After our visit to the King including the fact that it was supposed to be a rest day. I asked Hana if there was anywhere she would like to go for a relaxing lunch. Again, my question seemed to catch her off guard. From memory she chose a small boutique restaurant overlooking the eastern part of the city.
The small restaurant had a raised balcony where four small tables were placed under some awnings. It's whitewashed walls and balcony arrangement reminded me of some of the Greek islands I'd seen in vacation brochures. We drank the city's equivalent of a fruit drink with a slight alcoholic flavour. For our meals I selected a salad with caramelised windroot and some soft pieces of bread. Surprisingly there were some spices in the bread mix that I couldn’t identify but it gave the salad an oriental feel. Hana opted for a braised meat pie dish and seemed to enjoy it, but she didn’t choose any salads.
They called the restaurant Monique, after the owner’s deceased wife, and had four accommodation units on the upper most of three storeys. The owner said his accommodation units cost ten silvers a day, which was expensive by many people’s standards, but the rooms were spacious, all food was included and there were other services offered for free. I liked the Mediterranean feel of the place, as did many others it seemed because all the rooms were currently occupied, and no one intended leaving. I decided to carry on dreaming. One gold every ten days was still far out of my league.
Later that day we returned to the inn to relax in our room where I decided to do some experiments following my discussion with Ara that morning.
“What are you doing?”
Asked a curious Hana.
I held two rings, one in each hand, and both with the same metal consistencies. I was attempting to first pass the air attribute from the original onto the new and failing miserably. For some reason I couldn’t visualise how the transfer should look. When I used the flow technique I used when transferring EE, the rings resisted me. When I explained my dilemma to Hana she came up with a simple solution.
“Perhaps it’s less like guiding flowing water and more like herding sheep.”
It was a simplistic view, but she was onto something because when I viewed the attribute as an object rather than a stream, the resistance suddenly crumbled, and it moved. My appraisal of the ring confirmed what I sensed; the attribute had definitely moved. From then on it became easier for me to transfer skills and attributes. Cloning an attribute was challenging but by later the afternoon I learned everything I required. I discovered that while I shared common contact with the ground, I could do a transfer but only within arm’s length of the object I wanted to transfer with.
You may be asking why I didn’t want to transfer a skill with Hana, and I considered that initially, but decided against it because I was too uncertain about the implications. Earlier I tried to remove her collar by transferring the enslavement attribute and got hit by a bolt of electric power that rebounded on me. Luckily it didn’t do any damage other than to sully my already poor attitude towards that collar.
Hana’ voice brought me back into reality.
“Are we meeting Mr. Papadopoulos again?”
And once again we dashed for the eastern part of the city. Thank goodness from our geographical location at the inn we could stay within the upper part of the city and cut a large swathe of the city out of our travels. It still meant we arrived just in time to see Mr. Papadopoulos farewell the remaining members of his team.
“Ah, Mr. Karosaki, Hana. It’s good to see you again, your timing was fortuitous. Here are the subjugation proofs from the goblins, including two leaders and an ogre.”
From the looks of things, there must have been well over a hundred goblin carcasses.
“Uhm, we weren’t expecting to see an ogre amongst the rocks. It caused a real stir I tell you. Many of the men hadn’t seen an ogre in their lives and it was a bit of an education.”
“Uhm, yeah. Sorry about that Mr. Papadopoulos, I totally forgot to mention that.”
“Don’t worry about it. The total cost comes to forty-five silvers. As agreed, we removed the goblin carcasses, however I wasn’t sure about what you wanted to do with the ogre, it’s still lying there. I’m not sure if the meat is worth much after lying in the sun for a day, but the skin and the remains of the tusks should be worth something.”
I thanked him for a job well done and I pitched an idea to him at the same time.
“Would you consider ever mining this rock from the source?”
I explained that it was at least three to four days travel from Shimmerstal.
“Aye, it would be something I’d serious consider. But from your description, the logistics of transport, setting up camp and mining, could turn the situation into a small operation. You’d need to do your sums well, and with those monsters still around, it may be best just to leave it where it is for the moment. If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to call it a day. When things improve, come around and we’ll have a beer to talk about it.”
I left him to leave, I could see he was tired. No doubt a small operation today in itself. But he suddenly stopped and said something.
“Ah, Mr. Karosaki. I’m not one for prying, but I couldn’t help but notice a few things I thought I should mention. Those goblins were as fresh as the day they died. Strange thing that; if I didn’t know better, I’d say they just jumped in and died in there. Ha, ha, ha, but then we know that’s impossible. Right?”
“Of course. It’s impossible.”
He smiled at me.
“Don’t worry Mr. Karosaki, us labourers are a tight knit bunch. We’re not in the habit of spreading rumours, but if others see them often enough, not even we can stop them from growing legs.”
I could sense the veiled warning. He probably felt concerned for the both of us.
“Don’t worry Mr. Papadopoulos, I fully understand.”
