Chapter 26

Unfortunate circumstances

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AUTHORS NOTE

Saber tooth tigers died out for a reason.

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" Stop bowing to me Ren , you are a proud beast. Behave like one. " Sturm said in a serious tone.

Sturm felt Ren was puzzled at his behaviour , mostly because he thought that a master and servant relationship would be his future. But Sturm wanted so much more from the mythical beast then just fear so every task Sturm would give Ren would be executed to his desires.

" Never call me Master. I repeat never. I don't need your fear or your submission. Just behave naturally once my task is complete i will restore your native planes then you are free to roam where ever you want. "

Now Sturm sensed Ren was even more confused then before. But that was no surprise to him. His kind should be trapped with the godess in the eternal ice but somehow a few had survived outside of the snowy planes he belonged.

" Ren , you are a being that belongs in the snowy planes. Once i have completed my tasks there will be hundreds maybe even thousand of your kind which you can play with. After all you are still a child compared to what i have seen. " Sturm said.

Now happy emotions ran through Rens mind. Sturm , from the pictures what he had seen on the walls inside of the icy mace , knew that a average male of Rens kind could become twice the size he had now. Mostly he was so small because he was still young , not older then 11 years concluded Sturm.

But that was due to the encaged lifestyle the beast had lead. Not the barn but the area around here. A mighty beast that should run snowy planes living in a hot place like this was cruel but also could not find big enough prey to prey on.

" But do you know if i need a saddle to mount you? " Sturm asked a question as they were walking through the barn to find the old lady waiting besides the entrance of her own house.

The old woman couldn't believe her own eyes at the sight before her. A majestic and overly large white with black stripes Tiger was growling and hissing while looking at the hodded figure besides him.

" How much woman. " Sturm asked her with a commanding tone.

Even though the woman was old she knew her work. She had bought this creature for 1000 gold coins from a Draconian that passed through. Even though draconians were not liked by the human kind they were tolerated in most of the Human dukedomes.

" 2500 Gold coins. " She said without batting a eye.

She knew it was way overprized , even more so because of the fact this thing had just caused her troubles since she had bought it from the draconian.

" Here that should be enough. Goodbye and thank you. " Sturm said and the mighty white cat followed him.

The old woman thought the hodded figure would haggle for her and in the end she would only get a few hundred gold pieces but as she opened the little pouch he had just casually thrown over to her , her eyes almost fell out of their sockets.

3 glittering , pure and already cut diamonds were in it. Normally 1 diamond was 100 Platium pieces which in return would be 10 000 Gold pieces but these diamonds with a extrodianry beautiful rose cut would at least sell for 150 Platinum pieces.

She took a last look at the traveller as he disappeared back into the city and would forever wonder who this rich person was that could tame a Fae Panthrais with such ease.

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Everyhead turned towards Sturm and Ren as they passed through the market once again. Sturm heard from Ren he definetly would need a saddle if he wanted to ride him. This would be a problem as the saddles for this huge and bulky built cat would have to be a perfect fit to be comfortable for the mount.

" I only got 2 diamonds left and 50 gold. " Sturm said to himself.

" Master ... " Ren started but Sturm caught him before he continued.

" It is Sturm. Repeat it after me S T U R M . "

" Okay Sturm , you paid too much to that woman who bought me. " Ren said with its growl and hisses

The complete crowd backed of at the mighty roars , but Sturm in return just casually talked back to him in the common tongue.

" Well what should i do ? I only had that kind of change and i got no idea how to exchange money. But even if it had cost me all 5 of the diamonds my ... contractor ... had given me for the travel i wouldn't mind. You are worth it after all.

Now a slight purring sound came from the female Tiger besides him as she snuggled up to Sturm and pushed her mighty head , whichs mouth alone could swallow Sturms ribcage without chewing , on to him. Sturm with a warm smile on his face stroked her between the ears and the purring became even louder.

Naturally the contractor was Lilith and she would also be delighted Sturm had found a > Fae Panthrais < , but what more Sturm meant every word. Not only would she defend Sturm with her own life but also showed him what the poor tiger had to endure through its life time.

Now both Sturm and Ren stood in the middle of the market and he told her to roar as loud as she could. She did and all of the players and npcs heads alike turned towards the pair.

" Any tailor or leatherworker here who can make me a fine saddle , for her! " Sturm said and pointed at the tigress.

