Current Quests
Justice For Courbefy: Find justice for the victims of the corrupt mayor of Courbefy. Use…
Chosen Of Knowledge: Escort Hugh on his journey to becoming a fully awakened iron…
Wine tour: Vineyard wants you to try the different wines in the Megève area.
Chosen Of Hero: Enter the chosen of hero into a tournament to gain notoriety.
Honour Guard Or Under Guard: Either have a conversation with Lady Geller or successf…
Ljuset sprinted into town as quickly as her legs could carry her. She hated herself right now. What’d she been thinking? Doing some initiation ritual meant to impress teens on a grown man with the kind of maturity that comes from paying taxes. She rolled her eyes at herself. She hated the guy but, shit, pissing off the money-machine and letting him get kidnapped? On her turf?
Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Ljuset berated herself as the village came into view. She’d still been congratulating herself for showing that smug dork that he should have some respect for rank when Noah spoke up. Her insides twisted awkwardly at the memory.
“Ljuset, I didn’t think that you believed respect comes from hitting people with practice swords,” Noah had said.
She’d said something reflexive about how she didn’t trust someone with an aura as slippery as his.
“I didn’t think you believed it came from crushing people’s souls either,” Noah had said, calmer than a sage on a mountaintop.
Well, that was one way to make a woman feel like shit. A rebuke from Noah Schmidt was basically the condemnation of the gods. She screwed up her eyes with shame as she arrived in town and slowed down to avoid breaking the inn’s door.
“Studer, where’d they take Dave?” snapped Ljuset as she exploded into the common room. “Just give the direction. Now!”
“South!” exclaimed an overwhelmed Studer.
Ljuset overtook two heidels while she exited town, hoping that she still had time before Dave’s captors left the borders and went beyond where she could step.
She had been an absolute bitch. A man shows up to make all of Johan’s dreams come true and all she can focus on is how offended she is that she has to put in effort to violate his privacy and squeeze answers out of him. Her insides twisted again as she remembered that she was even offended at the time that he wasn’t quailing away from her enough in the carriage.
Yes, Ljuset, she thought to herself, that was you whose pride was dented because the person she was torturing wasn’t crying loud enough for you.
She’d spent half an hour twisting his soul like a wet rag, cracked him about the head with a practice sword and then acted triumphant in front of her neighbours that she, a silver ranker, drove off the iron ranker who supplied them with the deal of a lifetime? Her cheeks burned with the memory of Noah trying to tell her that he thought she should leave. Even more shamefully, Lena had taken pity on her and told her to come inside, calm down and have a cup of tea. Heather was hiding from her and Johan had put all of his sparring equipment away without looking at her.
Ljuset crested the big hill that dominated the south road out of town and her stomach plummeted as she saw a hovercraft already beyond her god-given borders. With her silver ranked vision she could easily see a passenger in the middle of the vehicle lit by an astral lantern and reading a book.
Fuck, she thought.
Sam was crying quietly in the one-wheeled carriage where the silver ranker had left her. She was heartbroken. It felt like a betrayal of karma. She’d been so happy she’d seen the hovercraft and she knew that Dave would like to see it too. She’d skipped into the Forel Inn to tell him and saw him with those tough iron rankers and stopped. Dave had loudly asked them a question to let her know they were from Lady Geller and so she had gone back outside, climbed onto the origami heidel and started galloping towards the Schmidt farm. That was when the first tears started coming.
She’d run into the silver ranker in her floating, one-wheeled carriage along the way, a very pretty elf who Sam reasoned must have been Johan’s sword teacher. Sam was so upset that she didn’t even care that she was in front of a silver ranker.
“You there!” the silver ranker had snapped. “Girl, aren’t you Sam? You’re with -”
“Please, help Dave! They take him!” she managed to cry out against the pressure of the silver rank presence.
The silver ranker's mouth opened in confusion for half a moment before snapping shut decisively.
“Who are ‘they’ and why did they take him?”
“Lady House Geller!” Sam blurted towards the silver presence that encompassed her. “He in danger, maybe they kill him, ka!”
“Take the carriage,” was barely out of the silver ranker’s mouth before her domineering presence was gone.
