Wrote this chapter instead of studying for finals. It's full of errors and bad writing that I need to edit later. Lots of telling instead of showing. My fellow students lament with me! In the words of Billy Joel, "We'll all go down together~"
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The opening in the forest ahead was filled with a blinding light from the morning sunrise. The contrast between the sparse freckles of sunshine was enough to keep it entirely out of view. In a way, this sensation built up a feeling of excitement and anticipation in me to see the village on the other side.
Perhaps it was a bit childish, but my sense of adventure was tickled. It felt like the first time I ever played Xternity. That sense that you’re about to step into a huge world. If I was anyone else I’m certain I’d be roiling with excitement. Thankfully I’m not anyone else and I was able to keep my composure. It was a little bit exciting, though.
Tenia didn’t seem terribly affected by the whole thing.
Finally, when we passed through the opening in the woods, my eyes adjusted to the new levels of light. The morning mists had burned off and in front of me was a terrible stretch of farmland. The dirt path ahead of us was lined on both sides by simple fencing with long wooden beams hanging between posts. It wouldn’t keep out most pests, but it’d stop any livestock from venturing into the woods or roadways.
The left side of the road was filled with hayfields and numerous cows grazing. They were brown and had shaggy fur. On the right, rows of strange plants were blooming. The plants had thick stocks but were too short to be corn. I recognized them as Boolian Grass, an ingredient from Xternity that could be cultivated and used as a grain for cooking. In the game there was a class of crafter called “Chef” that I never delved much into, but they had the ability to make meals with slightly weaker effects than potions. The only benefit was any ‘buffs’ made by chefs lasted a long time whereas potion buffs were usually short term in effect. That said, I was a fledgling chef and could even give an 'Endurance' increase of about 3 points with my meals! It wasn't a grand effect, but any advantage is still an advantage~
Occasionally, in the fields, we’d spot farmers pulling weeds by hands or operating strange machines to pull the Boolian Grass by the root in large quantity. The machines looked a bit like snowblowers with shifting blades on the front. They fired the harvested grass into a collection bin being dragged behind the farmer.
“What powers those machines,” I pondered aloud. I didn't think this area would have enough magic crystal supply to power runic machinery, so my first thought was maybe this world had gasolean.
“It seems they use low grade magic crystals from the farm animals they slaughter to power the tools,” replied Tenia with a calm face as she used some magic skill I didn't have on her eyes.
I was immediately filled with a great respect for the ingenuity of the farmers. All creatures in Xternity had magic crystals in their brains, even the chickens and other harmless ones. Thus, by raising livestock, the farmers could gain access to magic crystals to power machinery that helps them harvest. No one ever really thought of this in the Xternity days considering the abundance of 'hunters' and 'adventurers' you could employ to get those for you. The farmers probably had machines that helped plant too. This alleviated the need for outside suppliers or magicians to assist much. It would definitely make farming villages self sufficient at the least... Though I imagine it also made getting into the business require quite a bit of capital to financially back it up at the start, considering the cost of runic powered machinery. Even in the Xternity days with high level players abound such crafts were absurd. I, myself, was renowned for being one of the few who could make useful ones. I made a tank once. It wasn't very useful in raids against boss monsters, but it was hilarious to ride around in instead of on a horse. James really loved firing artillery magic down the barrel. The first time other players saw it on a PvP server I swear they crapped themselves. I do recall James losing that battle though...
We continued walking and, after a bit, made our way to the outskirts of the town. The dirt road expanded and soon became a stone highway. It swerved through the houses like a snake. I couldn’t see the far end due to the turns in it. It was a poorly designed main street, all things considered.
Tenia gave me a brief tour as we walked. She pointed out landmarks like a statue to the Great Valkyrie, a hero from over 200 years ago. It was marble colored and showcased a woman in revealing metal armor. Her boobs were very plainly flaunted too... Was the anime inverse armor coverage laws for women in effect for this world? Xternity had prided itself on not falling prey to that trope... Though I was certain a few of the outfits in my inventory were certainly a bit risque.
Eventually we reached a small square at the innermost part of town. Thankfully there wasn’t much traffic due to how early it was. Most of the shops hadn’t seemed to open, yet. There probably wasn’t much demand for goods at this time. I imagine housewives and farmers had chores in the morning needing their attention.
The innermost square had the town hall, the Adventurer’s Guild, and the Magician’s Guild all in one big circle. There was also a very prominent weapon’s shop named the “Cleave ‘n Grieve” too. Thankfully all of my equipment came with me, so armor or weapons were unnecessary. I did want to sign up as an adventurer purely for the romantic aspect of it. Of course, my desire to understand this world was a bit stronger. I could always become an adventurer later after I’ve established myself a bit. It would probably be better to build a strong reputation first.