“Well then, I think we’re going to see some interesting days coming. We’re kind of short on work now and any job is worth it, no matter where or when. You know where to find me.”
He said waving goodbye as he left. I think his premonition was dead on.
The pile of worked rock had been neatly stacked and even in the late afternoon sun, I could appreciate the beauty of the stones. After confirming everyone but Hana and I remained in the area, I used transfer storage to place all the rock until I stopped at the ogre. I had a problem.
The problem with transfer storage, it’s first in first out.
After Ara produced another ring, I made sure she coloured it red for me with the same crisscross pattern as the new pocket dimension storage I made for Hana. I now sported two rings on my finger. Hana eyed her ring and realised I made a different coloured ring for myself. She was intelligent and she would figure it out for herself.
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We took a carriage back to the guild where I delivered the ogre with instructions to remove the hide and roll it into strips for me. I’d pick them up later the following day. I received twenty-four small gold and twenty silvers for the goblins, plus fifty silvers for the two goblin leaders and another twenty silvers for their earrings. So, all in all, nearly twenty-five small gold. Not bad for a single battle, excluding previous rewards. If you were wondering about the ogre subjugation reward, as promised, I asked the guild to spread the reward evenly between the Harpies and the Smashing Rabbits. That concluded my business with them.
“Ah, please wait Mr. Karosaki.”
Olivia stopped me.
“Could you please come to the guild tomorrow morning? The guild master would like to speak with you about the confirmation issue. The guild decided regarding that issue, and he would like to discuss it with you.”
For a moment I couldn’t fathom what confirmation issue she was referring to until it dawned on me it was the fake gold confirmation system. I had almost forgotten about all of that with the events of late. Hana saw my expression and just shook her head. I assumed she waited patiently over the days for me to wake up to that fact. I wondered if she sometimes took the slave thing a bit too far, after all the collar only stopped her from disobeying me and running away, it didn’t stop her from saying something.
“Baka.”
She commented. I decided we were going to have a serious master-slave talk later on.
“You wouldn’t perhaps know about the outcome of that err…issue?”
“Sorry Mr. Karosaki, I’m not aware but I’ll be informed, like you, tomorrow morning.”
A.k.a. shut up and wait. Okay I got it.
“Thanks Olivia, have a good night, we’re both going to bed now.”
Olivia started blushing. Sheesh, she really needed to grow up I thought.
“Baka.”
Our master-slave talk was promising to be a heated one.
In the next morning’s meeting in the adventurer guild, the guild master offered their conclusion.
“The adventurer guild has decided to accept your proposal Mr Karosaki.”
“When I repeated your demonstration for the other guild masters, it caused quite a stir. I promise you; your suggestion has been well tested, and we already have working examples in each of the guilds. Of course, we needed to tweak your demonstration somewhat to make it more practical for our guild administrators to use, but that was a minor hindrance. The adventurer guild will honour your requests and Olivia has a document for Hana to sign to become a fully-fledged adventurer.”
Olivia handed a scroll to Hana which she then signed, Olivia signed, and finally the guild master signed.
“With that, Hannah has now the same rights as any other adventurer within the guild. Unfortunately, that does not overwrite her status as a slave. Because we trust you Shane, we know that you will not put Hana in any unnecessary danger by misusing his slave status.”
Why did that sound more like a thinly veiled threat? Luckily, I wasn't that sort of person, and I'd rather be the one stepping in front of a monster then telling Hannah to do it first.
“Which brings us onto the issue of the second request you had, namely the one silver per fake gold discovered. Since the guild of only run this out recently, we'll only know what to pay you in a few days’ time when we consolidate all the guilds costs and commitments.”
I wasn't in a rush, and we had enough money for the moment. Even Hannah had more money than what she could spend. It made me a little uneasy because I couldn't shake the feeling that money was best utilised somewhere else. Come to think of it there was something I needed to do, since we were going on another quest.
“Hey Hana, let's do a little rabbit hunting today. But first I'd like to buy a few herbs and spices.”
From the adventurer guild we headed to the market where I knew we could buy some herbs and spices. I also wanted to hunt some rabbits so that we could start cooking them in preparation for our trip. A lesson I learned from our mesa debacle was to have more food on hand in case of emergencies. Since I had the option of a transfer storage I could now endlessly stock preprepared food. That way I felt were making good use of time and money.
In preparation for the upcoming quest, we hunted rabbits on the eastern side of the city and roasted them on an open fire and transfer storing them while they still sizzled on a wooden board. The rabbit furs we kept aside for later use. Luckily rabbits were prolific enough that with Hana’s proficiency at hunting rabbits we found over a hundred rabbits over the following days which didn’t include those I trapped.
When we had enough rabbit skins, we took them to a cobbler to make into moccasin type shoes with soft furry inside liners. I asked for two pairs for myself and Hana, the rest I asked to be made into smaller sizes. I had enough wolf furs from my own trapping to find a tailor to make thick fur coats for Hana and myself.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough furs to make some for Alma, Orilay and the kids. I’d continue looking for some fur. Like my thought of the ogre tusk for my knife handle, I couldn’t shake the idea that direwolves would make super nice furs. Somewhere in a dungeon, the direwolf alpha leader shivered. He suddenly felt a bad premonition, as if his furry coat depended on it.
