A Warlock's Ascent

Dave was disgusted by the actions of the old man. Instead of getting out of there, the old man started rummaging through the corpses of the deceased soldiers and Martha. After he had pocketed their belonging, the old man then took his battle ax and the bow that he had thrown previously and then started moving.

He didn't like the idea of pocketing things from the dead, still, he made peace with his situation for now. He was enraged, but he kept quiet. As much as he hates to admit it, his first priority was to get out of there as soon as possible.

When they ultimately started moving, he got confused when he saw the old man moving toward the East. The members of the camp ran towards the south. And he could see a stretch of land with big trees, due south. He knew that people from the camp would have hidden inside the tree line. But Grump was not going that way.

"Hey, people from the camp are that way."

"So? If you want then go, and join them," Grump said as he picked up the pace of his walking

"Wait why are you not going to them? The monsters are dead right? So shouldn't we return to them?" he asked while jogging to catch up to him.

"You are an Earthian, arent you?" Grump suddenly asked as he stopped.

The old man caught him off guard, he stuttered and denied the allegation. "Wha… What? I am not.".

"Yes, you are. You admitted that you didn't lose your memories. That means you remember everything. But you didn't recognize the monster you just killed. And no Midgardian that had ever lived does not know what a centaur is. And clearly, you don't." Grump said while glaring at him.

The cat was out of the bag, even if he lies now, the old man was smart enough to see through his lies, and there was no reason for him to lie anymore. "Yeah, I am an Earthian. So what?" he admitted it in the feat of anger. Hearing this, Grump turned around and started walking again.

"Welcome to the Midgard! We just killed the scouting party of centaurs. If you must know these monsters or centaurs are pretty powerful and strong creatures. They kill any human in sight. They are excellent with swordplay and are excellent trackers. So we need to get the fuck out of here."

"Shouldn't we inform people from the campsite about this as well?"

"If you want, then you can go and inform them. I am not going there. I am getting the fuck out."

"Wa.. How could you say something like that? Amongst those people are your granddaughter and daughter."

"Nah… That was just a cover. The granddaughter is a prostitute that I used to fuck. I went to meet with her as she was blackmailing me about a child we supposedly had. But as it turns out, she was wrong. I am not the father of the child."

"Wa.. How do you know that? And even though she was not your child, isn't your duty as an adventurer to save those people?" Hearing this Grump turned around and scrunched up his face as if he was talking to an idiot.

"First of all, I saved all those people, not because of a sense of duty or something. I saved them because I saw Martha, and I wanted to get in her pants, and like you, she was a good person, I was acting that way, so she could let her guard down in front of me"

Dave didnt what to think anymore. "You saved all these people to get in that girl's pants?"

"Yeah. She was a feisty one, it is sad that she is now dead."

"You are kidding me right?" Hearing his words, Grump chuckled.

"No. The only reason I even wasted my precious potion on you sorry ass was to impress her. Nothing else."

"I…. I can't believe you," He had to admit, he had never met such a scumbag in his life.

"Also, those people and I were going to similar destinations so I didn't mind that they tagged along."

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"Okay, I get it… You are a scumbag. But we could at least help those people, we are so close to Ravenshade."

"I don't run a charity punk. I don't do any job for free. If I go to them, then that would mean I have to fight with more monsters. And I rather avoid that."

"What the hell are you talking about?" dave asked with an enraged voice. Grump grabbed him and made him turn towards the tree line in the distance. He then opened the telescope that previously belonged to Martha and made him look where he was pointing…

When Dave looked through the telescope, he didn't know what he was looking at. But then he realized something, the trees that he had pointed towards had claw marks on them. And based on 4 stripes on the tree, he knew very well, to whom those marks belonged…

"Kobolds. If those people had run to the trees then they would be dead by now." Grump said.

"But there could be some people there that are still alive. We could help them." Dave said while folding the telescope.

