A Trap for the Potentate Read online

  I said this sentence, myself not even fully believing that these words belonged to me. Just a month ago, two thousand credits had seemed an unrealistically huge amount of dough, so much I may have even been willing to commit a crime for it. But now, I was spending two thousand real credits without a second thought and not even to buy a virtual object I definitely needed, just hoping I had found the right one!

  Valeria hung up, planning to do as I said. I then opened the player made Boundless Realm database and looked for the village of Sini-Nalle, where the djinn had pointed me to, and where one of the items from the set was definitely located. Unfortunately, there was no information about any location with such a name. A search on the forum with all kinds of variations also didn't bring me any useful information. Fail...

  There was still some time before I could go into the game, so I got dressed and went out into the main hallway, preparing to drink coffee and have a bite to eat. The only cabin in use tonight belonged to Kira. The Queen of the Harpies was hard at work despite the fact she had said she was tired and wanted to play hooky this evening. By the way... the djinn had said the village of Sini-Nalle was inhabited by Harpies. So, who better than their ruler, Kirra'ellita Huntress of the Night, to ask about this question?

  Sure, when we had parted ways this evening, it hadn't been on the most pleasant of terms, and Kira was angry at me. But now, she had most likely figured everything out about Taisha's call into the real world and understood I was right. If that was so, the redheaded beauty should have forgiven me and may have even been feeling stupid for starting a fight.

  I grabbed my phone and scrolled down my contact list until I reached Kira. There was no reason to call her now. She was in a virtual reality capsule, so she wouldn’t answer, but I sent her a message saying to call me. An automatic reply came in instantly:

  “Invalid number. The destination number is not in use.”

  What the hell?! I had called this number several times before! Maybe Kira had set up a block on incoming messages because her high status drew lots of spam? To check, I tried to call Kira.

  “Invalid number. The destination number is not in use.”

  Now that was really bad. Either my girlfriend had changed her phone number, or added me to her block list. Basically, nothing good...

  As soon as the one-hour penalty for entering Boundless Realm was over, I hurried into my virtual reality capsule. My big-eared Goblin appeared next to the respawn stone on the edge of the desert oasis. Just like Valerianna Quickfoot, I had lost one level due to the stupid death, and my Goblin Herbalist was now back down to level-41.

  It was a shame but, over the past hour, I had already managed to digest all my negative emotions on the matter and was not going to waste any time on lamenting, indignation or pulling my hair out (especially because my bald Goblin had was no hair to pull). I needed to leave it all in the past and act from there.

  First of all, despite the high cost of communicating via magical messenger in the game, I sent a request to Kirra'ellita Huntress of the Night to find out about the village of Sini-Nalle from her Harpy subjects and buy the Boots of Fenrir for me from a Minotaur rag-dealer by the name Rho. I promised to compensate her immediately.

  Having already sent the magical messenger, I belatedly decided to add to Kira that there was really no reason for her to be mad at me and block my phone number. My seemingly unbelievable words about a call from the Goblin Thief Taisha to the real world were probably already confirmed, after all. The Legion of Steel had also learned today that the NPC by the name of Taisha was very, very unusual. I paid for another message, but the little winged devil just spread his tiny hands helplessly:

  “There is no a player in Boundless Realm by that name. I regret to inform you, but you spent the money on a postal messenger for nothing.”

  “Cut the crap! I sent her a message just a minute ago!”

  But there was no one to listen to my outraged cries anymore. The messenger had dissolved into thin air without a trace.

  The forest nymph appeared one step from me, surrounded by a whole swarm of huge ghastly hornets. The Mavka was obviously yawning, covering her predatory-sharp teeth with a hand.

  “I did everything just as you asked,” my sister praised her efforts. “I found a trader and payed for his services. The Wolf Gloves have already been bought, and I paid for express delivery to the Trader's Guild warehouse in Dotur-Khawe. The gloves will arrive in around an hour. Listen, big-ears, you're gonna fly off for the goods soon anyway, so there's no reason for me to stick around here. What's more, I’m dying to sleep. I'm just about to pass out. So, I guess I'll be logging off until morning. But first share the map of the black river of death you got from the Legion of Steel. Tomorrow, I'll study it at my leisure. Maybe I'll find something interesting.”

