CC 5 ~ 9!

9

Silence reigned in the area as General Mayhem scrutinized them, wondering if her blunt explanation would be taken the way that it normally was. She slumped and closed her eyes as it began.

“Free pass to steal stuff!”

“Woo!”

“They’re gonna be so sorry they ever treated me-”

General Mayhem shouted them down in an instant. “Hold it! Forgiveness only means after the fact! You get caught doing things that hurt our people, you still become a wanted person! I’m telling you that the ends will only justify the means if you do enough! I started as a General, and I single handedly planned, mapped, and executed the takeover of two major forts and all the minor forts associated with them! You think you can do better than me?”

“But you just said-” A random Dudette revealed her confusion to the group, allowing the General to have a target for her ire.

“That we expect you to make sacrifices! Not to settle personal vendettas, not to use your Candidacy as a tool against your own people. Whenever you turn in the quest, or reach the end of the quest time limit, everything you do will be assessed. You might do enough early on to end the quest early, but you can always refuse and try for higher!” Mayhem scowled at the stunned lot of Dwarves, her mustache quivering as she held in her fury. “If you do a whole lot, but what you do was straight evil, and wasn't enough to bypass the standard structure and reach the nobility? Do you really think we won't court-martial you?”

“Land? Space to build up my own base of operations… how I want it? That’s what I wanted from the start…” Joe wiped his bald head, glad that she was taking this time to clarify right away. They were far too many atrocities that he could unleash upon their enemies if he knew there wouldn’t be negative consequences for him. Actually… according to what General Mayhem had just told them, he could still create widespread devastation, so long as no Dwarf… Joe raised his hand.

“What are you, a child?” General Mayhem waved a hand at Joe. “If you have something you want to know, now is the time to ask. Just speak.”

“What if we do something absolutely terrible, I mean really, really terrible, more evil, actually… but only to the Elves?” Joe's question made the General smile.

“War crimes? Sounds like something that gets you promoted. Just make sure you never let the Elves capture you for any reason, but that same logic applied as soon as you joined us.” Mayhem turned to address the group as a whole. “Listen up. As a Candidate, you basically get to do whatever you want. You want to requisition goods? Do it. You need someone to teach you something? They will. The Legion will cover all the reputation losses during your Candidacy. Just remember, at the end of this Quest limit, if you are found to have been taking things just to take them… you better hope that you reach nobility.”

She let that announcement sink into their thick skulls, then turned and started walking away. “Are there any questions on this? No? Everyone follow me. There is one last thing to do.”

The entire company followed after her, slightly nervous after what they had just been told. They were going to need to balance acquiring power with covering their own rears, but there were a few of them who were already planning on going all-in. Joe was among them. There was no point in striving for anything less than nobility. If he only had six months to reach the highest heights, he would do it. If he couldn't do it, he would simply need to start at the bottom and work his way up again.

It would be annoying, but at least he would have done everything in his power, and would have no regrets. Joe refused to allow himself to hold back; as much as he truly wanted to just tinker with his own fun things, there was something thrilling about having a spelled-out goal. Something so clear that he could practically see the end in sight already.

“You have passed all of our tests to enter as a Candidate, but you still need one more thing.” Mayhem led them to the center of the fort, and at the exact center of the fortress, a larger-than-life statue awaited them. It was so colossal that the head of the Dwarf it depicted brushed against the ceiling. “Every fort has a final Guardian; for Dwarves, it is always standardized and modular. For Elves…”

All the Dwarves in the room spat on the ground, and Mayhem continued, “It is a plant. Their Guardian is always a cross between a tree and a carnivorous flower, a pain in the rear to kill every single time we have to do it. Everyone thinks it might actually be a weed-hybrid, since it is just that hard to get rid of. But… for us, our Guardian has always been the bravest of all Dwarves, the one who went first.”

Each Dwarf slammed a hand against their chest and shouted in unison. “Core Digger, swing strong, dig deep, and bring us home!”