"As I said before, I am not that into charity work. If you want, then you go and save them." Grump said and then he started walking again.

Now standing there, Dave faced a moral dilemma. He didn't know whether he should go back and save them or whether he should move on. Those people had been very kind to him until now. They had shared food and a bed together. And he was very grateful for that. But he didn't whether he would be able to fight off those kobolds hiding in the trees. There was even a chance that he simply die if he goes there.

And after thinking about it, he clenched his fists and started running toward Grump.

***

For hours both of them walked together. No one spoke a word to each other. And it was only after spotting another one of the stone towers in the middle of nowhere that Grump did speak.

"There." He spoke and then he picked up the pace and basically started jogging toward the tower. While Dave silently followed behind him.

The structure of this tower was similar to the tower that he had stayed the night in. The only difference between both towers was that this was not trashed yet. The front door of the tower was locked by not broken. But it was later broken by Grump to get inside.

Most of the things in the tower were in their place. But based on food on plates and pots upon the ash of fire, he figured that people in the tower left in a hurry. Grump, on the other hand, didn't bat an eye at the plates, and went straight inside.

As he followed him inside, he saw that this room had a communication radio in it, just like the one that he found in the previous tower. Grump, then sat down on a chair in front of the radio and started using it…

"Watchtower to Control center, can anyone hear me?"

"This is the control center, may I know which watch tower am I speaking to?" came a voice from the other side.

"Well I am not a fucking soldier, so I don't know which watch tower is this."

"What?"

"Yeah, I am an adventurer. My name is Gilbert. I am an A-rank adventurer. And I am calling you guys because me and…" Grump or Gilbert then turned towards Dave. "Me and my nephew just hunted a scouting party of Centaurs. I wanted to report the location of the party, they were about, 17-19 li, due east towards the Ravenshade, from Heckshire town in the western front."

"Got it? How many were there at the party?"

"4 mother fuckers."

"Alright… And you do know that if your information turns out to be false or you used someone else identification then there could be a death penalty for you?"

"I know the law punk, I break them all the time. Speaking of which I am currently in the watch tower that is northeast of Forgile forest. Can you send someone of your boys to come to fetch me?"

"I cannot do that right now."

"Why? I am an A-Rank adventurer for fucks sake."

"Well, I can't… Since the cataclysm, we are short on hands?"

"What are you talking about punk?"

"You know big beast tide?."

"Yeah."

"It destroyed everything. The great walls of Ravenshade had fallen. The whole nation is in turmoil right now."

"The wall had fallen? Fuck. How is the city now?"

"Most parts of the city are in ruins. The situation over here is bad. And I mean really bad. So I suggest, you get to the city as fast as you can. Because, from what I have heard, the Accumulation is going to be started soon The domain of Ravenshade is in ruins." The voice said and then after some more information, Grump finally put down the communicator.

"Fuck." Grump cursed after he put down the communicator. While Dave just stood there listening to their every conversation but not understanding what was happening.

"What happened?"

"You heard the man. The walls of Ravenshade had fallen. It means the safe haven that was once known as Ravenshade is not anymore… You know Ravenshade is right?"

"Yeah, I know what is Ravenshade… But what is the Accumulation that you guys talked about?"

"Accumulation is like the will of the world. We as humans have destroyed forests to build towns and cities and killed many beasts to take over this world. But we were never the rulers of the world. So the world fights and tries to kill to get back its land through Accumulation."

This made him even more confused. Seeing this Grump continued.

"To take back its land, the world spawns monsters from time to attack the human settlements. And after it had killed off pests or humans, it start to take its land back. Remember the town that you came across."

"Yes…"

"I bet if you go there now, then you will see that most of the bodies of humans would be gone. That is because the world swallows them. And not only that, the whole town would be covered in green plants by now. The whole geography of the town would be changed."

"Is there any way to stop it?"

