Chapter 44
I decided not to return directly to the library after eating. I was wandering through the busy streets examining the wares at the many stalls. I took advantage of the noise to communicate with Lynn.
[The room is bugged][We need a different][Non-voice form of communication]. I said each set of words quietly in a different language. Seri knew about seventy different languages, so I might as well use that knowledge. In the game, everyone got the psi translator at the start and it handled any language problem that might arise. From Seri’s memories though, one couldn’t always use a psi translator and some races had more favorable opinions when working with people that they could truly communicate with. She stopped at learning only as much as she did because they were the most used languages in the area of the galaxy she operated in. The others weren’t exactly friendly to the human vocal system.
“So that’s why Mistress didn’t enter her room to eat! I see. I already possess an answer to this predicament! Tada!” Lynn announced.
On my vision, a keyboard had appeared. I could see how this would work, but wouldn’t it still look weird to tap along at it? I maneuvered around in the crowd and typed as much. I was typing slowly and disguising my movements as I did so too. Not like anyone could really take notice of my moving fingers with how packed in we all were. Actually now that I think about it, wasn’t this the perfect environment for pickpockets?
“That is true, Mistress, but I believe the detail that it would be completely impervious to being spied on is well worth it. Any voice communication can be deciphered given enough time or, as much as I loathe to say it, possibly magical means.” Lynn responded with clear distaste in her voice.
That was true. I still didn’t have a good handle on the more subtle side of magic. I had only seen a few different types of magic circles for enchanting and offensive magic. Well, there was also that note back at the fortress. {What is your opinion on the bugs in my room. Should I remove them? Personally I think it’s a futile effort to do so, but they could have more sinister effects than merely observation.} I entered.
“My first reaction would be to get rid of them immediately, but like Mistress said, it would be inevitable for them to come back. I do suggest setting up a bug of your own to observe anyone that might enter. I can prepare a suitable one right now if you wish.” Lynn offered.
{Please do so.} I typed.
“The other reason I don’t think Mistress should eliminate them is because doing so would remove one of Mistress’ cards. It would reveal that you possess methods to detect them, which means they would know to set up even more advanced bugs in the future.” Lynn continued.
{That’s true. I can’t afford to have this keyboard on my vision all the time, so let’s work out some signals as well. First, for the keyboard, let’s do if I rub the inside of my right eye for making it appear, left eye to remove it. If I pinch the bridge of my nose, that’s asking you to report on what you’ve learned or anything happenings. I can’t really think of anything else we’d need signals for with you watching through my eyes.} I keyed.
“Affirmative.” Lynn replied.
{That aside, I’m going shopping. What kind of items would you like?} I wrote.
“Potions would be nice, but I believe Mistress already picked some up for that purpose. Some metal ore or ingots of unknown types. I’d also like some fabric, cloth and thread to play around with.” Lynn stated.
Fabrics? Cloth? {Why do you need clothing materials? Especially ready made stuff?} I asked.
“Just interested a bit.” Lynn answered with an odd tone of voice.
Hmmmm. Suspicious, but I know she won’t explain any real reasons if I press her. {Alright. I’ll see what I can do about that shopping list.}
Wandering around the bazaar was pretty enjoyable, surprisingly. Finding the stuff for Lynn didn’t take all that long, though I couldn’t find any new types of metal at least that weren’t already processed into something. I ended up buying a pot made out of something called aether steel along with a few other random doodads. I also picked up some more odd potions. One was something called an elemental ward potion that would supposedly keep the elements from harming you. Not like I needed something like that with my shield, but it did sound like a neat effect. I ended up buying enough that I bought a separate pack to toss them all in. I couldn’t use a bag of holding yet so I had to make do with a simple, well-made leather one. I did buy a cheap one to send to Lynn though.
If there was one annoying detail that came up as I was going about the shopping, it was that I had not just one, but six separate offers from people wishing to buy Coa. One of them was so persistent that I had to use a quick snap of psi to slip away from her.
Once I had cleared the shopping list, I headed toward the library. I should be able to get another hour or two of study in.
Unfortunately there was a commotion along the way.
“I’m telling you that you must give this to me!” A woman’s voice shouted.
“And I’m telling you missie, that if you can’t pay, then I’m not selling.” A man’s voice argued back.
“But that is-” The woman’s voice attempted to reason.
“I don’t care about any sob stories you might make up, missie. Now get out of here before I call for the guards. You’re disrupting my shop.” The man said.
At this point, I finally got through the crowd and got a glimpse of the scene. It was the girl in the cloak from the tailoring shop along with her maid and that knight.
The maid came close to the girl and then tugged on the cloak. “Y-”
She was interrupted from whatever she was about to say by the knight knocking her on the head. “Milady, we must leave.”
“But, Wymund, it is right there!” The girl pleaded.
