Adam remained silent for a long while. “You know, you’re probably the noble whose pissed me off the least. From what I know, this land is cursed. I hate this place, but I understand that everyone else here doesn’t have as many options as me. Sometimes, even though my mouth almost gets me killed, I am very glad that I’ve made my home where I’ve made my home.”
‘Why is he being so vague?’ Matteas thought, narrowing his eyes at the Half Elf, who called one of his companions his brother.
“This is what you’re going to do. You’re going to make my companions into knights, without all the kneeling nonsense. I don’t care that’s not how it’s done, you’re going to be the king, and you need to act like one. You’re going to be put into a position of power, so you need to stand upright, and that also means you need to break whatever shackles other people have decided to put on people from the past.” Adam raised his brows towards Matteas, who had almost spoken up about decorum.
“We’re going to help you conquer the land, and you’re going to elevate us into barons, and then we’re going to legitimize you as a count. We’re going to keep doing that until you’re a king, and while we’re doing that, I’ll need to figure out a way how to give you your keys to power so you don’t lose it all once we’re gone.” Adam placed his hands together, trying to think about everything a future king would need. ‘The biggest threats to his regime are me and the others, so he might end up stabbing us in the back. We might need to figure out another way of keeping him in check.’
“If you are able to assist me, you will be compensated fairly,” the Baron stated, wondering if he could pull the conversation away from knighting them and giving them more power.
Adam narrowed his eyes at the Baron. “We want half the treasure.”
“Half the treasure?” Matteas asked.
“We’re going to get land as we become nobles, but we don’t need titles or land, so we’ll return the land back to you for you to use as you see fit, but if I’m going to make you a king, then I better get enough money for being a damn kingmaker. Gems, treasure, so on and so on, that’s what we want. You’ll become a king, you’ll get your land to spread among your vassals, and we get to go home with all kinds of treasure. A fair trade.”
“A fair trade?”
“You become a king, we get the money. There is no one else in this land that would want to make someone else a king. We don’t care for your titles, as you’ve seen, so you don’t have to worry about us stabbing you in the back, as long as you don’t mess with our coin.”
Baron Matteas wasn’t sure if he should believe Adam, but of all the people in the world, wasn’t Adam the craziest person he had met? Every word which left his lips were unbelievable, but he said such crazy things as though they were completely normal.
‘Should I use my alchemy and enchanting to help him out?’ Adam thought. ‘If I reveal a bunch of my secrets, he might want to keep me, but we can use it for leverage too.’
Matteas still wasn’t sure about the young man. Moments ago, he was threatening the Baron, and then the boy offered to make him a king? ‘Is this how the youth are these days?’
“Fate is truly a harsh mistress,” Adam said. “If I could use some of my other abilities, then I’d be able to help you out. Alas, I don’t have the tools required.”
“Truly, a most harsh mistress,” Matteas agreed, frowning slightly. “My family once owned a shrine which could bless weapons with divine magic, but we have long lost such abilities. Three of my ancestors knew how to utilize it, but they died, all within a week of one another, and thus the knowledge was forever lost.”
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“Excuse me?” Adam asked, raising his brow.
“My ancestors, they once knew how to bless weapons using a shrine and the moon,” the Baron stated, sighing once more. “A hundred years ago, a short while before I was born, those who knew how to use the shrine all passed away rapidly. I was gifted Wolffang, as was my right as Baron Moonglow, but from my generation onwards, we have lost the ability to create magical weapons to push away the darkness.”
“Hmm.” ‘How much XP to use the shrine to enchant?’
[As long as the conditions are met, you are able to enchant using the shrine.]
‘You’re being awfully nice, Bell. Do you feel that guilty about taking my ability to create formulas?’ Adam smirked to himself. ‘Can I unlock it for him the same way I unlocked it for Churot?’
[Yes.]
Adam stared at the Baron, still smiling slightly. ‘So I can unlock his ability to enchant? How much XP?’
[1000.]
‘Damn! That’s so cheap!’
The others could see the way Adam’s face twitched and moved, as though he were having a conversation with himself. Jurot crossed his arms and waited for Adam to be done with his conversation with Bell.
‘So 1000 XP and he can enchant everything?’
[Yes.]
‘Does he need to roll for it?’
[Yes.]
‘What about passive enchanting?’
[1000.]
‘What if I wanted him to enchant only a few things? +1, +2, and passive?’
[3000.]
‘So a thousand for each?’
[Yes.]
‘What if I unlock some things, will they be able to unlock other things?’
[If they wish to enchant in ways outside of what you have granted them, they must learn how to do so separately.]
‘I see…’ Adam closed his eyes and crossed his arms, tapping his bicep gently, falling deep in thought once more. ‘Hmmm. What should I do?’
“Is he alright?” Matteas asked.
“He might be thinking about how difficult it is to let you live now that you’ve offended him,” Jaygak replied, before chuckling to herself.
“…”
“It seems Fate may not be a harsh mistress after all,” Adam said, slowly opening his eyes as he caught the Baron’s eyes. “We might be able to assist you.”
“What do you mean?”
“What I mean is… I quite like the moon?” Adam glanced aside to Great Moon and then to Wolffang, wondering what it’s abilities were. “Your sword, is it magical?”
“It is.”
“Do you know what it does?”
“Somewhat.”
“Do you have a pearl I can borrow?” Adam asked.
“A pearl?” Matteas asked, before understanding what Adam might need the pearl for. “You wish to understand more about my blade?”
“Yeah.”
“…”
“You want me to risk my life for you in making you a king, and you can’t do this much?” Adam asked, raising his brow. “Considering the darkness which we vanquished, I feel like we’ve earned quite a bit of good will from the land, and you should understand just how powerful that probably makes us.”
“Very well.” Matteas undid the blade at his side and handed it to Adam. “You may study it tonight.”
“I’ll do it right now,” Adam said, eyeing up the weapon. It was made of almost pure silver, and had a weight to match, almost twice as heavy as most blade its size. “I need the pearl.”
The Baron motioned a hand to one of his servants, who swiftly brought the pearl, one set within a necklace. Adam held it and the blade, meditating with it, clutching the pearl with his other hand.
Spell: Identify
Wolffang
You gain a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this weapon.
When fighting against lycanthropes, gain an additional +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this weapon.
While wielding this weapon you may will its greater magic to activate once per day causing Wolffang to glow for one minute. Any lycanthrope within the glow will suffer three levels of exhaustion.
Adam whistled. “It’s pretty good.” Adam handed the blade back to the Baron. “As you know, good against lycanthropes and such. You can will it to glow too, and it’ll… poison them as long as they stay within its glow.”
“How can I will it?”
“You just think about it glowing I guess?” Adam replied, shrugging his shoulders. “It lasts a minute and you can only do that once per day.”
‘Is he truly not a Night Lord?’ Matteas thought. ‘Only some volar know how to use minor magics, and though the spell is considered minor magics, he seems to be able to wield greater magics…’
“Why don’t you take me to this shrine and I’ll make you a nicer weapon?”
“What?” Matteas blinked.
Adam could see his Iyrmen companions glance his way, and the look within their eyes. “What? If we’re going to make him a king, I might as well make sure he doesn’t die.”