Aurora

Closing the door behind me, I let out a long groan. Part of me regretted creating this persona of Kaga. I had no idea that being the only qualified scout, as Maxwell liked to put it, would result in me working so damn hard. Locking the door to the house, I made my way over to the bed.

I glanced around to make sure that everything was where I left it. I had earned a decent amount of respect in the town for all the work I had been putting in, but that didn’t meant I would be letting my guard down. It wouldn’t have surprised me if Maxwell or someone else that worked for him had come snooping around. Out of all the players in the area, I was the only one that was on their own. Not to mention, I had refused to add anyone to my friends list.

Either way, the messy house looked to be in order. I had gotten a few items just to make the place lived in. If anyone did come to snoop around, they would most likely think I was just a messy woman that didn’t care to tidy up. I rolled my neck a few times to pop it. I was going to take a vacation when this whole war deal was over. Perhaps even make Kaga disappear a while to get a break.

Pressing my hand against a panel on the bedframe, there was a click. Moving the mattress aside, I hopped down the small shaft to a small room. It was barely a few meters squared. Just enough space to hide this body while I was off doing other things. I pulled a rope resetting the bed above. If anyone walked into the house, they would just see an empty bed.

I sat down on the cot I set down here then closed my eyes. When I reopened them, I was in my dungeon. Two weeks had already passed since the declaration of war with the nation of Eblos. It wouldn’t be long before the first units were in range for my vampires to start doing their thing.

Personally, I hated the idea of doing Maxwell’s dirty work, but the enticing scent of experience points to be earned called my name harder. Using clairvoyance, I began to inspect my domain. The blacksmiths were hard at work. From the looks of things, my vampire army should be outfitted before they began their confrontations.

That had been a mistake when I showed off my army to Maxwell and company. The elf hadn’t noticed anything, but the goblin, Razz, had. He saw that my vampires had mostly just been wearing basic cloths with rough weapons. Since I had just summoned them at the time, that was par the course. No longer, however, now my vampires were covered in chainmail or plate armor for the Greaters, with tier two weapons.

Moving through the workshops of the main dungeon, I was pleased with the effort my demons were putting in. It really was the right choice to go with them for the domestic side of affairs. There were over thirty of the Greater Demons working the forges now. I kept Hez and York on research and development. They were responsible for equipment meant for me, my spare bodies, and my commanders.

Satisfied with what I saw, I moved my sight over to Nature’s Grotto. The fortress had been finished by this point. The halls were currently full of vampires that were training. Using mana to create them allowed for personalities, skills, and even some memories to form, but training still helped develop them further.

I had to wonder if that was the case for NPC dungeons as well. I knew the NPCs in Alflona were growing stronger by the day due to training. The same could be said for the Goblin town as well. The question was whether that was due to the influence of a player, or that had always been the case. I knew NPC Kings and great leaders were compared to gods in strength, so perhaps if given time and opportunity, the NPCs would have developed on their own here as well.