Most of the people just backed off , out of fear , but a few , especially girls , came closer to the tigress and wanted to pet her. She simply roared again as she didn't like to be touched but Sturm as her soul bound partner was the exception.

All of them instantly backed of but a single female remained. She eyed the tigress closely as if measuring her with her eyes , so Sturm went and spoke with her.

" Hello , are you a leatherworker? " Sturm said after taking a look at her clothes.

Or rather armor. It was a hide skillfully sewed together with leather threads and reinforced with multiple layers. The light broke on its surface into a myrade of colors and Sturm knew this was selfmade as it looked similar to a cevlar vest.

" Yeah , i can make you a saddle but it won't be cheap. You need some heavy leather for her. It is also out of the question to use regular saddle techniques on her. A buckle under her belly is no option it will impede her movements. " She started to talk in a buisness like tone.

Now Sturm was sweating heavily at the mention of money , and the leatherworker didn't miss that , so she turned around and was about to leave.

" Wait. I have money but i just need a place to exchange values. " Sturm said with a wry smile which she didn't see , because of Sturms hood.

" How much do you need exchanged? The next bank that does that is in the capitol 3 days to the north. I also got some Gold coins on me. " She stated matter of factly.

" Can you exchange a Diamond to platinum or Gold? " Sturm asked innocently.

The womans eyes became wide in shock and instantly grabbed Sturms arm and pulled him into a side alley.

" Show me. " She commanded.

But Sturm was cautios. She could always have friends around waiting for a wealthy prey to come across their way. After all elfs and dwarfs were the only ones that couldn't kill eachother , but they could pk all the other races. Humans , draconians and orcs could attack all of the other races and even themselvs.

So he gave a mental command to Ren and she was ready to pounce on the first occasion. All the while Sturm already had 5 ice shards pointing at the leatherworker in front of him.

" Guess these defenses mean you truly have a diamond , but please show me nonetheless. "

Now Sturm grabbed in his pouch and retrieved both diamonds. He placed them , stealthly , on the outter hem of his robes and lifted his hand that was still hidden underneath the robes up so she could see.

" Holy Mother , these are so pure i can't believe it. Yeah you definetly need to go to the capitol to exchange those. " The leatherworker started " But today might be your lucky day , I'm Aya and i was heading there to finish a quest in the first place. We could travel together. " Aya said and extended a hand as a greeting.

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But Sturm much to his dismay couldn't grab her hand. He had no gloves and his blue skin might reach the wrong ears , so he had to be extra cautios. Instead he bowed slightly before he spoke.

" My name is Sturm. Pleasure to meet you Lady Aya. "

She blushed slightly but soon her buisness like demanor returned.

" I need to measure her out , could you tell her that? " She asked.

Sturm just nodded at Ren and the tigress relaxed instantly. Aya on the other hand looked from Sturm to Ren skipping between the 2 mutliple times.

" If you want to know how i told her , she can understand you. But i am the only one that gives her orders. When i nodded i gave my consent. " Sturm explained as Aya began her measurements.

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Before they left the town Sturm went to the market once again and bought 600 extra portions of Ironbear steak from a player. Now 10 gold lighter Sturm , with Ren close by , met Aya at the outskirts of the city towards the northern road.

Everything went smoothly and Aya told Sturm multiple storys on the road or when they rested. Sturm was making light conversation asking multiple questions about her leatherworking skills and her armor along the way but not once did he say anything about previous adventures to Aya.

Much to her dismay , she was brimming with curiosity , at the towering figure underneath the silver robe and the adventures he had undergone. She suspected him to be a magus but something was of about that assumption. She had not seen any motions of invoking a spell as the 5 icycles appeared. Nor did she hear any words.

Then the amount of money he was carrying around. It would not make him the richest of all players but he definetly was in the top 10 richest people playing > TnB < now. She never heard of his name on any leader bords before but his staff , his magic , his money and foremost that he could easily tame such a wild beast made her deathly curious.

When the moon turned up on the dark night sky they decided to camp. Sturm efficently lit a fire with cinder and stone , which confused Aya even more , and leaned his head against the tigresses body. He had no intention of sleeping , yet , Aya concluded so he was most likely waiting for her to go to sleep.

Somehow Aya felt very uneasy at the thought of being alone with a tigress and a unknown male that was easily 1 1/2 foot taller then herself. But she pretended to sleep after she had spread out blankets and ate a fast meal.

Soon Sturm stood up and Aya almost gave herself away as she jerked slightly. She expected Sturm to come over and do this or that with her but to her surprise even after 1 minute he was no where to be seen.