  I created a personal contract for Valerianna Quickfoot, added my entire known map of Boundless Realm and set the desired price at zero coins. My sister received the contract and, after wishing me pleasant gaming, logged off.

  * * *

  Approaching the orc camp, I had no idea what to expect. Perhaps there would be ashes instead of tents, heaps of bodies, a Legion of Steel ambush, or even an enraged djinn, having decided to hang around a bit and send me to respawn one more time. But everything was surprisingly calm. All the tents were in place, the pirate crew was sleeping peacefully, and I even noticed a night patrol, walking around the camp and maintaining order.

  My very highest captain's tent, or now more like chieftain's, was also where it belonged in the middle of the camp. Having eaten their fill, the wolves of the Gray Pack, with the mythical hound Fimbulthul, were dozing off peacefully near the entrance to the tent. Blanca lazily lifted her head a bit and moved her ears when she saw me approaching. It was all insanely calm and ordinary, as if there hadn't been death and destruction just one hour earlier. I opened the tent door and went inside.

  Irek and Yunna were sleeping near the entrance on pelts. Darius and Darina were back in human form snoozing away, hugging in their sleep. I was walking carefully, trying not to wake my companions. Taisha was dozing in the middle of the tent, languidly collapsed on a pile of blankets and pelts. The goblin beauty was wearing nothing but a nighty. Something was different with my companion, but I couldn’t tell what it was right away. Then it hit me. Taisha was at level-51! How? When? Just an hour ago, she was only level-33. Could it be...? I opened my bag to test my suspicion. There it was! I had only two Ifrit Hearts of the three I had gotten from the Legion of Steel diplomat. How?! I couldn’t believe Taisha had been brazen enough to rob her companion and husband!

  Before waking her up and starting a fight, demanding explanations for her most recent strange behavior, I opened her info and familiarized myself with the current state of my unpredictable companion:

  Taisha Spark

  Goblin

  Level-51 Thief

  Hitpoints: 580 of 580

  Endurance points: 452 of 452

  Primary skills:

  Lockpicking (A I) level 27

  Trap Disarming (A I) level 14

  Dagger (S A) level 20

  Stealth (A C) level 22

  Dodging (A P) level 24 * Perk taken: Arrow Dodging

  Crossbow (S A) level 3

  Silent Step (A P) level 1

  Secondary skills:

  Pickpocket (A P) level 16

  Athletics (C S) level 18

  Culinarian (P A) level 13

  Light leather armor (C P) level 12

  Riding (A C) level 11

  Lothario (Ch P) level 9

  Shadow of the Leader (I Ch) level 1

  Typically for a character who had leveled quickly through quests and other bonuses, her skills were quite low for her level. However, my Goblin Herbalist was in a similar position. So... that meant, at level fifty, Taisha Spark had taken Silent Step as a primary skill. What could I say? It was a totally natural choice for a thief trying not to give herself away with too much sound. But then as for the ski
ll Shadow of the Leader, which she had taken as a secondary? I called up the in-game information and read the description.

  Shadow of the Leader (former name Acolyte): A skill that allows the lower-level companion of a strong leader to project some of their master's glory onto themselves and act as their representative. As this skill grows, it will allow the companion to receive increased experience and boost their basic statistics. The effect is linear, based on the difference in levels between master and companion.

  ATTENTION!!! This skill will not work or level if the companion and master are equal in level, or if the companion has surpassed the master.

  I'll admit, this was a very strange choice for Taisha, considering that, after using the Ifrit Heart, the thief was higher than me by ten whole levels. It would be quite a long time before my companion could get even a slight return from this new addition. Alright, noted. I looked a bit further through the information.

