His first recruit was a drunken farmer named Rolf, who claimed to be a noble. Together, they chased down a group of looters near Praven. Alaric didn't fight with grace; he fought with the desperation of a man trying to rewrite his own code. He swung his blade, and for a moment, the world slowed. The physics of the strike felt real—the weight of the steel, the thud against leather armor.
"Free," he whispered, though he wasn't sure if he meant the cost of his journey or the way he felt on the open plains. His first recruit was a drunken farmer named
Alaric stared at the digital flickering of the world before him—Version 1.174. He wasn’t a king, not yet. He was just a man with a chipped arming sword, a stolen horse, and exactly zero denars to his name. Behind him, the snowy peaks of the Vaegir Kingdom loomed like frozen giants; ahead, the sun-scorched deserts of the Sarranid Sultanate promised only thirst and bandits. He swung his blade, and for a moment, the world slowed
As the campfire flickered, Alaric looked at the map. To the north, the Nords were sharpening their axes. To the south, the Swadian knights were preparing a feast they wouldn't live to finish. The world was a chaotic sandbox of shifting borders and broken loyalties, and Alaric realized that in v1.174, the only thing truly "free" was the right to die for a cause—or live long enough to see your own banner fly over the walls of Suno. Alaric stared at the digital flickering of the
He gripped his sword hilt and smiled. The conquest had just begun.
By sunset, he had five denars and a bag of moldy bread. It was a start.
The year was 1257, and the air in Calradia smelled of horse sweat and rusted iron.