Warsinger by James Baldwin (most inspirational books TXT) 📗

other things on my mind. I could definitely be coping better.”

He shrugged. “Then forfeit your claim to someone who can cope and return to Taltos. Let the Volod appoint another Voivode.”

I turned on him sharply. “What the hell did you just say to me?”

“The truth.” He fixed me with a defiant expression. “What was it you said to me when I was moping in the War Room at Fort Korona, drinking myself into an early grave?”

I sighed. “I told you to harden the fuck up.”

He gave me a stiff, sardonic bow. “Then with all due respect, Your Grace...”

“Right, fine, I get it.” I reached up to pull the crown off, turning it in my hands as I resumed pacing. “I’m going to become the best fucking Voivode you’ve ever had now, just to spite you. I just… I can’t stop thinking about Suri, man. What if they’re hurting her? Torturing her?”

“You know as well as I do that agonizing over her pain will not relieve it,” he said, more gently. “Trust in her, Hector. She knew what she was risking when she joined the fight against Ashur, and you are making excuses when you could be coming up with solutions to speed your way to Dakhdir. But first, you have to know how to rule this place. You need to put your house in order.”

“Ugh.” I opened up the Kingdom Management System and drew a deep, calming breath when two holographic displays opened up, one next to the other. The screen on the right was titled 'Kingdom Quests', and contained the list of quests I'd received in my first court session. It was similar to my normal Quests menu, but this menu was somewhat more technical. By hovering over a quest, I discovered that Istvan was right: I could, in fact, assign them to other people. There was also a tagging system, which allowed me to sort them into categories, and a feature that allowed me to remotely track the progress of any quest I had outsourced to NPCs or other players. I could pay them through this portal, and I could also create and assign new quests of my own.

The screen on the left had four tabs: Overview, Infrastructure, Logistics, and Governance. Overview was the default tab, giving me a zoomable map of Myszno, a short bullet-point list of its essential demographics, its economic health, and important upcoming dates. Months in Archemi were only 27 days long, and the harvest began on Szuret Hava 1.

As if sensing my confusion, my HUD piped up.

[Would you like a guided tour of the Kingdom Management System?]

“Yes, please. All of the guiding, all of the tour.” I scanned the Infrastructure page, trying to make sense of it.

“The Kingdom Management System - or KMS for short - is a flexible scaling content management platform to help you manage your new territory.” Mynarrator, who I’d named Navigail, sounded as perky as ever. “While it may seem complicated at first glance, the system gives you vast control over how your territory is run, from managing small villages through to entire nations. I can run you through this tour manually, or I can upload the information via GNOSIS. Which would you prefer?”

“Yes, please, for the love of all that is holy, upload the information.”

There was a pause.

“I'm sorry, but due to Archemi being in Beta, the GNOSIS information upload for this tutorial requires Admin approval,” Navigail chirped. “I’ll notify you when the first available Admin is online.”

I groaned. “All the Admins are dead, Navigail. Don’t worry about it.”

“No problem! I’ll let our support team know,” Navigail replied. “I've detected that you’ve already grasped the Kingdom Quest Interface, so let's start with the second module: Your Infrastructure tab.”

“Nothing gets me harder than infrastructure,” I muttered. Istvan, who was leaning against a pillar while he waited, shot me a quizzical look.

The narrator was oblivious. “The Infrastructure menu is, in some ways, the most important part of your KMS. Every habitable building rests on a foundation, and your infrastructure is the foundation of your kingdom. By mastering this menu, you can create or reshape the environment where your citizens to live, work, play and rest. Infrastructure is also important for the economy, and also for maintaining good standards of health and security.”

“The Infrastructure menu, like all of the Kingdom Management menus and the Mass Combat System, can be scaled up and down. You can micro-manage individual units, or manage large-scale projects by opening this menu and searching for the kind of project you wish to assess or complete. Let's start with your castle as an example. Think or say: 'Kalla Sahasi.'“

“Kalla Sahasi,” I thought back.

A map of the castle appeared to one side, with a list of the castle's features on the other. There were about twenty items, listed in alphabetical order.

●        Apiary (0% N/A)

●        Bakery (80%; N/A)

●        Barracks (50%; Captain Parvas)

●        Stables (32%, Ivan Mattias (squire))

●        Donjon (25%, N/A)

●        ...

If the structure didn't exist, the name was grayed out. If it did exist, then it had a percentage score next to it. The names were the NPCs appointed to manage each of the castle’s important functional buildings, like the Barracks and Stables. Out of about fifteen different stations, only three of them had occupants. I could guess the rest had been killed.

Navigail seemed to pick up on my train of thought as I worked it out. “You are correct! The names in that menu show which stations you can appoint NPCs or Players to. The percentage next to your structures shows you their integrity, which affects the operational capacity of those buildings. For example, the bakery of Kalla Sahasi is currently operating at 80% functionality. Select it to identify what needs to be repaired.”

“Bakery,” I thought.

The menu blinked out, and the map zoomed into the Bakery unit, bringing it into focus. It was at the back of the Kitchens, which were