“I understand, Milady, but we have no choice but to retreat for now. We must first procure more funds in order to acquire it.” The knight responded.
The girl huffed and stomped her foot against the ground. She angrily whirled back to the merchant. “You absolutely must not sell that item to anyone else! Do you hear me? You must not! I shall return post haste!”
The crowd made way for the irritated, and obviously noble, girl. The maid did a slight bow expressing apologies to all concerned before quickly following.
I caught the merchant saying “Stupid, spoiled noble brat.” under his breath.
With the show over, everyone started going back about their own business.
I was a tad curious about what the fuss had been over, so I decided to hang about a bit and talk to the merchant. Whatever the item was, that girl had expressed a very strong attachment to it.
The merchant was selling small accessories and jewelry. All his merchandise was displayed in glass cases. There wasn’t anything that jumped out as being particularly special. He gave me a look when I came up to his stall. His thoughts were expressing annoyance with all the sales that scene might have lost him and all the people badgering him about it.
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This was easily remedied though. “Do any of your accessories have protection enchants? I was looking to buy a simple one as a present for a young girl.” Might as well get Rie something useful.
The merchant immediately brightened up. “Of course! I recommend one of these items over here.” He moved a certain case over for me to examine.
I was bit surprised that the accessories in that box were made of wood or leather. “They’re not made of metal?”
“Since Miss Customer specified a simple enchanted charm. Wood and leather made from beasts is much better for these types of enchants. Is there any that catches your eye?” He inquired.
“This one right here.” I pointed to a wooden bracelet that had blue lines running along it.
“A fine choice. This one has a minor magic resistance enchant. I can let you have it for five silver.” The merchant said.
“Five silver huh? Do you mind if I examine it more closely?” I asked.
“Not at all.” He withdrew a key and unlocked the case before holding it up toward me. He wasn’t handing it to me, just raising it closer to my eye.
This was pretty much a sham. I had already decided to buy it. I could tell that the merchant enjoyed showing off his wares. I was happy to oblige. Whatever worked, as long as it put him in a better mood to sate my idle and likely dumb curiosity. “It’s very well-made. It’s perfect for what I had in mind so I’ll take it.”
To my surprise, he placed it in a small box before taking my coins and passing it to me. “Miss Customer did say it was intended to be a gift.” He said with a smile.
“Thank you.” I replied. “If you don’t mind me asking, what was that fuss about earlier?”
He sighed. “Just someone raising a ruckus because they saw something caught their eye. Came up to my stall and pointed at this necklace here.” He indicated a necklace with a large dark blue gem as the center piece. “Then started yelling about how it belonged to her and I had to return it.”
“And there’s no way that would be the case? If it was possibly acquired through others?” I asked.
“Of course not! Every item on display here was crafted by myself! None of the merchants I have contracts with for supplying me with gems or other raw materials condone buying or selling stolen goods either. Just a spoiled noble trying to get something she wants.” He whispered the last bit in a bitter tone.
“I see. Thank you again for the bracelet. I’m sure my acquaintance will be pleased with it.” I said by way of concluding the business deal.
With that short detour done and my curiosity satisfied, I returned to the library. I spent the next couple hours until the library closed flipping through more books. I was making decent headway, but I really hadn’t made much progress when considering the sheer number of books. It would probably take me at least a few days at this rate to go through all these shelves. These are only the books on Spirits too! I still have to look at the other sections afterwards.
Rather than head back to the inn though, I took a detour and went to adventurer’s guild. It was evening now, but it was still open as I had expected. I went to the counter, instead of checking the request board. I had no idea what the locations on the requests would be about, so it was easier asking the guild staff for suggestions.
I didn’t have to wait in line very long. Only a few people were here. Most adventurers were probably getting drunk, as per the stereotype, at this time of day.
I ended up with a super muscled old man for receptionist. Where are the pretty girls!? “Show your ID and then state your business.” He said in a gruff voice.
I had expected that, so I already had my card ready. He only gave it a brief glance. “I was looking for any jobs that might be available in the surrounding area. I would have checked the board, but as I’m new to the city, I was hoping for any suggestions.”
“You’re in luck. The Guard just dropped off some requests. They’ve got their hands full with the anniversary celebration, so they passed some non urgent work to us.” He pulled out a sheaf of notes. “Let’s see here. There’s a herd of elkan over at the Dhona Woods causing some problems for the farmers on the outskirts. Then there’s a celea up north along the coast that attacked a fisherman. Lastly, if you follow the coast in the opposite direction, there’s some blast jellies. Any preference?”
“The elkan one sounds good.” Being in a forest would be less observable than on the coast and would make it easier to do the exchange with Lynn.
“Okay. You have sufficient rank to accept it, so it’s fine. There’s no real rush on completing it, but try to get it done within the next week if possible.” He explained.
