Once the adventurers were gone, and Olof was happily slurping his third bowl of stew, Milo sat in his chair, assessed the recent turn of events, and smiled with satisfaction. He had sucessfully tricked a group of scrappy minions and three self-righteous heroes into being his allies. The goblins thought he was the reincarnation of Alatar, aiming to conquer the lands in the name of darkness, and the heroes thought he was the son of Wulfric, supervising the region to keep the darkness away. Precarious position, sure, but both lies had established this tower as his home, and he finally felt like its true owner.
Which lie did Milo himself prefer? After meeting the heroes, the dark side has definitely appealed to him more. He always preferred beautiful chaos over sanitized order, and, more importantly - he wanted to master wizardry, and did not appreciate people who wished to restrict his ability to do so.
In any case, he resolved to keep playing both sides, and do whatever helps him to further advance his objectives - mastering magic, satisfying his curiosity, and becoming a figure of power and significance in this world. He could always decide how to wield the knowledge and power he will gain after he has gained them. For now, he wasn't even sure if "darkness" and "light" were his true choices, rather than just something the heroes made up to make things more convenient for themselves.
With that, it was time to explore his new home. He went up the spiral staircase to the second floor of the tower. There, he found a massive bed covered by bed curtains that hung from the ceiling. Next to it there was a large wooden chest with a broken lock, inside Milo found only a half-burnt candle and a piece of charcoal. Behind the bed, an empty walk-in closet - if it ever contained anything interesting, it must've been looted by the adventurers. Pieces of metal armor were scattered around the floor.
Milo was gathering the armor to pile it into the chest, when he heard loud hissing from behind the bed curtains. He carefully moved the curtains aside with the end of his staff, and stifled a high-pitched shriek that wouldn't befit an aspiring dark lord. Inside, at the very center of the bed, nested an enormous rat. It was the size of a fat wolf, covered in matted black fur, and it looked very angry.
"Heeey, there," said Milo, "who's a good rat? Who's gonna be a nice neighbor and let me sleep on my bed tonight?"
The rat jumped onto its feet and hissed in no uncertain terms - if there was a good rat around, this wasn't gonna be it.
"Heey! Olof! You're a hunter, right?" called Milo. "Why don't you come up over here, I need to consult your expert opinion on something. And bring that block of cheese from the food shelves, just in case."
He heard scrambling downstairs, and then huffing and puffing of Olof struggling to carry the huge block of cheese up the staircase. "Oh, I'm a hunter! The best one in our tribe! Brave, and strong! You name a creatue, I hunted it! They don't call me 'Olof the Elk-slayer' for nothing! You show me the creature, I'll capture it! That's why... yii-i-i-i-i-p!" His boasting turned into a squeak when he saw the reason Milo needed his expertise.
"So, how would you deal with this beast?" asked Milo.
"I-ai-ai-ai-ai... I d-d-don't know! I'd run as fast as I can, and hope there are some slower goblins behind me it could eat first?" Olof was pressing himself into the wall, trying to get as far away from the rat as he could.
"Oh, come on," Milo tried to encourage him, "aren't you a brave hunter? You kill Elks, aren't they even larger than this?"
"Um, full disclosure - that Elk might've been pretty old. And sick. And he might've been napping. At least, he wasn't moving much. But I did scare away that vulture that was standing on its head, that's for sure!"
"Great, so how do we scare away this?" Milo pressed himself into the wall next to Olof, as the rat began slowly advancing towards the block of cheese he was holding.
"Rule number one of hunting," wisely proclaimed Olof, "don't trifle with creatures that are bigger, stronger, and probably smarter than you."
Milo lifted his staff and attempted to push the rat away with the momentum rune, but instantly felt weak and lightheaded - the rat was much too heavy, and he was still low on mana after dealing with the heroes.
The rat crept forward, eyes locked onto the block of cheese in Olof's hands. Olof shook, frozen in place, then yelped, dropped the cheese, and ran downstairs screaming. In a split-second, Milo managed to kick the cheese away from himself, and it rolled to the center of the room. The rat pounced - luckily, at the block of cheese rather than Milo.
Milo's remaining mana reserves were just enough to telekinetically push the block of cheese a little further, keeping it rolling until it fell right in the middle of the walk-in closet. The rat jumped right after it, and Milo rushed to shut the heavy wooden door behind it.
It didn't take long for the rat to realize that it has been outwitted. Milo leaned with his full weight against the door just in time, as the rat slammed into it from the other side.
"Olof! Olof, come here, I need backup!" called Milo, pressing against the door with all his might.
"Nah-uh!" he heard the voice coming from downstairs. "I found a really good barrel to hide under! You come here, there's plenty of space for both of us!"
"Olof, as a Dark Overlord, I assure you, it's all going to be fine! I am casting a complex dark ritual on the rat, I'm invoking terribly powerful magics, the rat stands no chance! But I need your help to complete the ritual!"
"But... but what if it bites me?"
"Rise to the occasion, Olof, and I will personally bestow upon you the title of 'Olof, the Rat Wrangler'! We both know you deserve it!"
Milo heard a patter of goblin footsteps, and Olof's head poked in through the door. "Olof, the Rat Wrangler is at your service!"
"Help me move that chest up to the door, quickly! That's the last piece of the ritual!" said Milo, as the door shuddered once again, and the rat growled in rage.
Together, they pushed the chest against the door, barricading it.
"And just like that, my terrible magic is complete. Now the beast is bound to this area, and sealed inside. For now. All that's left is to figure out a safe way to move it out of the tower. Any ideas?"
Smash! the rat threw itself against the door again.
"As your trusted advisor, I recommend surrendering the tower to the rat, and escaping while we have the chance. This is his lands now. Nothing can be done."
SMASH! the rat roared, the door's hinges creaked precariously.
"This won't hold much longer." said Milo. "Can you call the other goblins? I think subduing this beast is more of a group project. I don't have much experience with giant monster-rats, but this one seems to have some anger management issues..." Milo stopped himself when he heard quiet pitiful squeaking from the direction of the bed. "Wait, hold on..."
Looking closer at the bed, he found five baby rats poking their heads from the nest made out of blankets and trash. "Aaah! Of course. It's not anger management, is it? She's just protecting her babies!"
Milo carefully wrapped baby rats in a blanket, moved the chest aside enough to crack-open the door, and carefully released them one by one into the closet. The furious roars of mama-rat have quickly subsided, replaced by the happy squeaks of a reunited family.
Milo squeezed the blanket through the crack in the door, so that the rats have something warm for a nest to sleep in. He wasn't gonna use the blanket anyway - it was covered in rat hair and smelled of things Milo decided not to think about. Then he sent Olof to fetch a plate of water, and slid it under the door.
"Alright, that will do. Sorry for the smaller accommodations," Milo spoke to the rat. "You're not my first choice for a roommate either, you know? But I think we'll have to find a way to get along, because I have no idea how to let you out without endangering myself, or, let's face it, the entire outside world."
Milo turned to Olof. "Olof, I formally bestow upon you the titles of a 'Rat Wrangler' and a 'Cheese Champion'." He lightlhy touched Olof's forehead with the tip of his staff to make it official.
"What an honor! Hey, everyone! Look here! Olof the Cheese Champion coming through!" Olof beamed and ran off to brag to the rest of the tribe.
Milo left his bedroom and moved on to explore the next floor, desperately hoping it will be less dramatic than this one.
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