Project Athena: Dawn of War Season 1

Slippery Slope

Wylver

Darkness stretched for till the edge of the narrow alleyway. The pair of tall buildings which stood at its sides were far larger than the neighboring houses. It seemed odd that they had put two large manors on the outer part of the city where most commoners lived.

As grand as they were, now the beggars and vagabonds have occupated the place, being long abandoned by their previous owners.

I heard that they were supposed to be a project to give the commoners better housing started by a generous earl long dead generations ago. The building was never finished, with some parts still open without roofs and walls. Nevertheless, its state didn't stop the desperate peasant families to reside in it, along with some cutthroats and small gangs using it as their base of operations.

The current earl seemed to pay no mind to his people and his ancestor's legacy. The inner part of the city where I bought our new manor was in good condition, but the outer part was like going into another world. Typical of nobles wanting all the luxury for themselves, while keeping the lower class in a state of disarray so they would keep relying in the 'powers' of the nobility.

I took another look at the letter that was given to me in my return to this virtual world. The sender was unknown. I only met the messenger, who also didn't know who wrote it. The sender wore a hood that covered the whole face as the messenger stated.

Whoever it was, he seemed to know about my doubts. The letter only stated that they meet here, implying that the writer of the message was either a cutthroat who plan on killing me, or someone who was really wary of the nobles that might hear our conversation or the peasants that might tell on us.

I was starting to have second thoughts on why I chose this city as our base of operations. Being the most accessible city in the area, due to the many roads that connect it to other cities and villages, seemed to be an insufficient reason to live in a place rampant with thugs and tyrant nobility. The people only appeared to be living here due to lack of choice.

If I could gain influence in the city, then I might be able to liberate the people. After all, the company encouraged players to make decisions that could cause large changes to the events happening in the virtual world. The sudden changes should help the company create a fully functional artificial intelligence system that could think like a human, but leagues smarter.

The management also hadn't given us our objectives yet, so we were still free to do what they want.

In another time. I thought. For now, I should focus on the task ahead.

I walked through the alleyway. Some of the people gave glances, but most of them paid no mind. Everyone in this place have their own personal businesses and secrets. Having a stranger walked around wasn't something new. They would only deal with you if you either mess with them or appear as some easy victim that could be mugged.

I wore a rugged traveller's clothing underneath my cloak. I didn't want attract the attention of robbers in this supposed secret meeting, so I left my merchant garments and sword back at the manor. I wasn't completely undefended though, as that was foolish if one was walking inside a den of thugs. I brought a dagger concealed under my cloak. That and the new spells I had learned from the book I looted at the cult's vault should suffice as defense in case the person I was supposed to meet with suddenly turn against me.

The book I got from the vault was surprisingly a spell book about leprechaun magic. The cultists seemed to be obsessed with the concept of luck, but couldn't understand the contents of the book because it wasn't a book about luck spells. Luck isn't real. No one could receive good fortune all the time, but the book gave the readers an insight on how to turn chances in their favor. It was a book that explained how to influence probabilities. A leprechaun could not make the impossible happen, but he could increase the chances of the improbable happening, though this influence might also cause unwanted and unsuspected things to happen. Every small events can cause a large impact.

I looked at a group of gamblers playing dice. It was a popular dice game in the kingdom. There were five dices, each with similar markings. If all five of the dice showed the same markings, then the player who bet on that mark wins.

The gamemaster appeared to be cheating his players. Since each of the dice were thrown into their own bowls then covered, preventing the players to see the result immediately, he takes this opportunity shake the dice while distracting the players with the age old trick of talking and divertion.

He must have been doing this for years since his sleight of hand was nearly flawless. No one would see him doing it if they weren't expecting it, but I had seen too much of these kind of games that I always expected it to be rigged.

In the first round, he let some of the players win to avoid being obvious and to have them keep playing. But when the pot gets larger, he does his work so he gets all the money.

I subtly casted a spell. The only effects of the spell that could be seen were the results and a subtle glow in my fingertips.

The pot grew big. The players were getting aggressive in their betting. They put large bags of coins that they probably got from mugging people on the table.

One of the players only put a handful of copper pieces. It was a young boy who I thought was wasting his life on this kind of games.

The gamemaster rolled and threw the dice, smiling at the huge mound of gold on his table, soon to be his. He worked his trick, confident at his skills, but it backfired as he accidentally knocked the bowl.

The gamblers noticed that he was holding two dice in the hand that knocked the bowl. They immediately realized what was going on and went to threaten the gamemaster, who sprinted away from the alley. The gamblers followed suit.

People might call him unlucky, but I knew that his spell only increased the chance of the gamemaster failing his trick.

"That's a nice show of your magic." A voice called from behind.