I couldn't take on any subjugation quests with the limited time we had left, but together with the Red Sparrows we met at the merchant’s guild and arranged through Schneider that the goods for Obon be taken to a secluded warehouse in the city where I could transfer the goods into my transfer storage. There were seven carts worth of supplies. Most of the supplies had been crated or netted and could be moved in bulk. To store a crate, I created a transfer storage between the crate and the floor, then it would fall into the storage. I certainly hoped there wasn’t anything fragile in those crates because when I released them in Obon, the fall would be the same height as the crate. I wondered if I could lessen the impact by dropping the boxes onto matrasses of coiled rope.
Schneider also managed to find me a large box of Greythril ore that cost me a single gold. I just couldn’t find it anywhere else. I didn’t realise what a rare commodity it was. I knew I was going to use it; I just hoped it was worth all the money because I had only a few small golds remaining.
To help me store items using the transfer storage, Ara created a comfortable leather belt with connected bars consisting of Mustite. Each metal bar, similar to the size of my little finger, contained its own transfer storage attribute. It reminded me of an ammunition belt. It replaced the all the rings I needed; I certainly didn’t want to end up looking like that nefarious Darius character on 300.
Having confirmed our return to Obon, I visited the old lady with the missing teeth and purchased more children’s clothing on our way back to the inn. It was Hana that negotiated for their clothes amidst the unhappy mumblings from the old hag. She never liked Hana’s haggling but didn’t dare verbalise it, not wanting to lose me as a potential future client. She knew better than to test me on that issue after I threatened to take my business elsewhere if she so much as voiced her disapproval of Hana’s involvement in the trading.
A little while later, and unknown to me, Lady Hull once again made an appearance in the king’s office. King Leopold invited her for discussions. It was rare for the king to summon her outside of their regular meetings and she felt something positive would come out of it. After the usual unpleasant pleasantries, the king opened the discussion.
“Lady Hull, I will not waste your time. The reason I invited you here is to offer a trade.”
“A trade?”
She wasn’t expecting that, she wondered what on earth the king would want to trade so badly he would willingly talk to her outside of the normal meeting sessions.
“Correct. There is a piece of land, a rocky outcrop, about two days walk into your territory in the Blister Oak Forest that has a particular rocky mineral I’m looking to harvest. Would you be willing to trade the mineral mining rights and the land access rights?”
“Excuse me Your Majesty. I’m not aware of any valuable materials in that forest, certainly none worth harvesting. My surveyors have already confirmed that to me.”
The king produced a rock that Shane handed to him earlier. The rock, already cut to size, started to show the facets that made it so attractive. He handed it to her.
“This is a rock sample that some adventurers recently brought back after a battle with monsters.”
The rock disinterested her. Unless it contained gold, or anything similarly high in value, she didn’t particularly care. It didn’t mean she wanted to hand out mining rights willy-nilly nor the attributed access to her land.
Those who cared to notice understood that Lady Hull cared only for things botanical. Most of her private time she spent in her greenhouse doting on her plants. She never liked socialising, abhorring how it wasted her time attending to boot licking aristocrats and commoners. She thought her obvious lack of enthusiasm for such things and her curt attitude during such events made it abundantly clear. Heck, even her manor sat well distanced from any nearby cities or towns as if fearing some social infection from them.
However, on the issue presented to her, she became more interested in what the king offered her in return.
“What would you want to do with this rock, and what are you offering as compensation for my mining rights?”
“I am looking to pave a boulevard with this. I have not decided where yet, but I think it would look wonderful, wouldn’t you agree?”
Lady Hull didn’t agree at all. She wondered if the king had gone nuts. She also wondered what dull trade the king offered in return.
“How about I allow a meeting between your grandson and my daughter.”
Lady Hull couldn’t help but smile. That was an opportunity she couldn’t let up and decided to accept before anything changed the king’s mind.
“Very well Your Majesty I accept. Let my attaché know and I’ll sign the mining rights document. They can arrange the meeting at the same time.”
“Thank you, Lady Hull. I will do that, please let my attendant show you to the door.”
Lady Hull walked out of the office a mixture of happy and confused emotions. Her attaché joined her outside the king’s office as she left. Noticing her reflective state and that she didn’t volunteer any information about the meeting, he prompted her instead.
“How did the meeting go, Lady Hull?”
“Oh, it went particularly well. You’ll receive a request from the king to hold a meeting between my grandson and the princess. In return he wants mining rights to mine some stupid rock outcrop in the Blister Oak Forest. It’s not even a rock with any value. Do something for me; investigate why the king wants to mine that rock so badly that he’s willing to give up his biggest bargaining chip to get it. I feel there’s something I’m not seeing.”
“I’ll get onto that immediately.”