Quick Synopsis
Common warrior aims for the seat of the Emperor, but at what cost?
New Story, writing this one in my off time while I keep working on the Queen’s Demise (so it won’t be super polished). Both slow burn and fast changes.
This idea came to mind, as I have seen very few Dg stories where the MC ends up with a higher social status even though they Dg. Male MC.
Basically up the official social ladder, and down the unofficial one.
Bear with me through the first chap, story should really kick off by the second. This chap is mainly explaining the slightly complicated premise.
Trading Upwards
A whirlwind of blood, death and guts smashed through the ranks of the Lycarian army. Rangar tore his sword from the body of his opponent before raising it aloft.
“Come on yer bastards, lets fuck up these pigs”
Roaring in answer, the men of his squadron followed on the back of his heels.
The lycarian soldiers desperately fought back, but they stood no chance against the Death Flayer.
Standing at nine feet tall and being more built then the strongest of bears, Rengar was a real force of nature. His charge was only stopped when several javelins pierced through his bare chest.
By then however, it was too late. The collapse of the Lycarian battle line in this region led to a domino effect resulting in the collapse of the rest of the already beleaguered army.
Satisfied, Rengar returned to the rear to the bask in the adulation of his men.
“Yo capitan, has the messenger arrived yet?”
“Nah those lily-white novels musta decided to take dey time”
As if to prove his words wrong, one of the army’s messengers galloped up to him.
“Captain Rengar, please present yourself to the central command tent. Princess Esmeralda has arrived from the capital in order to deliver the imperial edict.”
The man looked over Rengar before continuing
“ And for god’s sake man get cleaned up, you're getting promoted to a noble Knight.”
Rengar fixed him with a predatory glare.
“Im kidding, do what you want” stammered out the messenger before wheeling his horse around and fleeing.”
As soon as the man left, Rengar turned around and let out a brilliant grin.
“IT'S FINALLY HERE BOYS”
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Princess Esmeralda stood in the cold northern gloom awaiting the subject of the day’s ceremony. This was not the first time she had knighted a deserving warrior; as one of the least favored of the Emperor’s hundreds of children she often had to carry out these sorts of thankless tasks.
This time however was different. The man’s achievements were so exaggerated that she initially thought someone was playing a prank on her.
An abandoned orphan, he was a war brat that followed behind his tribe’s warriors, At 6 he killed his first person. At 9, he killed his first enemy warrior. At 11 he went to the local imperial city to become a gladiator. At 12 he became the champion, and at 13 the imperial army recruited him. Before leaving, he returned to his tribe and helped them defeat their ancestral rivals, single handedly sailing a dozen men.
He rose up the ranks, and at 18 he became captain of a squadron. At 19, he single handedly defended a key bridge against one hundred enemy warriors, buying his squad precious time to deliver critical military information.
Left for dead, he survived before fighting his way back from enemy territory. When the acting general of his legion Count Hassenoverheard his feats, he sent in a missive to the capital to have Rengar promoted to knight.
Now at 20, he was the youngest ever commoner to rise the ranks and be knighted. Most other commoners that were knighted were wealthy sons of merchants who bought their rank or married a noble, or very distinguished veterans on the verge of retiring.
Although a brute like Rengar couldn't possibly go much further than a mere Knight, the opportunity to meet such a legend in the flesh excited her.
The sound of heavy footsteps caught her attention, and she turned in time to see a massive slab of meat and muscle walk through the door.
“What's up little princess?” Rengar grumbled in his deep voice.
Esmeralda held up her arm to stop her escorts from getting herself killed. Least favored as she might have been, disrespect of that level still warranted Rengar’s death by pillory. Unfortunately or fortunately, she only had access to a dozen common warriors due to her lowly status in the imperial palace.
Her lady-knight Sophia , the one remnant from her time in the sun, was more than ready to risk her life, but clearly it would have been futile against this handsome monster.
Esmeralda blushed as she realized she found him handsome. Refocusing, she started the ceremony.
“In my authority vested to me…”
The only problem arose towards the end when she needed to lay her sword on his shoulder, as even kneeling he was too tall. Smiling, he rose and picked her up with one hand, the other busy tilting her chin upwards. He winked then spoke
“You can reach now princess”
Flustered, she stammered and muttered before completing the proceedings and fleeing the tent red-faced.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
Watching the mousy girl run from the tent, Rengar purred in satisfaction. She was a little plain and chubby for his tastes, but for someone like him it wasn’t often you ran into a daughter of the Emperor. She would make a fine addition to his sizable harem.
As for that knight of hers…
He licked his lips. Regardless of her identity, that one fit his normal harem standards.
Turning around, he looked at the frail looking man that was left behind. As a reward for low ranked commoners that ascended to nobility, he was given a scholar to teach him how to read and write. It wouldn't do to shame the face of the empire’s nobility.
But first, he had to figure out something
“Fore’ teaching me how to read, I need you to tell me something. How can a man like me become emperor?”
The scrawny scholar burst into a loud laugh. A decent scholar, but one with no social grace or ability to hold his tongue, he despised the assignment given to him. He hoped to annoy Rengar to the point that he was sent back to the capital.
“There’s no chance you become emperor. Ever. I heard of some of your feats, such as fighting versus one hundred men. Doesn’t matter. Even if you were a thousand times better warrior then you are now, it still wouldn't matter. The imperial guard has dragons for crying out loud! A stupid musclebound commoner brute like you-”
The scholar’s head traced a beautiful arc through the air. Rengar gritted his teeth as he sheathed his sword. Uneducated as he might be, he had always had a natural cunning about him. He knew that the man wasn’t lying.
“Am I destined to never claim that golden throne?”
The second those words left his mouth the entire world froze. In front of him appeared a blinding ball of light in the shape of a vaguely humanoid being.
“I will keep this short, as you are one of many beings across a myriad of universes I have decided to play with. Having come across your situation, I decided to assist you on your quest to the throne. Here is my gift for you.”
Before Rengar could come to grips with the situation, he felt a powerful headache assail his brain. It quickly passed, leaving behind knowledge of the gift. He was given a ‘system’, through which he could make various trades.
“Reading your mind it seems like you have a lot of questions. Let me just give you an example of a trade.”
The being gestured, and a strand of hair flew out of Rengar’s lush beard. Before he could protest, a second wave of information assailed his brain.
“I just traded a strand of your beard for the reading and writing skills of the average 12 year old noble. After all, you killed the man who was supposed to teach you. The rest of the exchanges will be left up to you, and you will have access to this system for the rest of your life.”
“I look forward to watching your success and failure” the being intoned as it disappeared in a flash of light.
“Or failure” muttered Rengar in response as he greedily started to examine the ‘system’ that was left behind.
Very quickly he realized how the system worked. He could trade almost anything in exchange for anything, but the chips he held were limited.
“That’s the catch huh” he realized
According to the system, his most valuable possessions were his height, cock, physique etc.
None of those were very important in his quest to sit on the throne.
On the other hand the money, soldiers, land, etc that he could trade for were critical to having a shot at becoming emperor.
“There’s no way i'm giving up this body, not even to become emperor”
Thankfully a closer look showed that the system allowed for microtransactions. There was no way he would willingly become one of the short men he despised, but
“An inch of height for one hundred thousand gold! A quarter of an inch off my cock for one hundred loyal elite soldiers!”
“As long as I don’t go overboard I should be able to trade my way upwards” thought Thurkell.
“And I can use the soldiers to get gold which I can use to trade for more stuff, or even get that quarter inch back!”
Rengar went to bed happy that night, looking forward to his brilliant future.