The next day, I had to spend the whole day at Melgart's clinic. Instead, I left Sleepy and William with the Veterinarian and went shopping. The thing I needed had to be a custom job. I went to a Guild-affiliated Carpenter. Olivia was a nice lady who had decades of experience in her craft. I explained to her what I needed.
Olivia had a notepad to write down my order but it was so absurd she only tapped her pencil on the paper.
"Let me see if I understood. You want a giant-sized wooden club that can be swung at a straw target without breaking but it is actually hollow and is also a chest with a lid and lock'?" She parroted my request back at me.
"Yes, that's it. The bigger the internal usable space the better. If it can be used by people to sit on and has a flat side on top it can double as a bed. I want eleven of these."
Olivia narrowed her eyes. "Quite the odd storage item you found."
I knew she was fishing but her intuition was spot-on. Olivia was trustworthy, though. She worked with the guild for more than two decades.
"Yeah. It only stores melee weapons but the definition of what's a melee weapon is quite stretchy. Any rock I can swing to bash a skull counts, for example. A chair also goes inside without a hitch."
"I see. You could buy this item but not a real storage item. Yes, I can do what you want. But let me suggest one change. Don't make all the chests the same size. Make a smaller one for the most used items, or better yet, use a porter's backpack as the smallest one, then go up from there. If we attach a handle and a blade to the backpack, it might work. No, not a blade. A club. Keep the theme or throw viewers off-balance? You said eleven. I'll make nine of the biggest size possible… do they need to be crafted as a single piece of wood? You said you want one to be used as a bed but I doubt it's an indoor bed. It's going to need a flat-level surface. What about we make one giant club that can deploy into a tent? I might be able to get a Gnome Machinist friend of mine interested in this project. What's your budget?" She rapid-fired.
We went back and forth. Olivia sent a runner to ask her Gnome friend for a quote, and then we negotiated the containers. She decided I should get eight club-chests of enormous size to be determined, then two slots for the backpack and a four-hundred-liter trunk, leaving the ninth for the Gnomish tent.
She had me show how much weight I could lift. It would let her estimate my Strength score but it was not something I could hide. I had to have the ability to swing the item if I wanted to store it. The heavier it could be, the bigger the chest-club.
We reached the price negotiation. I got a discount because of my Guild affiliation and another on top of that because of the novelty of the work. Olivia would gain a hefty chunk of Experience, it was the same that happened with Melgart during our negotiation at the temple but without divine intervention required. Despite all that, I knew I couldn't afford the Gnomish contraption right now.
It was okay. The volume of those chests disguised as clubs would allow me to carry a prefabricated cottage inside them. Olivia agreed to stagger the deliveries so I would slowly fill the Armament Quiver with the chests as they were manufactured.
With my new storage item, I didn’t need to worry about weight limitations or using William as a porter. Instead, I intended to turn the Tityron into the tank of my pet party. If I could train him to defend me from enemies trying to close into melee range, that would free me to kill them. Sleepy would eventually take the DPS skirmisher role. With his high speed, flight, and lightning attacks, he would be a menace to our foes unless they could pin the Wolfertinger down. But to do that, they had to get past William and me.
That kind of combat tactic would take a lot of time to develop and train. But it was free Experience points and an opportunity to level up beast mastery. And I would need to find barding for William and Sleepy. That had to stay on the back burner for now. I wasn’t swimming in cash after buying the enchanted items from Haru.
Back at Melgart’s clinic, the training session went on and on.
*
*
The next day, after an extended series of exercises and archery training on the rooftop, I went to the recently rebuilt Garrison to see if I could talk to Kara. It would be a long shot to actually speak to her immediately but I wanted to know if she could set some of her time off apart so we could talk. Sleepy’s crate was secured on top of William’s saddlebags. Not yet ready to retire these.
The red tape started at the gates. The guards recognized me, and they didn’t like it at all.
“Officer George, the Guild Scout. What business brings you to this Guard station?”
“Maybe he wants to get in again,” the other one snickered.
William bleated. He too had little patience with these idiots. Didn’t they see how many of their fellow Guards fell to the executioner's axe a couple of weeks ago? Or was it exactly because of that they felt so emboldened?
“Watch how those monsters you carry behave, kid,” the first guard said. “Or I might get a new wool coat.”
They were venting hot air for nothing. I could beat some sense into these idiots and nothing would happen. Maybe I would get into some trouble but soon I would be cleared by either Kara, Hector, or Alice.
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“Gentlemen, I wish to speak to Captain Kara,” I said, ignoring their provocations. “Perhaps she is not aware of the sad state of the Guard discipline in her district.”
“She has no time for you, kid. Go before we apprehend —”
Their eyes went to Sleepy’s carrier. I was about to do something very stupid when a sharp commanding voice stopped us. “What is happening here? What are you Guards apprehending?”