  Next missions to trigger: Taisha's Envy (normal, personal), Taisha's Disenchantment (unusual, personal), Taisha's Rebellion (unique, personal)

  I could receive a unique quest??? Would you look at that! My experience as a player in all kinds of computer games was simply screaming at full volume that I must not miss this chance under any circumstances. I would have to create the necessary conditions to receive the unique mission, even if the Taisha's Rebellion name implied something problematic. The names of the other quests were also not too positive either, in fact.

  So then, finally, Taisha's opinion of me. Now that was unexpected... Just +50 (friendship)?! Considering the positive modifiers, the base value was just a pitiful +30. How?! Not very long ago, her opinion was the maximum possible +100. I also had a crazy high bonus guaranteeing that any check for Taisha's approval would succeed, excluding only the very most impudent and ill-advised. I had also fulfilled a bunch of quests, raising Taisha's opinion of me. Where had that all gone?

  It seemed the time had come to wake the NPC thief and figure this all out! But how should I wake her up: with a tender kiss, a shake, or maybe a firm slap on the behind, in order to immediately show my upset mood? The beginning would determine the rest of the conversation, or so I thought.

  Successful Perception check

  Experience received: 40 Exp.

  I noticed a flicker in Taisha's eyes through her squinting eyelids. The girl was not asleep and was watching me carefully. Alright then, one problem down...

  “How am I to understand your behavior with the djinn and stealing the valuable alchemy ingredient from my inventory?” I decided to go right on the attack.

  Taisha stopped pretending and opened her eyes. With a languorous stretch, she sat up on the bedroll and answered with two questions.

  “What has you so surprised, Amra? The fact that I didn't allow it to end illegally?”

  I choked on my next words, after the unexpected rebuff. Before I could come to my senses, Taisha threw herself at me with reproaches:

  “Amra, you have huge ears, so you probably also heard the Valkyrie from the Legion of Steel. The undying had promised to set the imprisoned djinn free, but instead, they were going to kill him! You must have heard all that perfectly, admit it! But you did nothing! How are you any better than the undying that tricked the djinn, or destroyed my home village of Tysh, considering them mere mobs to be killed unceremoniously?! After all, these cases have a lot in common!”

  Well damn. My own virtual girlfriend had made me feel shame! And I didn't know how to answer my NPC companion to make her understand. I couldn't just explain to a computer program that it would cause me huge problems both in Boundless Realm and the real world if I had tried to stop the Legion of Steel. And if I had purposely set the Djinn Sultan against them, it would be even worse! But Taisha was not going to close her mouth, continuing to dress me down:

  “Anyhow, if you had simply expressed disagreement, the most powerful Djinn Sultan Al-Hassan Godsbain would have spared your life! Al-Hassan is the only one there who acted nobly and honestly. He didn't kill all the undying, even though he had both the ability and right to do so. Al-Hassan Godsbain killed only those who had tricked him and prevented him from getting free. And right before he disappeared, scattering most of his enemies and driving the rest away, the sultan of the djinn returned to me and thanked me for his freedom! And, seeing how I wasted the valuable wish on his freedom, the djinn promised to come help me and bail me out of problems three times!”

  Woah! She now had a very powerful ally, who had proved himself capable of dispersing a well-organized team of TOP players all by himself. And she could call him three times! Taisha's wasted wish had earned her a very cool companion! That didn’t do much for me though. After waiting for the beautiful Goblin to say her fill, I asked her what had happened after the djinn got free.

  “At first, all the surviving undying were very angry, confused and didn't understand what had happened. But after that, they very quickly realized I had set the djinn free.”

  “Did they curse at you? Threaten you?” I guessed, but was mistaken.

  “It was actually the opposite. I was asked a few questions about my race, my life and my relatives. The undying wanted to know literally everything! I told them honestly about my childhood in the village of Tysh, my family, meeting you, and our marriage. There were so many unbelievably powerful and blindingly beautiful members of every race under the sun! I have never before felt such attention from the undying! I was praised for doing the right thing and not letting the glorious Legion of Steel break an oath. I was showered with gifts and asked to join their clan. I have never been heaped with compliments like that in my entire life!”

