Chapter 7 Unexpected perk, a Joyous secret
In the Morning, I went to my new land, bringing a post hole digger, and the Dynamite I had acquired. Reaching the location where I intended to make my mill pond, I proceeded to dig the holes deep into the soil, in the rough outline of where I wanted the Pond to be. I then ever so carefully lowered the sticks into their prospective holes, and connected all the fuses together, so I could light it from safety and wait. I had insisted on everyone staying well away for this. The explosion rocked the surroundings, and scared off countless creatures. The pit left behind was practically perfect. No trace of the explosives were left behind. As people so often do however, not only my family, Marie included, but some of the neighbors came to investigate. “Sorry for the noise, there was no way I could have explained this ahead of time. Words wouldn’t have done it justice I think. Shouldn’t ever need to do that again. One massive pit is all I needed.” I looked abashedly at the neighbors. Mom and Dad were non too pleased either, but admitted that no words could have truly warned them. Having no frame of reference for such explosions.
Having finished scaring everyone in the area half to death. I returned in order to get geared up for hunting. “Marie, you know you don’t have to come with me right? I love your company, don’t get me wrong, I just don’t want you thinking I’m forcing you to quest with me. If you need a day to rest, or anything, just say so, seriously!” Marie shook her head adamantly. “I enjoy questing, and besides, the Monster counts probably haven’t gone down yet, I’d rather make sure you’re safe. You Parents are great, but if anything did happen to you, what’s to happen to me huh? Unless you write a Will for me, handing me over to your folks upon your death, I’d end up in a slave caravan again. I’m not risking it, if you want me to take a break, you will too!” Her gaze was fierce, causing me to hold my hands in defense. “I got it, just checking.” She nodded satisfied I had taken the point. She really was like a Sister now, not afraid to put me in my place. If only I could get rid of that damned Collar, it’d be perfect.
We went out to patrol the area as per usual, but aside from gathering ingredients, we encountered only three Goblins, and another lesser dire wolf that was pure white, no doubt an outcast. This relieved me on so many counts. Upon handing over my meager findings for the day, the Guild Master showed up. “Marie, I need your Master alone for a moment. Not that I don’t trust you, but some things are better with fewer ears. Won’t take but a moment.” I was equally annoyed, and concerned by this separation. “Sorry Mark, but I didn’t want her to hear this, in case you didn’t like it. You know that slaves can’t be freed except after performing a meritorious act, and even then only with the Slave owners approval, and a witness to the act in question right?” I nodded confused now. “Mark, though you made it look easy, even just fighting a Wyvern in defense of a town, let alone being one of the ones who actually damaged it, counts as a Meritorious deed, knowing how you seem to act towards Marie, like she’s family and all, I took the liberty of writing a letter of witness for her, and surprisingly so did the Mayor. If you want to free her, you’ve got the funds, and you’ll only need to take her to the Capitol to get the Spell broken, and that Collar off.” I couldn’t help myself, I hugged the Guild Master in pure Joy. “Thank you so much for this, I wanted to avoid the Capitol, but for her, I’m make an exception!”
She smiled, as I schooled my expression to one of reluctance returning to Marie. “Seems we’re going to have to go to the Capitol for a bit. Maybe we can double up, and take an excort quest.” Marie sighed, the thought of an escort quest clearly not a fond notion. We did indeed find an escort quest, and it was scheduled for three hours from now. “We’ll have enough time for you to run back, and tell Mom and Dad, while I buy supplies for the journey. I can’t waste time on that end. Do you mind?” She shook her head, and waved at me as she ran to the Farm. I meanwhile did as I said, and purchased food, bed rolls, and other needed things for the two of us. I also noticed a bracelet that I thought would look great on Marie, so I bought it and hid the evidence. Luckily she wouldn’t see it until I wanted her to with my storage being the way it was.
Marie met me with the Clients and not a moment too soon. “Your Parents are quite emotional it seems. They repeatedly told me to make sure you’re careful. Got to love them huh?” We both chuckled at that. The escort itself was a standard Merchant’s Caravan, and they had lost two escorts on their last leg, due to romantic entanglement, which apparently led to some prison time for offending a lord. Like really, both of them managed to offend a Lord. The trip was entirely uneventful. I felt that the quest didn’t even deserve a reward what with nothing happening. I had always been told the roads were dangerous, but not even a badger troubled us. The rest of the escorts just went on as if nothing was strange at all. Twelve days of travel, and not a single creature, or bandit to speak of. Though bandits should have had enough sense to avoid a major caravan anyway. “We’re going back on our own, no escorting for us. Too boring, we could have been her days ago!” Marie nodded emphatically to this statement. “I fully agree, so what’s the quest here?” “I can’t say it here, we just need to go to a certain office to finish up. We’d be able to leave today, most likely.”