So now, here Sam was, cold tears becoming tracks of ice down her face in the early winter wind, slowly arriving in a village with a strange carriage that she didn’t know how to stop and her knees sore from praying that Dave would be alright.
Her prayers were in vain. Sam saw the silver ranker running back into town alone. Sam directed the cart towards her and sniffled.
“Missed him. Stop the carriage, girl! You need to get your team together!” snapped the silver ranker.
“I DON’T KNOW HOW!” shouted Sam.
“Stupid girl,” said Ljuset irritably, gesturing at some carvings on the tiller and brushing her hand over one. “Set the speed to zero.” The cart slowed to a stop.
Sam realised that the carvings must actually be a language that she didn’t know, probably the silver ranker’s native tongue. She felt more hopeless than ever.
“I’m sorry, I can’t read that,” Sam said to the ground while exiting the carriage. “Thank you for trying to rescue Dave. Bye-bye, now.”
She climbed onto the origami heidel that had been following her.
“No,” said the silver ranker, projecting her powerful presence in the way they did which made Sam feel exposed to the entire world. “You may as well come with me -”
“No! Bye-bye. Please leave me alone!” said Sam through sniffles.
She turned the heidel and galloped off, getting away from the cruel silver ranker and hoping that Hugh was still at the Schmidt farm where she could find him. Dave had summoned this origami heidel for her that morning and it would dissipate sometime in the evening, a fact that seemed mundane at the time but now multiplied her sadness with his absence.
It was early evening and Ljuset was back at the Schmidt farm holding another cup of tea on the stupidest day of her life. She’d gone back to the Schmidt farm guessing that’s where Sam had departed to when she couldn’t feel her presence in town and she was right. Sam was currently in the barn with Heather. Both were patting Rover and didn’t want to see her. Rover had even bravely barked at her when she’d taken a step towards them.
So she was having tea and talking with Lena, Noah, Johan and Hugh. The only people left in this whole mess who could find it in their hearts to forgive her. Apparently, Sam had said some things in her native language that had the universal sounds of curses when Noah and Hugh had described how Ljuset had treated Dave. Lena had, typically, been nice and merely said that the words ‘didn’t sound like compliments’. Also, Hugh had confirmed that Sam was Funanese, could read but wasn’t fluent in Byzasic, definitely didn’t understand Boreal script and had an overwhelming fear of higher ranked auras.
Yet again, I was a bitch today, Ljuset internally confessed.
She’d just learned that Dave was, as she’d suspected, a schemer. She had hated schemers since her gladiator days and thus, hated him. Oily people trying to suck money out of you. Unfortunately, behind that evasive aura that Dave had been flaunting, it turned out his schemes included getting a lost girl home to her family, keeping a holy man safe from a murderous cult and roaming the countryside doing the gods’ work. Fuuuuck.
Worse still, she’d interrupted some security scheme of Dave’s where he and Hugh weren’t supposed to be in towns unnecessarily. They spent most of their free time in the woods using Dave’s cabin spell as shelter and another of his abilities to clean but after receiving a beating, Dave had shelved that. Hugh figured that Dave went to a place he knew Sam would find him so that she could heal him properly. So, in addition to breaking him physically to the point he needed a health potion to keep moving, she’d also herded him into being captured by his enemies. Fuckin’ great.
“All I can tell you is that rank doesn’t matter so much where Dave’s from,” said Friar Abberton in conclusion after a series of questions Ljuset had made about Dave’s attitude. “Honestly, I’m surprised you described him that way. Most people find him polite but reserved. Of course,” Abberton added quickly, “I’m not questioning your notions, merely relaying opinions that I’ve heard.”
That’s because they can’t sense his mind racing and the way he lays his words out so carefully designed to mean nothing, thought Ljuset.
“I thought he had a good temperament,” said Noah, selecting a biscuit from the tray. “Thought he’d be good at hunting. Had him pegged as a hunting blind kind of guy. Not big across the shoulders, though, so he’d use a crossbow,” Noah nodded seriously, “A one, careful shot kind of man.”
