Chapter 24: Cobalt Blue and Roads Too

  “Is she in there?” I asked as I returned to my chamber, excited to meet my son.

  “Who, My Lord?” one of the knights guarding the door asked. “Did you request companionship for the night? Perhaps one of the perils, or Lady Isabelle.”

  “No, Ceru!” I demanded.

  “But, My Lord,” the knight objected. “She just gave birth.”

  “That’s why I want to find her!” I demanded. “I want to meet my son. Where are they?”

  “Oh…” the knight cleared his throat in embarrassment. “She’s with the other ogres. We offered her a room of her own, but she refused.”

  “Sounds like her,” I chuckled. “Where is she?”

  “She’s in the dungeon, My Lord.”

  “The dungeon?” I asked, my blood starting to boil. “Why would you put a pregnant person down there?”

  The knight looked taken aback. “The ogres requested it, My Lord.”

  “Take me to her at once!” I commanded.

  “Y-yes, My Lord.”

  Sir Palamedes appeared and insisted on rattling off my to-do list for the following day as we walked. I tuned him out as I tried to hurry the aged knight along. He didn’t seem to understand my urgency. However, even with his trudging, we eventually got there.

  The doors were all open. Every cell in the dungeon was filled to capacity with both ogres and orcs.

  “You’re Orogurk, right?” I asked the large red ogre who barred the door to one of the cells, who, to my surprise, stood shoulder to shoulder with an equally large orc. “Aren’t the two of you enemies?”

  “You remember me,” Oruguk gave me a toothy grin. “Our war with orcs is a thing of the past. We came to Albion as allies, so we’re friends now.”

  “That’s good,” I heaved a sigh of relief. “Is she in there?”

  “Yes,” Orogurk replied. “And your son, Chonga.”

  “Chonga?” I asked.

  “Go meet him,” he said, ignoring my confusion while pushing the door open for me to enter.

  The room was crowded with ogres. Along with Ceru, her father, the original Chonu, was also present along with half a dozen female ogres.

  “You made it,” Ceru said wearily when she noticed me. “Meet, Chonga.”

  “Chonga?” I repeated the question, slightly sad she didn’t wait for me to name him.

  Ceru held a tiny blue baby out to me with a single lock of cerulean hair and brilliant amber eyes. The moment I scooped my son into my arms his menu appeared.

  (Unnamed) Krup

  Class: Ogre Chonga

  Level: 1

  Affection Level: Cranky

  I recalled the ogre naming convention but she explained anyway. “Chonga means future Chonu in my tongue. The male Chana. It means he’s your heir. Isn’t he adorable?”

  I smiled as I held him, and he smiled back. It was a toothy grin that wasn’t at all human. The oversized lower canines looked more like tusks than normal teeth, but they barely stuck out when he wasn’t smiling. Even though he was my second non-human child, he was the first true baby. While Bori had been a toddler when I first met her, she was almost immediately flying laps around the dungeon, while Chonga was content to wiggle in my arms.

  “We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto,” I whispered.

  “Toto?” Ceru asked. “Is that what you wish to call him?”

  I looked at her. “Uh, no. I was just thinking out loud. Let’s see. What’s a good name for you? How about Jack? No, that’s too much of an Earth name. I think I’m going to go with Cobalt.”

  “Cobalt…” Ceru rubbed her chin as she said the name aloud. “That’s a powerful name for our son.”

  “It’s a powerful blue element,” I explained. “I suppose that means I’m naming him after you in a way.”

  The other ogres in the room echoed the name before letting out loud grunts of approval. I took a seat next to Ceru and cradled our baby, relaxing for the first time since being home.

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  I didn’t leave the dungeon until well after midnight. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to sleep with Ceru and my son but the dungeon was crowded, and I needed some privacy. I powerwalked back to my room and barely got the door closed before I pulled up the menu.

  Current Population: 10,816

  Original Inhabitants: 143

  Immigrants: 10,655

  Humans: 4,422

  Ogres: 985

  Orcs: 1,222

  Trolls: 17

  Goblins: 12

  Grimlings: 3,740

  Eaglin: 257

  Gods: 5

  Dungeons: 13

  “Yes!” my voice cracked as I squealed over the milestone I’d reached.

  Population Milestones

  10,000: Roads Unlocked

  50,000: Towns Unlocked

  100,000: Walls Unlocked

  250,000: Fortifications Unlocked

  500,000: Alliances Unlocked

  1,000,000: Special Unlocked

  Roads! That’s what that meant. I could finally build roads like I always wanted to. I pulled up the menu like Arthur showed me and selected the crossroads outside of the castle. Crude tents lined the path in every direction, along with several half-built structures. I wondered if I was going to have to have the knights clear everyone out so I could build.

  “Let’s start with something simple,” I muttered. “I mean, how tricky can roads be.”

  Fortunately, the paths were mostly cleared. While the tents and half-built structures did come onto the paths, there was plenty of room for foot traffic. That was a start. I selected the area where six roads converged outside of Camelot and chose a basic road.

  PLEASE CHOOSE A WIDTH.