My current plan, if you could call it one, was to see how one went about buying land here. I needed to know if my current base was within the town’s jurisdiction, and if it was, I needed to buy the land there. I wasn’t able to move the house, after all. It’d probably be suspicious if I bought random land, though… I suppose I could always pass off as some ignorant noble who knows nothing about the world and wanted to buy a chunk of the forest because it’s pretty.
It might be good to make the exact amount of funds I have ‘available’ known, too. I don’t want people to think I’m hyper rich. I should play it off as some girl relying on her far away father for money, or something. That’d probably be for the best. Then, if I could find a way to show off some of Tenia’s strength, I could probably keep most prying eyes away. Not many would pick us as a mark if they thought there wasn’t much to gain AND they had to go through a powerful mage to do it. Much the same way I never needed to lock my door back home. We didn’t have much to steal and we had a huge german shepherd. It’s the same concept, really.
I wonder if I could establish a line of credit even… While I don’t like the idea of going into debt, it wouldn’t be that bad here considering I can easily pay my way out of it. The hardest part of that would be getting them to give us a loan in the first place. Now that would be difficult if I come off as some irresponsible noble’s daughter… I think I’ll just stick to the first plan. Noble without too much money and a strong guard dog.
I imagined Tenia as a dog beastman for a moment and nearly broke my poker face. She seemed to sense my stare as she turned her head to look at me, but I kept it cool.
“Is something the matter, mistress?” She asked with a tilted head.
“N-no, nothing’s wrong Tenia,” I replied, stifling my giggle, “Let’s head to the Merchant’s Guild.”
She shrugged, probably chalking my antics up in some ‘November is being weird again’ file.
The Town Hall was a large white building that almost resembled a church house from my old world. It was built with tall decorative windows and had a steeple with a bell on the top. It was more victorian in style with a sharp angled roof and decent overhangs to match its flowing design.
We stepped inside and were immediately greeted with a large open room with a few chairs against the walls. The right side of the room was lined with doors to private offices while the left, stretching to the back of the room, had desks where tellers or clerks lined up to help people with needs.
There were only a few people inside that didn’t look like they worked there. One was an old man with thick hemp overalls and a pipe hanging from his lips. He had a bulbous red nose and his back was hunched forward a bit. He looked crotchety and I avoided his stare.
The old guy had a young man standing with him wearing a similar pair of overalls. They looked similar and I made a quick assumption they were father and son. Both of them were having a discussion with the teller at the first desk.
Tenia grabbed my hand, drawing me out of my thoughts, and guided me to a teller near the back of the room. There, behind the desk, was a woman with her hair fashioned in an afro of sorts. She was deeply tanned and had a few moles on her face. Her outfit was a bit more professional, though, consisting of a blue blouse with a nametag and a plaid skirt.
“Ah!” She remarked as she saw us walking up. “Eeeef eeet eeesn’t Meeesus Tenia! Eees theees yoou-er meestriss?”
Her accent assaulted me. I hadn’t expected it to be that terrible. Tenia did warn me, but I shook it off, thinking it couldn’t be that bad… I was probably going to need a translator for this.
“Greetings, Alecia,” Said Tenia with a slight bow, “As you have seen, this is my mistress November. We have come to exchange more of our local currency.”
“I also,” I interrupted, “want to talk about buying land.”
Tenia and the clerk seemed a bit taken aback by my sudden rude intrusion, but I paid it no heed. I needed to play the part as a reckless foolish noblewoman, after all.
“Buyeeeng Land? And how manyue coeeeen have yooue brought for exchange?”
“We’ve brought about 100 ‘G’,” replied Tenia with a soft smile as she went with the flow.
“Veryue good! Then EE weeell breeeeng yooue to the manager’s offeeeece.”
This accent was giving me a headache, but the more I heard it the easier it was getting to understand. They seemed to drag out their ‘i’ sounds with long ‘e’ sounds instead, and their ‘y’ sounds got demented somewhere along the way.
It was all a bit ridiculous. Hopefully my brain would start translating soon enough for me. The clerk Alecia tidied up her desk for a moment and then lead us to one of the offices on the righthand side of the building. She knocked once on the door.
“Who eees eeet?” Asked a man’s voice from the other side.
“Eees Aleceeea, EE have brought the Mees Tenia and her Meestrus,” replied the woman. I noticed that she correctly pronounced the ‘i’ sound in Tenia’s name. She was probably copying Tenia’s tone on the introduction. It implied she was quite good at working with customers, if she made sure to pronounce their names right.
The door was quickly opened but I didn’t see anyone… Until I looked down. There, standing maybe two feet tall, was an adult man with a short beard. He wore a very business-like suit and even had a small walking cane.
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“Come eeen, my ladyues,” he said with a fantastic hand gesture while giving a placating smile.
