I had to think about it for a moment.

[Lheticus: Mostly, keep doing what y’all have been doing. But shift some emphasis from army-building to saving for Earl. Now that we’re working together, we can save a LOT of coins and hassle if every single one of us unlocks the Caravan skill.]

[Lheticus: As for after that...since my original plan was based on the idea that this wouldn’t happen, I’ll need to adjust and improve it. Darril, once I unlock Ally Teleport, I’ll pay you a visit for you to help me do that.]

[Barnett: I want to attack! I’ve been checking out my neighbors, and I’m pretty sure I can take ‘em. I’ll show ‘em the strength being willing to get my hands dirty brings!]

[Lheticus: Very well. Don’t overextend yourself, and wait to field the enemy’s counterattack, or if they don’t, to build your army back up before continuing to attack. Caleb, if you feel like starting an offensive as well, it would probably help. The rest of you, don’t try to contend with other players 1v1. In this game, much like the last, a single death in a team almost always snowballs into disaster. Type 1 in the chat to acknowledge.]

[Barnett: 1]

[Caleb: 1]

[Anders: 1]

[Darril: 1]

…

It was time to get down to business. I had 2,200 coins to spend this time, and it was time to figure out what on. It took a few minutes this time, but I though my decisions were pretty solid:

I upgraded all 3 of the Level 3 gold mines I captured to Level 5, then I upgraded the 2 mines deepest in my territory all the way to Level 7. Then, I upgraded my food production, raising 5 Farms in my territory from Level 1 to Level 4. Then, I recruited 100 more Archers, sending them, once again, to bolster my teammates’ defenses, and finally added a set of 100 normal Soldiers to my forces, leaving them in my starting capital for now. Finally, I bought Stone Walls, a Tier 2 tech upgrade that I’d left languishing on the tree. I needed to get Shieldbearers too, since they were the prerequisite to Platemail, but that could wait. There was just one little problem:

I’m down to exactly 10 coins again...what the hell, it’s becoming a running gag at this point.

For now, I wasn’t going to do any more attacking. The enemy troops were too weak to pose me a threat even by the hundreds, true, but it could get messy if I took the last territory I could, yet had to wait until the next turn to weaken the team I targeted further. It might provoke them to attack my teammates, and I didn’t want that.

That night, I checked the leaderboard for the second time:

Leaderboard

1) Team FOXHOUND: 400 pts

2) Team Strongest: 160 pts

3) Team Viral: 133 pts

4) Team Doom: 112 pts

5) Team Storm: 92 pts

6) Team LeFabre: 88 pts

7) Team No: 88 pts

8) Team McSweeny: 84 pts

9) Team Firebrand: 84 pts

10) Team Rotten Luck: 80 pts (tied with 8 others)

Barnett and Caleb had both successfully taken and held a second territory each. They told me that tomorrow, they’d be able to promote to Earl. Adding their new territories and crowns to the nine I had, that gave us a total that rocketed us to 9th place.

When I slept, I had another dream.

I looked upon a dingy bar that had clearly seen better days. The owner clearly made effort to keep the place clean, but small bits of debris were scattered here and there, and the ceiling was patchwork. The few—literally three—customers were even more scattered, only one actually at the bar, and they were all staring at their drinks as though they held the mysteries of the Tower within the glasses. The man behind the counter was polishing another glass with the same rapt attention.

That all changed when the door to the place creaked open. In the doorway stood the masked man from the very first dream. Everyone else immediately tensed, especially the barkeep. “That mask...you’re Hellflame?”

“You know me?” said the man in the mask. The mask filtered his voice, making it deep and generic.

“Aye, I know of you.”

“Then you know that I only make trouble for the Kinetice and the AFL. I got none for decent working folk just trying to figure out something to live for on this rock.”

“I also heard you don’t drink,” said the barkeep, “what brings you here?”

“I hear things too,” said the masked man, “like you got a games cabinet. Over a thousand games, and at least 100 you used to brag that you’d serve anyone free drinks for a month if they beat you in any of ‘em, before the Sanctuaries fell.”

“It’s mothballed. Don’t get many people round here these days. Don’t get any customers into gaming. Too much chance of something happening to it.”

“Well, you’ve got one now,” they said, moving in to sit at a barstool, “I’ve been looking for a place to set up between jobs...one that has video games. Set it up, I’ll keep this place safe.”

“You’re shitting me,” said the barkeep, the others staring just as wide-eyed, “Hellflame, the Devil’s Mercenary who drags AFL who set foot in Erkolls into hell, wants to play my games? Since when do you play?”

“Since a long time ago,” said the masked man, his gaze rounding on the barkeep’s, “I stopped for a while, and by the time I wanted to start up again, Erkolls was cut off from the Tower’s virtual space. I haven’t been able to get at my virtual collection in years. It’s half the reason it’s personal for me with those AFL bastards.”

Day 6. Today would be devoted to gold mine upgrading all the way. I also laid out a plan in the chat for the entire team’s resource production, pending their reaching Earl rank. For now, I spend almost all the day’s gold to upgrade all seven of my remaining nine gold mines to Level 7. With the small amount left, I recruited 50 more archers and sent half to Caleb’s and half to Barnett’s territory. This time, I had 20 coins left over.

Day 7.

[Congratulations on promoting to the next Nobility Grade: Marquess]

[Territory limit 10—20]

[Resource Production Level limit 10—12]

[Army limit 500—1,000]

[Research Tier limit 3—4]

Today, I had just over 7,000 coins. 5,000 went to the Marquess title, 1,000 to the Ally Teleport upgrade, and the last thousand to upgrade 2 of my gold mines to Level 8. I almost bought the Metallurgy upgrade instead, but it would have been a smaller per turn gain in gold and fortunately I caught myself.

[Lheticus: I have it. Darril, stand by.]

[Betty: Please wait. There’s something I need to discuss with you as well. Something that will affect your new strategy. But I want it to be in private. I’ll do my best to make it quick.]

[Lheticus: All right.]

I still didn’t totally trust her, but the response to Darril’s speech was the most enthusiasm I’d ever had from her by far. I could walk out any time if it turned out to be more complaints.

But when I warped to her castle, I noticed something odd right away.

“This throne...”

Whenever a player updated their noble title, their throne’s appearance upgraded with it. Betty’s throne had the appearance of Earl rank—and it shouldn’t have. Barnett and Caleb had only barely managed to reach that rank, and that was with extra gold sources.

I narrowed my eyes. “Hello, Betty. I think I have an inkling of what you want to talk about. There’s only one way you could have gained enough coins for Earl rank, considering you don’t fight at all.”