“Oh! That he would be,” said Hugh appreciatively. “Yes, hunting blinds are set up well ahead of time. Indeed, carefully selecting a location is exactly his style.”
“You hunt?” asked Noah.
“Oh, no-no-no. Just read about it, you know? The Adventures Of Finn Goodberry?”
The chit chat was light but everyone’s eyes were sad and strained. Noah was about to reply when Ljuset interrupted.
“Wait, he left because rank doesn’t matter to him?”
Ljuset cringed inwardly as everyone present radiated pensive feelings and looked at her. She realised they’d been intentionally not talking about anything important because of her.
“Miss Greenwood,” began Lena, ever so gently. “You were belting him about the head. Savagely.” She continued more strongly. “If your first lesson with our Johan was like that, I’d have forbade him from going to see you again.”
Ljuset couldn’t help but notice a tremble enter Lena’s fingers as she lifted her tea to her mouth. A slight shudder in her breath as she blew on the surface.
“But it wasn’t like that - Oh, this is ridiculous! Lena, Noah! Are you afraid of me? I’ve known you for twenty years! I’d never -”
“Teacher,” said Johan, with a noble look on his face that she recognised. He was about to do The Right ThingTM. “In twenty years you’ve treated us kindly but always lacked formality to the point of sometimes rudeness. Today we saw you cross the line and do violence to a man who you tricked into feeling safe. We’ve never seen this side of you and you are frightening us all with your behaviour!” Johan set his perfect jaw and continued. “Ere I was thirteen summers when I bullied Thomas Dubre in practice, you gave me a right thrashing for it until I apologised. To remind me of good, moral behaviour before the gods! Well, today you used your sword to become a bully and there is nobody here to thrash you but before the gods I will demand that you apologise to everybody present nonetheless.”
Ljuset felt his clear, blue eyes on him. Uncharacteristically hard. No, she thought, exactly characteristic. I’ve just never been on the wrong side of him before. The realisation was not comfortable. She felt his weak, noble aura pounding with untrained power. A fragile balloon to her. He’d instinctively covered everyone present except her in it. It was a small, projected soul she could wrap her senses around and pop like a bubble. It wasn’t powerful enough to hide the undertone of fear in his parents and the friar. The feeling of their auras reminded her of something. What was…? Yes, that was it, That’s how normal rankers felt during the monster surge. Why would they…? The penny dropped.
Oh, she thought. I’m the monster.
“I’m sorry.”
Ljuset made her excuses and left but couldn’t shake the friar who asked if he could get a ride back to Forel with her. Despite his rank and her discomfort, under the circumstances, she couldn’t say no. So, there he was, sat in the carriage next to her feeling… brotherly. Just watching the country road roll by in the dull light of an overcast sky and very carefully not clearing his throat and shooting her meaningful glances. She could feel it.
“I made the lamest apology I’ve ever heard,” Ljuset finally muttered.
Oh, yes. Yes, it was,” said Abberton mildly, as though remarking on the possibility of snowfall and not acknowledging that he was verbally dressing down a silver. “But I dare say you’re out of practice, so not to worry.” He smiled reassuringly.
Ljuset busied herself feeling put out until Abberton spoke again.
“It’s the tyranny of rank, you know? Dave and I talked about it sometimes,” said Hugh to the landscape. “He said it’s unhealthy, that it must get into people’s heads.” He turned to Ljuset. “What do you think?”
“Don’t be absurd,” muttered Ljuset. “It’s the way things are.”
“Imagine it’s not,” said Hugh with a shrug. “How would we treat each other differently?”
“The same!” scoffed Ljuset. “Except you all wouldn’t randomly become scared of me after -”
“Randomly?” interrupted Hugh with uncharacteristic mischievousness. “My Lady tells me that until today, you haven’t apologised to anybody in over twenty years.”
Ljuset worked her mouth soundlessly as her silver ranked mind raced through twenty years of memories in Forel trying to contradict Knowledge herself. The accusation stung even more because she could feel part of her usual self rising up sharply to aura-pinch the normal ranker back in his place for talking to her like that.
It gets in your head, she thought. Damn.
