Bog Standard Isekai-Chapter 54Book 4.

The first potion [Inspected] as a regular Mana potion, but had a custom message as well.

Mana Potion

Drink when Mana is completely drained for best effect.

Value Sense told him that it was something more valuable than a regular Mana potion, but he wouldn’t know what exactly it did until he drank it. At least he knew he wouldn’t need to be stingy with Mana.

It was the least valuable of the three according to his Skill. The next was a Potion of Dragon’s Breath, and he thought it was the same one he’d seen Sion use. Last was a Potion of Stamina and it cost nearly as much as a Potion of Healing would.

As tempting as it would be to down all three potions immediately, Brin knew he had to wait. Looking at it now, the two hundred goblins that had broken through the walls on this side of town was the smaller threat. There wasn’t a single goblin [Chieftain] here. The group that was rapidly approaching the walls with waiting rope ladders on the other side of town was led by a full seven [Chieftains] and there was also one [Chieftain] in the small group that had snuck past him and towards the center of town.

That group only had six goblins but it almost worried him more than the eight hundred that Cid was riding to face. In addition to the [Chieftain], the other five were all [Blood Gatherers], and since goblins didn’t normally have any Classes at all, that left Brin extremely worried. He needed to clean up this small group and without using the potions. Hopefully he could finish this quickly with Seren’s aid.

“We need to get this group moving towards the goblins. We’ll be able to see them just at the end of this block here. Play us something and get them moving,” said Brin.

“I… I can’t! I’ve never moved this many people before,” said Seren.

“Play something. I have Skills to boost friendly passives,” said Brin.

Seren gulped and lifted her lute and began to play. From the first note, Brin knew she was no Davi. He’d maybe taken for granted how ludicrously talented his friends from Hammon’s Bog were. Or maybe Seren was just really bad. Either way, her song sucked.

She tried to play an epic but she kept missing notes, her voice wavered, and she didn’t have any rhythm worth talking about.

Brin tried to be patient but as she went into the second verse and then the third, she kept missing the same notes. Then she started using [Inflame the Spirit] to put emotional power into the song and it was nails on a chalkboard. Instead of a polite suggestion that they all start walking that was so natural it felt like his own thoughts, this was a toddler screaming into his ear. The goblins are that way. MOVE!

“Stop! Stop that,” said Brin.

“I told you–”

Brin snatched the lute out of her hands. He played the song that Seren had just butchered. “See? You messed up that transition every time. Now you try. No, I have a better idea.”

Brin summoned a rod of glass and folded it into three sixty-degree angles. Then he tied a piece of string to the end and summoned a small rod to hit it with.

“I’m playing the lute. You’re on triangle duty,” said Brin.

Seren’s jaw dropped, and finally she was shocked out of her nervousness. “That’s my lute!”

“You can have it back when you’ve earned it,” said Brin.

“You can’t take a [Bard’s] lute!” said Seren.

Brin mimicked tapping the triangle. “Start playing.”

Seren sulked and started playing the triangle. Brin was pleasantly surprised that it made a sweet and clear ting sound. He’d really nailed that on the first try. At least this time, Seren’s music had an acceptably steady rhythm.

Brin started playing the epic that she’d been attempting, but he didn’t know the words so he left them off. “Alright, start with the emotions, but gently. Just a little to start.”

Brin felt it immediately and it was not as gentle as he’d hoped. He still felt a lurching, foreign eagerness to start marching down the street, but this time the instrument was in his hands and the Wyrd of the song belonged to him. He used his control to smooth the instructions somewhat, softening them to be more like the kind of technique Davi would use.

They played, and growing in confidence, Seren started to sing the words. Her voice didn’t tremble as much this time and at least her singing was on key.

A man stood at the front, holding an axe and staring down the street with resolve in his eyes. He was a level 40 [Axe-fighting Barkeep] and the highest-leveled commoner here. He said, “We know our jobs I think. Let’s put a stop to this.”

He started walking, and that was enough to get the rest to follow. Brin had his floating spear and laser, but he had some mental space free so he summoned three Mirror Men and had them march along with the people.

The people were in high spirits for that brief moment when they were walking down the street with no enemy in sight. Everyone had to know their emotions were being messed with–Seren wasn’t subtle even with Brin’s help–but they were happy to go along with it. She brought a little dash of added courage right when it was desperately needed.

