and much larger stack of papers. He set them on the table top and picked up the first page, “Item one…”
Richter gave a sigh of his own as he sat at the table. Was that a smirk on Randy’s face?!?
Richter wasn’t able to escape Randy’s grasp for hours. Food was brought, but they kept grinding away. They covered topics ranging from resource management, defenses, the need to allocate people to key positions like trade master and captain of the guard, requests of the new villagers and items that needed to be bought during the next trip to Leaf’s Crossing. Unsurprisingly, the man had already included paper and ink in that list. As painful as the hours of book keeping were, there was no denying that Randolphus was thorough and indispensable.
Richter stood and stretched. There were more items to be discussed according to his chamberlain, but he just couldn’t sit still any longer. When Randy had pulled a list of all the new villagers and wanted to go through each person’s qualifications and skills, he thought, enough! It was probably a few more hours until full night. Richter had more to accomplish before the planting ceremony. He was leaving the room when a thought occurred. He walked back to Randolphus and reached into his Bag of Holding. He withdrew the stack of papers he had taken from Count Stonuk’s private safe. The count was involved in nonhuman slavery in the Kingdom of Yves. He was also the reason that Terrod’s love, Isabel, had suffered so much emotional trauma.
“Do you know Count Stonuk,” Richter asked.
A look of distaste crossed Randolphus’s face, “Yes I do. One of the new king ’s inner circle. A distasteful man that would not have been tolerated at court in the days of his father.”
“Well, I was able to… procure, these papers from his private safe. They were well hidden so I’m assuming they are important. I’ve only glanced at them, but there are references that I don’t understand. It seems to be in code as well. Do you think you could make sense of them?”
“I had many duties under the old King, my Lord. Part of that was to monitor the correspondence of less desirable types in court. Count Stonuk never struck me as overly bright. I have an ability called Code Breaking. I am sure that I can decipher these papers given time.”
“Code Breaking,” Richter asked incedulously . Just who was Randolphus? All Mama had told him was that Randolphus had been a chamberlain. Richter wasn’t 100% up on his Ye Olde English terms, but he was pretty sure a chamberlain was kind of like a supped up butler. Now he was finding out that the man was 007! Analyze didn’t reveal much, however. Like Terrod, his level was a bit higher than other humans, but it was nothing to write home about. Richter didn’t know why he hadn’t analyzed the man before.
Name: Randolphus. Human Level 9. Health 170. Mana 120. Stamina 140. Disposition: Friendly. Humans are one of the shortest lived, but most prolific breeders in the Land. Humans have a broader affinity for skills than other races. No special bonuses to race. Humans get four points to distribute per level.
“Yes, my Lord,” Randolphus answered.
“Just ‘yes’?”
“Yes, my Lord,” he said with just a touch more force.
Richter was silent for a moment. Who would be born with an ability in Code Breaking. How often could that come up? It seemed very coincidental that the former King of Yves’ chamberlain had such a useful and appropriate ability. Then again, Richter thought, maybe that was one of the reasons that Randolphus had risen to power.
“Well, no rush. I truly appreciate you help.” Every man was entitled to his own secrets, Richter thought. It didn’t seem like he was getting the whole story though, and so he resolved to pay a little closer attention to his chamberlain in the future.
“It is my pleasure to serve, my Lord.”
Richter left the room with Futen floating along behind him. He stopped at the Great
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