Once the group had Zetsuna in their sights, after a really long and awkwardly silent trip, Rita sent Mara back into the amulet and put one of the horses back on the carriage. The trip was long and silent in large part due to the fact that Mara for once knew when to shut up. It seems even she had enough self preservation not to tempt anymore of Rita’s ire.
About halfway through the trip, Rita had made a concession for Aaron to be able to stop walking, in part probably because he was slowing the group down to much, but also in favour of him mounting one of the horses and learning to ride the thing. Rita had seen it as a good opportunity for the lesson. As without any real riding knowledge, it would still be a form of punishment in and of itself. Horse riding was after all very tough on those that had no experience with it, especially if your first session was going to be such a lengthy trip.
So Aaron was placed back on carriage driving duty once more. He had already received a level up to both his Haremest class and character, now putting him as a level 8 - Haremest. This had occurred at some point in the night he had slept together with Rita, as he awoke the next morning to this status update. He had left his now two skill points as is for the time being and put his character points into strength.
He had also received two skill unlocks for all the horse riding practice
Skill: Knight in shining armour Type: Passive Element: Divine Cost: N/A Description:
You are the valiant hero riding in on his trusty steed to save the day. Effect:
+50% strength while on horseback
-20% damage taken while on horseback, to both you and the horse - scales with skill level
Skill: Italian stallion Type: Passive Element: Divine Cost: N/A Description:
You sir can ride anything, whether it be a woman, or a horse. Effect:
Applies a debuff to any women that sees you on horseback.
+100% perceived charisma - scales with skill level
Duration: 120 seconds
Debuff timer only starts once you dismount or the women in question loses sight of you.
As they reached the peak of yet another hill, finally, the city of Zetsuna could be seen. A bustling centre, filled with residential and commercial buildings alike in a rather cramped fashion.
It was surrounded by a large wall made from rusty colored looking bricks, a relatively thin wall as far as fortifications go. A small wooden rampart was attached to the back of the wall, that would allow at least one soldier at a time to attack over the wall. Every now and then however, there was a wider section of wall with a proper stone rampart and area for soldiers to spread out on.
Beyond the wall, was mostly a combination of sparsely spaced houses and a ton of farmland.
Eventually they reached the queue to enter the city gates. It was quite a long queue and was clearly going to take a few hours before it would be their turn to be processed by the guards. Aaron noticed that there was a second gate, with a much shorter queue and wondered why people were not using it.
“Hey Rita, what’s that second entrance for?”
“It’s for permit holders. Basically nobles, merchants and other regulars that can afford the permits.” She answered idly. “For the rest of us commoners, we have to go through the regular entrance and pay the regular single visit taxes.”
Eventually they reached the gate and of course Rita did all the talking. She explained the purpose of their visit, basically they were wanting to move here, hence the wagon filled with various household things. They paid the taxes, well Rita paid the taxes, Aaron was of course basically homeless and broke. Then they entered the city without much fanfare.
Inside the city was a sprawling mess of criss-crossing streets and side streets. The more main roads running between buildings were cobblestone, while most were simply dirt pathways, compacted hard by the constant wagon wheels and foot traffic over the years.
The buildings themselves were made out of slate tile roofs and stone and mortar walls. Well a few buildings were made out of wooden boards and frames, but that was far less common.
Rita seemed to know her way around this maze of a city quite well and seemed to clearly be leading them to a very specific destination with confidence.
Passing a food stall that was roasting fresh meat, reminded Aaron just how hungry he was. They had been eating wild plants and meats that Rita had hunted, since their food supply had run out a while ago. And now it was finally catching up to him. Surely Rita must be in the same boat as him? Aaron felt a bit too guilty to ask her for food, he was technically a freeloader after all. I mean, yes, he had saved her life, but still, it didn’t quite feel right.
Either Rita must have noticed him drooling, or she had likely had the same idea, as she stopped and bought some chicken skewers, or at least something that tasted like chicken, for them too share.
“So. We need to rent a place to stay. However, I am a little short on money. I should have enough to cover lodgings for a day, so we are on our way to a decent and kind of cheap inn I know of, to book a room. But it’s still early in the day, so after we secure our lodgings I want to head out immediately and try and pawn off some of this stuff before night falls for some additional funds.”
Aaron just nodded. He was out of his element here and couldn’t really say anything. She had already thought things through it would seem.
“So um, I kind of need to ask now, well- Basically what are you planning to do now?”
Aaron let the question hang in the air for a moment, as he suspected she wasn’t quite done yet.
“What I mean is. You already know that I plan to live here now in Zetsuna and that I intend to join an alchemy guild and secure work through that, well hopefully anyway. But I am confident enough in my skills for them to consider me for enrollment in one of their internships. Point is, what I’m trying to figure out here, is what are your plans?”