The mood changed when they turned the corner and the goblin raiding party was in sight. Two hundred goblins might not look like much on an open field, but on a city street it was an intimidating throng. They had a music of their own. No instruments except for their voices. No tune except the raw and primal sound of hundreds of voices shouting. “Caro. Caro. Caro!”

They’d already worked themselves into a frenzy so when the humans turned the corner they wasted no time and charged.

Seren panicked. The delicate prodding they’d worked out turned into emotion without words. Rather than singing, she began screaming the words. Fear and desperation filled the music, it was the emotion of a cornered animal that just wanted to run but realized that it had no choice other than to lash out with its claws. FIGHT! GET OVER THERE AND FIGHT! KEEP THEM AWAY FROM ME!

Brin had no chance to soften the effect; she’d taken too much control over the music. He spun up two more threads, that was the limit if he didn’t want to mess up his brain too much to keep playing. He tasked them both with adding more sound to the music, one made a drum beat and the other played the sound of a dozen violins.

Even with that, he couldn’t completely take control back of the song. Seren’s emotions weren’t hers alone, she’d accurately represented what the people of the town were feeling. There weren’t supposed to be goblins on the streets of Canibri. The soldiers were supposed to defend them. It shouldn’t be up to them. But it was, they were here, and no one was coming to save them.

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The song matched their emotional state so completely that they had no defense against it, and it drove them to near madness. They screamed bloody murder, equal parts terror and rage. Some froze, a few ran away, but most charged forward, an angry mob out for blood.

They kept screaming when they hit the goblins. It was clear right away that the goblins were stronger, but the humans were feral animals, completely without reason. When those in the front fell the people behind ran in to take their place, swinging with berserker fury. Two of them fell for every goblin that died, but they didn’t relent. Each person knocked aside by a goblin club only made the ones behind more desperate and more angry.

The mob pushed against the goblin band, and the goblins broke. They turned and ran, and the mob followed them all the way down the street, dispatching every straggler. Brin threw every spell he could to help them, but it was hard to get a clean shot in all the madness. His laser drank his Mana like a thirsty camel, but he held nothing back. In one long rush, they pushed the goblins all the way to the gap in the walls and then out of town.

He almost missed that it was over. The people started to pour out of the walls and separate to follow the goblins who were running in every direction. He stopped playing, called his threads to stop the attack. When the people still didn't stop he reached over and grabbed Seren's triangle to hush it, then finally remembered to use his words.

"It's done! We've won! Back inside the walls!"

There was still work to be done here. The people needed to be organized, they needed to keep some kind of watch on the gap so the goblins couldn't come back, and they needed to start looking at the wounded.

He didn't have time for any of that. Every moment he spent here, the Lance got closer to their deaths at the hands of the larger force. He grabbed Seren by the arm and pulled her away.

An Invisible Eye had the location of a nearby inn where people had left their horses, so Brin pulled her that direction. He might've been a little rougher than he liked to be with girls, but he wanted to pull her away before she got a good look at all the people on the ground. Of the ones who'd fallen during the charge, more were wounded than dead, but it was still a gruesome sight.

Seren had Prinnashian features but very light almost pinkish hair, like the result of artifice rather than nature. She'd also been wearing makeup, which was now streaked with tears. "I... I told them to... it's my fault."

"No. You haven't made any of the decisions here. This is all on me," said Brin. "I dragged you here, I ordered you to play, and I directed that crowd."

"But if I was better–"

"I knew exactly what you were and chose to use you anyway. I know it doesn't look like it now, but it was the right decision. You did well, and we saved a lot of lives," said Brin. He was just as much trying to convince himself, but his voice sounded confident and strong so maybe he was right.

"There has to be someone else. There has to be another [Bard] in this city," said Seren.

"Trust me, I'm looking as hard as I can, but you're the one who's here now. Take this." Brin handed her the lute and she hesitated a moment before taking it back.

"Are you sure?"

In better circumstances he probably would've waited a little longer before giving her the lute back, but he'd found a horse he wanted to steal and needed both his hands free. Brin looked her straight in the eyes and said, "I'm sure. You've earned it."

She nodded solemnly and took the lute back. Then Brin picked her up and put her on the horse, which was an awkward procedure even with his incredible Strength, and then hopped up himself, reaching around her to take the reins.

He flicked the reins and then had to sort of kick the horse a little to get it to start moving. This horse was inferior in every way to Nobility who seemed to be able to read his thoughts, but at least it was fast.

They careened down the city street, moving as fast as he could urge the horse to go. Normally he'd ride more carefully on the cobblestone, but the risk of injuring the animal didn't matter compared to the risk of not getting to his Lance in time.