Joe got caught up in the emotion that poured from every Dwarf around him. Some of them had shouted with pride in their voice, some with sadness. It was a ritual he did not understand, and as a Ritualist, he did not like that. Luckily for him, before he could open his mouth, General Mayhem spoke.

“Cory Dugger, the Core Digger! Guardian of the Dwarven race, first and last of his name! Before you stands the newest cohort seeking Candidacy! If any of them hold treachery in their heart, pick them out so that we may remove the cornerstone of insurrection!”

Joe winced as he glanced at the massive pickaxe being held casually by the… he wanted to say ‘statue’, but it was moving. This was clearly a golem or automaton. Steam hissed from each of its joints, and the Guardian began to shift. It crouched down until its face loomed only half a dozen feet above them all, and the gems it had for eyes swept across the entire room. Those same eyes acted as flood lights, so it was very clear when the construct was looking at one of them.

It had paused for a moment when inspecting Joe, but the human faced the Guardian without flinching. It stood and jerkily nodded. “Candidates. Added. To. Whitelist.”

The booming, mechanical voice made everyone except for General Mayhem wince. She allowed a half-smile to bloom on her face, then turned to face the newly-minted Candidates. “Congratulations. You now have six months to work yourselves to the bone and prove yourselves to the Oligarchy. Thanks to the magic of ‘whitelisting’, no Dwarven Guardian will attack you unless you strike first. Now, final thoughts? Make sure to ask if you need anything. Step forward when I call your names; you are going to be assigned to a mentor who will be your national liaison.”

Quest updated: Ranker. You have been fully accepted as a Candidate! Title Gained: Candidate.

Candidate: for the next six months, the Dwarven Oligarchy will hold off judgement upon your actions. Reputation gain and reputation loss have both been halted. At the end of this six-month period, all of your actions will be judged by General Courts-Martial. This title will be upgraded upon completion of the quest ‘Ranker’.

Caution: you have too many titles! Which title will you replace in order to take this Mandatory title?

Joe looked at the list available to him, and got rid of the first title he had ever gained, ‘Try Me with Trials’. If he could take anything he wanted, there was no need to be charismatic about it. He stopped fiddling with his stats and jerked his head to attention when General Mayhem called his name. “Joe! You will be assigned to Major General Havoc.”

Muttering broke out around him. “Havoc? As in-”

“She can’t be serious, right? What did he do to deserve going to that-”

General Mayhem’s voice raised above all other noises. “As a class focusing on… magic, we needed to have an expert on board to keep an eye on you. Joe… I should say sorry about this, but I’m not actually upset. A human in the Legion is cause for concern, and your people will need to work harder than anyone else to prove themselves.”

“Seriously?” Joe got his question out just before he was whisked away from the fort in a wash of mana. If he had been paying attention previously, he would have noticed the same thing happening to each person that had been assigned previously. When his surroundings stopped swimming, he found himself sitting at a desk across from a Dwarf.

Joe glanced around the room, completely uncertain how to handle the situation he found himself in. The trappings of the military were nowhere to be seen, not a single award was in sight, and the Dwarf across from him was the most disheveled representative of the race he had ever encountered.

The person he assumed to be Major General Havoc was staring at him with cold eyes, wearing a near-modern lab coat. His beard was singed and burned, shorter than any beard that Joe had ever seen a Dwarf sporting before. This was also the first person with not only a beard, but hair on his head. It had clearly not been cared for, and what remained was disheveled and steel grey.

Major General Havoc was smoking a fat cigar, and took a deep pull from it as he studied the human in turn. He glanced at a pile of scrap metal next to the table, the broken automaton that Joe had offered to get into the Officer’s track. Showing a wild smile underneath his thick protective goggles and clearly still-broken nose, the Dwarf asked a question that instantly made Joe like him one-hundred percent more.

“Who’d ya tick off to get assigned to me?”