Chapter Eleven

  The town wasn’t much to look at. But it was a lot to smell. It was one of those places, roughly halfway across the Draconic Kingdom, that the beastmen had not reached. And unsurprisingly even to the relatively inexperienced Ulbert, it became a hub for refugees who managed to flee from the beastmen attack.

  The town of Sasbay sat beside a sizable lake that shimmered in the sun, looking almost white in the daylight. Over it plied many small boats belonging to local fishers, but around the outside of it there were endless crude tents, and even from where he stood, Ulbert could tell that was the overflow. The town itself was meant to hold maybe five thousand, but held at least triple that even just on the inside.

  As if he sensed Ulbert’s general distaste for what lay ahead, Torald explained, “Getting people back to their homes will take time. Some have already gone back to whatever villages they fled from, but those are the ones who have grain to plant already. We have to import grain and other food supplies from elsewhere, while still feeding the people we haven’t sent back… that’s no easy task.”

  “I suppose it wouldn’t be.” Ulbert acknowledged. “Are the other countries facing hardship too?”

  “Yes.” Torald explained, “I’ve been preoccupied since the beastmen came, but the Kingdom lost a lot of people when fighting against a new kingdom, those are farmers you can’t just replace. And a lot of food has been going to the Holy Kingdom from other countries… it’s been a problem. We can only really buy from the Slane Theocracy, and they’ve been struggling to defeat the elves for the longest time. So…?” He shrugged. “We can only make so much food by magic. It means it all takes time, m’lord.”

  “I suppose so.” Ulbert answered. “But will it really be fine for a demon to walk in the middle of a large town?”

  Torald threw back his head, arched his back, and gave out a long, thick, deep, belly laugh, his fingers tightened on the reins so much that he accidentally pulled them back and halted his horse with such suddenness that Ulbert actually walked several paces past him before he realized Torald wasn’t moving and stopped himself. He turned around to look at the laughing human and asked simply… “What?”

  “M’lord, forgive this humble one,” Torald wiped a tear away from his eye as he tried to bring the laughter under control, droppin the reins from the hand that still held them and waving his hand back and forth to indicate that he was not laughing at the demon traveler, “I am not mocking you.” He finally got out.

  “Then what?” Ulbert demanded.

  “M’lord does not keep count of humans he interacts with, does he?” Torald asked, and Ulbert only stared blankly. “No, no I suppose a demon would not.” He said reflectively, then gave a nod meant more for himself than for Ulbert, “M’lord, while some have gone back to the places you liberated, it is still roughly two in every five refugees who are alive because of you.”

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  “That many?” Ulbert asked and rubbed just below the tip of his jaw. “That sounds high.”

  “Master Demon, Lord Ulbert,” Torald said with far more gravity, his face becoming drawn and serious, “you also liberated those of us who were meant to be ‘food supplies’ for the beastmen. They take alive far more than they kill outright. Even in fighting, they tend to try to capture and subdue our soldiers rather than killing us. Therefore every attack would liberate hundreds, even thousands of us, who even if you didn’t deign to notice, would see you, and remember.”

  Ulbert did not keep his doubts about that, secret. “You say that, but I am a demon. Human gratitude is not a particularly powerful force. They may have been grateful at the time. But now, safe from danger, I’m sure it won’t take long for that old hate to rear its head again.”

  “My lord is a cynical demon.” Torald said with a sigh, “And one day, people will surprise you.”

  “They haven’t yet.” Ulbert asserted with a confident snort.

  “That is what will make it a surprise, Lord Ulbert.” Torald said with the trace of a smile on his thin lips. “But if the Game Changer is concerned for appearances, I could lend you a cloak.”

  Ulbert sighed, “That would hardly do anything about my hooves, or my face…” He thought it over, “I didn’t want to do this. But I suppose I have no choice.”

  Torald didn’t get a chance to ask what he meant, as Ulbert activated a skill. Yggdrassil, in its hayday, had one problem it couldn’t easily resolve. Dwarves, elves, humans, orcs, goblins, the usual fantasy races were all very popular. But heteromorphs were like the rogues of races, hated by everybody but the ones who played them. Frequently they were killed on sight, and so it was very difficult for such players to level up or complete major quests. In order to get around this, heteromorphic players gained one useful skill that would let them move peacefully about the game. The ability to use a transformation spell regardless of their class or specialization. It had its restrictions… while it would fool ‘passive’ detection, even the most basic detection skill, if applied directly, would reveal it. Moreover it did nothing to the stats, and any attempt at combat would return the character to their natural state. But it was good enough for the heteromorphic players to pass through cities and other human/demihuman dominated areas.

  [Aspect of the Devil][Supreme Tempter][Human].

  Ulbert clapped his hands together, “How do I look?” He asked with a very human smile on his face. He now had ink dark hair, a rakish, even ruggedly handsome visage, and he would look like any other reasonably strong human of medium build.

  “Human, Lord Ulbert.” Torald acknowledged, “May I ask though, why didn’t My Lord wish to do this?”

  “And reveal that I could? No thank you.” Ulbert said, though he bit back other reasons such as his genuine enjoyment of his demonic body and his general distaste for humans on the whole.

  Torald lowered his head, much to Ulbert’s surprise and said, “Then I am supremely honored that My Lord has trusted me so greatly as to let me bear witness to his disguise. I will bear true faith to the Game Changer and keep his secret even under the most dire tortures.”

  Ulbert had been about to say he was going to seal away the memory, but seeing the earnestness in those deep brown eyes, and a depth of sincerity in a human voice that he’d never heard from anyone… the player could not bring himself to do so. ‘My vows with my friends meant something… maybe there are a few people for whom vows mean something here…’

  And with that, they resumed the short trip toward Sasbay.