"What Skill should I take?" asked Seren. Of course she would’ve leveled up, and probably gained some Achievements to boot. It was a wonder that he hadn't gotten anything. He'd been warned that the slowdown in leveling once he hit the forties would be painful, but this was insane. His next Class selection, he would have to seriously consider if anything could be done to remove [Glassbound]'s experience penalty.

To answer her question, he said, "Take the Skill that will let you survive the day. On the other side of town, there's a goblin army four times the size of the size of the one we just faced. My Lance is there, and a few soldiers, but they're extremely outnumbered and the goblins have leaders of their own. We'll need all the help we can get.”

As they rode, the goblins poured over the walls. The first climbed up on the rope ladders and then hung themselves down and formed long goblin chains that the others could climb up. It was a tactic that no living man or beast on earth could ever use, but the stronger goblins had the strength to hang on to each other's heels to hold themselves and a dozen goblins below.

The entire horde surmounted the walls and came down the other side. Some of the soldiers were ready and waiting, but they didn't engage. Instead, they evacuated the nearby houses and guarded the streets, seeking to contain the threat at choke points rather than charge into a fight they'd definitely lose.

The Lance arrived next, and they were definitely going to charge into a fight they'd lose.

"Stop! Wait for me to get there. I got some really nice potions for you," said Brin.

"Then get here soon," said Cid.

It had taken a little longer for the Lance to arrive because Cid had stopped and stabled the horses, since they'd only be a hindrance in urban combat.

Cid took Brin's advice and had the Lance line up to block a street with a few soldiers rather than charge in recklessly, but even if they didn't move, the goblins were happy to come to them.

Brin was too far away to help with anything but illusions, but he did what he could. He turned the streets of Canibri into a maze for the goblins, making huge groups of them run in circles and get nowhere. He added dozens of Mirror Images of soldiers where they were at their weakest, guiding the goblins to the places where the defenders were strongest.

A first group of goblin outriders launched themselves at the Lance, empowered with the foul magic of a [Chieftain] behind them. The nearby soldiers started to step back, expecting the Lance to buckle, but they held firm.

The first goblins crashed against them, and the Lance cut them down. These men hadn't had a lot of time to do the kind of practice that gave levels, but it wasn't like they hadn't done anything. They'd practiced the stuff that had given them points during the joint exercises way back then. Coordination, teamwork, and control.

Every swing was perfect. Every blow drew blood. Hedrek didn't so much as flinch at a club that he knew Rhun was going to block. Cid's blade moved so quickly it was almost invisible, and goblin heads hit the ground before they knew they were dead. Brin cast his Shadow Strike spell at them, using illusions to make their weapons seem slow when they were moving fast and flicker back and forth instantly. Where the Lance was overpowering before, now they were unstoppable. The goblins crashed against the Lance, and then stumbled back. The [Chieftain] screamed at them to flee, deciding to go a different direction and find easier prey.

Brin could lead them around his maze for a little longer, but it wouldn't work forever.

He sent another Mirror Image back to the barracks of Lord Prima's men, where half of them had already left. He let himself inside and stood in the center of the room, making his armor gleam a little and brightening his blue eyes.

"The goblins are inside the walls. The people of Canibri fight on the streets. I'll give you one last warning: they will win, with or without your help. When they are victorious, never doubt that they will cast their eyes to you. How is it that they fight while you stay here? Shed your green and blacks and join the fighting, or else flee the city altogether. Canibri is no longer safe for the men of High Lord Prima."

He left by simply dismissing his Mirror Image. He couldn't open the door so it was no use pretending.

Moments later, he finally got something from the System.

Alert! An Achievement has been upgraded.

Menace (Rare) -> Menace (Epic)

You have completely upended the social order of a city, causing extreme social unrest.

You have a heightened ability to agitate others to take unusual, chaotic, or antisocial actions.

Brin grinned guiltily at the screen, because he wasn't sure if that was really an ability he should have. That sounded like... Well, he could just test it out.

"People of Canibri! Take up arms! Leave your homes and fight!" Sure enough, he felt it in the Wyrd. It wasn't strong, not much more than a suggestion, but it was there. He now had a bit of leverage into mental manipulation, and on his own power instead of needing to borrow a [Bard].

Maybe it should have bothered him more, since he hated the idea of anyone ever using mental manipulation on him, but all he could think of now was that this might be enough to save his Lance.