Morning arrived with a lot of cries from cockerels and the scents of food cooking. It was probably very early, but I couldn't wait to get started. Rolling out of bed, I dressed myself in a long, loose tunic and a very fine cloak, it was a real struggle, though, sitting on the edge of the bed, to bring my foot up to a position where I could get a sandal on it. Should I wear my crown? For now, I just carried it in my hand.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxSDINDixw0
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On leaving my room, a guard outside looked at me in astonishment before composing his face into a neutral expression.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFbddp1DAwR
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It suddenly occurred to me that I had no idea of my way around this castle, yet it would be very strange if I were to ask the guard. So I just followed my nose and again, was met with looks of disbelief and alarm by servants and soldiers until I found my way down and around some wide stairs to a hall big enough for a feast, though all the tables were bare.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjEhJIvp7q7
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'Ah, sire, we weren't expecting you for many an hour yet. I'll hurry the cooks.' A female servant came over as I sat myself at the top table in what was obviously the king's large, padded chair.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1Ad5KyWrrn
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'Just two poached eggs please and an apple and an orange.'194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcuDhRwkpU3
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'We have apples, sire. Not the other.'194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZsdwV84bWJ
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'Ahh right. Two apples then. And if you can press a few more to get juice out of them, I'll drink that.'194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpaMrucTn8X
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'Yes sire.' The servant, a middle-aged woman, had worry lines across her forehead. 'So no roast pork?' She gestured towards a door that I presumed led to the kitchen, judging by the concentration of cooking scents from that direction.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJDZ66U6cwx
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'No.'194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0eOd7K6EEZ
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'Er… forgive me, but just to avoid error, sire, no beef slices in horseradish sauce?'194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcHokcJYGLK
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'No.'194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV2jWiXFhfn
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'Nor the chicken breast in garlic? The bread-and-butter pudding? The…'194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaPvxkDTXRi
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I caught the servant's eye and with a gulp she stopped speaking.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSmMckMYJXq
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'Nothing,' I said firmly, 'other than the eggs, apples and the juice.'194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxfF2r62Ams
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'Certainly sire,' the woman backed away with an anxious bow.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDvODSKX2Z7
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It would have been interesting to chat with someone and learn something about the world, but none of the guards and servants would dare look at me. The large dining hall was silent as though empty, even though I could count six guards and four servants.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrpbPicz0oy
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Oh well. I raised my right arm and cascaded some menus. Good, steel pickaxes had been researched, my town now had the knowledge of how to produce them. So I opened up the smithy and planned for a build of 84 new pickaxes, one for every miner. That left my research queue empty and I crunched on one of the hastily delivered apples as I eyed my options, there were hundreds of possibilities, grouped into three core categories: economic, cultural and military. Currently, the food crisis was my biggest concern and my plan to solve it was via exporting ores. Assuming all my neighbours were hostile (and even if they weren't, I wouldn't want any of them to have extra iron supplies), I needed to get my ores further afield. And that meant… Navigation. A six-day research project.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡybc9W1K0AQ
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After breakfast, with the help of a servant, I changed into tunic and trousers and good boots, then sent for my trainer.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDYMpjXlGMO
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Carradock Goblinbane was missing an arm at the elbow. I didn't ask; maybe the king knew his story already. On the short walk from the castle to the barracks training ground, I briefed him. I needed strength training as rapidly as possible. I didn't voice it aloud, but I knew that I just could not risk progressing my character until I understood the issue of stats better and, in particular, whether I could push them up through training.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrMUy3PENlk
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'Strength it is, sire, and all-round fitness.' He looked at me longer than most people did. In fact, most people here didn't look me in the eyes at all. 'It will take a while. We must not rush. You're too big and too – excuse me – soft. You'll hurt yourself. For the first day, I just want to you walk around this ground fifty times.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡywAw6cNhAY
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'Fifty?' How hard could it be to walk fifty laps of a square whose sides were only about a hundred metres?194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb1dwcesjNL
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It was very hard. After one lap I was sweating. After the second my thighs began to ache and I found myself slowing down from my fast initial pace. After the third, I was panting and my huge body was complaining pretty much everywhere. On ten, Carradock handed me a tankard with cool water in it and I gulped it down. Then he offered me a sword hilt. It was a practice weapon, a rod of iron with no sharp edges. I reached out for it.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡidqiofQZsU
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'Are you sure?' Carradock looked sceptical.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS0IPaI7gr1
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'Of course. I can do this.'194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5YEnRL0umf
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'No, I mean, your left hand.'194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzlpJeF3tGP