“You know,” said Ljuset, swallowing her pride. “Dave might have a point.”
“Tell me, Miss Greenwood,” said Hugh. “What would happen if you snapped and killed someone in the pub?”
Ljuset’s mind reeled from this new, dark line of inquiry.
“I’d have to pay the man-price, of course.”
“So, you would be out a small portion of your retirement savings and a family will never see their father again,” said Hugh, still in his mild tone. “Does that sound fair to you?”
“Well, I could also be arrested! If the baron thought I was dangerous,” insisted Ljuset, weirdly trying to think of the worst punishment for herself.
“You know that’s not true,” said Hugh. “You can’t be removed. Who would protect the shire during the monster surge? Come to that, who would even arrest you? Is the life of one man in the pub worth the baron hiring a silver ranked team just to arrest you?”
Ljuset relented. She had known she was wrong even while mounting her protest. Hugh had merely articulated those truths.
“So,” continued Hugh. “If you want to know why everyone got afraid of you all of a sudden. It’s because you’re a law unto yourself in Forel shire and they saw you turn violent.”
Stolen story; please report.
“Ah,” noted Ljuset.
“All the local people know that if you were to, I don’t know, become a sadist overnight or suchlike, there’s nothing they could do about it. They have to live with that knowledge in the back of their minds. You’re nice, and you smile at them but my Lady says that last sixth-day you ignored the line at the bakery to take sweet buns before anybody else. Now, rank has its privileges, yes indeed,” Hugh chortled, “but if we’re honest, you didn’t even notice the line and everybody can tell you don’t notice a lot of things in all your little indiscretions of politeness. And, everybody’s ever-so-polite about it to you because you’ll treat them how you treated Dave if they’re not.”
Ljuset felt insulted. Then she felt shame. Again. Because he was right. She actually hadn’t noticed the line.
“And that’s the tyranny of rank, hey?” remarked Ljuset with clenched teeth. “Not noticing lines?”
“Not noticing people,” said Hugh. He shrugged with a sad smile and turned to watch the cold landscape go by once more.
Johan trudged into the Forel Inn, briefly letting in the gloom of mid-afternoon. It was some hours later. He’d finished his chores, made up his mind, packed and set out to make things RightTM.
“Oh! Young master Schmidt,” said Studer, bustling behind the counter. “That Booker fellow left you a letter and your parents a package.”
“Sorry, Studer, I can only take the letter,” said Johan. “I’m heading south!” He proudly hefted a dimensional bag that Sam had given him.
“I’ll take it,” said Greenwood, getting up from the corner where she was musing over a piece of paper with Hugh. “I’ll drop it off to them this evening.”
Johan, Hugh and Ljuset exchanged greetings as Studer handed over the package which disappeared into Greenwood’s coat pocket. Studer turned his attention back to Johan.
“Heading south, hey?” asked Studer. “Your father finally decided to take out a loan and buy some potion-apple cuttings for the farm?”
“Of course not, Studer.” Johan’s golden laugh cut across the common room. “Father would never! No, Mister Booker took me on as an adventurer before he was spirited away by those villains working for Lady Tiffany Geller.”
“It looked like he went willingly?” said Studer blankly.
“Ah,” replied Johan tapping his nose conspiratorially. “But that ruse gave him the freedom to leave on his own terms. Perhaps this letter will contain something useful for us who will follow to rescue him!”
“Alright, well… be careful,” mumbled Studer who was feeling like this conversation was getting away from him.
Johan opened the letter and read.
Dear Johan,
I have been taken by the adventuring team Charcoal Knights. Evidently this is a play on words because someone put a note in the margins of their public file that they specialise in low-light conditions. They intend to deliver me to Lady Tiffany Geller who believes I was involved in the death of her son. I was. He attacked Sam and I for ‘poaching his monsters’ and when some of his team died in the attempt, he dedicated himself to hunting us down and killing us. We killed him first. Ask Sam for more details.
I need you to lead the team to Oullins. Even though Hugh is officially the team leader, he’s currently suffering from what my people call ‘post traumatic stress disorder’. Perhaps you call it ‘battle shock’, ‘combat stress’ or ‘the shakes’. Greenwood will know what I’m talking about so refer to her on this subject. In any case, I am counting on you to hold things together and get everyone to Oullins.
