It was reaching into the early evening, still early enough that the farmers should have still been out in the fields, their Skills and Characters allowed them to increase the growth rate of plants provided they had everything they needed to grow, nutrients, water, and sunlight. This meant that the farmers would usually use all the daylight they had, water was always plentiful and they produced a fertiliser from some of the caught fish to meet the final need.
“I must have lost count of the days. So much for making a good first impression on the guy who says whether or not I can sell anything around here.”
He looked over his Perception Skill increases, wishing once again that he could see the numerical information behind the Skill.
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CONGRATULATIONS OUTWORLDER, YOU HAVE NURTURED YOUR SKILLS
* Your Perception Skill has increased in level: 14 -> 34
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Ambrose began to run around the outsides of the walls, a grunt of annoyance escaping his throat. Anger at the situation began to rise when he made it all the way around one side, reaching the entrance to the ocean without seeing a single guard.
The river that ran through the town had a gated port so he couldn’t simply slip in through there. He decided against taking the option of swimming into the ocean to get around the wall, which tapered off into the water several tens of metres away, and instead began sprinting around to the other side.
“You have got to be kidding me, not a single damned guard.” Ambrose said to the air, running his hands through his hair in frustration as he considered the options in front of him.
“Either I swim around the wall and walk into this coronation thingy drenched in sea water, or I try and scale the wall without any experience or equipment. Stupid Ambrose, you just had to stick around until you made clothes, didn’t you.” Ambrose began passing back and forth while he ranted at himself, eyeing off the wall.
Knowing that walking in wet would be social suicide, dashing his chances of getting whatever trading license he would need going forward and likely getting banned from the town in the process, Ambrose decided that he would have to break into the town.
Darkness was beginning to set in, Ambrose had been told that the ceremony was meant to begin once the stars and the full moon were on proper display, but the fact that everyone in town was currently missing suggested that perhaps the schedule had been moved up.
Ambrose approached one of the guard platforms jutting out of the wall. He hadn’t seen any spots that would make climbing the thing easier but the platform was a guaranteed steady place to stand on.
The large wall was made of wood that had been smoothed down and coated in a lacquer to protect the wood, it was designed to keep the occasional monster out so it needed to be resistant to anything clawed that may try to scale the wall.
Ambrose pulled out his rope and searched his bag for something that he would be able to anchor to the barriers around the platform. In the end he had to choose his small hammer from the dungeon, while it might break from not being used for its designed purpose it was he only real option, having given the larger tools to the dungeon, and the remainder he had left in his room, leaving him with his skinning knife, his dagger, the hammer, a small shovel, and a small amount of thread with a needle. Essentially, he had only kept tools that he would potentially use outside of the dungeon on him.
Ambrose spent several precious minutes trying the rope to the hammer, with no experience in tying knots he was forced to sew the rope together to ensure it was properly secured. Testing it in the crook of a tree, he was able to prove it would hold temporarily.
“Alright, lodge the hammer in the corner up there. Climb over. Simple.”
The first step was actually simple, the second not so much. The wall was designed to not provide friction, so when Ambrose attempted to scale the wall by leaning back on the rope and walking up the wall he couldn’t get any traction and slid off, falling onto his butt. Ambrose had never climbed a rope before, but knew the idea behind it, quickly looping the rope around his feet and trapping it, before pushing off. He then clutched the rope in his hands, realising that he had overlooked something, he contained far more strength then his brain told him he had. Finding that he didn’t really need proper technique, or even the terrible technique that he was using, Ambrose was able to muscle his way up the rope, awkwardly clambering over the side of the platform.
He then simply pulled up the rope, his bag tied to the other side, though Ambrose felt that he could have climbed the rope just fine while still wearing the bag, seeing as it was relatively empty at the moment.
He sprinted over to the tavern, finding that empty as well, a note had been left on the door, written in hasty handwriting.
“Ambrose, you said you would be back in time for the ceremony so we trust that to be true. The new lord has arrived and insisted on the celebration beginning early. It's being held in lord’s manor. -Mariella”
At the bottom of the note was a small addendum.
