In the end, I accepted the task. I could have refused, but the orbs and tower both interested me. If I lacked something, it was knowledge, and obtaining entrance into a repository of knowledge, at least from what Azar explained to me before, was a damn good way to get it.
There was another reason, one damn selfish, and yet it did play a part in my decision - the [Knowledge Spire] was outside the city. And being away, I could avoid playing along with whatever game was going on between the [Hounds], the [City Guard], and the [Holy Flame].
{The girls should be safe even if I leave, especially with me asking Zelindo to provide them with some protection from the Guild's resources.} While right after the incident, I planned not to leave the girls' side at any time, the talks with Arxibiela and the unexpected meetings with Esme changed my mind.
{It is better for me to be away from them, at least if to keep Esme's tail and interest on me.} I was unsure about the game, but at the same time, if asked what I was sure about, it would be that there were plans for me from either side. {Again, huh? Maybe like this, I can throw a wrench in them.}
_______
While my talk with Zelindo appeared to have taken less than an hour, it had actually taken far more. By the moment I left the Guild's compound, having accepted the task and received all the information and instructions the local Guild's head could give me, it was already close to sunset.
Returning home was just a few minutes walk. Yet, with the security and a mercenary from the [Monster Hunter] Guild nearly body-checking me after I crossed the modified [Identity Plate], plus a questioning session as if I was some criminal, I reached the house with the sun had hidden at least by half.
The girls had already returned home, so I decided to keep my mood in check, do what I intended since the start, interact, and spend time with them. Though to my despair, our evening and dinner, Kierra surprising me with an unexpectedly expensive meal, including a steak-like meat cut and even a small barrel of wine to go along it - it was mostly about them talking of how interesting, great, and wonderful Maester Welo was.
The girls didn't drink, yet, the nearly three liters of wine hardly kept me from wincing at the repeated mentions of the man by the end. Inwardly, I understood that they were just fascinated with the idea of someone trusting them with an actual store, even if it was all taken under the influence of the late events and Arxibiela's recommendations. Still, hearing them speaking about someone so candidly made me feel like the bad guy here, even when I was who supposedly took care of them. Yeah, I am no good man, and I should acknowledge it.
With Dart present but forced to be silent as always, it was up to me to sigh, congratulate them, and otherwise react to their story. Mmm, not the good man I assumed to be, huh?
It would be after dinner that I managed to take over the conversation, and after, once again, congratulating them on their new job, I related about how my day went and what I would be up for, at least for the following days.
And while both Kierra and Angelique received the news as if they were grave, the quick going over them made me wince again, as except for some slight lament of not spending time together, they actually changed topics back to Welo's task, speaking about how they will prepare everything and when I was back, I could be the first one to visit the new store.
***
"Well, I should be happy for them, right?" I asked Dart, the only one to remain with me as I cleaned the table, the girls moving upstairs to rest for their enormous amount of work planned for the next day.
"..." Dart nodded in response, his long-nailed (clawed?) hand picking a couple of dishes from the table to help me move everything to the kitchen sink.
"Not that I wanted them to depend on me. So it's great, right?" Starting to wash the dishes, and Dart hovering around, I asked him again.
"..." Another silent nod followed.
"Plus, they can actually put their skills to use while learning to fend and provide for themselves, huh?"
*Nod*
"Angelique's dream about being a scribe? The so-called Guild botched them. But like this, she can work on what she wants. Or something similar, at least." Continuing my monologue, I didn't even wait for the usual nod from my silent conversation partner as I turned to face him, all washed, "Please take care of them."
"Mmm." This time, Dart's nod was far more energetic, and his hands (paws?) landed on the two daggers I gave him, and he still carried them.
Note; Daggers and knives weren't (considered as) weapons, so as I learned, they were the only blades the average resident could and would (if he felt it to be necessary) carry on themselves.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
As soon as I finished, I wished Dart a good night before starting upstairs - the [Light] I conjured as the girls left and I blew out the candles I still didn't like as illumination source, following me - I recalled something important, {THE EXPERIMENT!!!}
***
Between the time and my lack of control, what else could I expect but failure? And indeed, failure it was.
"Or maybe I shouldn't consider it as one?" I whispered as I held the dagger by the slightly electrified (still!) handle.
The spit of whatever beast it was did dissolve the bronze over this time. But on the small remaining part, it didn't, barely a centimeter of decayed (almost rotten) looking remains of what before was a 15-cm blade now covered in a mix of golden and bronze spots over its blackened surface.
"In any case, I should consider it as a failure overall. The battery and the wires did work fine, though." I continued thinking aloud, at least if whispering my thoughts could be considered so, avoiding thinking of my expenses for the experiment.
