Chương 33: Inspiration

Facing the crowd of people that followed me, I speak.

"Uh, sorry about that. Let's go kill some monsters now?" Several people just glare at me with a look of uncertainty. But most of them perk up, and seem to attach to my every word. They raise their weapons into the air, "For the Goddess!" They cheer. Without me even having to do anything, they line up and look to me to take the lead. Sighing just quietly enough that they can't hear, I start moving. After looking at the group, all of them are just a bit higher than mine.

Aside from one, a grizzled looking man, who is at level forty. My guess is that most of the ones running away are like these ones. Not exactly weak, but lacking strong enough resolve to normally reach the higher levels. Somehow, it has fallen to me to be the inspiration. I do wish to have a conversation with the Goddess. Like, why the fuck pick me? A random guy that is not exactly the most social. But, she picked me, gave me this power, and told me to do shit with it. So I might as well give it a try.

If I suck at it and fail, running away is always an option. We march back towards the road, and emerge from the forest with much fanfare. Attention once again gathers towards me. But this time, I will not balk. Sure, a twinge of fear and anxiety run through my gut. But I ignore that, and speak. A few simple words, nothing too fancy.

"If you wish to fight, follow me." Along with the message, I reach out to that command skill thingy. It is very easy to use, and I send out a command to all those nearby. I keep it to a simple 'I am a hero, follow me if you want to take back Blackharbor.' My presentation definitely needs work, as in, I suck at this. Yet, even with such a sucky message, thousands of people stop in their evacuation and start to gather around me. Many do still continue running, which is fair enough–not all are suited for fighting.

Now, I am presented with an interesting problem. What the fuck does one do with so many people? Like sure, the road is massive, but we can't just stand here all day. So I do the most logical thing, and start moving right against the flow of people trying to evacuate. The people let me lead, like I am some sort of leader or something. Master, that is exactly what you are! Dovey helpfully chimes in. You should let me out! I could help. How exactly do you propose to help? It isn't like they can see you. Dovey snorts.

Do you seriously know that little about spirits? We can reveal ourselves to those with normal sight, you know. There are far more spirits than even you can see, too. Hey, im brand fucking new to all of this shit. Like, literally treat me as if I know less than a baby. I say, and then tug on the Phylactery to let Dovey out. He just pops into existence right on my shoulder, perched there like a magnificent bird.

"That is because I am magnificent!" The stupid bird declares.

"Alright then, so what's the plan?" I say, trying to be as quiet as possible. Suddenly, something about Dovey shifts. The gasps that ripple through the crowd must mean that they can see him now. He turns around to face the crowd, "Attention all humans!" He proclaims, "Stop being such slow bastards and get a move on, already! Like seriously, people are dying!" Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. Dovey takes flight and hurls a few more insults towards the crowd.

Suddenly, the entire atmosphere shifts. Master, you better start running. Now, while I hate to admit this is a great plan. I do have to admit it is a great plan. It also fucking sucks, because I now have a bunch of really angry humans with weapons and magic chasing me. I jump straight into using Plane Step to build some distance. Then I just break out into a run. I run, and run, and run. Most of the actual anger of the people fades after a few minutes. Otherwise I would be dead as the higher leveled ones catch up.

Instead, it seems everyone is either told it was a joke to motivate people, or figures it out themselves. Gotta give it to these people, they aren't dumb. Which does make sense. In a world where the sky splits open and pours out death, the dumb ones would die pretty quick. It is inspiring, in a way. To be reminded that these people have suffered more than I can ever imagine. Yet, they still continue to fight. We are starting to get close enough to hear distant explosions.

I have a feeling I am about to learn if their courage will hold up under actual danger. It is a very easy thing to say you will charge into a beast's den, after all. Doing it is a very different story though. Eventually, a line of humans comes into view. There is some sort of wooden fortification behind them, a makeshift wall it would seem. As we get a bit closer, it becomes clear that the line is actually hundreds of people.

Explosions echo across the lands as spells land, at the hordes no doubt just beyond those flimsy looking walls. I start to slow down, and so does the group behind me. Many start flaking off, heading to just join the lines. The rest just kinda mill aimlessly until a guy wearing heavy plate armor and bearing some official looking insignia breaks apart from the main lines. He bounds over to me in a few strides.

"Ahoy, o great hero. I am Sir Eagel and by the goddess, are we glad to have your aid." He glances out to the group behind me, "It even seems you have drummed up quite a force all by yourself." I smile as genuinely as I can.

"Sure, anytime I guess. So, what's the situation like?" Eagel's face turns sour and he looks at the ground.

"Blackharbor has been overrun. Rings one through five are completely infested. Some ground is still being held in the sixth, but it really is not looking good. The monsters are simply too many, even with most of the stronger ones hanging closer to the core.

"Furthermore, none have heard from any of the city's strongest warriors. Most assume they are still near the center, fighting and barely hanging on. But there is also the less pleasant alternative…" I sigh.

"Ima be frank, I have no fucking clue what I am doing." Eagel doesn't look too shocked to hear this and merely nods.

"Is there anyone that is like a leader or something I could talk to? I have some skills that I think could help this situation, but I have no clue how to deploy them effectively at this scale…" Eagel's face brightens up.

"There is a camp, a bit that way." he points in towards the city.

"The knight commander, I think she might be able to do it. Or at least, find someone who can."

"That's great news, I should probably be on my way then." I say, and just as I start to walk away, the dreaded comes.

"But…" Eagel starts, "the path between the containment wall and that camp is going to be littered with monsters. Dozens of them, we are barely able to hold this wall as it is. How are you going to get there?" That is a very good question. One that I don't really know the answer to right this instant. But these people don't need to know that. I can feel the eyes and ears paying attention to our conversation. So, I play the hero yet again. Summoning Luxmore from my storage, I throw it over my shoulder and smile.

"Well, I will simply have to smash them into nice chunks of experience."

"Don't forget about me!" Dovey says as he lands on my shoulder.

"I have done a bit of surveying, and I think I found a somewhat safe route. Relatively speaking, of course." Honestly, I am kind of shocked, is Dovey actually smart? Perhaps under all that stupidity lies some grains of intelligence.

"So Master, if we save the day, will there be compensation?" I sigh, sensing where this is going. I turn to look Dovey in his eyes.

"What kind of compensation?"

"Why tons of booty of course! Like, there must be so much gold just waiting to be plundered! Think of how rich we could become, we could buy so much delicious food!" The stupid bird says, disproving my idea about him having any sort of intelligence. Though I gotta admit, a nice home cooked meal would be nice right about now. The last thing I ate was some bread after leaving Claire's. Like sure, I might not feel the need to eat as much, but delicious food is delicious food.

Oh well, I will simply have to substitute that desire with a bunch of delectable stat increases. A truly inspiring goal.