“I’ll unlock as many of the side doors and windows as I can so you can sneak in when you are inevitably late. -Luce”
“Right Lord’s Manor, definitely know where that is.”
Ambrose went through his memories of the town, finding that he did actually know where the manor was, it was a large abandoned building near the ocean on the far side of town.
As Ambrose approached the manor he found it had been repaired to the best of the town's abilities. Most of the abandoned buildings were taken care of throughout the town but were very clearly not lived in, only maintained, it seemed that with a lord returning to the village after several years, the town had grouped up to make these buildings more appealing while Ambrose was away. Out of these restored buildings, the manor had obviously had the most work done to it.
The building had been cleaned from top to bottom, the surrounding gardens had been restored from a state of overgrowth, now full of flowering plants and trees that still showed the signs that they had been transplanted from the jungle.
Good to her word, Luce had left many different openings accessible to Ambrose, finding a low window in a currently empty room, Ambrose stashed his bag outside and snuck in. Once inside he could clearly hear the echoes of music and people talking only a hallway or so away from him. Ambrose took a minute to try and fix up his appearance, smoothing out his clothes and detangling his hair, he even tore up a one of the fresh flowers that was sitting in a vase on a counter in the room, using the petals as deodorant to cover up the sweat he had accumulated sprinting around the village.
Flaring his Perception and Stealth Skills, Ambrose found the other side of the door empty, slipping out of the room. He entered into the main room, finding himself greeted by a brightly lit ballroom, filled with tables and the entire town.
Ambrose took the scene in, most people were distracted enough to not notice him slip in, happily talking away over various meals emanating enticing aromas that were foreign to Ambrose, many of the ingredients were not native to the island and must have been brought in by the noble.
Ambrose glanced up towards a raised podium at the back of the room to eye off the host, finding that the young elven man was already looking right back at him, observing him with a guard to one side, and Renna to the other, whispering in his ear as the two stared at Ambrose.
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“Welp, I’m boned.”
Ambrose mingled as best he could, but could never shake the feeling that he was being watched by the noble. Every time he took a peek, the noble would be looking elsewhere. Renna had also disappeared which only made Ambrose even more nervous.
“So you are the Sponsored who has come to visit this lovely little town of mine. I am Telpin Morncrest, I have heard a great many rumour about you and your kind.”
Ambrose froze, he had stopped keeping track of the noble as the night grew deeper, loosening up as several drinks had found themselves tipped down his gullet to arrest his irrational fears.
“Ah, Lord Morncrest, it's a pleasure. I am Ambrose Rogers. As for the rumours, I sincerely hope it's only good things.” Ambrose said as he attempted a small bow, unsure of the etiquette required.
“That depends on the Sponsored I suppose, you hear all sorts of horrific things from some of them, while another is the reason I am here.” The elf said as he shrugged his shoulders.
“So the question really becomes, who is your Sponsor? I asked around but to my surprise it wasn’t even known that you were Sponsored.” Telpin continued, eyes boring into Ambrose’s.
“Oh nobody you would be interested in, just a small god called James.” Ambrose responded, hoping that his god wouldn’t be identifiable by name alone, he couldn’t be sure what the noble would do if he was tied back to the god the system referred to as Loser.
Ambrose had found out some of the stories about the Sponsored from Prism during their conversations while he was crafting. They weren’t rare by any means, but information about them was scarce or often based on unreliable rumours. The most important ‘fact’ about Sponsored, in terms of the current conversation, was that they influenced the area around them with the power of their god, more people would find themselves compatible with the same power after encountering a Sponsored, or finding their Skills growing after years stuck in place. If the noble found out that Ambrose’s god was Loser or even if he found out his actual title of Mundane, he might banish Ambrose on the belief that he would reduce the Skills that were available, driving all Magical Skill wielders away and stopping others from gaining them. This wasn’t likely the case, if this aura was a thing, Ambrose was fairly confident that it would be uniformly positive amongst the various gods, in his case it should boost the Skill gain of Mundane Skills rather than prevent Magical ones from growing.
