How I Accidentally Built a Kingdom

Right! So we should probably get back into it.

I’ve received some complaints about these random tangents that I get into before actually getting into the story.

Some of you feel that it’s taking time away from the actual story of this very chaotic journey that I’ve been on.

Okay, okay I’ll tell them about it.

So my wives tell me that I should actually say it’s the journey we’ve been on, apparently I’m "selfish" if I don’t say it like that.

Ouch!

I did not use airquotes as I said that!

You must’ve imagined it!

Yes, all of you imagined it!

No, I’m not trying to sound more important to impress the ladies.

You guys are more than enough for me.

Anyway, it’s exactly those interactions that are apparently a bit too much for some people.

But honestly, that’s just our life, I can’t really just ignore my beautiful wives if they want to say something now can I? And if you have a problem with that, you can take it up with me.

I might be an easy going guy... but no one should dare say something bad about my family. And if you do, it’s not going to be my wives you have to worry about.

Right, so now that we’ve got that out of our systems, let’s get back into it.

***

After spending a couple of moments talking to Julia in the middle of a surprisingly busy street, we made our way towards the inn.

We needed a place to spend the night after all. The sun was already starting to dip lower and lower, which surprised me. I could’ve sworn it was just past midday when we started our journey toward the village.

I just assumed that maybe the days are shorter here than they were on Earth.

It couldn’t possibly have been that I made a journey of an hour into one that was longer. I kept up with Julia the entire way after all. And the way my lungs burned when we came out of the forest was surely an indicator that the pace couldn’t have been that bad.

So it was definitely just the days that were shorter here.

Once we reached the inn, and I was standing in front of the receptionist, I realized something that I had definitely thought of before. It’s not at all like I had forgotten about something so very fundamental to society.

I didn’t have any money.

I didn’t even know what the economic structures and situations were in this world.

Did they have a centralized currency?

Did each kingdom have its own currency?

Were they still using the gold standard?

I was kind of imagining them using the currency I had always read about, you know copper, silver, and gold coins. Which would have been pretty cool if you asked me.

And I was pleasantly surprised, and very happy when I saw Julia take out a couple of copper coins as payment for our rooms for the night.

Now you ask whether I was embarrassed that she had to pay for me?

Yes I was.

Did I show it?

No I did not.

Like I said, I’m very good at hiding my emotions.

I don’t fidget.

I don’t blush.

I’m the picture of stoicism.

Julia grabbed our room keys, and led the way upstairs to our rooms. Yes upstairs, I actually expected this village to only have one floor, but once again I was surprised that it had three.

Three!

Maybe this little village wasn’t as backwater as I expected it to be.

Our rooms were on the third floor, with amazing views overlooking the entire village. I could see people moving through the streets, finishing off the last of their daily tasks.

The room was a bit cramped, only a bed, and a small cupboard filling the entire space. Julia had decided to take the room right next to mine. Which I found a bit suspicious because it’s not like the inn was filled to the brim with patrons.

In fact it was so empty that I wondered how the innkeeper even survived.

The answer to that question arrived later that night when Julia came around and said we should go down to have some dinner.

We walked into a dining room that was absolutely filled to the brim with people.

There was literally a waiting room so people could wait for tables to open up in comfort!

This was a gold mine!

"There are so many business opportunities here." I whispered, fully intending to keep that discovery to myself.

This was the perfect information to approach the innkeeper with.

I can even use this to try and gather the funds I would need to open my bar!

"Business opportunities?" Julia whispered from next to me.

I was stunned by her sudden question, I mean I whispered it pretty softly. I started to wonder if maybe she had super hearing.

Was there some kind of magic that helped with hearing?

Wait, was magic a thing here?

It wouldn’t be a proper fantasy world without magic right. I mean there were elves, so surely there should be magic too.

"Is magic a thing in this world?" I asked her in a whisper, I didn’t want to have an awkward encounter with some random person in the waiting area overhearing me clearly asking questions that should probably be general knowledge to the people in this world.

Julia grabbed my hand and led me to a quieter corner of the waiting room.

"You should really keep the entire otherworlder thing a secret. Most people aren’t going to be as understanding about that as I am."

In a way I probably understood that, but I mean it wasn’t as if I was yelling it from the rooftops. I had once again whispered the question to her.

I’d even leaned closer to her when I asked. And I have to say she smelled very nice. It was such a nice scent in fact that I was in a daze when she led me away.

It was just the smell of course, it had nothing to do with how soft her hand was, or the magnificent view I had when I leaned over to whisper in her ear. No, none of those things had any effect at all.

"But yes magic is a thing, everyone has magical affinities in some way or form."

Now, like I said, I had no interest in magic for battle, or becoming something like a supreme mage or anything. But even I had to admit that having some sort of magical affinity would be sooo cool.

"How do I find out if I have an affinity, or what that affinity might be?" I asked, obviously completely controlling the excitement in my voice.

And by the completely relaxed, and unknowing smile on Julia’s face at that moment, I had succeeded splendidly, as always.

"I have some testing stones, we can test you once we leave the diner." Julia whispered to me, she stood on her toes a bit so she could get closer to me, and I leaned over a bit. Which unintentionally caused her lips to brush my ears with every word.

Now being the gentleman I was I didn’t make a scene of this.

I also didn’t let my complete inexperience show by shivering from head to toes.

There were definitely also no goosebumps filling every inch of skin available.

"But the mere fact that you’re an otherworlder means you should have access to storage magic," she continued. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

I had to work really hard to be able to focus on what she was saying, and not on the feeling of her breath against my ear.

Or her breasts that were pressing against me as she leaned closer.

I had to admit, her armor, and clothes did A LOT to hide her generous curves, but feeling them up close like that...

Ahem Ahem.

Anyway, I could still hear the part about storage magic though, and if that was true there were a lot of practical uses for it.

So many in fact that I couldn’t keep a massive smile from spreading across my face. This was of course the first time I had shown any of these emotions.

All of the information I had now gave me a pretty good idea of how I could proceed from here on out.

I had a bunch of new business ideas that I could implement.

I had an idea of how to approach them.

And images of the riches I was going to acquire already started flashing through my mind.

Listen, I might not be ambitious in the way people expect a person from another world to be.

I might not want to become the strongest person in the world, or conquer any nations, or become a hero.

But show me any man who hasn’t imagined becoming filthy rich. And I was no better than most. I’m big enough to admit that.

***

Excellent, so apparently that’s all we have time for today, I’ve been given the signal.

In the next session I’ll tell you all about my plans, how I implemented them, and how at first they went horribly wrong, only to randomly be fixed.

What do you mean not so randomly?

Of course I heard you.

You did what!?

Okay, apparently it wasn’t that random.

I’m kind of disappointed now.

I always thought it was my brilliant ideas that swayed opinions. Anyway, I’ll let Julia tell that part after I tell you about what I thought happened in the next session.