The next day, Felix went to Baron Wiseman's Manor. He signed a deed transfer, relinquishing his property to the Baron (he would still be allowed to stay in the house on the property until he left Gurnkey, though), and he was told to be present at the north gate at an hour past sunrise in three days. Felix picked up his order from Lucas, and got everything ready, and spent the next couple of days finishing up the Harden spell, which was his first multi-element spell, and his first wood spell. He also took this time to begin work on a wood spell called Nourish, which would allow him to infuse wood element into plants in order to boost their vitality. He had not forgotten about his wheat plans, so picking up some spells related to plant cultivation would be useful.
Three days later, Felix left his house again, locked the doors, and walked to Gurnkey, with only his backpack full of stuff he had bought for his journey.
He once again had a feeling like he should become a traveling merchant if he was going to spend so much time traveling everywhere.
Felix went to the north gate of Gurnkey, where, surprisingly, the Baron himself was waiting, along with Faith, and a few porters loading goods on to a rather large wagon.
"Lord Baron, sir, I wasn't expecting you to see me off personally." Felix said, with a surprised tone.
"Nor should you have. But, I'm here to see off this whole venture. I spoke with the Earl, and we arranged a rather nice trade deal. I'm sending him some of our local craft and some prisoners we needed to get rid of anyway, and he'll be sending me back some goods of his own later. I'm quite pleased with how this whole affair has turned out." Baron Wiseman said, continuing to watch the porters work.
"Also, I believe you should have the key to that property, right lad?" Baron Wiseman said, finally turning to Felix.
"Yes Lord. Here you are." Felix said, handing him a small brass key.
"Right. Good. Faith, pay the lad." Baron Wiseman said, turning back to watching the porters.
"Here you go." Faith said, handing him a small leather pouch. Felix opened it up, and inside was 12 gold coins, as promised. It was actually quite a bit of money, but Felix was rather conservative with spending, so he would not waste it.
"Thank you Lord, Faith." Felix said to them both, with a bow.
"Don't mention it lad. In fact, put in a good word for me with the Earl, you hear?" Baron Wiseman said.
"Of course, Lord." Felix said.
"Now then, it looks like they're all loaded up. Lad, it'll just be you, the courier, and the slaves. You shouldn't run into any trouble, but still, you're in charge of security. Think you can handle that?" Baron Wiseman asked, looking at Felix.
"It shouldn't be any issue Lord, I haven't run into any trouble on the last 2 wagon rides I've taken." Felix said, with a nod.
"Great. You'll be traveling with two slaves. One moment." Baron Wiseman said, and he beckoned to a guard who was nearby, and spoke with him briefly. The guard nodded, and a moment later, returned with two men in chains. Baron Wiseman walked over to them, and placed black leather collars on them. "Lad, come here." Baron Wiseman said, motioning to Felix.
Felix walked over to them. "Yes, Lord." he said.
"Lad, these are slave collars. They're like a temporary version of the Enslavement spell, they only work as long as they're worn. I can't construct the Enslavement spell because it's illegal for anyone who isn't a member of the Belrose family or a registered slaver to know that spell, so this is all we can do with them for now. Pour your mana into that nook in the center, lad." Baron Wiseman said, pointing at a small notch in the center of the collars.
"Yes, Lord." Felix said, and did as he was instructed. After he poured a bit of mana in, the collar glowed black for a moment, and then quieted down again.
"Good. From now until you reach the Belrose family to hand them off, they're under your control. They can't hurt you, disobey your orders, or try to remove the collars themselves, and they can't get more than a few hundred meters away from you or they would die. So keep them on a short leash." Baron Wiseman said.
"I understand, Lord. May I ask you what they did?" Felix said, looking at the two men curiously.
"These two buffoons dared to try and break in to my manor a couple of weeks ago! Of course they were caught, I don't know what they were thinking! Probably nothing!" Baron Wiseman said, with a harrumph. The two men looked down in shame.
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"I understand, Lord." Felix said, with a nod.
"Don't worry though, neither of them knows any magic. They're just normal. Just in case though lad, I'm giving you two spare collars in the cargo, in case theirs break for whatever reason. Think you can subdue them if that happens?" Baron Wiseman asked, looking at Felix.
Felix thought about his new Soul Siphon and Harden spells for a moment. "Yes Lord, they're no threat to me." Felix answered. Baron Wiseman nodded.
"Good." he said. "Then everything is ready." Baron Wiseman said, and he gestured over to another nearby man. The man walked over.
"This is Tom, he'll be your courier. He's in charge of moving the wagon all day, so don't make him do any nightwatch, you can split that duty with the slaves. Or do it yourself. Up to you, lad." Baron Wiseman said. Tom gave a bow.
"Now get moving. The sooner you're gone, the sooner Tom here can get back with my return shipment!" Baron Wiseman said with a laugh.