“Your god goes by a mortal name rather than their title?” The noble said with a horrified look of disgust on his face.
“As I said, a god of very little influence.” Ambrose said with a self deprecating laugh, focusing all his efforts on coming off embarrassed.
Before the noble got a chance to push him for more information, Ambrose jumped topics. “Sorry for being late by the way. Getting a suitable outfit for such an auspicious occasion took longer than I had anticipated.”
“Oh it's not an issue at all. My fault really for throwing a surprise banquet.” Telpin said, his tone friendly but his eyes cold.
“Sorry to interrupt m’lord, it is time for the ceremony.” A small old man wearing priest robes said, saving Ambrose from further conversation.
Telpin’s eyes briefly flashed with emotion that Ambrose couldn’t make out as his eyes dashed elsewhere in the room.
“Very well. Ambrose, we will have to continue our discussion after I am officially lord of this place.”
Telpin walked off with the small priest, as the town followed after. The back garden was spacious, with a small platform erected in a clear spot, raised so that all could see. A small plain looking throne that had previously been sitting in the ballroom, was the only thing on the platform.
The sky was clear, and the moon was full shining a beautiful but odd purple, bathing the gardens and its guests in a strange light.
“Greetings Baro Residents. I am Reth Quilo, priest of Velara. It is my duty and honour to perform this ceremony under the light of Terrella.”
The priest motioned for Telpin to sit in on the throne, Baro’s seat of power, and began swearing him in. It was a long process of repeating various promises in two different languages. The first was the common language, and simply seemed to be spoken so that the townsfolk had an idea of what was being said. The second language was more impactful, each line spoken summoned a circle of symbols around the throne, a corresponding symbol would then appear on Telpin’s body. In the end a symbol had appeared on each wrist, each knee, the centre of his chest, and finally his forehead, each brightly glowing through his clothes.
The oath was actually rather lax in Ambrose’s opinion, largely requiring Telpin to not betray his kingdom and to act towards its interests, rather than actually helping the town out in any specific way. Fortunately he was forced to use his power to protect the Residents, which mollified Ambrose to some degree.
When the ritual was finished, the throne was glowing with light. Priest Quilo took a small crown from a pillow set on a table behind the platform as he finished the investiture.
“With this crown and throne so shall you be lord over Baro island, her Residents, and her trade. Long live lord Telpin Morncrest.” He finished with a shout, placing the crown on Telpin’s head.
“Long live the lord.” The crowd chanted in return.
The throne, the crown, and all the runes around Telpin glowed with a final power. Telpin winced in pain as the runes on his body seared themselves into his skin, before they all dimmed, leaving only a slight mark where the symbols once sat.
Telpin was understandably worn out and called the remainder of the night to a close. As the town began to disperse, taking the remaining food and drink back to their homes he shouted out one final time. “Don’t forget, the ship will be leaving within the hour if any wish to return to the capital.”
Ambrose was venturing into the crowd in search of the Enrick family when he was stopped by the one of the personal guards Telpin had brought with him. “Apologies sir, the lord asks that you remain to discuss urgent matters.”
Catching Luce’s eye before he was pulled away, Ambrose shouted over the din of the town moving out of the manor. “I’ll see you later, thanks for the note.” With a wave offered between them, Luce ran off to make sure her parents didn’t see the addition she had made to the note, implicating her in less than savoury behaviour, while Ambrose was pulled off.
“Ah Ambrose, good of you to join me, troubling news I am afraid. I wanted to tell you earlier but I couldn’t get you alone before the ceremony. My guard has sent word of monsters watching the town the last few nights. I sent Renna to investigate and she has confirmed that they are on their way, with the investiture only just completed my power is heavily drained. I was hoping you could go with us to stop this threat.”
Ambrose hadn’t been expecting that at all and was thrown off by the nobles' sudden change of tone. “Uh yeah, what kind of monsters?”
“Several different types have been spotted so information is lacking, come we have no time.”
Telpin took on a hurried pace through a pathway in the back of the garden, slipping out where the townsfolk wouldn’t notice. The pair crossed through into the largely abandoned outer sector and eventually reached the gate, finding it broken open. The fresh corpse of a large lizard-like monster laying nearby, heavily cut and burned.