Aaron knew he had no plans. He still knew very little about this world and obviously could not strike out on his own, nor did he have any resources to do so. But the practical issues aside, why would he want to? His only source of power in this world was his Haremest class and his current ‘harem’ of two members. He would need to keep that going and build on it.
So the issue is not one of, should he stick around Rita and company, but rather how to make that happen. I mean sure, he could find some work and pay his way, hopefully anyway, but, the real issue is would Rita actually want to for lack of a better term ‘live with him’. Especially since she would be solely supporting him initially.
He felt like the answer would be yes if he pushed the issue, but the situation, especially given his amnesia excuse, was so strange, that he honestly couldn’t be sure. All in all, he needed to stick around and couldn’t take any chances convincing her to keep him around, his survival basically depended on it.
So he did the only thing he could do, and purchased the cheesy lines skill to make his next words more acceptable. He also purchased the ‘The people’s hero’ using his remaining skill point, since out of all his current skills, this one would give him the highest numerical charisma push at the moment, by proxy of his already high destiny stat. He could not risk using something as ridiculously powerful as ‘Alpha’, Rita might actually fall off her horse and break her neck. He had seen just how OP that skill was, back at the goblin camp.
So with his charisma bolstered up to sixteen, now his single highest stat, his words would hopefully be more charming. And hoping cheesy lines would smooth things over as he began, “You already know my current situation with the whole memory thing. This of course means that I’m currently very lost in this world, or more specifically my place in it.”
He paused for a moment considering his next words.
“Of course I will need to find a job, work that I can do, even if I’m not really sure what that is at present, so that I can pave my own way. There are many things that I don’t know to be honest, I am filled with uncertainty right this very moment even.”
He sighed and paused for dramatic effect. Then he looked her straight in the eyes and hoped his skills would deliver, “There is however one thing that I am sure of.”
“What’s that?”, Rita could not but help ask nervously.
“That I want to stay by your side.”
Rita was momentarily stunned to silence and Aaron had seriously started to worry, that the low level skills had not managed to pull it off. His concern however seemed to be for nothing as Rita soon turned away and began to blush heavily.
She spoke in a small voice, gaze fixed on the ground, “When you say it like that it sounds like a proposal.”
She looked up in a panic, quickly trying to remedy the situation, “That’s- that’s not what I meant! I just mean you shouldn’t say things like that so lightly, people will misunderstand, is all! I mean, I didn’t really intend to part ways with you after all. I have a feeling if I just left you alone, you would either end up dead or in really big trouble! But more than that concern, there is the fact that not only did you um- free me from the life I had previously lived with DIanna, but you even saved me back at the goblin camp. I- I feel like at this point you’ve saved both my life and my soul. Um- like- what I’m trying to say, is a debt like that should be repaid. So like, I should at least help you out until you’re back on your feet and all. I mean especially with you current mental state, which is something that Dianna did to you in the first place, so like- I’m even responsible for you already by proxy to begin with. So, yeah- There you have it I guess.”
She had fumbled her way through a mixture of circumstance, feelings and intentions in that lengthy spiel, but the message had gotten across.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
“Well, I guess, for the time being, I’ll be in your care.” Aaron smiled at her, and she smiled back, still blushing a little.
It would seem, as far as Aaron could tell, that those skill purchases probably weren’t even necessary, not that he could actually be sure of that though. But it does seem like she had every intention of keeping him around even before all that. Oh well, he was quite sure that they would come in handy in future regardless.
It was however a relief for him, since during that little monologue, she had revealed that she did not seem to have any ill feelings towards him for killing Dianna. This was something that he had always been concerned about. But it in fact seemed that it was quite the opposite, that she felt more like he had liberated her from the women's clutches. ‘Saved her soul’ she had called it.
He would be lying if he said he did not have any misgivings over the whole Dianna thing. Even if he had a little less to stress about over it now, with this revelation, there were still many a concern. For one he wished he knew how ‘she’ felt about the whole thing. Dianna had still been to some extent her mother after all, fake or otherwise. There’s simply gotta be more to it than just that. But this was not an issue he should be exploring right now he suspected. At the very least, just to be on the safe side, he should at least wait until they’ve settled down a bit.
They had finally reached their destination, ‘Sultra lodge’. A large three story building, that could clearly house multiple rooms. The bottom floor, seemed to be mostly stables, with a much smaller section reserved as the reception area. The two floors above that, seemed like they held anywhere from twenty to thirty rooms, depending on how big they were. Aaron was just guessing by the number of windows after all. The building was wrapping around an empty courtyard in a ‘U’ shape.