And expenses they were, as between the now unusable spit, the gold coin used for the plating, and everything else, I was dangerously near the two golds.
"Haa..." I exhaled while storing everything in [Inventory], {Maybe it can work, but I should take my time and do it properly to know better.}
With everything going on, I didn't even feel the loss or the failure. Damn, I was nearly happy for it to happen, as it made my thoughts wander away from the continuous games of the powerful I was once again involved in. But, the happiness lasted barely some minutes, as after cleaning up and returning the room to how it was, I started my usual [Record] and had to think about everything again.
Not that the experiments didn't help me avoid a lot of anger and stress, heh.
----------------------------------------
Contrary to the previous day, I actually woke up in a good mood. Granted, leaving the girls wasn't something I wanted to do, not after the dangers they had to face when I wasn't near. But still, obtaining a reason to leave the city, meaning Esme's and Arxibiela's games, was pure bliss, at least for me.
{Well, I still have to play Zelindo's game, but at least he's in actual danger right now, so I can expect less playing and more precise information.} While I didn't intend to dampen my own mood, the first part of the thought accomplished just that. Yet, even if it wasn't so nice of me to enjoy Zelindo's predicament, the second part allowed me to leave the room, rinse myself, and go downstairs in a far better mood than the previous day.
***
From the fact that the girls had already finished dressing up for an outing and breakfast was already on the table, there was no doubt that the two had got up before me.
_*_*_
Kierra had chosen to wear the same attire I had met her in for the first time. A full-length dress in an earthy brown tone, its short sleeves allowing for ease of movement. Though subtly touched by some wear, the dress retained a sense of quality and durability. While it was hard to see, the grey apron she tied over the dress was new, even if it looked identical to the previous one, as were her boots, which, while she never told me, she deliberated for a while to replace. I will not say names, but someone told me that Kierra nearly cried at the thought of buying new boots after her original ones got damaged from all her walking.
*
Angelique's attire was very different from Kierra, especially as it was brand new, and I had not seen either of the clothes before.
As she stood up to greet me, I couldn't notice her pastel-colored dress with a delicate purple floral pattern. Or how short it was, as it barely reached half of her thighs, more a tunic than an actual dress.
Mini-skirts were definitively not a thing on Lieade, so under the dress, she wore some thin pants, nearly leggings, colored in a purplish tone, something close to lilac, at least if I could consider myself capable of differentiating colors. The pants or whatever ended up tucked into her boots, which, while not new, still looked very decent, especially with the addition of a copper buckle that wasn't there the last time I saw them.
As a part of her overall attire, and something that did attract my attention, was that Angelique chose to wear some accessory, in this case, a dainty floral hair clip adorned with a few small ribbons of different pinkish hues, adding a pop of color to her short brown hair.
_*_*_
"You both look awesome! Whose is the lucky guy?" I couldn't resist taking a jab at them, as neither could I avoid complimenting both of them, even if I considered that Angelique definitively got the prize.
While Kierra only blushed and shied away from an answer, Angelique actually returned the jab while turning around, giving me a full view of her attire, "Oh, it could be you, but as you are leaving..."
"Haa... Now I feel that I am losing. But yeah. And I wanted to go over it with you..." I had barely explained anything during dinner, so I wanted to go over everything about my new task while eating the prepared breakfast.
For today, the girls went with something that I considered a classic for myself, glazed eggs, but experimented a bit (in Kierra's opinion, they went overboard with costs) and added several different herbs, from which I could barely recognize thyme and parsley. Or, well, they tasted as that, as I never asked.
Engrossed with their new project, or job, the girls did react to my explanation, but it was, as before, just wishing for me to be back for their grand opening just half a week from now. Even so, inwardly, I definitively understand them with such urgency, and having just four days, I would also be unable to think about anything else.
In the end, except for wishing them good luck and asking them to be careful, there was nothing much actual interaction outside my interaction. As for Dart, who silently listened to everything, I managed to grab him just a moment before he left the house, following after the girls, and, once again, asked him to keep them safe.
Getting a reassuring nod as a response, I forced myself to return to reality and checked on what I needed to prepare. Not that there was much, with my [Inventory] having nearly everything I had. Okay, screw that. I had nothing to prepare and basically spent some minutes idly sitting after doing the dishes.
{It's a shame that Roder didn't reach at me since yesterday, but on the other hand, I doubt that I will require armor, at least inside the [Spire].} At least, so I thought at that moment.
***
My first surprise, nearly as if it was some custom of each of my adventures (or misadventures), began with a knock on the door, just as I was about to open it to leave.