World Of Karik: A Game Of Villains

"Well," Petrovich said thoughtfully, and for a moment I thought that there was a hint of sadness in his voice. "Congratulations on your first follower, Cat."

Silently, I looked at everyone else, trying to see their reactions. Some watched the scene with interest, while some, oddly enough, remained indifferent. Some were openly hostile. Vlada, for example.

"Well done, Vasily," she sneered. "Try not to become too prideful after such a success."

Did the last events really change her personality so much? I wasn't a psychologist, of course, and I was unable to tell if she was faking it before. But I remember her being quite different. Abyss seemed to still have certain effects on its adepts. That alone was reason enough to stay away from it.

"I'm starting to like this!" Oddly enough, Dasha was amused. "I wonder who else will join Light."

"Me," said a voice.

Hood over his head, Cyril stepped forth. His whole appearance contrasted all that Light stood for. I had to admit, I was genuinely surprised.

"Cat did well in the campaign to the Forbidden City," he explained. "I think I can continue to trust him."

Something was wrong here. Cyril had been killed during that campaign and had to resurrect, even though he almost outlasted everyone else. On the other hand, his death wasn't my fault.

"Great!" I replied cheerfully. "Then come closer so I can transfer you the skill."

Cyril nodded and approached me, extending his right hand. The transfer took less than a second. His face was no longer so gloomy. He even smiled as he examined his glowing hands with great curiosity.

"I guess that I'll choose Darkness then," Olga said in a flat tone. She seemed to have decided that long ago, but hesitated until the very last moment.

"Me too!" said a voice. Stas, the archer from Vlada's squad, and the first guy in the girls-only squad. I wondered if this was a political choice, or was he just hoping to have fun in their company?

Petrovich and Vlada watched with stone faces.

"Abyss," Nikolai said in a hoarse voice.

Well, I had expected that from Boris, he always kept to the strongest ones. He was one of the first to come over to our side when we attacked Vlada's squad.

"Abyss." I found it a bit strange that Pavel, Vlada's closest assistant, hadn't done this earlier. Was he starting to doubt her?

It didn't matter. I had nothing to do with him.

Petrovich's face relaxed after each new follower, and now he was shining like a well-polished piece of silverware. Vlada remained stoic and on guard. Dasha seemed to be enjoying it.

"What are you people?! Sheep?" she exclaimed pompously. "They mistreated you, and you still want to trust them?"

"I am with you," said Sergei. "I'm tired of all this."

Quiet, very unremarkable guy, who was, as it turned out, hiding his resentment this entire time. A small push was all it took to make him choose Darkness.

"Think it over, boy..." began the lancer, but the blacksmith interrupted him.

"Petrovich, you shouldn't pressure them," he said a bit sternly, but softened his tone by the end of the sentence.

"She didn't," Vlada muttered. "She didn't address anyone in particular."

Dasha smiled victoriously. She changed, too. At the beginning, she was just a young girl that picked herbs for me together with Olga. Now, however… They were right when they said that still waters run deep. She had acc.u.mulated so much anger!

"Dmitri?" asked the lancer, trying to remain calm.

"I have made my choice before," he answered confidently.

Everyone fell silent. Here he was, the only person that remained faithful to their former patron.

"Do you really want to be the only follower of Steelemete?" Vlada smiled.

"I do," the redhead confirmed. "He may be a dead God, but don't underestimate him. I want to remind everyone present that you got some of your votes because you've killed me."

He did have a point. I considered everyone but myself and the followers of the Great Three as weak, but the system wouldn't convert a death into a vote if the victim wasn't someone important. So this Steelemete guy was put on par with Abyss and Chaos by default. What an interesting ally I had.

"The choices have been made!" Petrovich said loudly, putting a formal end to the meeting. "Let's summarize. Abyss, five followers. Chaos, one follower. Darkness..." He made an effort to hide his obvious dissatisfaction with the results. "Five. Light, two followers. And one man who remains loyal to Steelemete."

Dasha smiled greedily, glancing at the others. She was tied with Abyss, which was the biggest faction. Darkness was at their heels, leaving Chaos behind. How did Dasha manage to do this with her scarce votes, implicit power, and a complete lack of authority? And why were the Chaos followers so calm, even though they had recruited the least amount of people? I wondered what would become of this in the end.

"You have three days to get ready for the tournament," said Petrovich. "Upon its completion, we will hold another meeting and summarize and discuss the future of the settlement. I will remain leader during the preparations. Vlada will be my authorized deputy."

People g.r.o.a.n.e.d with disp.l.e.a.s.u.r.e, but no one dared to argue. Petrovich didn't violate any rules after all. As the issue with the votes wasn't formally resolved, the Council was not yet a full-fledged authority, so the lancer took both management and responsibility upon himself. Law stopped everyone who wanted to challenge his decision.

"Thank you for your support," I thanked Dmitri when everyone left. I should befriend him. He did openly support me. I could definitely use his help.

