Frostbound

Chapter 263 - Deserves to be Here

Chris

Normally, when discussing or deciding on a course of action back home, I involved the Council. They held different viewpoints and had insights I wouldn't come up with on my own and also opened up ideas that I wouldn't have thought of.

I couldn't do that now.

Being the only Noble of our group, I had to walk in alone into... whatever this turned out to be. Marcus would be there, as he was also a Noble, but that was different.

Being alone at the meeting wasn't what scared me. I'd faced down things much scarier than the meeting people. It was what came after that did. When making decisions by committee or in groups like we usually did, it made the burden lesser somehow. Like it didn't all fall on my shoulders. The number of people we lost against the Demons still wasn't something I was comfortable with and this would only be a repeat of what happened then.

It was my orders that resulted in people dying and that was a tough pill to swallow. I knew it was necessary, and that if pushed into a corner, I'd do it again, but that revelation didn't make doing it feel any less difficult.

That being said, this meeting was more than just my own Faction. I wasn't sure how many Nobles were among the crowd, but based on how hard it was to become one, I doubted there was a lot.

I put it at a maximum of two dozen and that was pushing it. If that was true, that would mean twenty-four people would dictate the lives of over a hundred thousand.

That was the optimist speaking, as everyone falling in line and going along with what was decided was unlikely, but theoretically, my decisions would either save or kill a great number of people.

It wasn't something I was comfortable with.

At least the people who followed me from Frostheim put their trust in me and had a choice in doing so. The people from elsewhere didn't. They didn't know me. They didn't choose to follow me. Nor did they believe in me.

But I would dictate what they would do anyway.

A touch narcissistic.

I knew it wasn't all up to me and that my mind was diving into the rabbit hole of worry and I blamed Abigail for that. We had the rest of the day and the morning before the meeting to talk through and discuss what might happen.

Her worries had rubbed off on me and had me thinking like the burden had fallen entirely on my shoulders.

It isn't all on me. Stop thinking like that.

Abigail explained in great detail everything that could go wrong and it sent my head into a spiral. Listening to her probably wasn't the best decision right now.

"You look fine, stop stressing," the cause of all my worries said.

"Well, if someone hadn't gone through the trouble of listing everything that could go wrong, I wouldn't be."

Abigail chuffed, "Welcome to my life. Why do you think I'm so high-strung all the time."

I didn't answer and looked myself over in the mirror one last time. Abigail's thin water wall worked perfectly to see my reflection. This being an important meeting and all, I had to dress the part. I still wasn't wearing the fancy clothes Marcus was because those were mighty uncomfortable, but I did step it up a bit.

With the rare parts and hides I brought back with me from my trip, my clothes were all made from things I personally killed. It gave me a small sense of accomplishment even though I knew that no one else would care.

I wasn't one to care about fancy dyes or coloring but someone else had worked out which herbs and berries could be used to make them and it was a waste not to take advantage of that.

Most of the outfit was a deep blue while the rest was midnight black. If the skin of the beasts hadn't already been black there would've been no way to dye it that dark.

That wasn't all either.

Similar to Austin getting me a signet ring, all of my family thought it would be funny to get me gifts congratulating my rise to Nobility. They were mostly all in good humor but there were a few that had more practical uses.

Sam and Ashley, being the Leatherworkers they were, said, "Now that you're a Noble, you need clothes befitting a Lord."

I wasn't sure how long it took them to whip up, but they created the fanciest set of clothes I'd ever seen that still looked functional. There wasn't an overcoat that restricted movement. There wasn't a tie that felt like I was being strangled. None of the normal conventions for fancy, upper-class clothes was followed.

Instead of superfluous additions or expensive accessories, the outfit was instead stunning in another way. The clothes themselves were made out of a D-grade feline I killed. The accents were done in either Wolf or Elk, I wasn't sure.

In addition to the powerful base material, the craftsmanship was on par with the materials used.

I didn't have the greatest eye when it came to Leatherworking or Tailoring, but even I could see they were well made.

There was even an artistic touch they added. Taking inspiration from the Rune strings of my hammer, they were fashioned all over the tunic in fancy loops and curves of embroidery.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

They weren't done in gold and there wasn't an emphasis put on them, but they stood out all the same and it looked awesome in my opinion. The Runes weren't functional but they still looked cool.

And the last bit to tie it all together was the fur. It was the middle of summer and it was roaring hot, but I liked to wear them anyway. I didn't wear my cloak, as that would be entirely overkill, but I allowed myself the small accents. It was a dash of White to brighten the entire thing up and contrast against the black.

They were mostly restrained to the upper shoulders and the upper and lower portion of the belt without all the additional layers I would usually be wearing, but they still tied the entire outfit together.

"Now you look lordly." Abigail proclaimed and I had to admit I did.

My hair was cut and styled and my beard was trimmed. The days of looking like a hobo were gone.

Taking a deep breath, I left our camp and ventured toward the towering obelisk in the sky. Sadly, I left my hammer behind. It was the wrong foot to start off by bringing it to the meeting. Instead, I had an axe on my belt.

I was still technically armed, and I had used axes before, but it felt wrong to be without my hammer, but I sucked it up anyway.

Seeing the obelisk had been wonderous at first. The fact it just randomly appeared was both wildly fascinating and scary at the same time.

