The 'Extra' Lord (Unlimited Plunder) - Chapter 68

Owen admired Pyris’s ability. “What monster are you having problems with?” Owen asked, wanting to pry some information from the man. If what he said was true, that they had been tasked to brave the deserts in hopes of finding anyone to help them… then the situation was truly dire. And only one monster really reared its ghastly visage in his head.

Sandskewers. The monster Ansel would unleash. If it was them, then Owen understood their desperation. There was nowhere to run or hide. Fighting them was also a chore as they bred by the hundreds. They were akin to desert rats, just far more dangerous.

As the name implied, they relied on their thick tails pointed in a deadly spike. They swam through the sand unimpeded, making little noise, not even a tremble in the sand’s surface. 

“Serpents,” the man said. “Humanoid, with natural armour. Their strongest can melt rock with their venom. They use spears and javelins.”

“Serpents?” Owen asked, confused. He had heard of them in the novel, but they were so far away from Ansel that he rarely interacted with them. 

Does that mean we are in the eastern region? Owen thought. That kind of information was vital. It appeared that Justin had used the giant to travel an enormous distance. In the book, he had used the giant to travel for months before reaching the area close to the outpost. 

He couldn’t just use the Lone Wanderer to guide him. The giant used a random path, turning here and there. Owen would be lost before he knew it.

Owen didn’t like it. Once again, he couldn’t use the book's knowledge to his advantage. He was walking in the dark. But at least there was candle light now. It was better than nothing.

“They slithered over the mountains,” The man clenched his hands. “Before we knew it, at least twenty of us were killed before we managed to scramble our defence. It all happened so fast.”

“So many?” Owen frowned. “How many do you have left?”

The man was about to speak, but he closed his mouth the next moment. “That’s not something I’m comfortable sharing without my Lord's approval.” he looked around, scanning his surroundings. “I understand you have questions, but I’d appreciate it if you could ask them somewhere safer. Somewhere away from the sun? Like your kingdom?”

He asked that question looking straight at Pyris. It appeared he thought she was the leader. Owen had to admit, it did sting a little. But she did look like Lord material, whatever way he looked. Owen decided to roll with that for now.

“Sorry, I can’t do that,” Owen said. “Like you, I’d have to ask permission from the Lord.”

“She’s not the Lord?” he asked, incredulously. 

“Nope.” Owen grinned. “There’s a cave nearby. We’ll set up camp there. Rehan, lead the rest back to camp to ask what we should do.” 

Draed caught on quickly. “Alright,” he said, informally. It looked like he struggled to say that one word. Owen chuckled internally. 

With the others gone, it was just him and Pyris. He led the new arrivals into a nearby cave. Then, he handed out water containers for everyone. Like divine nectar, they gulped down the water. Perhaps knowing better than to drink all their water supply at once, they managed to control themselves.

“So,” the man with the spear said, licking the droplets of water from the corner of his mouth, not wanting to waste any. “We’re to just stay here until your Lord sends word?”

Owen sat down on a rock. “Exactly.”

He sighed. “Alright.”

"Captain, you can’t seriously be going along with this nonsense?" one of the warriors protested, he was young, his voice rising in disbelief. He wore black knee pads, with a cloak covering most of his body, sheltering him from the sun. leather armour only covered his chest. He had a crossbow slung over his shoulder. 

“Jonah, calm down.” The captain glared in warning.

“No, I won’t,” Jonah said, grabbing the strap of his crossbow. Owen slowly brushed his fingers across his blade’s handle. Jonah continued, “We have to sit here and wait while our friends die with every hour that passes? It’s bullshit. For all we know, he’s gathering people to surround us.”

The other warriors shifted on the spot. It appeared they were also thinking the same. 

“Jonah,” The captain snapped. “Don’t you think I already know this? But what do you want me to do about it? We’re forced to take a leap of faith. We have a mission from our Lord: get help. This is a gamble I’ll take. For him.”