"To reclaim what has been accumulated, one just needs to go to the place and kill the neighboring monsters. And then just hold the fort for some time. Then the plants would stop growing and everything would turn normal"

"That guy said that the nation of Ravenshade is in ruins? How exactly?"

"The beast tide did a lot of damage. From the destroyed towns I came across, I knew the situation was bad. But I didn't know it was this bad. If the walls of Ravenshade had fallen, then it wouldn't be an understatement to say that the whole nation is on a brink of Accumulation. There is a possibility that maybe in the future, the Ravenshade would be erased from the map of Midgard."

"Fuck… That is insane. Is there any way to stop it?"

"Yeah Fight back, kill monsters. But most of the population of the city is dead remember.."

"So what should we do now?"

"We should head towards Ravenshade as soon as we can. Because now that the army of the city had retreated, there is no one to keep watch on the spawning of monsters. That means this whole piece of land will become a hell of a dangerous…" Grump said grimly…

***

Grump called the shots and he decided they should sleep in the tower for now. The night will be upon them in a couple of hours. Due to Accumulation, there is a higher chance that monsters would spawn on their way to Ravenshade. And he would rather stay the night under a shelter rather than stay the night out there in open.

According to him, he would rather prefer walking in monster-infested areas in the daytime. They could have better visibility and most monsters are not that active during the daytime. So he decided that it would be better for them to leave tomorrow…

Currently, Grump was cooking dinner for them. This tower too had supplies of dried fish and beef jerky in it. So he graciously took them out of the storehouse and was cooking fish stew for them. While the stew was cooking in the pot, Grump was sitting by the fire and was using this time to clean up his armor and other weapons. Among the weapon that he was cleaning were the things that he stole from the corpses. Seeing him so graciously cleaning those weapons, Dave decided to start a conversation with him.

"Have you… Do you do this often? Stole things from the dead?"

"I take things from the dead because they don't need them anymore. And in this world, one could always use a good weapon."

"Do you not find it unethical? Immoral?" Dave asked. Hearing this question, Grump scrunched up his face once again, as if talking to an idiot.

"No… It is not unethical to me. When I was a kid living in the streets of Ravenshade, I used to steal for a living. People say that stealing is unethical. But to me, it never was, it was the only way I could go to sleep with my stomach full. As for these weapons, I didn't steal them. I just took them when the original owner didn't need them anymore. So there is nothing unethical about this."

"Yeah right," Dave said with a hint of sarcasm in his tone.

"So what about you? What do use to do for a living before you came here?"

"I was a cook."

"A cook? You were a cook and you managed to kill a centaur? What are your skills?"

"Skills? I have just one, it is called the common tongue. It is through this from which I could talk, understand and write the language of this world."

"And am I supposed to believe that?"

"I am telling the truth you know."

"Then I don't believe you."

"Fine."

"And at least tell a good lie next time. You killed a centaur for fucks sake with your strength. No one would believe you if you tell them this lie."

"I am not lying. I was able to kill that centaur because I am a very smart man."

"So killed him with your brain? Is that what you are trying to tell me?"

"Yeah… Sort of. You see when he was upon me and was about to strike me down, I used my brain and devised a devious plan…" then Dave told him about how he distracted the centaur and killed him.

"Wait Wait Wait… You are telling me that you conjured a spear? How the fuck you did do it without having the proper skills for it? Huh?" this time Grump spoke with a hint of sarcasm.

"Well, it is not my skill per se. You see every Earthian has… this… pocket space… with them where they could store things. And I have some spears lying around in my space pocket. That is all."

"Wait… Do you have a pocket space? And you have spears lying in it?" Grump asked while standing up.

"Yeah." Dave said while being weirded out by his sudden action.

"How much space do you have?"

"Ah… Why?"

"Just answer dammit!" Grump asked.

"A lot. I mean I have all sorts of things in my pocket space."

"Dave, listen to me. It is apparently very important to me to know how much space you have. So just answer the question dammit." Grump asked aggressively, making him fear for his life.