The tigress was also gone. She activated her tracking skill and followed the faint signs Sturm had left behind. But she had not noticed , due to her excitement , that she found no Tiger tracks.

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Sturm was enjoying a pleasureable almost ice cold bath in a stream Ren had told him about as the left the road and decided to camp in a nearby clearing of a forest. Especially the cold did wonders for him , as it was stuffy under those robes and High-elfs preferred cold regions.

It was not that the warm summer sun hurt him or anything but it felt uncomfortable and he would be glad to just walk around naked.

' Can't believe i would ever agree with Lilith on this part .. ' Sturm thought while chuckling.

He had left his clothes on the river bank , as nobody was around so the chances of theft were zero. Also since Sturm had arrived back in this world , a couple of weeks ago , he had no chance to bath. Maces sure are something annoying. Due to the cold and the occasional washing in the icy waters from the basin he had upheld a minimum of hygene but he directly took the chance at a dip in cold water.

After he had submerged his whole body and scrubbed of his extremly long hair that reached all the way to his behind he emerged and started to wash all the other parts. But soon he was disrupted by a muffled cry.

As naked as he was he just simply stood up , walked past his clothes and went to the place where he heard the cry. He already knew what was happening as Ren had sent him a mental image from her point of view. So there was no reason to hide his skin or forehead anymore.

" You ... you ... are the ruby prince! Everyone thought you disappeared! " Aya shouted out her surprise.

Naturally he still had the same hair color golden and brown and with the moonlight she had mistaken the yellow gems for red ones and the skin was just slightly bluer then a normal elfs but the pointy ears were still there.

" Not anymore. My name is really Sturm but i used to be the ruby prince. " He calmly stated the truth.

Sturm knew there was no fixing this situation , also it was his own fault for not making sure she was really asleep. But even though it disgusted himself if it would help keep his secret he would kill her on the spot. But luckily for his conciousness it wouldn't help one bit.

After 4 days in game she could just spread the tale anyways , of how she traveld with the ruby prince. But even before that she could post this scene online and would probably earn quite a sum of dollars or euro , where ever she lived , with the headline of > The legend returns. Grim the ruby prince is back < .

" *sigh* Are 2 diamonds enough to hush you? I can probably get more within a few days , this must remain a secret. " Sturm resigned.

" What you aren't going to kill me? " Aya said.

' Hope Lilith won't be mad if i ask her for a few more diamonds to shut her up. ' Sturm thought.

" No , as it won't help the situation. "

" No , i want something else. " Aya told him with confidence.

Now Ren took a step back and finally moved her paw , that prevented Aya from running , of her ribcage. Only after Sturm nodded towards her of course. Sturm , as naked as he was , held a hand towards Aya and helped her up. She was not in the slightest fased at his nakedness , but she stole a quick glance at his body.

" Shoot. "

" I want to be part of your group. The saddle is for free then. " She said in an excited tone.

Now for the first time , as the hood wasn't in the way anymore , Sturm took a good look at her. Her leather armor , as before was spotless , and everything was of the same material. She had a lone sword slung in a leather sheat at her left side. Some knives in her boots and 3 pouches on her belt.

Her face was pretty with eyes sparkling in a carmesin color and she had thin brows. Long carmesin colored hair were braided at her back into a single long entity. Her lips were slightly pink colored , and her cheeks had a natural rose color to them. She was very attractive but her sharp eyes still caught his attention the most.

At first Sturm suspected her to be some kind of rogue but while inspecting her gloves he noticed 2 fingers were bare and the rest were covered. She was not a rogue.

" Your a archer of sorts. What is your level? " Sturm asked as polite at the rude question he had to ask.

" I am level 225 now. Yes im sort of a archer. Arcane archer to be honest i specialize in INT and DEX. So a hybrid archer. " She told him.

Now Sturm knew why the air mana around her acted a little funny from time to time when he looked at her. But this was better then he expected.

" Listen i am on a dangerous quest and since you already caught on who i am , i may be able to share this quest with you. Read it for yourself then we can discuss some things. " Sturm said.

He pressed some buttons and with a * tring* Aya began to read through the quest text.

" I accept. " Aya spoke out and another * tring* appeared.

" Good now let me tell you , what i am. " Sturm summarized what his race and this quest was originally about.

With a heavy nod , even Aya was delighted to travel with the Ruby prince and at the new prospect at the rank A quest!.