Realm Guard 2: A Slice of Life Fantasy by Noah Layton

Author:Noah Layton [Layton, Noah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-02-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

Quintilius Kragg

For a moment I struggled to understand what I was looking at.

The cloaked figure stood at least nine-feet-tall, looming with the same terror as any one of the swamp-fiends that we had fought off to get in here. One whole arm and one whole leg were mechanical, bearing plenty of similarities in their exposed joints and workings to Volk back at Journeyman’s Rest, as well as my own training bot and the various others I had seen back at the tinkerer’s workshop in Zunderholm.

But the tall, hulking being didn’t move with any of the intimidation of a training bot or a swamp-fiend. It just stared at Alina and I from beneath its hood, the hints of features showing themselves in the flickering lantern light of the sprawling workshop.

‘Do you know…?’ A husky, gentle voice began. ‘This is the first time that I’ve had guests in my domain for… I don’t know how long.’

‘We don’t mean any harm,’ I spoke carefully. ‘We’re just looking for Kragg.’

‘Why do you seek him?’

‘Because we think something that he crafted is causing trouble with untethered magic in the forest, and we’re trying to stop it from getting worse.’

‘This is not how I go about receiving orders,’ the deep, husky voice spoke. His tone was drier than the Sahara, but something told me that he didn’t have any immediate intention of harming either of us.

‘You’re him?’ I said. ‘You’re Kragg?’

‘I am.’

Without warning, the figure pulled down its hood.

The face of a troll stared back at me, bigger than any I had ever seen. Its tusks were trimmed down to their bases, barely larger than any of his proportionally large and surprisingly clean teeth. Straggly hair snaked back across his head, tied into a knot behind him, while a pair of large, gray eyes scanned us.

‘Who are you people?’ The troll asked curiously.

‘I’m Guard Leo,’ I started warily, keeping my blade drawn, ‘and this is Cleric Alina. We’re agents of the Realm Guard.’

‘Ah,’ he chuckled. ‘Then I shall make sure not to cause you any harm. Word of my existence only persists as long as I don’t break any laws that would bring the rest of the Realm Guard down here. So, with that in mind – tea?’

Kragg made his way across the room to a small alchemy station and began brewing. Alina and I exchanged an uneasy look.

‘Tea?’ Alina repeated. ‘You’re offering us tea?’

‘Indeed.’

‘Do you realize how much shit we had to avoid just to get make it here? You could have killed us both twenty times over!’

‘I would do no such thing,’ Kragg responded, mixing his brew. ‘I despise weapons. Please put yours away.’

Alina and I shot each other a look as the enormous troll tended casually to his alchemy station.

‘We’re both agents of the Realm,’ Alina continued sharply. ‘If we wanted to, we could arrest you right now.’

‘For what?’

‘Setting those swamp-fiends on us! What else?!’

‘Those beasts are not mine. They simply live in the cavern. The fact that I happen to live just a short distance from their domain does not mean that I am responsible for their conduct.

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