Rescuing me should not involve confrontation. You can’t catch the Charcoal Knights and even if you could, they are competent adventurers. Also, they’d just take me back from you as soon as night fell. Confrontation with Tiffany Geller will just make her angry. She must believe that I am punished.
As I am not one of her subjects, she does not have the right to treat me as she wishes and must go through the courts. I have no illusions that she will make a murder or manslaughter charge stick no matter my defence. Let it happen. While it’s happening, try to file paperwork claiming my capture as your own. That way, you can claim me as an indentured servant under Adventure Society law. Although, a judge might give that right to the Charcoal Knights instead.
If that is the case, as team leader, claim that all of my gold is rightfully yours, since I’m a non-Adventure Society auxiliary. Use that coin to buy me off the Charcoal Knights. There should be more than enough since, on paper, I’m nothing more than an administrative auxiliary.
Tell Sam that I miss her jokes and to keep everybody safe. Tell Hugh that he’ll get through this difficult start, even though it seems unfair. As for you, Johan, I am looking forward to getting to know you better upon my return and would ask you to be kind to Sam and Hugh. Life has not been fair to them and the past has hurt them in ways that aren’t visible.
Best wishes,
Dave Booker.
“Fuckin’ schemer,” said Greenwood, shaking her head. She’d taken a glance at the paper from behind Johan.
“Language, my good teacher!” admonished Johan.
Greenwood cheekily flicked a lesser coin at Johan who snatched it out of the air.
“Put it in the swear jar. I stand by it,” said Greenwood. She gestured at the table where she and Friar Abberton had the paper remains of a brainstorming session. “We’ve been at this for… what? An hour and a half now? And that slimy bas- fellow - who isn’t slimy - had a plan more complete and well thought out just waiting there with Studer.”
“He is both a scholar and a gentleman, Miss Greenwood. I am sure of it.”
Greenwood rolled her eyes.
“What’s it say?” asked Hugh, getting up and craning his neck.
Johan politely folded the paper and tried to make some non-committal noises. Greenwood went for the throat.
“Says you have battle ghosts,” then Greenwood pulled a thoughtful face. “Actually, that’d make sense. You’re a little too intense about your religion. Even for a clergyman.”
“Oh, is he still on about that? Ha ha haa!” said Hugh robotically.
“Of course. How silly!” said Greenwood. “Anyway, this is a good plan. You’d better pack your things, Abberton. Going to have to get to Oillins as fast as you can!”
“Oh, you think? Naturally, naturally. Do excuse me. The Lady has blessed us!”
Greenwood watched him until he was up the stairs and out of sight.
“Johan, he has a serious case of battle ghosts,” she said flatly and then shrugged in response to Johan’s open, puzzled face. “I poked his aura a bit. I know! Today has been a lesson in rank abuse but I’m not having you run off without giving you all the advantages that I can.”
“Thank you, Miss Greenwood,” said Johan.
“It’s Ljuset now. You’re an adventurer and I expect you to make me proud,” said Ljuset, unnecessarily smoothing his coat. “And you’re not to allow yourself to be treated badly by anybody, no matter their position, alright?”
“Yes, Miss Gr- Ljuset.”
“Good, now this friar, I’ve got to give credit to that Booker for pointing it out. He seems stable but when I brought up battle ghosts his aura flared with instability.”
“What does that mean?” asked Johan.
“Basically, he’s going to behave like a normal person until he doesn’t,” said Ljuset, biting her lip and thinking of the other gladiators she’d met with the condition. “Everything will be fine until you’ll say something or something will happen that will bring the ghosts to his mind. Like, the sound of cutting cabbage could make an old training partner of mine start shaking and crying. He just decided to stay away from the kitchen but another gladiator, Lorenzo, would just be in practice and suddenly go psycho. It was like his ghosts took his mind into his past and he thought everyone was trying to kill him. We couldn’t always hold him down on time before he hurt someone.”