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I had grasped the sword and raised it in my left hand. I tried it then with my right, shook my head, and shifted it back. 'This is better.'194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiYQv3whfDk
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Back on Earth, I was left-handed. Had the king been right-handed? Was this a sign to everyone I wasn't their old ruler?194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTqUrkvhPFN
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'Carry it as often as you can. It will make your sword arm stronger.'194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTMRhBgq4Zo
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'Now?'194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqRYZrZioit
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Carradock nodded, perhaps with a hint of a smile on his narrow, fox-like face.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHu1cdB1rVV
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Then off I went again, with a new source of pain slowly moving up from my left wrist, my arm and along my left shoulder. At twenty I took another breather. One side of the barracks square was a two-story, grey stone building. The other three were enclosed by a low, wooden fence. And at the fence were gathered a dozen people, looking in at me. On their faces were expressions of dislike but also astonishment.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ158wYaOwsb
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All this walking had been good for my thinking. 'You,' I pointed to a woman with dressed in a tunic whose design matched that of the other castle servants. 'Get me the ambassador, Figus.'194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqhcHySI4Za
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'Yes, sire.' She curtsied, but I could tell from her body language she didn't like the duty.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSluh2jDOZR
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'And the rest of you, get along with your business.'194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaQNY3mxbkT
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No one spoke, but they all immediately hurried away.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl6f7IMc66t
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It was another two laps before my ambassador came to the square around which I was walking. No doubt I was red-faced and quite a sight, but that didn't excuse the smirk on his face. Figus was quite the rock star. Unlike everyone else here, his hair was not a natural colour, rather it was bleached somehow and stood up in clusters of spikes. With a grace in his walk and a cynical smile in his bright blue eyes, I could see his Charisma of 15 was definitely in play. What was mine again, 3? I suddenly felt very conscious of my frown lines and a posture that was sagging at every point, including my face.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzadGZ2PbRs
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The ambassador drew up close, took in a breath and then bowed. 'Sire?'194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC1vhTYJVgC
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This was a welcome excuse for a break, though I was aware that Carradok was watching and probably disapproved.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwEinniLDVo
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'We need to trade ore for food, what's the best way to go about it?'194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHcLgV6Ubpw
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Figus looked up with some surprise on his face. 'You are seeking my advice?'194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbRN0jeoyvi
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'Uh huh,' I was still catching my breath or I'd have pointed out that he was our ambassador after all.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9dJQlci3Qn
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'Well, as you know, we are at war with Southway and Trolland, our nearest neighbours. So they are out. That also blocks the inland routes. By sea, we could trade with Cantreth, the Kingdom of Lost Souls and Rockguard…' he paused in thought. I paused in tiredness.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgk9AWHn6nP
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'Your majesty has no scruples dealing with a Necromancer?'194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnWbSmOFSKZ
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'Not at all, some of my best friends are Necromancers.' I was thinking of Storm Wars of course, but the look of consternation on the face of Figus made me feel like laughing.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNmvyAhGwBq
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To be fair to him, the ambassador recovered his poise quickly, 'in that case, I think the best deal we could make would be with the Kingdom of Lost Souls.'194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOG7RXsxbKm
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'Right so, off you go and make that arrangement.'194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz2v0iKHJbU
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'Now sire?'194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiJGek2v3rB
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I nodded.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgiCILmkRlJ
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He hesitated. 'How much ore and of what kind and quality will we be offering?'194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp9TJWXDHcd
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I didn't have to call down the menu for the mines, we were currently producing 2 ingots of standard iron ore per day. Assuming that would rise with the new pickaxes… 'Fifteen standard iron ingots a week.'194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpkaZgcAEis
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Figus nodded and then with a temerity that was unusual in the people around me caught my eye. 'One more question, sire, if I may?'194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNg0cXkxUiT
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'Yes?'194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGvkyRRAr7o
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'We don't have a trading vessel, but we would get much better terms if this exchange happened in our ship.'194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOo29TvHuZF
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'I'll make that a priority.'194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2e0uS0fuN7
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'Right so, I'll be off then.' There was a jauntiness to the man's step as he left me to my circuits. Had he deliberately just parrodied my turn of phrase? If so, I rather admired him for it.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlUMjbVXzWs
and then Add to home screen.