  Taisha smiled from the pleasant memories. Clearly, my companion was very happy with the attention and streams of flattery poured on her by the Legion of Steel, competing in eloquence and applying their whole arsenal of charms, spells and skills.

  “The head of the clan Till Quick_Fingers [LEGION], the best thief in all Boundless Realm, offered to let me be his companion! He promised to teach me all his thief wisdom in just a week, so that I could go with him on all kinds of interesting adventures! But still I refused, because I swore before the gods to be with you, Amra. That is precisely what I said to him. He didn't argue, and soon went back through the portal. But before they left, they asked me to think hard about whether to stay weak and pitiful with you, or rise up to the level of the gods of Boundless Realm with them.”

  Everything became extremely clear to me — the players of the Legion of Steel quickly realized how unusual an NPC Taisha was and were interested in her. And really, how could they not be? She was an NPC that got quests, calmly walked through their barrier, which only players could cross, had her own point of view, and basically just behaved totally independently!

  Blowing up at her with rage for releasing the djinn was totally senseless, and the strongest clan in the game would never act so low. But they still did try to take the unique NPC thief girl away from me. They had praised her to the heavens, given her gifts — what girl, even if virtual, didn't love gifts and compliments? They'd probably told her a bunch of negative things about me. What was it that I'd heard slip through in Taisha's speech: “weak and pitiful?” That must have been where the fall in loyalty came from too. It was actually strange they didn't manage to convince her in the end. Clearly, my connection with Taisha was very strong to begin with, as even these players from a TOP clan were not able to tear her away. But they had significantly weakened that connection... And Taisha's next words confirmed that:

  “I'll admit, Amra, I don't feel that you need me at all. All this time, you’ve never said a single word of kindness to me. You have no interest in me at all, you're always busy with your own stuff. Over the last five days, you've showed up a few times, and didn't even find any time to talk to me. Just tell me, what good is a husband like that?”

  Mission received: Taisha's Disenchantment

  Mission class: Unusual, racial, time-limited

  Description: Manag
e to convince your NPC wife in less than ten minutes that you really are good enough to be her husband

  Reward: 16000 Exp., +5 to Taisha's opinion of you, +1 Charisma

  Penalty for failure: -30 to Taisha's opinion of you, event Taisha's Departure will trigger

  Taisha's departure?! Now I really was afraid. No matter how flighty the green-skinned beauty was, I really didn't want to lose her. Sure, I couldn't get used to the idea that I had an official wife in the game, and didn't experience the tender feelings that Taisha wanted. But I was accustomed to her, and found her fun and useful. Also, one of the reason my clips were so popular was my beautiful goblin companion. So, I would have to fight for Taisha.

  Just ten minutes? So little time! But I understood that pouring out like a nightingale and starting to whisper sweet nothings to my wife now was senseless, as was telling her I'd had a sudden flare-up of passion. First of all, Taisha was smart and would easily detect that I was being false. Second, I was sure not to outdo the Legion of Steel's professional charmers, who had brainwashed my NPC companion just an hour ago. I needed to act a bit differently. But how?

  What separated me from the other players? I was a goblin just like Taisha. I should take advantage of that, all the more so given that the quest description said “racial.”

  “Taisha, the last few days have been harder than I was expecting, and I haven’t had the time to give you the attention you deserve. But I'll correct all that tonight!”

  “And how are you gonna do that?” my green-skinned girlfriend asked.

  “Tonight...” I said, fitfully trying to think something up, “is the Night of the Wolf Riders!”

  “I've never heard of that...”

  “What are you talking about?!” I asked, feigning amazement. “It’s one of the most celebrated Goblin holidays! Maybe, in your village of Tysh there weren't any wolves to ride, so you didn't celebrate it? It was actually Goblins that invented riding in the first place! Our far-off ancestors were the first to saddle a wolf many centuries before humans even tamed the first horse! Ever since then, there has been an ancient connection between goblins and wolves, and Night of the Wolf Riders is one of our most beloved holidays, especially among young goblins!”