Johan’s open expression became troubled as Ljuset’s face became more grim.
“What is the cure for this ailment?” asked Johan, clearly ready to make it the first stop in a heroic quest.
“Time? Peace? Or death. Half of them kill themselves,” said Ljuset, her expression turning sad. “That’s what happened to Lorenzo. He didn’t come to practise for a few days. The instructor went to visit him and found him face down with a knife through his chest and a note that read ‘I just don’t want to hurt people anymore’.” Ljuset sighed and patted Johan on the shoulder. “It turns out your first monster to slay as an adventurer is one you can’t fight.”
“Perhaps I should take him to a church of Healer in the big city? Oullins? They could give him spiritual guidance and help him pray?” said Johan speculatively.
“Perhaps,” said Ljuset. “The only advice Healer clergy ever gave us gladiators was to find another line of work.” She shook her head ruefully. “Like we were ever going to listen. We had to have the confidence to believe we were the best fighters around to step into the pit. Telling someone who is convinced that they’re a temporarily displaced world champion to get another job isn’t a winning strategy but, then again, the church didn’t exactly send their best specialists either.” She smirked at Johan. “So, maybe the situation will be different for Hugh?”
“Teacher! Surely you’re not accusing the church of -”
“No accusations!” interrupted Ljuset with an indulgent smile. “Specialists in spiritual wellbeing are very few in number and certainly rank higher than the acolytes who were sent to clear us gladiators for our next fight.”
Johan still looked troubled.
“Oh, dear boy,” said Ljuset. “This is something the world is going to teach you. Sometimes things are bad, there’s no answers and it’s nobody’s fault.”
“We should fix those things,” stated Johan with the righteousness of the naive.
“I hope you do, Johan,” smiled Ljuset. “And to help you with that, here's a couple rings from my old iron rank equipment.” She reached into her pocket and drew out each item as she mentioned it. “Ring of perpetual motion: A bit of a lie, it just cancels the first thing that slows you down each day. And, these two, paired rings of blind trust: You take one and the other goes to an ally. That ally can target you with spells that require sight or touch even when they can’t see or touch you,” She grinned. “Gladiators in the lower ranks sometimes keep hitting after they’ve won. That ring helped me survive those backwater fights.”
“Teacher - Ljuset, I mean, I can’t take -”
“You can and you’ll be thankful,” stated Ljuset flatly. “Unless you want to make meaningless all the years I held onto them for you instead of selling them? No? I thought so. Now, a bit of gear advice: Always have something on hand to deal with gravity and water. You can’t duel your way out of a long fall or drowning. Also, actually use your powerful consumables! Don’t keep holding onto them for later. The time to use them is any fight that isn’t a walkover. And, lastly, general advice: Remember your training.”
“Thank you, Ljuset,” said Johan, smiling his winning smile. “I will return these items to you when I am bronze rank. Just as you said.”
Hugh soon returned down the stairs.
“Time to go?” he asked. “I said a quick prayer to my Lady and I think I’m ready.”
“Yes!” said Johan. “It is time we were off to rescue our honourable benefactor.”
“Make sure you file the paperwork correctly,” said Ljuset, patting Johan on the back.
After insisting to Hugh that she would like to apologise to Sam in person, Hugh had gone on ahead to meet Sam and explain Ljuset’s request: No rank bullying, no aura use, just wanting to meet all of Johan’s teammates. Sam had elected not to go with Johan into the inn, her fear of high ranked auras in effect, and had gone on ahead to the south road and was going to wait for Johan and Hugh there.
Ljuset and Johan were walking five minutes behind Hugh and caught up to him as they came over a hill where he was waiting with Sam. After meeting her properly, Ljuset had her impressions of the weak, crying girl in the carriage reversed. First of all, her comfort with her environment seemed intuitive. Most iron rankers stood out by their aura, especially when they were uncomfortable, which the early winter wind playing along the road would do lower ranks, but Ljuset could only detect Sam’s aura because of her silver rank sensitivity. Secondly, and most impactfully, she was impressed because Sam’s aura now showed her fighting spirit.
