becoming a leader, it fell upon him to make it.
Any loss, gain and regret would be his to bear.
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Author Note:
-----------------------------
Hey guys, here's another chapter for you.
Arthur's in a pinch, then again who told him to step up and start leading these fuckers?
Will he go full viking and avenge the Lindisfarne?
Or will he choose the 'Light' and seek out another solution?
Wanna know? Well, here's a deal!
If this story gets 10 more reviews, real ones, then I will update another chapter tomorrow. If it doesn't, no worry, you'll just have to wait a couple more days.
Goodbye!
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