Jonah’s fists tightened, only to let them go. He wandered over to the wall, and slid down it with his back. “Fine. But if we’re killed here, I’m haunting all of you in the afterlife.”

“No ones going to die here,” Owen said, giving his word, whether they believed that was another matter entirely. 

“Although I appreciate the words of comfort, they won’t mean anything until I’m back with your Lord’s help.”

“But that comes with its own set of problems,” Owen said. “You want my help, for what, from the goodness of my own heart? What are you offering?”

The captain dipped his head. “Credits. Fragments. Spectres. We have them all.”

Owen picked up on his words. If they had all of that, then it was a congregation of Lords all in one place. Only Lords could gain Fragments and Spectres. If they had excess to give away, then they were both lucky and had quite a few Lords.

Owen said, not letting it slip. “It must be a large kingdom, then, to have so many Lord’s all in one place.”

The captain's head snapped up, realising his mistake.

Raising his hand in surrender, Owen said, “Just picking up on your words. Meant nothing by it.”

He sighed. “Yes, it is quite large.”

“Captain!” Jonah shouted in protest.

“It’s fine, Jonah,” he said, then looked at Owen. “When we appeared, there were a lot of us nearby. We thought it was normal to be together, I mean. Only until we met a wandering Lord did we realise that wasn’t the case. He had travelled for quite a distance. His flesh had blistered horribly. It was a miracle he still stood. He ended up becoming our leader.”

The captain took another sip of his water, before continuing, “Under his leadership, we hunted monsters by the dozens. Cleared Rifts. Gained the rewards. Got powerful. We thought we were at the top of the world with the System’s Stats flowing through our veins. Many of us could even cast magic. Magic. And then Serpents arrived. And we devolved back into mortals.”

Owen listened carefully to each and every word. He knew how important they were. It was vital to glean any information he could from the man’s words. 

He just wasn’t sure if the captain was intentionally making their kingdom seem larger, more powerful than it was. Maybe he was telling the truth, but maybe he was lying. Making their kingdom seem mighty would thwart Owen’s plans of attack, if he had half the mind to do so. Which he didn’t. He was too focused on himself, than to worry about attacking others for no reason.

Well, he guessed there was a reason. To Plunder their Emblems. If he could gain them all, even Ansel, the main character, couldn’t hold a candle to his power. He imagined it now; a Lord with multiple boosts to every single unit.

On the battlefield, he’d be unstoppable. 

Owen shook his head at the thought. He wasn’t a warmonger. Wasn’t a cold blooded murderer. 

They talked and hunted together for a whole three days. Owen was inwardly happy at that. Someone back at camp had made the smart decision to wait for a while before sending people back. It was a guise to make it seem their kingdom was much farther away than it actually was.

Was it Rehan’s doing… or his new General? Or maybe it was someone else? Whoever it was, needed to be praised when he got back.

In those three days, the captain and the others had fully rested. And during those three days, Owen talked with each and every one of them to ascertain their true motives. However, the only thing he could be certain of was their desperation to return. 

Owen had even made friends with a few of them. Mainly the captain. There was something familiar about him. The way he moved, the way he talked. A man of few words, but when those words were spoken, they had a rough edge about them. Like he was from the military, or something. But with everyone wearing facemasks, even Owen, who hadn’t taken off Dune’s Crest. 

They had hunted a lot, resulting in Owen learning who was a threat, and who wasn’t. On average, they were quite strong. Compared to Owen’s Units, they were lagging behind, but it wasn’t that small of a difference. Most likely it was a result from their constant fight with the serpents. 

However, there was one man that made Owen feel a little… uncomfortable. It was Jonah. With all accounts, he just appeared to be a young man in his early twenties. He was brash, easy to anger, and emotional. But something about him made Owen’s skin crawl. Like he wasn’t who he said he was.

Worse, was that the name ‘Jonah’ stuck out to him. But he couldn’t remember why.

On the third day, sitting round the fire in the dark, cool cave, preparing dinner. The captain finally took off his headscarf.

“Hassan?!”