This… This man was probably a dwarf or pixie… Or maybe a Hobbit. Xternity didn’t have hobbits and dwarves were usually depicted as wide and generally around four feet tall in that game. Either he was a very strange dwarf or he was a race I’ve never seen in Xternity.
The small man seemed to catch my stare.
“Do theyue not have Halfleengs een your countryue, Meestrus?” Asked the man with a knowing smile. I was happy he was being amenable over my stares, and I also realized that the longer I heard this accent the easier it was getting to understand. Perhaps, after a few more conversations, I’d even get desensitised to it.
“No,” I replied curtly, “You are the first of your kind I have met.”
“Oh myue, your accent ees adorable~” He said with a grin as he lead us to a couple of seats. I, of course, was flabbergasted. My accent? I had a perfectly normal accentless way of speaking American English! The people in this strange world were the ones with the accent! Thankfully I kept my composure. It wouldn’t do to shake around this tiny man like a rag doll…
“My name is Thomas Kelding,” said the man as I automatically translated his accent in my head. “I am a halfling. My people used to live in the Savannahs to the south but we were chased out by the beastmen tribes about four hundred years ago. You must have come from further North, then~”
“Yes,” I replied with a smile. “My father owns land along the Northland Road.”
“Oh? Are you from Hidet then? I must admit I’ve never been there, before.”
“I guess you could say so. I came here from an old road in The Great Thrush from New Hidet,” I said.
“Oh my!” Exclaimed the Hobbit, “You passed through The Great Thrush on an unprotected highway? Weren’t you afraid of the monsters?”
“Not in the slightest,” I said, making sure I sounded offended, “My entourage is quite capable. Tenia herself, here, is a top class mage.”
“Is that so… If I may ask, where are you staying right now, Ma’am?” Asked Thomas.
“Me and my servants have set up camp in a clearing a few miles North of town,” I replied, lying about the location.
“You said you wished to buy land, do you intend to buy your campsite?”
“Yes, I do intend to do so. Can that be done from here? Where does this town’s jurisdiction end?”
“Yes of course. Our town has rights to all The Great Thrush south of Mire’s Lake and East up to the Centerpoint Mountain.”
“So I can purchase it here?”
“Of course you can, but aren’t you afraid of purchasing monster infested lands? Monsters up to third class are recorded of existing in the Thrus,” said Thomas with a genuine look of concern.
“Hmmf,” I snorted, “You doubt the strength of my subordinates? Tenia can craft repellant spells for monsters.”
“Spells aren’t infallible though, young miss.”
I felt sort of bad for the guy. He seemed to be genuinely trying to help me. Still, I couldn’t afford to be weak here. I scowled at him.
“Are you trying to bad mouth me, sir?”
“No, I had no intention of that… It’s just-”
“I will send a letter to my father about your actions. When he hears about this he’ll be livid.”
“Now now, let’s calm down. We can sell you that land if you’re deadset on it… But we’ll need you to sign a contract saying we aren’t liable for anything that happens to you or your… entourage.”
“That’s fine.”
Like that, it was agreed rather simply that I could buy land in the forest. The halfling brought out a map. Almost all the land outside of the town’s protective zones was unclaimed. No nobles wanted to keep them. Just owning land meant you needed to pay taxes on it and who in their right minds would pay taxes on land they couldn’t develop in any way due to monster attacks?
I ended up buying a large chunk of land North of the town and, on a ‘whim’, I bought a large chunk to the East. Thomas looked uneasy about it, but they only charged 30 High Marks for 30 Acres. When I brought out my bag of 100 ‘G’, his tune changed. In hindsight I might have picked too large a number for my ‘low amount’ of currency to exchange at any one time.
The 100 ‘G’ became 250 High Marks, and the 250 High Marks became 220 when I paid for the land. The yearly tax on my land was valued at 5% of the market price, rather low all things considered, and would only be 1 High Mark and a Middle Mark every year. I paid up front for 10 years worth of taxes, further pleasing the man; that cost me another 15 High Marks.
I still had 205 High Marks on hand, though, which was absurd. I decided to keep about 20 of them in a sack in my tote bag while storing the rest in my [Inventory]. This way if we did get targeted by thieves, they’d be happy and I wouldn’t really care~ It might be good if we do get targeted, though. I need to find a way to show off how strong Tenia is…
The deeds were drawn up rather quickly and the Merchant Guild office was buzzing with excitement. It was apparently rare for nobles to come to this town. It seems the only landowner around here was a man named Sevian Cerble, and he owned all the farmland inside the monster free zone.