As I watched the fortress, I noticed the vampires started to perk up. Looking around for the source, I found a few goblins being dragged inside. The scent of blood must have spread throughout the dungeon. I checked to see if they were Razz’s, but found the goblin head insignia of Eblos on their clothes. I grinned at the sight. It was showtime.

~~~

I looked at Zaras with excitement. They had managed to capture a Goblin Major on their latest raid. The last one had died from overexposure to my death magic during the inquisition. Even in the week since the goblin army has been close enough for my vampires to raid them, this was the biggest catch so far.

Licking my lips, I approached the thick-muscled goblin. Part of me was glad that the higher evolved they were, the less repulsive they looked. Draining the blood from a common goblin was hard enough due to the taste of their foul blood, but when I had to look at the creature as well… I was happier with the more human looking version of the higher-ranking goblins.

I leaned against the goblin’s chest. “You want to be my friend?” I asked with a purr.

“Never! I’d sooner die!” The goblin shouted as he struggled against the chains. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I traced the vein on his neck with my fangs. Part of me wondered where my sense of shame had gone. Another part said those sorts of thoughts had been left on Earth along with my real body.

I was a vampire in this world. I might as well live it up. I dismissed the thoughts and focused back on the goblin. “While that can and will be arranged, I have some questions for you. You’re more likely to answer if you’re my friend.” I bit down on the vein as I used Charm from my blood magic. The goblin’s eyes glazed over.

His expression loosened instantly. “What do… you want to… know?”

Hearing the change in tone, I pulled away while licking my lips. The Goblin Major’s blood tasted far better than the common goblins. If I wasn’t careful, I would drain the creature dry. “How many play… explorers are in your army?” I asked trying to remember what the game called the players.

The Major looked down at his fingers and started raising them. I smacked my head. This creature probably couldn’t count. He reached ten then looked back at me. “More than this many.”

I toyed with the idea of finishing him off but shook my head. I just had to ask the right questions. “I see. Where does your army plan to move next?”

The goblin struggled to think of an answer. “South.”

Of course, you’re going south! I sighed before shaking my head. This was probably pointless, but I asked anyway. “Your commanders have any tricks up their sleeves that they plan to use against us?”

The goblin Major suddenly had a goofy grin. “The forest.” I nearly lost it, but I stopped just short of impaling the goblin. Goblins lore often included Shamans. Was it possible they had some sort of grand spell to turn the forest against us. While my vampires would be fine for the most part, Maxwell and his loot would probably be overwhelmed. I groaned, deciding that it was probably best to warn him. I asked a few more questions of the goblin, but the brute was only good for combat. Information was in short supply.

I bit him again to renew my charm then used Shadow Walk to send him to Twisted Webs. Before the goblin even realized what that he was in a completely different place, my archnea body had already stabbed him six times with her legs. It was finally enough for her to gain a level. Had to pay attention to all the different games that I was playing after all.

~~

I strolled through the streets of Alflona heading for the Keep. Maxwell had been rapidly upgrading his town and its defenses. If the cost of the buildings didn’t reach ridiculous levels the higher level they were, then he would soon have a real seat of power in the area. His protection finally ended a week ago. It made it easier for me to peek at the town, but it was still protected by his Goddess. I had to tread carefully.

The guards nodded to me as I went inside. I found the others sitting at a conference table that reminded me of the knight’s round table. When this building appeared, I felt it was because he didn’t want to have the war meetings in Free-Mud anymore. Maxwell did seem the type to want to always be in control. I took a seat and waited for Maxwell to arrive. He appeared with a flash of light then took a seat at the table. Everyone looked at him with expectation, though I already knew what he was going to say.

Maxwell leaned forward lacing his fingers in front of him. “I just checked the enemy army. I have two things to report. They are moving to the east like we wanted due to the lake. This should send them further into Aurora’s territory. Secondly, I believe she has already started to interfere with the enemy. There are several hundred missing compared the my first count, not to mention, they are on high alert.”

“That’s good then, right?” Sasha asked.

“Yes, and no. It means that Aurora’s monsters have a far greater range of operation than we first thought.” He drew a line on a map that appeared over the table. While it was slightly south of Nature’s Grotto, it was pretty accurate to my current territory. If he knew the dead were being carted back to that dungeon to feed my leveling efforts, he would probably have a heart attack.

“Less goblins that we have to deal with,” I commented lazily. It was really good experience if I were being honest.

He nodded but seemed upset about it. “Moving past that. We can expect them to be in the effective range of our forces in the next few days. Alflona is sitting at roughly seven hundred soldiers, while Free-Mud is close to fifteen hundred.” That was more than I thought. I knew Alflona was nearing two thousand citizens, but he must have been diverting all the new arrivals to the military. Still feeding that many mouths had to be a burden if most were being sent to the army.

Razz crossed his arm as he looked at the projected path the goblin force was expected to travel. “The forest makes a full confrontation hard. We’ll have to increase the number of leaders to have a reliable command structure or we risk the entire force being routed by just a few deaths.”

As the meeting went on, I started to find the whole thing funny. Just a bit over a month ago, we were regular people that had day jobs or went to school or whatever on Earth. Most if any of us had actually fought with the intent of killing the other person. Then here we were planning a war that would decide the lives of almost fifteen thousand souls, digital or not. How could you not find it hilarious?