Synthetic Survivor: Machine Age - Chapter 146

King Wog and his aides, Lady Patricia and Lady Stacy were in the grand hall. The grand hall was the big, golden, and fancy cafeteria of the castle. Before the uprising, it was reserved for only the richest of the classes and the count.

But since everything was eventually turned upside down in a span of only a day, the grand hall and the works of the chefs of skills but of common birth were made available to the rest of the peasantry.

King Wog amd his aides were at a separate table from the rest. Since security around the King was lenient, courtesy of One’s policies, no retainers were needed to check for poison.

The dwarf, the elf, and the human mage all chowed down on the delicious food that was served to them.

As they ate, their lighthearted conversation about the future of their careers as newfound rulers and leaders of this young kingdom quickly turned into a serious discussion regarding what Patricia saw that night.

“Are you really sure there was someone else with Ben?” King Wog asked her the same question again.

“Yes, I saw them,” Patricia said.

“But what do you mean she came out of thin air?” Stacy asked.

Stacy was a powerful mage who could access tier 10 magic spells at will but she had never heard of  illusion spells that were at the levels of what she saw.

But Stacy believed Patricia’s story, so did Wog.

But the question was, who was that lady?

“Didn’t you hear their conversation?” Stacy asked.

“I told you, I tried but I couldn’t just step inside. But, knowing Ben until now.. this is my first time seeing him completely distracted, like, the door creaked when I peeked through but he did not care..” Patricia said.

Then the conversation took a very weird turn.

“First of, why were you entering Ben’s room, without knocking, in the middle of the night?” Wog asked.

“Oh.. I..  ugh.. was concerned!” Patricia said.

Wog and Stacy’s expressions said otherwise, they weren’t convinced.

“You had other intentions,” Stacy bluntly said.

“I did not! Anyways, let’s not stray away from what is the main issue here?” Patricia said.

“Fine, we’ll discuss about your intentions later,” Wog said.

“Soo, there was this girl, a beautiful girl, you described her like that so don’t look at me with those eyes,” Stacy said. Patricia seemed too annoyed with the word “beautiful”

“The lady was with One for the rest of the night, right?” Stacy continued.

“Yes! But then she disappeared as if she was just an illusion,” Patricia said.

Stacy was aware that the lady in question was some sort of illusion just by what Patricia was telling her but the problem was, illusions were programmed only to do limited and menial tasks, mimicking a few or limited functions of their real life counter parts.

But the lady in question fitted the description of an illusion but her complexity was a bit contradictory.

And the fact that One was interacting with her as if she was his lover.

But maybe she was his lover?

Stacy was now trapped in her own rabbit hole that she dug for herself. But who pushed her into digging that rabbit hole? Patricia.

Wog, being the dwarf that he was, didn’t really mind what the lady was as long as One did not go astray from his loyalty and fidelity to the kingdom and Wog himself.

“Fine.. I’ll just accept the fact Ben has a woman by his side from somewhere.. someplace,” Patricia pouted.

‘She’s jealous’ Wog and Stacy’s minds were in sync.

And they weren’t really far off from their ȧssumption since the evidence that pointed to the fact that she was jealous was too overwhelming amd too blatant.

Meanwhile, across the Fortress City, in the eastern fields where corn was being grown and cultivated, One, Toby, and the battalion of knights he called for, marched towards the east.

They were to traverse the eastern boundary, although One had done it before but this time, they were following a dirt path that went through a small clearing in the middle of the forest unlike One route which went directly into the forest.

The knights and Toby were a bit weary because the area was known for frequent ambushes by magical beasts, mainly dire wolves.

One, though not weary, was being cautious.

His wife urged him to be more cautious since although she was confident that he alone could take on a large number of these so-called magical beasts, his followers weren’t so safe.

One needed to protect his men as well to prove to them that they weren’t just fodder to be given to the enemy to buy him time.

Their lives mattered, even if it was a little I’m the eyes of One who still viewed most of his companions as mere pawns.

Even so, since his emotions as a humans have begun to return thanks to Hailey loosening the restraints in his mind, he wasn’t all that cold anymore.

Stoic, yes. Would kill you for a menial crime? Well, fifty percent less than in the past but was still a huge percentage.

As they marched further into the east, in the distance, some creatures peeked through the bushes and the treeline.

None of them were aware that a tragedy bad befallen the eastern frontier. The trail that they walked upon was as dead as their destination.

Another army of invaders was upon them. They had overrun Wog’s former estate that was the lake. They had overrun most of the eastern villages and none were spared.

Who were these creatures? They weren’t magical beasts, no, magical beasts did not form any strong unions with each other. Even packs of direwolves would kill other packs if food was scarce.

These creatures were foul, stinking, short, hut ruthless.

And One was all-too familiar with their kind.

“Goblins,” One stopped in his tracks. The knights behind him drew their swords and formed a line beside One. Toby readied himself to cast his spells.