Homesteading in a fantasy world

Pov Omar

It took me 4 jumps to get to Verdia, but fortunately, I will now be able to avoid the public portals. No longer were there crowds of people; instead, these portal stations were housed in luxurious buildings, and we had ample accommodations for the wait times.

I was fortunate that I was able to get a portal soon to the eastern twin city, which meant that I was finally back on the lower continents where true civilization resided. While Elves might disagree with this statement, even they have to admit that most of their continent isn't really that civilized.

My delay here was a bit longer, and if I had time, I would have liked to visit the underpass, as I always enjoyed seeing the sea from beneath the water. Cedric Elric Baelor was the wizard who created this wonder, my childhood hero, and technically a really distant cousin who lived around 600 years ago.

The 20-kilometre stretch between the two lower continents was connected by the underpass, a network of underwater tunnels that allowed you to see the sea all around you. It is one of the pinnacle wonders of this world and has connected our two continents for a long time now.

While sitting in the waiting room and looking over the city from my balcony, I observed the architecture, which is something of a hobby of mine. It was heavily influenced by Dwarven culture, as this continent named Thronheim was the birthplace of dwarves.

The river delta that brings fresh water and makes farming possible here comes from the centre of the continent, through the most influential city in the world, and eventually reaches here. There were so many boats that I could see, some quite large, starting their journey upriver. I remember when I was young and on one of those boats, heading to the university city, a long way from here.

I planned my approach for when I reached the family home. While I shouldn't be here and should still be at my post back in my cousin's country, it was necessary to be here. If the threat is truly credible, then my cousin might lose his position, and I would have failed my mission. While this was sort of a punishment mission, I certainly didn't want any of my cousins to fail, and I definitely didn't want to fail the family.

The jump to the western twin city went without any troubles, and I always enjoyed looking at how similar the two towns were. The street layout was exactly the same but mirrored; the only difference was the architecture that now reminded me of the place where I grew up.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to visit the lowlands, the birthplace of Humans. Fortunately, or unfortunately, I now didn't even have to use the private portals as my family had an estate here that connected to our seat of power.

One final look to make sure that everything was perfect. As I was walking down the street, I could see constant trade deals being made as this was one of the most influential trade cities in the world. If you were to count the Twin Cities as one city, they would actually be the number one most influential trade city in the world, which makes sense as it connected the two most populous and rich continents of this world.

The guards of my family estate almost made a mistake. I could see them twitch, moving to stop me, but at the last moment, they recognized me and gave me proper bows. The door was opened for me, and I walked inside to see the caretaker of this estate rushing to meet me.

"I need a portal to the seat. I need to speak with my father; inform him for me, will you?" I said with the proper voice and posture. "Yes, immediately, heir apparent," he answered and took his position behind me while I continued to walk.

His comment almost made my eye twitch as I hated my title of heir apparent. But at least he was fast, probably using his communication abilities to give out orders, as when I opened the door, the portal had already been activated.

After jumping through, I found servants were already waiting, ready to receive me and bring me to my father. "Hold on just a moment. I haven’t been here for a while, and I want to take in the view."

They all halted as they had been taught, and I took a few steps out of the heavily guarded portal station to look over the heavily fortified estate that my family has ruled for almost 150 years. It was a true fortress but made comfortable for the nobility who lived here. Supporting this place was a beautiful mountain village, another show of power that our family could sustain such a luxury.

The view from up here was breathtaking. I could see the lowlands stretching far into the distance. It was quite a distance down to the lowlands, but I could see the myriad of lakes and rivers that fed the endless grain fields that support the strongest kingdoms in this world.

So much blood has been spilled by the nobles on this land, yet this tradition continues to this day. Although wars are now a lot rarer, political manoeuvring has become more of the style nowadays. Unfortunately, I couldn’t spend too much time here as it wouldn’t be proper, so I turned back to the servants so we could continue the game.

Pov ????

When I woke up, I felt weak, which immediately shocked me into full awakeness. A large portion of my holy power seemed to have been diminished. I quickly got into a meditative pose, and fortunately, no one else was around, so I could show how worried I actually was.

I was relieved when I found out Luck had taken that energy because if Fortune would have taken it, I would have been truly worried. The power was already refilling, and by lunchtime, I was going to be full again.

I used some of the holy power to figure out what had happened, and it seems that Luck had helped keep our nation's secrets, which I was glad about. But I would need to be careful as there will come a point where I should disable this feature.

We wouldn't be able to keep ourselves hidden, and if that feature is not used to keep ourselves hidden, we could put even more luck into making sure that the war effort progresses without any mistakes.

Looking even closer at what had happened seemed to cost too much, and once again, I was reminded that the populace should be more devoted to our God. The war is getting closer, so perhaps it's time to introduce a few more ways to worship. But I need to be careful that I don’t overdo it.

By spring, I hope that at least 10% of the population would be willing to whip themselves bloody to prove their devotion to our God. That way, we can guarantee victory, and I could be prepared if that unholy being does reach rank 3.

During the next few days, I noticed more and more usage of the holy energy on the luck portion of the national working. We started to discuss if we should disable it, but currently, it was still within acceptable usage.

That changed the next Monday when a large portion disappeared from my pool. I immediately told my right-hand man, and we were about to start the ritual to change the national working when a servant rushed into the throne room.

"My divine connection, we have just received an urgent letter from the World Council." That explained it. I sat back in my seat of power, but the servant didn’t approach me so I could read the letter.

"Bring it here now!" I yelled, making the place shake a bit. That helped me realize how angry I was, and I forcefully calmed down. Finally, my servant came and handed me the letter, then quickly retreated. I gave my right-hand man a look that he perfectly understood.

I read through the letter and immediately crumpled it and made it burst into fire. "Damn it." Well, this wasn’t the worst thing that could happen as I was only being called to explain the religion thing and the national working.

Fortunately, all of them were still focused on gaining personal power, and while this was happening a bit sooner than expected, it shouldn't mess with the future timeline too much. It was at this moment that another large chunk of holy power disappeared. What's happening?

Then another, even bigger, and I was close to being out of the holy power collected by the nation. "No, what's happening?" If I wasn’t sitting on the throne, I would have fallen from weakness. I used the remaining holy power to see what was happening.

I saw an image of that evil creature laughing as he threw a coin into the air, then catching it and showing heads. "37 in a row." I instantly figured out what he was doing. "That bastard!" was all that I could manage before I blacked out.