A bell by the docks began to sound only moments after, warning of a monster attack, telling all to get inside and hunker down. As the bell echoed throughout the town, Ambrose froze. He looked down at his chest to find a fang embedded in his side, a haunted looking Renna pushing it deeper into his side.
Ambrose pushed back at the woman as she jumped out of the way, pulling out the fang as she backed up. Ambrose’s vision quickly began to blur as whatever venom the creature had possessed entered into his bloodstream.
“Oh sweet idiotic Ambrose. You didn’t really think that I would let you roam around my town, unchained, endlessly tempting the dungeon to attack us, feeding it so you could grow strong enough that we couldn’t stop you.” Telpin spat the words out as Ambrose turned, stumbling towards him as he tried to grab his dagger.
The noble stepped back, keeping his distance. “It was truly such a shame you died in that monster attack, and then even your body was destroyed beyond recognition when I was forced to burn the monster to death after it began to swallow your corpse.”
Another stab came from behind, matching the previous wound as Telpin pulled out a familiar book. “If you add the concept of force behind unbound fire, you can shoot it like a projectile. Well that sounds worth the try don’t you think Ambrose?”
Telpin waved his fingers about as he muttered steps under his breath, Ambrose was forced to watch on as he summoned flame in his hand, formed it into a ball where it disconnected from his palm, he then pointed it at Ambrose where the small ball shot towards him.
The pain was immense, the flames having the impact of a hammer, quickly burning through the outer layer of his clothes. The echoing bell began to drown out all other sound as Ambrose's vision went black.
Ambrose awoke with a start, immediately ready for combat, only to find himself next to his fire. The storm was pushing in further, quickly encroaching on the fire’s small protective domain. He felt an option before him and took it, watching as the flames grew larger and hotter than ever before, as they began burning through their fuel.
Back in physical reality Ambrose shrugged off the pain, the venom inside of him clearing up as his body grew hot. He must have lost consciousness for a few moments as Telpin had stepped closer to his now prone form.
Pushing up and forward, Ambrose pulled his dagger and slashed at the noble. A gush of blood met him as Telpin screamed in pain. Ambrose was forced to turn, catching the fang he knew would be coming from behind.
Stuck between fang and fire Ambrose fought on. Slashing away at his opponents while his clothes protected him from any light cuts Renna could perform, also heavily reducing the effect of Telpin's occasional flames, leaving the piercing stabs as their main option for killing him.
Blood was running down all three of them, Ambrose from the two heavy piercing wounds he had received, Telpin from his missing eye, and Renna from several slashes. The woman may have been a far more powerful adventurer in her past, but now she was broken and scared. Not having her normal bow with her was enough of a handicap for Ambrose to keep up, furiously slashing at the woman.
He could feel the camp fire burning him up from the inside. Needing to finish the fight quickly, Ambrose went for a finishing blow, accepting Renna's next slashing blow, Ambrose body check her, knocking the Speed focused former adventure off balance before he stepped forward once more, plunging his blade into her stomach.
Before Ambrose could retrieve the blade, a conflagration of flames met the two. Ambrose’s clothes protected much of his body, but his hands and face quickly began burning away as the noble's flames burned hotter than ever before. Renna experienced a similar fate, only partially saved from the flames because of Ambrose’s body blocking the source.
Telpin stood, if barely, the runes burned into his body and soul only minutes ago were glowing with power. He had stopped the Sponsored at great cost to his supply of energy from Baro. He stumbled towards Ambrose’s fallen form, watching as Renna was scrambling to put her face out.
“Useless adventurer trash, you said you could handle him.” He spat on the woman to help put out the fire as he leaned down and pulled out Ambrose’s knife from her gut.
“We can’t have any of those miraculous recoveries you hear about now can we.” He collapsed to his knees next to Ambrose and plunged the dagger into Ambrose’s throat, he would likely have to claim it as a mercy killing if any one dared to question him, not that they would, he owned them after all.