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It took almost two hours for me to locate the office in question, and once I did, I handed both letters over to the person in charge. He took out a crystal verifier, and had me testify that the contents of the letters were genuine, and that I not only agreed with the event described, but that I intended to pay the fee involved. Clearly he had picked up on Marie not knowing what was happening, and was playing along. I had gotten four platinum coins from the guild here for this purpose, and handed them over. He nodded, and held his hand to Marie’s collar, and without wasting any time spoke an invocation in a language I didn’t understand at all, and as Marie’s eyes widened in shock, her collar fell apart. “Congratulations my dear, due to an act of Heroism, and the consent, and payment of your former master, the witnesses in the personages of the local guild master, and Mayor of the town protected, YOU are a free Woman.” He then handed me a form to sign. “Present this form to the local Guild here, in order to get her a card of her own, and removed from yours. It’s so very rare that I get to perform my duties, I couldn’t be happier!” I dragged the still stunned Marie out the door of the office. I then took the Bracelet from Storage. “Marie, will you accept this Bracelet, as a token that you will remain my sister, by my side? Free now to smack me upside the head when I deserve it?” Tear of happiness trailed down her cheeks, as she flung herself into my arms. “Yes Mark, a thousand times YES!” Once she managed to pull herself off me, I placed the bracelet onto her wrist. The silver shone, and the tiny crystals embedded into its surface twinkled a myriad of colors.
We then went to the Guild, and I insisted in two platinum worth be credited onto her card. “Mark no, that’s too much!” I looked at her. “You’ve earned far more than that, if I didn’t need to have access to funding for the construction, and adopting the Orphans, I’d have done an even split. Be as frugal as you want with it, but it’s staying on your new card. We’re splitting any profits from now though.” She gave out an exasperated gasp, and turned to pout, but I still caught the twinkle in her eye. “Now you can even get some dresses, since it’ll be truly your choice now, and not Mom playing dress up.” I grinned at her. “Just don’t go thinking you’re going to drag me into the store, I’ll wait outside, to be surprised in your choices. I never thought I’d be able to do this you know. That Wyvern is what did it by the way, and the Mayor being so embarrassed about his Son didn’t hurt either.”
“I can’t believe you wasted four Platinum coins just to free me, I’m happy, truly happy, especially since you want me to stay still, but that’s a fortune most people can’t just drop like that!” I shrugged. “I had the money, and it wasn’t just the right thing to do, it’s the best thing I ever wanted to do. I wanted to rip that damned thing off your neck the second I paid for you, if the curse wouldn’t have killed you, I would have. Now it’s gone, and we don’t have to worry. I still have plenty, and the Wyvern Corpse is still being processed, so that’s going to add more. Let’s spend a little time shopping here, before we go home.” Just before we could leave the building, someone called out from behind us. “Quester Mark, Quester Marie, would you come with me please?” We turned to see the local guild master. He led us to the testing area. “Clear the field, rank up test for two A rankers testing up to S officially.” I groaned, I didn’t want this to happen. “Sir that isn’t necessary, we’re fine listed as Local S Rank, there’s no need to make it official.” He just Glared at me. I sighed in resignation “This is why I didn’t even want to come to the Capitol, still, it’s worth it.”
Twenty minutes later, a thoroughly embarrassed Guild Master had been defeated, not once, but twice, forcing him to rank us to double S rank officially. We were equal to him according to Rank, and that would bring issues later down the line I was sure. My own fight had only lasted five minutes, while Marie needed more time due to her fighting style. Neither one of us took even one single blow, surprising the entire assembly. “I should make an appointment with the King so you can accept triple S rank.” Said the Guild Master, I turned on him, and Marie joined me in a deathly glare at the stupid man. “Don’t YOU DARE! You want to keep breathing, then WE don’t exist.” He nodded sullenly. We left, in even more desperate need of some retail therapy.
We ate at a decent street side shop, not wanting to deal with the stuffiness of an enclosed restaurant. Spent a good amount of time for Marie to get things she wanted to wear, though she avoided jewelry. I asked her about that, and she almost glared at me. “There’s only two pieces of jewelry I’ll ever want to add to this Bracelet. One requires someone else to give it to me, and the other would mean I already got the first. Figure it out on your own if you must.” So not a jewelry fan, but clearly wanting to get a Ring, and if she’d need that for the other one, I almost smacked myself when I remembered that Lockets were a thing, and a Married Woman with children, might want a Locket with either their pictures, or else their baby hair. I could see that, at some point, though it was hard to picture her husband. Deciding to spend at least one night in the Capitol, we found an Inn that had hot baths. A luxury to be sure, but a night in a bed, after a warm bath sounded like bliss. Before I could specify two rooms, Marie beat me to it, requesting a single room with a double sized bed. I was too stunned to resist as the coins changed hands, and I was dragged off to bed.