Most of the area toward the center was cleared away as if by some unspoken agreement not to get too close to the obviously alien construction. The construction of the wall happened a couple hundred yards away in every direction which left most of the people situated on the outside of the future wall.

While some thought that the obelisk would be the source of our troubles and we would need to face monster coming from within it, an equal number of people thought that we would need to protect it and monsters would come form the opposite direction.

That being the case, the Wall was confusing at first until we heard that it was built to defend from both directions.

There were stairs leading up to the Walls walkway on both sides, but I was told that one side would be destroyed depending on which direction we were assaulted from.

Which was a surprising level of foresight. The only problem was without a confirmed direction, traps were mostly meaningless. If we trapped the land outside the wall and we were in the situation of protecting the obelisk, that would be fine. But if we ended up being wrong and had to fight on the other side, we would end up standing in the minefield.

Trapping both sides was equally stupid as that guaranteed that we would be stepping on our own traps.

Passing through all the various faces made how serious this was settle in. People from every race and creed were represented as this would be a major point in history.

Win or lose, things would change.

It was also overwhelming to see the sheer amount of people present. I'd never been somewhere with this many. Not even national football games or any other professional sport had this many people attend.

I tried to look at the various banners or Faction badges but they all ended up blurring together. There were so many different ones that it was hard to keep them all separate. Blues, reds, oranges, greens, every color under the rainbow. Deer, wolves, bears, swords, axes, every kind of sigil to go with it.

It was a lot to take in.

Walking through it all took a fair bit of time. It was row after row of tents, earth domes, camps, and more.

Finally piercing through it all left me with a clear view of the obelisk from base to tip. I'd seen it from afar, as it was hard to miss, but it was something else up close.

"It's truly something, isn't it?" Marcus said.

I was so lost taking it all in I hadn't felt him approach. Admittedly, there were far too many people around for my normal method to work. The days on the boat refined my aura sense enough to tell when people approached me but that was well and truly shot with the crowd being what it was.

It was relieving to see him. We didn't get to talk much during the five days but we had fought together and that was just as good.

"It is. I knew it was alien before we got here but looking at it only confirms that." I said and he only nodded. "Any idea who else we're going to see?"

Marcus thought for a moment, "I wouldn't be surprised if someone from the Heartlands Alliance achieved it. I doubt many n the Faction could but at least one is likely. I don't think any from The Reservation cares enough to do it, so I doubt anyone from there. Other than that, your guess is as good as mine. I know little of other Faction's pylon development."

The only pylons I knew about didn't have Barons except for one. Ashton was too busy trying to correct his city and Lakeshore didn't have anyone powerful enough. We still knew too little about our Southern neighbor but I knew they didn't have the strength for the upgrade.

I also wasn't sure if they were even here. It wasn't like I was able to pick them out of the crowd even if they were.

"Mountainside for sure has a Baron," I said. It wasn't confirmed, but it was a hunch I felt confident in.

"Any idea which one's them?" Marcus waved at the small gathering of people ahead of us. I'd stopped at the outer ring to take in the obelisk while others moved on ahead.

There was no one barring entry so some probably weren't Nobles, but it looked like most were. Their power was nothing to scoff at but it was difficult to get a good read.

I got enough that I could guess at everyone's affinity but little else other than that. Knowing where Mountainside was made me confident that whoever ran it was of the Earth affinity but there were a few people that fit that description.

My mind pictured a short, stocky man with a thick beard, but that was just my imagination thinking about dwarves. Everything we knew about the settlement made me think of a Dwarven kingdom.

It was named Mountainside. It was built into the side of the mountain. And the ruler most likely had an Earth affinity. It was hard not to think of them.

Unsurprisingly, there were no Dwarves I could see so that eliminated that option. There were a few people who felt heavily like the earth and even one that felt even stronger than that, but I would be guessing as nothing else stood out.

One person did catch my eye but not because he felt like the earth, but because he felt like a Storm. I remembered Tracy's description of her City Lord and I'd bet money the man I was looking at was him.

Lightning robes, haughty expression, and an arrogance that was nearly tangible.

"Do you know him?" Marcus caught my gaze and looked at the man in question.

"No, but I've heard of him. Someone I was in the tutorial with runs one of his Cities that we traveled through in the beginning." I said.

"Isn't that the man who conquered Chicago?" Marcus asked. "I think he calls himself the Stormbringer."

I snorted at the gaudy, self proclaimed title, "I think so, but I don't know the exact details. I do know he's a bit self-centered and arrogant. I was told I wouldn't like him and I can see why."

Our conversation was ended by loud clapping to get everyone's attention. The man responsible stood near the center of where everyone gathered and his posture was ram-rod straight. He also had the hair of someone clearly in the military which made who he was rather obvious.

Black, short buzzed hair. An outfit that resembled something closer to armor than what I expected and a no nonsense face. It was clear the man was used to being in charge.

"Thank you all for coming. We'll first ask everyone to display their title to make sure everyone here deserves to be here." He announced.

Some gathered bristled at that. I knew some did it because they didn't have the title and they would be found out but I knew others did it because they didn't like what he said for a different reason.

What he said and the way he said it made it look like he was in charge and it was clear not everyone was fine with letting him continue that.

Oh, brother. Here we go. I can't wait to be done with this so I can go back home. I doubted I was the only one thinking it.

One thing did stand out though and I found his word choice curious.

Deserves.

He didn't say allowed, or invited, or anything along those lines, but deserved.