They pulled up in front of the reception area, and went to talk to the innkeeper. Rita then proceeded to secure a room. It turned out there was only one single bed room still available, so Rita settled on that with a stern warning to Aaron, not to read anything into it, she was just trying to save time and costs here. And Aaron, was like, ‘I completely understand’, even though he didn’t. This was at best going to cause him sleepless nights and at worst going to make him pounce her.
Maybe he should see if he can relieve some ‘stress’ with Mara at some point, she did still technically owe him some ‘creative time’. Although with everything that happened, he doubted she was going to see it that way.
Rita had only rented a room with no stables to secure the wagon. She was intent on letting the wagon and it’s goods rest out in the courtyard. Apparently the Inn did allow this, but ‘you did so at your own risk’. Which was fine, since she no doubt intended to have Mara watch over it.
After having secured their first nights lodgings, Rita then led them around to various merchants and pawn shops, to try and sell off most of what they had been lugging around. Rita didn’t do much ‘shopping around’ or haggling for prices and seemed to be content to settle for selling off her stuff as fast as possible.
When asked why she was in such a hurry, she answered that she needed a lot of funds for her plans going ahead, and that having a wagon full of potentially stealable stuff and no permanent residence to keep it at, was going to be dangerous. The sooner she could sell it all off the better.
Aaron did suspect that in part, she was trying to cut herself off from her past with Dianna; selling off their stuff being one avenue of achieving that. But it wasn’t just that, along the way he felt like he’d seen hints of her desire to start a new life, perhaps reinvent herself or something like that.
They pulled up at yet another store, this one apparently dealing in alchemy just judging by the sign up front. Upon entering, they were greeted by a middle aged woman with orange-blonde hair and a mole in the corner of her left eye.
“Yes, how can I- Rita!” The woman suddenly exclaimed once she realised who had just entered her shop. Aaron suspected this visit may be little more than a social call, he doubted Rita would be selling anything here.
“Dear, it’s been so long, come here!” The woman, who was quite sizable, practically bear-hugged the small girl, whom seemed even smaller somehow in her embrace.
“How have you been dear? And what brings you here? Dianna doesn’t often bring you with to Zetsuna when she’s doing a supply run. I hardly ever get to see you as a result.”
Rita broke eye contact with the woman, her head drooping. “About that.” She said in a small voice. “Dianna died.”
“Oh?” The woman replied dumbfounded.
“Yes. Hunting accident.” So that was the excuse she was going with. Better remember that.
“Oh dear. Are you alright? I know she wasn’t your real mother, but she did raise you for the most part.”
“I’m okay. I mean, I’ve been better.”
“So what will you do now? Do you need a place to stay, I could ask around.”
“No, no that’s fine. I’ve already secured lodgings. I actually intend to move here.”
“Oh, really? That sounds like it will be tough to pull off, especially for one young as yourself.”
“Don’t worry about it too much. I’m selling off most of DIanna’s stuff to fund my stay here. I intend to enroll in Setsuna's alchemy guild. With any luck I’ll be able to get into their internship programme. Admittedly without that I’m going to be in a bind financially.”
“Hmmm. Well I have told you before, with talent like yours, I’m sure you would do well in the guild. I don’t see why they would turn you down.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence. Actually now that I don’t have to live out in the middle of nowhere, I have the freedom to pursue such things.”
“True. I never did understand why Dianna chose to live all the way out there.” Clearly this woman did not know about Dianna’s main line of work. Not surprising.
“Actually, did you travel all they way to Zetsuna on your own? That is a terribly risky thing for a cute girl such as yourself to be doing!”
“Oh, no! Actually I travelled with Aaron.” Rita quickly gestured towards the boy in question. “Oh, where are my manners, Aaron, this is Vanessa. Vanessa- Aaron.”
“Vanessa here is the person that originally got me interested in alchemy and herbalism. She also acted as my mentor when I was first starting out.”
“So who is this young lad, your boyfriend? Hard to imagine you getting one. I mean you are cute as a button, but you live out in the forest, there aren’t exactly an abundance of strapping young lads hanging around out there.”
“Vanessa!” Rita simply scowled at her, while blushing.
“Well at any rate, I’m glad that despite everything you are staying positive, heck even smiling.”
“Anyway, I actually didn’t just come here for a social visit, well at least not entirely.”
“Oh?”
“I want to make you my exclusive supplier. I am going to be needing alchemical equipment and ingredients regularly now, with my current goals and all. Obviously in exchange for this and for the sake of supporting your protege in her endeavours, I’m expecting a sizable discount from here on out.”
