Alpha Zero (Alpha LitRPG Book 1) Arthur Stone (hardest books to read .txt) 📖

what happened after you found—that is, noticed it. Plus any other suspicions or observations you might have.”

“I don’t know how it was launched. I suspect that whoever did that had a boat. Maybe the kind of lightweight boat that is often manufactured of treebark out past Redriver. I also think they released the boat about a mile away from here. Beyond that, I’ve seen a couple of places where eddies snag driftwood, driving it into the left bank or down the left river fork. Down where the river takes a serious bend. Whoever launched this raft knew these things. They figured that, if they released the raft further downriver, it would float down the middle of the river, unhindered by eddies. But they actually don’t know the river very well. This sandbar continues underwater here, covered by shallow water. It sits in the current like a knife left in a kill. In fact, it cuts in so hard that it sends everything sprawling. If you examine the very end of the beach here, you can see there is no garbage, no tree branches, no stray roots or plants floating about. All of it is directed out from there, in random directions.”

“What makes you think this sandbar continues underwater?”

“I’ve been fishing there, and the water is crystal clear. You can see far down. And when the waters run low, as I’ve been told, part of that underwater stretch becomes exposed to the air. I have fishing talents, too. They help me understand what’s happening in the river.”

“Talents? You don’t look like a fisherman. You do look like an imperial, though.”

“Can imperials not be fishermen?”

“I suppose. They’re all sharks. It’s rare to see a man with eyes as bright as yours who’s not a shark.”

“I was born in the north. I’ve always said that. I’ve lived here all my life.”

“Uh-huh. So you’ve been trained in fishing.”

“A little.”

“But you’re not stupid. Fishermen are, in general, simple people. Not the smartest. When life is so easy, our brains get used to not thinking. But you must always keep thinking, or your mind will wither. Yours has not withered yet. Still, the look of you... you’re too well groomed. If we were near the border, the guards would take you for an imperial spy and hang you. You don’t look like a local.”

“I just know how to take care of myself, and I’m naturally intelligent. And handsome,” I answered modestly.

Gurro chuckled. “I think you mean impudent. That pale-face told you a dozen nasty things about me, I’m sure. Yet you have the balls to joke.”

“He didn’t say anything nasty. All good things.”

“Such as?”

“He said you were quite kind to the ratwolves. Killed one with your bare hands, just so he wouldn’t feel too much pain. Tore off his jaw and pulled out his heart. His pack retreated at the sight of your merciful action, tails respectfully drooped between their legs.”

Stubs shook his head. “You speak well enough. I suppose you can keep your tongue. Did he tell you my nickname?”

“Would you have, in his place?”

Gurro frowned. “You’re right. I wouldn’t have kept it to myself. Alright, so you think that the people who did this don’t know the river very well.”

“Right. But they did want to keep their distance. They did not want to be seen by the guards.”

“Why do you think that is?”

“It would have been an unnecessary complication. Otherwise, they could have simply hooked their boat to the raft, dragged it here, right up to the shore, and sailed safely back. Of course, perhaps they only had a tiny raft or something similar, and not a boat at all. Or, they could have taken the raft out themselves and then swam back to shore. I doubt that, however. Too many kotes in these waters during this time of year, and the bigger ones can bite right through to the bone.”

“That’s true. Any swim in the river is a scary prospect.”

“Anyway, anyone could have done this, especially one of our own, and then blame the Emperor of Pain.”

Gurro gave me a strange look, then turned and roared as he left. “Keep a lid on it, kid. And grow an eye in the back of your head, or at least look over your shoulder regularly. Otherwise, you’ll take an arrow to the back before long.”

As he left, I pondered. The man clearly knew more about this place than just his tracking arts. There were things that happened here, in the trading post and nearby it, that could pose dangers to me. I had to find out what. But how, when I inhabited the body of a child? Only Beko would share any information with me. I thought that it would probably not be too hard to bring people like the Carps into my circle. But what use would they be? Adults would not communicate with me as equals.

The age of majority here was about sixteen. That was the age of full inheritance, the age of marriage, and so on, everywhere across the North. I still had a long way to go, not that I was in a hurry.

Three years is a lot of time for someone who can, in a few days, accomplish as much as a normal native can do in a month. I was growing fast. I would emerge from these years a predator the likes of which the world had never seen. If I was allowed to do it.

If those years were quiet enough. So Gurro’s hints about something amiss in the trading post and the surrounding territory were alarming. He had not been the first to drop such hints.

Chapter 31 Ash Warms Up

No Stat Changes

The innkeeper stared at the fish thoughtfully. “A garpike.”

“Right,” I agreed. “We didn’t clean them, since we don’t know how that’s done.