There was something about what he just said that bothered me. My rank. Wasn’t I still a bottom level adventurer? “What rank is the request?”
“It’s a rank 3. You’re rank 3 as well, so that’s all sorted. Right?” He said.
Rank 3? I was absolutely sure the bottom rank was rank 5. I think the guild leader back there said you had to take a test of some kind to reach higher ranks too. I definitely never did that. “How am I rank 3? I only joined the guild recently.” I asked.
“I can’t say for sure. Odds are that you received some commendations and requests to be ranked up by notables like guild leaders or nobles for services that weren’t affiliated with official requests. That’s not all that uncommon really.” He explained with a shrug.
It’s the event with the kids rearing its head again, isn’t it? This probably isn’t the last I’m going to see of the aftermath of that either. “I see. One last question. Directions to the area the beasts were seen at and a description of them, if you could.”
The guy was startled. “You’ve never seen an elkan before?”
I was saved by a timely assist by Lynn. “Mistress, elkan came up in one of the books. They look very similar to the terrestrial elk you may be familiar with.”
Thank you Lynn! “I’m not positive about the official names for beasts really, but were elkan the somewhat equine looking monsters with large antlers on their head?
He nodded. “Yep, that’s them. As for where they were spotted. Near the large forest close to the city, but down at the southern fringes of the farmland area. Witnesses saw three of them, but there may be be a few more. Contact the farmers around there for more information. Remember to collect their antlers as proof of subjugation.”
“I’ll take care of it.” I said before leaving.
Before I left the city, I stopped by the inn and let the inn lady know that I’d be out of the city tonight. She accepted that, but was inwardly afraid that I was aware of everything. The guards at the gate were surprised to see me leaving the city so late, but they let me through. I was lucky there. It was close to the time where they locked down the gate for the night.
I started jogging. I needed to reach the forest quickly, but not quickly enough to draw attention to my speed. No one was still out in the farms, so I just had to be cautious of the guards at the city. I wasn’t sure how far they could accurately see, but I could expect that they’d have methods of observing the open, expansive farmland from atop the walls.
Ultimately, I reached the forest around midnight. I pushed in deeper and deeper until I found a decent location to rest for the night. I hunkered down and started preparing my campsite. Once I had dinner started cooking, I decided to talk with Lynn.
“Lynn, can you send the car to collect the goods?” I said for a start.
“It’s already on the way, Mistress. I’m being cautious about the route I am taking due to the inability to go to higher altitudes.” Lynn replied.
“That makes sense.” I handed a slice of fruit to the gluttonous dragon on my lap. “Can we go over the information collected today?”
“To begin, the spirits don’t appear to follow any pattern for when they arrive, unless a number of them hid their identities which is an option. They appear out of thin air, possessing an odd Class and usually weird equipment. A lot of times, they are also a race that doesn’t exist here. Sometimes, they are accompanied by others as well. The highest number of spirits that appeared at once are what are referred to as the Divine Spirits. According to the notes, they were a group of forty-five that were sent to ‘oversee the birth of the world’. That Airin that Mistress has heard of, was said to be the leader of that group.” Lynn recounted.
“The ‘birth of the world’? That kind of sounds ominous to me. Is that explained at all?” I inquired.
“Sadly not. All that remains to this day are legends and various details like blessings and the like. From the accounts though, it was at least several millennia ago, if not longer. Since then, spirits have come that have changed the world, for good or ill. A lot of times their impact has been relatively minor, limited to showing off by fighting strong monsters or clearing high level dungeons, but some stand out by founding empires or even going as far as trying to conquer the world. One of them even destroyed a kingdom for simply offending her.” Lynn continued.
“So they’re not universally good then. Was there any commonality between their arrivals?” I asked.
“None that I could determine from the books today. Possibly, we might discover one.” Lynn paused for a moment. “Mistress, the scariest detail that I’ve learned, wasn’t about the spirits. It’s about what it revealed about the people of this world.” Lynn announced.
“What do you mean?” I questioned.
“The people of this world revere the spirits to a ridiculous level. They will wholeheartedly follow even a crazy, insane one that does unspeakable things. That woman that massacred that kingdom is seen as being justified because they had the audacity to offend a spirit!” Lynn explained.
“That is simply terrifying.” I answered honestly. “With that level of devotion to take advantage of, don’t people try to pose as spirits for the benefits?”
“It’s an anathema to them. In addition, they wouldn’t be able to imitate the non-standard classes of the spirits even if they overcame their feelings.” Lynn concluded.
I sighed. “I really wish you had said something that would have eliminated the possibility that I could be considered a spirit.”
“Regrettably, Mistress, you and possibly even myself, both seem to fit the requirements to be considered such.” Lynn said hesitantly.
“Fuck.” That summed up my feelings pretty well. Don’t drag me into your shitty religious fervor, stupid world!