I didn’t need to turn around. I recognized the voice but it felt like it belonged to a completely different person. The two guards, eyes glued on a space behind and to my right, snapped into a salute and then froze in place.
Sleepy howled. He was annoyed too and wanted to bite these guys’ faces.
The hand that was going to draw an arrow turned into a wave. I spun around. “Captain Kara.”
“Scout George.”
The formal treatment hurt me. A small part of me was still hurting because of the way she dumped me. Another part was angry at the lost opportunity. But I couldn't blame her for taking out on me the frustration for what Alice did. It wasn't in the cards. “Us” was born and died on that date. The uncaring way she looked at me, as if I was a nuisance she was too polite to ignore told me everything.
“I was hoping you could set a few minutes aside so we can talk.”
“Is it business-related?” The cold in her voice was worse than the Green-inch’s blizzard.
I glanced at the two gate guards behind me, then sighed. “No, it is not.”
“Then I’m sorry. I’m swamped with work. But I’ll do my utmost to set some time when my next day off comes around. I’ll leave a message for you at the Guild Hall when I learn when my next day off is. Hadn’t had one since my promotion.”
Damn. Talk about olive branches. She hadn’t had a day off in three weeks? Two and a half. Goodness. “Yes, that works. It’s nothing too urgent anyway. Congratulations on your promotion, Ka– I mean, Captain.”
“You can address me without my rank.”
Foot, meet mouth. “Sure. Same.” I wanted to kill myself. “I’ll get off of your way now.”
Her mask cracked for a moment. Kara made a wistful face for a moment. “Sure. I am already late.”
“William, come!” The Tityron locked step by my side and we walked away. My blasted perception let me hear what happened at the gates.
“You two, when does your shift at the gate end?” Kara asked the guards. She wasn’t using her happy voice.
“At noon, ma’am!” Guard two replied.
“Lunch time. Okay. You two are to report to my office right after being relieved from your shift. Do not stop to visit the toilet or to eat anything. If your mother is dying, pray in silence while you beeline to my door. Understood?”
“Yes, Captain.” Both barked in unison.
“Good.”
*
*
One week later, no notice of Kara’s day off reached me at the Guild Hall.
I was out in the field, to the east of the city. The great forests were to the north and the rocky hills to the south. Between these, a great fertile valley stretched as several bodies of water combined to form a great river. The high availability of water and nutrients from the forest and the hills made the land perfect for cultivation.
This was the breadbasket of the City. The northern farms were family businesses, brave homesteaders fighting for every inch of land against the forest, sometimes literally. But this region was Noble-owned and dedicated to industrial-scale plantations.
All around, golden wheat fields swayed in the wind, giving the impression of waves on the ocean. Pockets of green trees dotted this ocean like tiny islands of an archipelago.
The Noble Houses had guards who regularly culled spawns, keeping the monster population in check. But sometimes a sneaky monster evaded detection and hid somewhere. This monster's presence stimulated more spawns and the thing could cascade and spiral out of control.
I stood on a low hill, examining a copse of trees on a small river island ahead. It was the most likely location for our hidden monster spawn. I reminded myself why I was here.
The Nobles could ask the army for help but that would make their issue public. A huge faux pas in the games they played. So, the Nobles turned to independent agents. Adventurers, so to speak.
Obviously, their reputation mattered so they couldn't hire the uncouth, boisterous, untested, or messy types. The Nobles had deep pockets and expected the best their money could buy.
Despite my status as a Guild Officer, the Deputy Guild Master sold my time this time. I had a suspicion that the woman disliked me and was using Alice's absence to take me down a peg. Not to mention I suspected she took a bribe.
Not my problem. I made sure to leave a massive and redundant paper trail. Alice could investigate it at her convenience later. Why was everyone after a piece of me? I found that vexing and baffling.
William bleated, shaking his head. He had no idea either. No, my bonds weren’t smart enough to understand language yet. It was me projecting a delusion of solidarity from the Tityron. But my bonds and I were as close as conjoined twins.
I stopped moping and paid attention to the island. It was one of the things I had to practice more. Finding clues, and tracks, and using the full capacity of my Intelligence and Wisdom. An explosive growth in Attribute points like mine caused people to underperform in all aspects.
I did a simple Attribute and Resource check.
Soul Scout (rare) Level 20 Strength 225 Dexterity 218 Endurance 219 Intelligence 139 Wisdom 193 Clarity 26 Charisma 57 Health (HP) 701 Mana (MP) 75 Stamina (SP) 385
My base HP had increased by five from my subclass. That was good, because all of my bonds would enjoy a bigger HP pool.
Pushing the System window aside, I focused on the island. I saw something move between the trees, something with red scales and ridges on their back.
Got my mark. It was gone already and too far to snipe. I had to get closer and see what it was. Then report it to the plantation owner and see how he wanted to go from there.