“Huh? Wa- wait a second” Vanessa looked like she had not been expecting that. “I can’t just go around giving out discounts like that willy nilly, I have a business to run-”
“Huh? Were you not the one that pushed me to pursue alchemy? Shouldn’t you be doing anything you can to support your student…”
Aaron was shocked. Rita was steam rolling her, leaning heavily on their personal relationship to execute ruthless business maneuvering. He had not seen this side of her before. Was she like this with people she was close with? Maybe this was the first time he was seeing the real Rita. Maybe she just hasn’t had a chance to ‘be herself’ ever since he’d met her. A cheery yet cunning girl. Come to think of it, she had not been lacking in voice or confidence while dealing with any of the previous shop owners or the village chief.
After a few more minutes of hammering out a deal, or one sided badgering if you looked at it another way, Rita seemed happy and Vanessa seemed exhausted. Rita and Aaron finally said their goodbyes and once more set off.
“You seem close.” It was as much an observation as it was a question. “It’s good to see you smile again.”
Rita just gave him one of her signature soft smiles. There was no blushing this time, perhaps because of ‘Cheesy lines’, or perhaps because of his sincerity and respective gentle smile. Either way, no further words were exchanged while they travelled back to the inn. None were needed, they both just enjoyed the moment, a welcome reprieve from all that had transpired.
It had gotten late. Late enough that there was nothing left for them to do today. Late enough that they had decided to just get some ‘takeaways’ from one of the last available vendors on the way, that had not yet quite finished packing up for the night.
Eating on their way, they eventually made it back to the inn. Dianna made sure no one was looking and then summoned out Mara and made her cloak herself. She was given instruction to stay out of sight and guard the wagon for the night which was simply being parked right out in the middle of the courtyard. Mara was none to happy about this mundane task, but given it being a rather specific and direct order, there was little she could do about it. The wagon still held about half of its original goods, that Rita had not yet managed to pawn.
Rita and Aaron finally retreated up to their room, which was on the top floor, overlooking the courtyard. Due to a combination of availability of rooms and availability of funds, they had only managed to rent a small single bed room. Aaron waited outside while Rita bathed and changed into something more loose fitting and comfortable, and vice versa.
They both climbed into the bed, back to back, with far too little space between them. Unfortunately, both were quite uncomfortable at the moment, neither of them being under the influence of alcohol, unlike the last time something like this happened.
The two of them simply laid there, both trying to get to sleep in the dark room, both failing miserably.
“You still awake?” Aaron asked tentatively in a soft voice.
“Yes”
“Can’t sleep either huh?”
“No, not really.”
“Listen, um- I just wanted to thank you.”
“Thank me?”
“Yeah. I mean- Without all your help, I would truly be lost in this world.”
“You make it sound like you’re not from this world.”
Aaron could only chuckle nervously.
“Well, to be honest, with your level of amnesia, I guess it would be no different for you than compared to being from another world.”
“I guess.”
Aaron could feel that Rita had suddenly turned around, to face his back.
“You know, you talk about being lost without me, but to be honest, I don’t think you realise how much the opposite is true. Where would I be if you had not come along- Probably so far gone on my previous dark path that there would have been nothing left of me.”
“It’s not like I don’t know that, but the fact of the matter is I killed the only woman you’d ever known as a mother, fake or otherwise. So I’m not particularly keen on taking credit for ‘saving’ you or anything like that. Besides you seem far more capable of saving yourself, than I ever could be.”
Rita sighed. “You know, you seem to think I’m some kind of amazing person. You even said it once, you called me strong. The truth is I am anything but. I am uncertain all the time, scared even. I fall down a lot and feel like I can’t go on often.”
Rita leaned closer to Aaron and surprised him quite a bit when she put an arm around him, gently hugging him from behind. “So I’m pretty glad you’re at least here with me. Light knows, I need at least one person to lean on right about now.”
Aaron responded by placing his hand on top of hers in affirmation. “I think you’re misunderstanding something here. Being strong doesn’t mean you don’t lean on people, or don’t break down. I’m pretty sure being strong means to always find the strength to get back up again and keep forging on.”
Rita said nothing in response, but he could feel her hugging him a little bit tighter than before. He had largely relied on ‘Cheesy lines’ for that one, since he himself knew there was a lot more to whether someone could be considered strong or not than just that alone. While his words were not entirely sincere, his belief however, that she was indeed strong, was at least genuine.
It did not take long for Rita’s breathing to fall into a rhythmic pattern and for her to fall asleep. He was glad, she was at least a little more at peace and could get some proper rest. But seriously how the hell was he supposed to fall asleep like this!
He felt like he’d had a premonition not so long ago about troublesome times just like this filling his life. Seriously, at this rate he was gonna unlock a ‘Self control’ skill.