Ljuset had apologised and asked Sam to treat her as though she was the same rank as Sam. No repercussions. She could yell at Ljuset and even slap her if she needed to. That hypothetical offer was barely out of her mouth when Sam delivered a kick to Ljuset’s leg that would have crippled an iron ranker. She then summoned a swarming, beetle familiar onto Ljuset’s face and then kicked her in the ribs when she reflexively raised her arms to ward the beetles away. This girl was savage!
“You’re mean to people because they can’t hurt you!” Sam shouted in Ljuset’s face defiantly.
She wasn’t wrong. Ljuset’s silver ranked body was completely unaffected.
“Ah, yes,” said Ljuset awkwardly. “That’s what I’ve been learning all day and what I apologised for. I am really sorry.”
Sam huffed and glared but relented for the moment.
“Also, Sam, I heard it mentioned that you have healing abilities? Hugh mentioned something to the effect that you did?”
Sam glared up at her in response and Ljuset accepted the hatred.
“Johan, I think you should give Sam the caster’s ring of blind trust. Oh, and put on your other trinkets as well. You may as well.”
Ljuset was very careful to control her expression when Sam’s face softened and even lit up for a moment when Johan presented her with jewellery. It didn’t matter that it was functional jewellery. She knew the feeling.
After a conversation with the group about their travelling equipment, which Ljuset quickly established as over-prepared for any environment, she got the feeling she’d like Sam. She didn’t expect Sam would like her any time soon but Ljuset acknowledged that was an own-goal. Sam obviously had some fire in her personality and her banter with Hugh also suggested a bit of cheekiness struggling through from behind her language difficulties. Ljuset managed to take Johan aside for a moment.
“Well, this is goodbye for now, my old student,” said Ljuset.
“Only for now, Ljuset. For there shall come a day when I will return and make things right around here again,” announced Johan to the cold afternoon in general.
“Ah, yes. Well. Very good. So, Sam’s the reliable one in this bunch so stick with her, alright?” Ljuset extended her hand.
Johan nodded and Ljuset allowed herself to be pulled into a hug.
“I will make you proud, my old teacher. Check in on my parents often! I will write,” said Johan. He smiled down at her then turned and began striding southward into the adventuring life.
Ljuset dropped off the parcel that Dave had left for the Schmidts and accepted Lena’s invitation to stay for dinner. A simple shepherd's pie with fresh bread. The Schmidts couldn’t always afford the best cuts of meat but Lena could make you forget that, what with the amount of practice she had with ground beef and fresh bread that could heighten any meal.
She felt guilty accepting because the food would hold no nutrition for her but on a day that had highlighted the meaning of a complete spiritual life, Ljuset accepted the importance of breaking bread with a neighbour. They filled each other in the events of the day each had missed.
After her ‘embarrassing moment’, as Lena politely put it, Johan had strode off into the fields, done all of his chores, fixed all the fences, turned an entire dead tree into firewood, stacked that firewood next to the barn and properly dug out all the drainage ditches for the coming spring. Apparently, the combination of Adventurer’s Tools and Strong As A Grazer had predictable effects on Johan’s productivity.
Then he’d come home to his parents who were comforting an upset Sam who, with his parents’ help, explained Dave’s situation to him. In response, Johan had decided to do the Right ThingTM and simply go rescue Dave from the dastardly plans of whoever was kidnapping him. Ljuset had smiled and shaken her head as Lena recounted the conversation because she could exactly picture his noble expression and demeanour. It was so typical of him.
So, Sam had given Johan a spare dimensional bag she’d had — apparently she carried a few for some reason — and Johan had packed his clothes as well as a few belongings to remind him of home before giving his teary-eyed mum a hug and taking some sandwiches she’d made for the occasion. He’d given his proud dad a gruff handshake and then walked out the door with Sam. He’d looked back to wave from the front gate.
Ljuset picked up the story from there quickly relating that, yes, she’d met Sam, handed over the tiller of her monowheel and hadn’t been in time to help anybody and, yes, been so busy thinking about herself in that failure that she’d failed to be nice to Sam which had led to her lame apology earlier that day. She told them about how she’d taken moral lessons from the friar about the obligations of her rank and strategised with him at the inn for over an hour only for Johan to come in and get given a letter from Dave which already had a better plan than their entire brainstorming session.
