Warsinger James Baldwin (read this if TXT) 📖

to the ground. She turned just in time to catch two hundred and fifty pounds of metal and silicone as the diminutive Mercurion tackled her. Ebisa sauntered out into the yard with her hands jammed in her pockets, expression concealed.

“You're alive!” Rin hugged Suri around the waist, squishing her cheek up against her breastplate. “Thank goodness! We were all so worried!”

“Yeah, still alive all right.” Suri ruffled Rin's glassy hair, then smooched her on the head.

“It's good to see you both again.” I offered Ebisa a hand when she pulled up beside Istvan. She looked at it, cocked her head, then slowly reached out. I clasped it, clapped her on the arm, and let go. The King's Assassin had forearms like steel cable. “What's the occasion? How are things here?”

“Not good,” Istvan said heavily. He looked like warmed-over ass. His long hair was frizzy and rumpled, and his clothes and armor were starting to look grimy. He had deep circles under his eyes.

“Uh oh.” Karalti lowered her head until her chin was just touching the top of my hair. “He's been drinking again.”

“What happened? Is the province coming down around our ears?” I asked, frowning.

“Maybe a little bit. But mostly, it's Vash.” Rin had sobered over minutes, letting go of Suri and returning to Ebisa's side.

“Vash?” Suri’s eyes lit up with alarm. “Is he okay?”

“He’s dying,” Istvan said flatly.

Startled, I brought up the KMS without thinking and looked at my heroes list. “What? He was fine when we… shit. Why is he at 27% HP?”

“His body didn’t take to the prosthetic properly,” Ebisa rasped, folding her arms over her thin chest. “He’s not dying, but his flesh is rejecting the artificed arm we installed.”

Istvan scowled, and motioned sharply in the direction of the hospital. “What would you call it, other than dying? Rotting? Decomposing? Because that’s what that cursed thing is doing to him!”

“Tuun! Are you just going to leave us up here!” Masha leaned over Karalti's back, scowling. “What's this I hear about a rejected prosthesis!?”

“Master Masha?” Ebisa craned her neck in surprise. “Ignas sent you?”

“Of course he sent me, you silver scarecrow! Now let me down! While I am very grateful to her holiness for consenting to carry me upon her sacred person, I have had enough of this particular religious experience for the remainder of my life.” She shook her gloved fist down at us.

“Hang on! We have to let Cutthroat off first!” I called back to her, before turning back to Istvan. After a moment of hesitation, I stepped forward, and drew the man into a one-armed hug. He stiffened in surprise.

“Look, man: if it’s anything, we just brought the best damn healer in the country here,” I said by his ear. “We’ll see what she can do for him, alright?”

“Yes. Thank you.” He drew a deep breath, let it out, and stepped back. I could smell liquor on his breath.

The three staff Ignas had sent with us – Captain Vilmos, Livia the Chef, and Rudolf the Butler – helped get Masha’s things organized up top. I helped Suri to the ground. Once she found her feet, I took her hands in mine and gazed into her eyes.

“Okay,” I said. “Ready?”

Suri drew a sharp breath, then nodded. I opened the Combat Management System and found her Hero entry. I opened up her profile, and then issued the command: “Send Suri Ba’Hadir a Faction Join request.”

[No such player found.]

Uh-oh.

Suri was watching me expectantly, her eyes wide and hopeful. I was about to start panicking when I remembered the error messaged I'd gotten when I'd tried to send her a PM.

“Hang on, figuring out the menu.” I flashed Suri a bashful smile and went into my History, looking for the error message. When I saw how long it was, I swallowed. Dyslexia made this a lot harder than it should have been.

“Send Faction Join request to NUMBFETCH-00-0000AA1-TypeXX-Dkh?-????BSKR.” I spelled it mentally, praying I'd read it all right.

[Success! <NUMBFETCH-00-0000AA1-TypeXX-Dkh?-????BSKR> has been sent a faction join request!]

“Did it...?” I held my breath.

Suri nodded, pressing her lips together, and concentrated for a moment. “What the hell is this big fuckin string of gibberish?”

“It's the reason you haven't been able to get a spawn point so far,” I said. “The Architects that bought you here fucked up your code somehow. Code being like... the Words of Power that identify you in Archemi.”

“Huh.” She nodded absently, and a popup appeared - along with a small blank green circle that joined the icons already hanging beside Suri's head, along with her corona.

[Player Suri Ba’Hadir has joined your faction!]

“What the-?” Suri flinched, eyes scanning something I couldn't see. “What the hell's all this? I just a message from some fucko... Wait 'Welcome to Archemi?' I was fuckin' born here!”

“Hell yes!” I grinned, then laughed before pulling her into a sudden hug. Suri blinked, but then hugged me back.

“Okay, okay... you're in the system properly now,” I said, when I broke away. “You should be able to claim a spawn point here, and I should be able to assign you a role here at the castle. Castellana, right?”

“You already got a Castellan.” She jerked her head towards Vilmos, who was helping Livia down to the ground. “And, well... I've been thinking about it, and... you know, I’m willing to give this Countess thing a go. The 'Your Grace' this and 'My Lady' that gets a bit old, but there's something to be said for the renown and everything. Besides... we earned our titles. It might insult Ignas if I didn't act the part.”

“If you become Countess, well... people are going to think we're married, for one thing,” I said. “For another, it means you're going to have to learn to use the Kingdom Management stuff, and you'll probably get all the same quests I have.”

“I know.” Suri nodded, and smiled.

“Alright. Hold on to your fanny.” I bought up the KMS and issued the next command. “Give Suri Ba’Hadir the rank of Countess of Myszno.”

[Are you sure?