“A couple hours down the road is a small town, Ashford, where a young woman named Gertrude lives. She’s currently infatuated with Joseph, the son of a carpenter. She left a donation and prayed that he’ll accept her confession tomorrow. You need to make sure that he does”
Ed whistled, seemingly impressed. “It is pretty godly that you know all this just from a prayer. Good job spirit.” The spirit, a trace of conceit in its voice, began explaining how that was before it was cut off. “Playing matchmaker though, that is… rough. Wish they just needed me to smack a few bandits up or something. I’ll do my best I guess.” “You need to succeed. And make sure she doesn’t know that you were the one who made her prayer come true. I need her to worship me, not to be thankful towards you.” Ed nodded. “Sure, sure. Just one thing I need to test before I leave though.”
As Ed’s voice trailed off, he headed towards the donation box in front of the worn-down shrine and looked inside. There were only a few tiny brown coins inside- Gertrude’s donation. He grabbed all three and waited a moment before frowning. “Nothing happened. Guess I’ll take-” As he said this an indescribable pain wracked his body and he began to collapse, violently coughing up blood. The panicked voice of the spirit echoed through his mind as the pain began to disappear. “You can take it! You’ll just owe me my half, you can take the money for now!” Ed began to slowly stand up as the pain disappeared completely. Blood continued to drip from his mouth and he seemed exhausted despite the spirit’s near-immediate reaction. “I guess it needed intent.” Ed said this languidly, struggling to speak through the blood left in his mouth. He swayed as he spoke, seeming unsteady on his feet. “Anyways, my test worked. Your contract is real and we can work together.”
The spirit watched as Ed stumbled towards the road at an agonizingly slow pace before sighing. “It’s possible for me to heal wounds as well, although you’ll owe me another debt.” Ed paused and examined himself for a moment before responding. “I’ve gone through worse. I should be better in a few months at worst. Just fix my legs up a little bit.” In response to the request a warm feeling spread throughout Ed’s body before it all flowed into his legs, where the pain lessened by around half. With a renewed vigor in his step he resumed his trek to Ashford.
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An old woman wiped the sweat from her brow before pulling up another weed. Gardening was hard work, especially under the fierce summer heat, but it was something she had to do. As she was working she heard the noise of something metal being jostled about, followed by the sound of footsteps. She turned to the road, ready to greet whoever was passing by, before her words caught in her throat and her heart was filled with dread. A youngish man was walking along in a cheap, faded robe, a sword and coinpurse at his hip. Despite the straw hat obscuring his face she could see the foul expression covering it, and faint scars could be seen covering his exposed skin. These features would have been enough to strike fear into her, but that wasn’t even the most terrifying part. No, that was the small, barely noticeable splotches of blood on his robe- the stains looked distressingly recent, like he’d just been in a fight.
After recovering from her shock the woman hurriedly left her gardening tools behind and darted inside. This man had to be a bandit! How ghastly! Who knew what he’d do if he spotted her! Bandits were uncommon near Ashford, which was part of why she was able to make this leap in logic, although the bloodstains certainly didn’t help. This man was actually Ed, whose fearsome grimace came from the aches and pain still wracking his body. On his trek to Ashford he’d already scared several farmers who saw him, although they were of the more cowardly sort.
Ed spotted Ashford proper a short ways past the old woman’s house. As he approached it small buildings of wood and stone filled his view. The buildings were spread out, contrasting greatly with some of the cramped, busy cities that Ed remembered. Upon entering the town Ed accosted the first person he came across, a teenager who had just exited a small bakery. “Hey kid, is there a carpenter here? Need some work done soon.” The boy was surprised by Ed’s sudden appearance, but easily answered the question. He pointed behind Ed as he answered. “We got one. The Grahms have a shop, round the center of town. They have a pretty big signboard, you can’t miss it.” “Got it, thanks kid. Anywhere I can stay for the night, maybe an inn?” The boy resumed walking as he answered, in a hurry to get his errand over with. “Two streets down, take a left. It’s the big wooden building with the weird chimney on top.” Ed left the boy and headed to the inn, hoping to find a roof to sleep under for the night. This would be his first time in a town since he entered the country, so he could only hope that the donation Gertrude left behind was enough to pay for a room. If not he’d be shit out of luck.
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“Room and board for three bits?! Are’ya trying to rob me?!” Ed sighed and shook his head. “Sorry, it’s all I have on me. Figured it’d be worth a try.” The innkeeper’s face softened as she stared at him, seemingly reminiscing. A look of pity appeared as she replied. “Alright, three bits it is. We’re never full anyways. Ya’should look for work in the morning. You’re built well, there’ll be plenty for ya here as long as you want it. Always use for a strappin’ young lad in Ashford.” Ed chucked bashfully. “Er, that’s alright mam. I’m just passing through, tomorrow I’ll get back on the road and to my destination, already have some work lined up there. Thank you for the kindness.”
After being provided with a meal that could only be described as oversized, several comments on how he wasn’t eating enough, and a concerned recommendation to go to the town doctor, Ed walked over to the carpenter’s as he began thinking about how exactly he was going to convince Joseph to accept a confession from this woman. This task was especially difficult if he didn’t want them to know he was involved. What was he supposed to do, ask Cupid to take care of it for him? He was a swordsman, not a matchmaker. He arrived at the carpenter’s with exasperation covering his face and filling his heart. There he saw Joseph, the carpenter’s son. He was maybe 16 or 17, and built well. In a small town like this Ed guessed that he’d be quite the catch. Unfortunately this only made things harder, as he had no idea if Gertrude was. He guessed that she probably wasn’t if she was so worried about her love life she’d put her hopes in dilapidated shrines deep in the woods.
Ed left the carpenter’s after confirming Joseph lived there, still without a solution to the issue. He ambled about the town, dozens of plans, each more ridiculous than the last, made and discarded as he journeyed about. After several hours, as night was falling, he finally came up with a feasible idea. It wasn’t like he couldn’t show himself- the only person who couldn’t know he was involved was the girl. Gertrude was the one who had made the prayer, and so she was the only one who needed to think what happened was due to divine intervention. With that in mind he returned to the carpenter’s and waited until night fell to execute his plan.
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Joseph lay in bed, struggling to fall asleep. The face of his greatest nightmare, Gertrude, flashed in his mind. As he thought of her grotesque, pockmarked face he shuddered. She had been following him around and confessing her love to him several times a week for months now. He just wanted to find a nice girl he could settle down with once he became of age, but because of her godforsaken meddling he couldn’t do that. He groaned. This was exhausting. Everything was exhausting. Why couldn’t she just leave him alone? Why did she have to be so cruel?
As Joseph bemoaned his circumstances, a sudden noise interrupted his train of thought. Somehow, without him noticing, a man had climbed in through his window. Darkness obscured his face, but Joseph could see a sword feature prominently at his side. His mouth gaped open, half in awe and half in fear. Was it a burglar?! An armed burglar?! Joseph was about to scream for help before the man said something that made him far, far more terrifying than any burglar.
“Hey kid... you know a girl named Gertrude?”