“Oh, you haven’t forgotten about that parcel, have you?” asked Ljuset as it came up in her tale. They’d moved onto a cheeky glass of wine now that dinner was done.
“I had!” exclaimed Noah, Lena’s expression suggesting the same. They’d both been bustling around the kitchen making dinner when she’d produced it and it’d been put aside.
“Well, make sure you open it soon in case it’s something perishable,” said Lena, a bit of her usual mischievous demeanour entering her voice.
“Why not now?” said Lena with her motherly smile.
Nobody said anything so Noah untied the string and opened the box. There was a letter on top folded in half and underneath, a cardboard cylinder surrounded with scrunched up and shredded paper. Noah took the letter and began reading, putting the box aside for now.
Dear Lena and Noah Schmidt,
I have a quest ability that the god Hero has used to lead me to your son. I know that this will be a source of both pride and fear for you so please let me first congratulate you on raising such an amazing boy and do my best to allay your fears.
Any fears you have no doubt stem from Hero’s reputation as the god of heroic last stands, something I noticed myself that their temples emphasise with their interior decor. Being aware of this, and your son’s gallantry, I want you to know that I will put aside my own sense of honour to ensure Johan’s survival should the situation call for it, no matter what Johan may personally insist. I promise that I will bring your son back to you if I have to drag him away from heroic situations kicking and screaming.
You will also notice that I have left one hundred iron spirit coins in the parcel. You mustn’t think I am making some attempt to buy your child or your affections. Those coins are not for you, although I expect you will benefit from them incidentally. They are for you to spend on projects that benefit the community. Johan’s going to worry about you two and send letters home. When you write back, I want the letters he reads back to be full of good news because he’s going to have times when he needs that good news and what news could be better than the prosperity of his friends and family? The world out there will seem unforgiving without his parents' guidance and I want this transition of him moving out of home to be as smooth as possible.
It is unfortunate that his first adventure in life outside the family business is rescuing me but I have given him a good plan to follow and I believe a good lad like him will follow it to the letter. Sometimes, like I am experiencing in this moment, life brings us challenges at the most inconvenient of times but we must confront those challenges to flourish and I believe your son will do this.
Thank you again for your hospitality during my brief stay with you. I’m looking forward to seeing you again in times when I am under no threat of being detained.
Best regards,
Dave Booker.
At mention of the coins, Noah glanced meaningfully at the box and Lena picked up the cardboard cylinder. Now that she was holding it up, out of the box, all present could see that the inside of the cylinder held one hundred stacked coins, held firmly by the cardboard so they wouldn’t clink together. Lena had just held onto it with wide eyes and a white knuckle grip that she maintained while Noah kept reading and into the silence once he’d stopped.
“Fuckin’ schemer,” said Ljuset, breaking the silence.
“Language,” said Lena, softly.
“Well, I appreciate the scheme,” said Noah seriously. “Well, if it’s for everybody.” The set of his jaw in that moment made both women present sure of where Johan’s signature look came from. “Then, I suppose I can handle that. A lot of good in this town can be done with a hundred iron coins. What’s that in normal coins?”
“Ten thousand,” said Ljuset, whose silver ranked brain could handle the mental maths quite easily.
“Well, we could fix the road into town with that, couldn’t we?” asked Lena in a bit of a daze.
Ljuset could tell that the Schmidts still hadn’t internally comprehended that Johan was an adventurer now and even without moneybags-Dave on his team, Johan could easily afford to send home regular injections of wealth like this. With Dave on his team it’d be… Weekly? She shook her head.
“How about this,” said Ljuset, draining her wine. “How about we make Dave proud and scheme ourselves a few more ideas before the wine makes us sensible again?”
She, of course, wasn’t even slightly affected by the unranked wine but enjoyed staying in the spirit of things and took up pen and paper to jot down all of the community focused ideas that Lena and Noah could think of within a ten thousand coin budget.
They ended up with, Ljuset thought as she walked home later that evening, quite a good list.