"Yes Lord. You two, get into the wagon." Felix said, speaking to the slaves. They nodded, and hopped into the wagon. Tom went and started doing last second checks on the wagon and the horses.
"Thank you again, Lord. And you too, Faith, for your courtesy and service." Felix said with a bow.
"It's fine, It's fine, now get going, lad." Baron Wiseman said, waving his hand as he walked off. Faith laughed cutely, gave a small curtsy, and followed the Baron. Felix clambered into the back of the wagon.
It was chock full of rations, including rice, potato, and water, for the travelers, along with some fruit. In addition, there were goods to be shipped, including leatherworks, some of the local meads, ciders, and sake, perfumes, some jewelry, some rice that was separate from the rations, and a bunch of other miscellany. Felix was a bit miffed at how crowded it was, actually, but there was room enough for him and the slaves. He sighed and sat next to them. After a few more minutes where Tom finished his checks on the wagon, they began to move.
Felix looked at the two slaves. One of them was of a medium height and a bit more muscular and stocky, and the other was tall and a bit lanky. They both had rough white skin, black hair, and hazelnut eyes. Felix addressed them.
"So, what are your names?" Felix asked them.
"Jack." the shorter one said.
"Matthias." the taller one said.
"Are you two related? You look quite similar." Felix remarked.
"Yeah, we're first cousins." Jack said.
"So... is what the Lord said true? You guys tried to break in to his manor?" Felix asked with a dubious expression.
Matthias gave a heavy sigh. "Yes, but it was Jack's idea, not mine. Said the Baron was just senile old man, we'd be in and out in a few minutes with a ton of loot. Worked out bloody great didn't it, Jack?" Matthias said, glaring at Jack.
"Not my fault you knocked over that pot with your oversized lanky arms you idjit, you woke him up!" Jack said, glaring at him in return.
"Actually..." Felix interjected. "Lord Wiseman is a water mage so... they're the best at information gathering. He definitely knew from the second you guys stepped on his property." Felix said.
Jack and Matthias looked dumbfounded. It seemed they didn't know much about magic.
"So?" Felix asked. "Then what happened?"
Matthias grimaced. "I knocked over this little plant pot he had, and the Baron appeared out of nowhere down the hall, and caused a bunch of water to appear out of nowhere, and lifted us both off the ground except for our heads, and then he froze it solid... I still feel a bit cold from it, and I swear to you I was shitting out flecks of ice for a week afterwards..." Matthias said, with a slight shiver.
Felix was amused. "Next time you guys are going to break in somewhere, make sure it isn't the house of the most powerful mage for probably at least 100 miles in any direction." he told them. They both hung their heads in shame.
"So?" Felix continued. "What's your sentence?" he asked.
"Lord told us we could do 20 years in the cells or 10 years minimum as a slave. We thought that was a bit harsh, but he said even if he executed us, no one would care considering we broke into his manor. So, rather than rot in the cells, we picked slavery. The cells were the safer pick, but, the Lord told us it was better to pick slavery, since, we could stare at the cell walls for 20 years, or we could maybe end up becoming really useful as some aristocrat's slave. We're the risk-taking type, clearly, so we picked slavery." Matthias said. Jack nodded in affirmation. Felix nodded as well, in understanding.
"Makes sense." Felix said.
"What about you? You don't look like a slave. Why are you going to the Belroses?" Jack asked.
"They're my family, actually." Felix said. Jack's eyes widened, and he looked at the floor, trying to be inconspicuous and inoffensive.
Thus, they continued heading north. Felix began working on a new wood spell, Regenerate, so he could heal himself. Light had the most powerful healing spells, but wood and water had a couple too. Regenerate was a good spell for Felix, because it stimulated the bodies' vitality in order to heal wounds, rather than using outside power to heal. He was likely to strengthen his own bodies' vitality quite a bit, considering his earth affinity, so it was a good pick up.
Felix had the slaves do the camp setup, cooking, cleanup, and nightwatch. He didn't really want to make them do everything, but Arboro made him make them do most things in order to get him into the proper slaver mindset. Felix sighed because she was right, and complied, having them do the busywork and chores. Jack and Matthias didn't mind, actually, it seemed they were quite happy to be out of the jail cells, and it was their first time leaving Gurnkey, so they were quite excited. Tom didn't speak to any of them much, he was mostly either driving or sleeping.
At the end of the second day, they reached the crossroads that would lead either west to the more populated portions of the empire, or further north-by-northwest to the capital city, Aurum. It seemed they would be taking the western route, because even though it was longer, the path through Aurum involved a lot of checks, tolls, taxes, scrutiny, and traffic. So it was just less hassle to go around it. Felix was fine with that.
They set up camp at the crossroads, the slaves and Tom opting to sleep outside the wagon in a tent that was brought along, taking turns, and Felix inside the wagon, with the cargo. Felix sat there, observing the cargo for a bit because he was bored and a bit tired, when, right before his eyes, some of the jewelry he was watching vanished.