I made a mental note that I needed to avoid getting this Sevian Cerble’s ire. I intended to use my home base as long as possible, and for that I needed to keep amenable relationships with the nearby gentry. That meant I couldn’t exactly flood his market or anything like that… Which I had no intention to do anyways. I had all the money I could ever need. I didn’t need to start running a business in this world like some kind of entrepreneur… Thought it would be nice to open a crafts shop and maybe take specialty orders from people. Then I could take Tenia and Benson on adventures to get the materials~ It would be a lot like my days back in Xternity... Without all the breaks from real life, though.
I stored the deeds to my new land in my inventory with a smile. Thomas seemed to be trying to speak with Tenia, showing concern for her off to the side. He probably felt bad for her having to work for such an ‘inept’ noble family. She just kept giving him this strained smile, though… I really hope she isn’t unhappy with me.
Suddenly the sounds of muffled screams and angry chants echoed through the building. Everyone inside seemed to go deathly quiet as we all turned towards the door, wondering what was going on. Tenia and I were the first to walk over, parting the proverbial red sea of bankers and clerks, to find out what was happening. It was quite a commotion, for sure.
When we arrived at the door, the scene outside was beyond my expectations. A young man, perhaps 17 at most, was lying on a makeshift stretcher. His left arm had been torn off above the elbow and blood was slowly pooling on the ground beneath him. He’d have bled out for sure if it wasn’t for the cloth tied around his arm stub…
A man who looked like the boy’s father was on his knees in front of the Magician’s Guild, begging to a white robed figure.
“Please, Sir Jeffson, heal my boy,” pleaded the farmer on his knees. “He got caught in the Harvest Machine. If he doesn’t get healing he’ll die.”
“Abraham you know my rules. I don’t heal for free. It’ll cost three high marks. If I heal your boy for free today then the next time someone else needs healing they’ll say ‘but you healed Abraham’s boy for free’ and soon enough I’ll be giving out my services all the time.”
“Three high marks is too much, please! I’ve already collected all my family had, and we’ve got a full Middle Mark here…”
“I’ve told you no,” replied the white robed douche curtly.
The kneeling farmer looked around the small crowd forming and started begging anyone that could help. I looked over and noticed Tenia already moving towards the boy. I quickly grabbed her ear and stopped her. She looked at me with the biggest puppy eyes I’ve ever seen but I held my finger up to her lips.
The boy on the ground wasn’t going to die yet. He had lost some blood, but he seemed to be stabilized for the moment. Besides, with a high grade potion I could heal him instantly… But I saw an opportunity.
I’m not a cold hearted person, but I don’t usually go out of my way for strangers. Still, if I can help someone and benefit at the same time then I’ll usually jump at the chance.
“I’ll loan you the Marks,” I said, cutting through the silence as I walked down the Town Hall’s stairs. The silence of the people around me surely meant they were impressed by my generosity!
“What did she say?” Murmured one person.
“Don’t know, couldn’t understand her accent,” Muttered another in reply.
I nearly fell over from that. Still, I kept my composure. I reached into my tote and pulled out three High Marks from my inventory. The coins were rather small in my hands, feeling only like pennies from my old world in weight.
“Loan.” I said as I gently set the Marks into the farmer’s hand. “You pay back.”
I was being a bit of an ass with my manner of speaking slowly, but the locals seemed to understand me this time.
Whispers of “Who is that woman” and “Her clothes are very fine” caught my ears.
The farmer man in front of me didn’t seem to bother thinking. He was probably caught up in his son’s dilemma. Tears streaked from his eyes as he started nodding and graciously took the coin.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” he repeated. Then, he quickly handed the coins over to the mage in the white cloak.
The White Cloak man shrugged, then he cast a spell on his eyes while looking at the coins. He shrugged for a second time after confirming the coin wasn't counterfeit, pocketed the coins, and then walked over to the bleeding boy. With a short chant his hands began to glow. He grabbed the boy’s arm stub and the flesh began to mend itself before everyone’s eyes. Unfortunately a new limb didn’t grow back. The flesh itself simply knitted together and stopped the stub from bleeding.
The mage himself looked a bit tired as he then cast a second spell. This one I didn’t recognize but Tenia seemed to nod her head with approval while watching. Immediately the boy sat up and color returned to his face. He didn’t look like a kid on the verge of death anymore. Instead he looked like a genuinely healthy child that had just woken up from a nap.
The white robed man was sweating hard now and he offered a few words of ‘rest’ and ‘drink lots of fluids’ to the man and his son before slowly walking back to the Magician’s Guild. Perhaps he wasn't all that bad of a person... I still considered him a douche, though. He could have easily, with all the witnesses around, made the father pay the money back later after saving his kid.
Now, after the spectacle, I found a ton of eyes staring at me. I gave them all a haughty glare in return, making them shrink back.
The whims of a noble’s daughter are allowed to be fickle and strange, after all. I just needed to play my part~