Chapter 796: The Continent Has a King (Patreon)

Luke walked back through Farmarug with his horns gone and the fighting over. Orc bodies still littered the streets, and the surviving humans were beginning to reclaim the city.

“Hey, Boss!” Norn emerged from the rubble. “Norn is collecting the corpses like you said.”

The giant spider carried several bodies wrapped in webbing on her back, including generals, captains, and other orcs strong enough to serve as food for Luke’s monsters. She shifted the load with a cheerful click. A nearby human soldier noticed one of the corpses swaying in the webbing and went pale.

Luke nodded. “Good work, Norn.”

Above him, the Flying Dutchman drifted through the sky. Its dark hull creaked without any wind, and the sails moved on their own. Luke could feel the spirit inside the ship, but he still couldn’t tell whether it actually listened to him or simply did whatever it wanted. When he reached the other side of the city, the human army had regrouped. Even the soldiers trapped in the orc-held section were free now. Charlie and Angie had dealt with the tougher enemies there.

He moved through the camp with every eye on him. Some soldiers nodded as he passed. Others kept their distance.

One soldier finally approached him, hesitant. “Sir... I don’t know who you are, but you have my thanks. You saved my life.”

Luke nodded and kept walking toward a group of familiar faces. Garen Voss stood among men and women bearing the crests of kingdoms from across the continent.

“Tell your kings today was a courtesy. Next time, I charge.” Luke looked from one representative to the next. “The orcs will be back stronger. When they are, I’ll be expecting offers.”

A man wearing Jungral’s crest was the first to speak.

“Who are you?”

“King Luke Moon. Ruler of the Moonlight Kingdom.”

No one answered, and Luke didn’t wait for one. He activated his cape and launched himself into the sky. Moments later, he was back aboard the Flying Dutchman, where the others were waiting. Angie circled overhead once more to check the area, then landed beside him as notifications began stacking across his vision.

[Charlotte Vespertilio’s Class [Royal Blood Knight] reached Level 120!] (+28 Strength, +27 Lethality, +24 Vitality, +21 Agility, +18 Toughness, +15 Perception, +12 Willpower, +28 Free Points.)

[Charlotte Vespertilio unlocked a new Class Skill]

[Charlotte Vespertilio’s 2nd Class [Black Ember Ascendant] reached Level 113!] (+36 Strength, +24 Intelligence, +20 Endurance, +18 Vitality, +16 Agility, +12 Willpower, +9 Perception, +20 Free Points.)

[Charlotte Vespertilio has reached Level 115! Vampire (Rank D)] (+10 bonus points to all attributes, +25 free points)

[Angie’s Class [Storm Valkyrie] reached Level 122!] (+24 Lethality, +24 Willpower, +20 Strength, +20 Perception, +18 Wisdom, +18 Intelligence, +16 Endurance, +35 Free Points.)

[Angie’s 2nd Class [Cleric of the Radiant Dawn] reached Level 116!] (+35 Wisdom, +28 Willpower, +23 Intelligence, +19 Vitality, +14 Perception, +12 Toughness, +9 Endurance, +30 Free Points.)

[Angie has reached Level 119! Angel (Rank D)] (+16 to all attributes, +40 Free Points.)

Luke barely had time to register the flood of notifications before he spotted Kren on the deck. None of his soldiers had died, though Kren was badly injured. The ratfolk lay with Mivi beside him while Angie knelt over his wounds, healing him.

Luke approached. “A human did this to him?”

“Orc,” Mivi answered without taking her eyes off her brother.

Kren slowly opened his eyes. Even as he trembled, one hand still clutched a broken tusk.

“I did it...” he murmured. “I tore one of their tusks out... like they did to us.”

He passed out again, and Angie kept working on his wounds.

“He’ll be fine. He lost a lot of blood, though.”

For the next hour, they checked on the wounded as the Flying Dutchman carried them away from Farmarug. On the roads below, columns of soldiers on striders advanced toward the city like ants, far too late to make a difference. Beneath the ship, Nara and Norn made their way through the forest.

Kren woke not long after, apparently too stubborn to stay down. He forced himself to his feet in front of everyone and raised the tusk he had torn free.

“This is for everyone who suffered because of the orcs.”

The soldiers around him cheered.