"I did what I thought was right," he shrugged. "I respect Petrovich, no matter what everyone thinks of him, but I have no d.e.s.i.r.e to be a follower of Abyss. And the squad needs you; it needs someone to be a big pain in its a.s.s," he smiled.

"Flattering," I chuckled, knowing that he didn't say it with the intent to hurt me.

When power is concentrated in one place, be it in the hands of a person or in one faction, society reaches a dead end. But when one can challenge any decision and offer an alternative, that's justice. Or something akin to it. The main thing was to remember your goal and not make disputing for the sake of a dispute become the sole purpose of your existence.

"You have to understand," said he, "that having variety in the Council is in everyone's best interest. Imagine Chaos having the majority of the votes. As a single unit, we would have lasted a couple of months..."

I looked at him curiously, raising my eyebrows.

"That he will take his revenge," I said.

"And he will," the redhead confirmed. "At the worst possible time too. Here, in the village, law binds the followers of Chaos. But anything can happen in the Distant Forest. So be careful, Cat."

"Thank you," I said. "Right now I would like to discuss with you the basics of our mutually beneficial cooperation."

To hell with chit chat, we didn't have much time. I had my own plans for the blacksmith.

"All right," the redhead nodded. He was looking at me with some respect in his gaze. "You're growing up, Cat. You've finally figured out how to behave in this world."

"I'll be honest… I need you as a blacksmith," I said, ignoring his remark. "Weapons, armor, all that's necessary for one's survival and fighting."

"Of course," he agreed without hesitation. "And since our 'cooperation', as you put it, is mutually beneficial, I want something from you too."

"What is it?" I said, preparing to bargain. Who knew what he would ask for?

"First, I'd like to receive Lay on Hands." He made a short pause. "But the law doesn't allow this. I'm not your follower, only your ally, so you can't transfer skills to me. But potions," he spread his hands, "our hands are untied."

"I've saved some from when Petrovich made you make for everyone." Dmitri shook his head. "But that's not enough."

Clever lad. He realized that there would be no "free" potions any more. I saw no reason to help my potential enemies get stronger, and I didn't have anyone who'd pick herbs for me now.

"Increase your share of potions," I chuckled. "Is that all?"

"No," he retorted quietly. "Alchemy is a very strong and useful thing in this world. Your level of knowledge of it isn't very high, but you will gradually move onto more complex potions and tinctures. Together, we can create better weapons and armor."

Now that's an interesting thought. I looked at him curiously, expecting him to tell me more.

"Alchemy," Dmitri seemed to perk up, "is not just herbal concoctions. It also works with minerals and ore."

Thoughts buzzed around my head. If he was right, this meant that my seemingly random ability was on a completely different level. But I've already tried to study stones and ore, and failed. On the other hand, maybe I just didn't have enough intelligence then.

"I heard about a man," Dmitri continued. "Jones, the merchant, you probably remember him, told me about him. He managed to change the properties of the metal that his sword was forged of. It became more solid, but lighter at the same time. And it became much easier to manage. Do you get it now?"

I nodded. He continued enthusiastically. What Dmitri was talking about were speculations and legends, but there was some sense in his words. There was magic in this world, which meant that laws of physics worked differently here. What was impossible in our former world may be commonplace here. So if I could apply alchemy to grass, why couldn't I do the same to a weapon? Damn it, I had no idea where to start.

Hearing this, I smiled. I could only imagine how he did that. The poor alchemist must've been scared to death.

"What exactly did he get out of him?" I asked.

"In this world, there are certain elements that can change the properties of substances," the blacksmith replied. "For example, there are catalysts that can accelerate certain processes or destroy specific properties, and various amplifiers."

"Very interesting," I thought out loud. "And where can we get them?"

"That's what you have to find out," the blacksmith said.

What a surprise.

"Wait!" I exclaimed. "The alchemist really didn't say anything about that to Jones?"

"Not a word," Dmitri nodded. "Or, more likely, Jones just didn't tell me about it. Therefore, you should study alchemy more and learn about those elements as soon as possible. The more you know, the more elements you will find or make. Using them, I will be able to make better weapons for you. You must admit, we will both benefit from this."

Once again, he didn't say anything specific, but at least now I sort of knew what to do.

"I think we can agree on this," I said slowly, still digesting his words. "Could you still make me some simple armor without it?"

The redhead nodded, and I shared one of my ideas with him. Cyril and Lena, my two little paladins, could now heal their wounds, but they were yet to become stronger. Chaos followers could easily overcome them. But what if we increased their defense so that their enemies dealt less damage that they could easily heal?

I planned to order something like medium armor for them, so as to maintain maximum mobility, but Dmitri went even further and offered to dress them in heavy armor.

"Think," he said. "Sure, you will have to say goodbye to being quick, but strong defense will compensate it. If the enemy's strength is lower that it, your followers will heal their wounds faster than they can deal damage." An eternal battle. Odin would be happy.

I nodded, and he finished his thought.

"So the thicker the armor, the higher the level of their opponents should be. If they, of course, wish to win."

My lips stretched into one of the widest smiles ever.