  I went with the basic, single lane, option to start. What happened next went beyond my calculations. The tents along the road flickered and vanished before reappearing outside of the crossroads. One of the structures was also moved back. In its place was more than just a crossroads. The large area looked more like a plaza. White cobblestones lined the square and the tents were spread out around the outside, giving me the impression of the beginnings of a town. Tiny figures emerged and congregated on my newly minted creation.

  “Is this happening in real-time?” I mused.

  Albion’s Mana: 9,800/14,921,021

  “Wow, Albion has hardly any mana,” I said with a sigh. “Let’s see what else we can make.”

  Connecting the square to Camelot only cost an additional twenty-five mana. Paving the path to the harbor was another story.

  Mana Cost: 5,900

  I sighed. While I wasn’t sure how fast the mana would replenish, I knew this road would help new citizens get settled quickly. The road appeared instantly the moment I clicked APPROVE. More chaos erupted as the magic repositioned the tents along either side of the single-lane road. It seemed like everyone was awake even though it was the middle of the night. Many of them congregated in the plaza and were having some sort of meeting. Unfortunately, the road builder didn’t come with audio, so I could only guess what they were discussing. I took a glance at the nation’s remaining mana and decided to call it a night. The last thing I wanted to do was find out what would happen if it ran out of mana.

  Albion’s Mana: 3,875/14,921,021

  “We need forty thousand more people,” I said over breakfast the next morning.

  “What for?” Isa asked with a mouth full of food.

  “Chonu wants an army,” Ceru replied.

  “An army would be nice,” Isa replied with a nod. “That way we can get Zelle and Nax back quicker.”

  “And make towns,” I mumbled, adding more roads as I spoke.

  “Did you guys know there are roads now?” Pippa asked from the other end of the table where she and the other former brothel workers sat. “One of my sisters came back from the beach settlement and said there is a road now. Nobody seems to know where it came from.”

  “It’s magic,” I said with a chuckle.

  “You did that?” her mouth formed an oval in surprise.

  I winked. “With a little more work, I’ll be able to make towns the same way.”

  “We need to go back to Xanadu,” Isa said, giving me a serious look.

  “We will,” I replied. “But first, I need to get Bori. I don’t like what’s going on in Dabia right now.”

  “I can handle that,” a voice that made the skin on the back of my neck crawl said.

  I turned to find Xanader. “How long have you been there?”

  He straightened from a bow. “I am always at your side, Majesty. That is my duty as your attendant.”

  “Did you follow me to Xanadu?” I asked, confused.

  He shook his head. “No, my duties end when you leave Albion. I will, however, gladly transport any nonhumans necessary to Albion from anywhere on Gaia. That includes your daughter.”

  “Why not humans?” I asked.

  Xanader grinned, his yellow teeth stood out against his otherwise ebony body. “Humans tend to be paranoid about traveling through the netherworld. We do not interfere as a general rule.”

  “Great!” I said, deciding to focus on humans later. “How soon can you get Bori here?”

  “Tonight, if you wish,” Xanader replied. “But removing the dungeon from Yew might have an impact on that ecosystem.”

  “I’ll return,” Aura appeared behind me. “I’ll safeguard Yew until the mayor decides to relocate.”

  “Will you be safe?” I asked, worried about her.

  My chest burned as Iris’s tattoo moved. “That town is under my protection. It is now the safest place in Dabia.”

  “Excellent!” I replied. “My goddess has everything under control. Who do we need to evac next?”

  “About that,” Primith said, choosing that moment to make her entrance. “We have a little problem.”

  I sighed. “What now?”

  Primith sat beside Pippa. “The rest of the players have gone dark. We have no way of knowing if they are okay or not.”

  “They what?” I asked.

  Primith explained. “When went to Xanadu, and the company lost the ability to track them. We have no idea where they are or if they’re safe.”

  “What do you want me to do about it?” I asked incredulously.

  Primith sighed. “The only thing we can do is go in and get them. They can’t have gone far. It’s only been a few days.”

  “They can’t have gone anywhere without magic weapons,” I reminded her.

  “Unless they got caught,” Isa supplied helpfully. “Then they will be in the same place as Nax and Zelle.”

  “That’s different,” I replied. “Nax and Zelle are just souls while the others all have bodies.”

  “But they could still be in the same place,” Isa shot back.

  “Alright,” I conceded. “We will go back as soon as possible. Let me get Bori back and come up with a plan first. The last time didn’t go well.”

  “Just so you know, I do not permit Bori to go in there,” Aura said. “Give her a dungeon near one of the refugee camps. She can help level up the local adventurers while you’re gone.”

  “That’s a good idea,” I replied. “We will do that with all of the baby dungeons.”

  Mention of the other dungeons caught the attention of Pippa. “Um, where are you going to put our children?”

  I rubbed my chin. “I’m not sure, but I promise there’ll be roads.”

  Meanwhile in Xanadu…

  Mike and Darrin ran at top speed down the beach while being chased by a lounge of shadow lizards.

  “How are we supposed to get off this accursed island?” Darrin shouted over his shoulder.

  Mike was struggling to keep up. “How am I supposed to know? The company was supposed to send help…right?”

  Just when Mike thought his lungs were going to explode, a shimmering light in the distance caught his eye.

  The cat-girl from the girl’s team waved frantically. “Quick! Over here. We found a safe spot.

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