It took them a full day to get back to the Moonlight Kingdom. The Flying Dutchman needed beast cores to keep flying, but Luke had plenty. He collected them whenever he could, even Rank E cores. He didn’t need cores that weak for himself anymore, but they still came in handy for magical items.

The ship landed in the forest. No one except Luke had managed to enter the inner rooms because the doors simply refused to open for anyone else. Even so, the Flying Dutchman had carried them home without rebelling. Luke placed a hand on the wheel.

“Thanks.”

The wood creaked beneath his palm, and a second later, the sails dissolved. Luke stared at the ship, unsure whether that was a good sign.

Back in the village, families rushed to meet the returning soldiers. Those who had stayed behind kept looking from face to face, counting. Nara and Norn arrived not long afterward, both filthy, streaked with dried blood, and covered in bits of webbing.

Once the reunions settled down, the crowd gradually turned toward Luke. He let the noise die down before speaking.

“This was the Moonlight Kingdom’s first victory. We stopped the orcs, saved Farmarug, and everyone who left with me came home.” Luke looked over the soldiers and their families. “You all did one hell of a job.”

The cheering started immediately.

“Now let’s drink!” Barb shouted.

The dwarves needed no further instructions. The goblins and ratfolk joined them, and the village quickly filled with the smell of roasting beast meat. Drinks passed from hand to hand while people crowded around bonfires scattered between the houses.

“This is basically the end of Return of the Jedi,” Artemis said. “Everybody celebrating with the Ewoks.”

“Pretty much.”

A green glow appeared a moment later, and Illyra materialized.

“Look at that. We even got a Force ghost,” Artemis said.

Luke ignored him and faced Illyra. “I brought them all back alive.”

“Before you left, I said I wouldn’t criticize you,” she replied. “And that I wanted everyone back alive.”

“And I kept that promise. We saved a lot more people than just ours today.”

“I know, Botanist. You have my sincere thanks.”

Charlie wandered over soon after and stopped beside him. “I... did good too?”

Luke smiled and patted her head. “Of course. You did great, Charlie.”

“What about Norn, Boss?!” the giant spider asked, suddenly appearing beside them.

He turned to her. “You... did great too, Norn.”

By then, Bernard was completely drunk. He pointed his mug toward Luke.

“Three cheers for Lord Luke!”

Everyone around him followed the drunken dwarf’s lead. Nara stayed close to her children while the dwarves sang and the ratfolk did their best to keep up.

One of the smaller spiders approached Luke. “Our mother came back safe.”

“Yes.”

“If anything had happened to her, Lord Tricks-Mothers, we would have come after you.”

Luke blinked.

“Thank you for protecting our mother.”

The spiders walked away after that.

Before long, Barb had somehow ended up in a drinking contest. She was winning by a ridiculous margin, and from what Luke understood, whoever managed to beat her would earn the right to become her husband. Not one dwarf came close.

“Hey, Luke, why don’t you—”

“Don’t start, Artemis.”

“You already knew what I was going to say, didn’t you?”

“Yes.”

“That just proves how intimate we are.”

As he wandered through the festivities, Luke spotted Nessa, the elderly goblin, beating several humans in a push-up contest.

“I’m just an old woman!” she laughed. “Are you really this weak?”

Angie watched from beside him. “It seems becoming a Dark Lord Soldier has benefited her considerably. We should probably be more selective with future soldiers.”

“Relax, Angie. Nessa’s having fun. Besides, if she evolves into a Warrior, she’ll awaken a class or profession. Boggy’s been really useful in the fields as an herbalist.”

“Yes, he has his uses. I hope Nessa proves useful too.”

Angie said it in the same tone she used when discussing troop assignments.

Caleb and Joseph found him later with good news: nothing had happened in the villages while he was gone. Caleb was mostly pissed that he’d missed the fight, while Joseph spent the next few minutes praising him.

The kukris had been in a bad mood all night. When Luke finally found himself alone, he drew both blades and looked them over.

“What’s gotten into you two?”

He could feel a faint irritation coming from them, but they ignored him. “Come on, girls. If you don’t tell me what pissed you off, there’s not much I can do about it.”

The blades trembled, and the tip of one dipped toward the Flying Dutchman.

“The ship? What about it?”

They didn’t respond.

“Are you jealous? That’s it?”

The kukris ignored him again. Their annoyance felt suspiciously like a "hmph".

Women are complicated, even when they’re weapons. Or, in this case, weapon-shaped spirits.

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