[Reclaim Birthright Uncovered, Title.]

[Title Rewarded - Claimant of the Naveirei.]

[Rare Feat - Minor Aura Resistance, developed.]

[Feat - Mark Cilent developed.]

[Rare Feat - Minor Brand Promotion, developed.]

[Feat - Preferred Goods: Fish, developed.]

Numisley wished he could touch the pages, these glowing words that appear in his mind, and rip them out. He regretted spending the first few days of their journey to Ovespuerte moping because of the major setback. He thought he had everything figured out, but in the face of that Count’s cunning, he was humiliated before dozens of people, on what should’ve been his glorious moment. Perhaps their successes back home had cast a veil of overconfidence that

He had not eaten properly for the past few days and refused to talk to anybody. Cultrost knew how to navigate around Numisley’s labyrinth of triggers by simply leaving him alone until he had cooled off five days later–until he had learned that some of their coins for the journey were gone after he had repeatedly counted them throughout the trip. Before Numisley threw away the coins on the road, Cultrost snatched the pouch. When Palden presented the possibility of a tax-Feat from Torresso, Numisley slumped, staring at the looming clouds that seem to look down upon him.

“We need more people.” Numisley sighed. Cultrost inched towards Numisley while sitting cross-legged, staring down at his brother.

“Hm.” Cultrost was relieved that he had calmed down, or rather he knew that his rambling about a plan is one of the ways Numisley copes.

“[Accountants]. [Bookeepers]. Yeah. I can’t keep track of accounts alone. I know you can’t read anything other than Dad’s books or poetry.”

“Fa’cke off.” Cultrost shoved Numisley, nudging him slightly. Numisley lazily swiped Cultrost’s red fist away.

“Magic. We need someone who can cast spells. A [Mage].”

“I think we have one. One of Raudaeiz’s men.”

“Right, Baire. We haven’t really interacted much with Raudaeiz’s men.”

“ I still don’t trust them as much as Graten’s.”

“Neither do I.”

“If things go wrong…”

“I know. They’ll be the first to stab us in the back.” Numisley “If I were able to cast magic…I wouldn’t be this useless.”

“Your wit is magic enough, Numis. And your body. Why aren’t you fat yet from sitting too much?”

Numisley hit Cultrost with his cane.

-

They soon arrived at Ovespuerte. Numisley and Cultrost were welcomed by an empty Gildin Trading building. Cultrost and Palden had looked at every nook and cranny and found no sign of Graten and the rest. They were left with questions that will be unanswered, if not for the Contiearl who appeared in front of Gildin Trading, lounging on his carriage, guarded by lightly armored [Knights] with cutlasses and pistols.

“Your employees had been detained.” Torresso taunted, seeing Numisley’s anger bubbling from his neutral expression, slowly morphing into a grimace. “You have a debt to me that you haven’t paid after all.”

“As a matter of fact, I wasn’t informed of the debt.” Numisley retorted, gritting his teeth.

“So you say. Don’t you think that this building behind you has a cost?” The Contiearl pointed his open hand towards the painted sign. “I generously let you use this building, which is the city’s–my property. The barrels of fish from that [Fishmonger]? I provided it. I had assumed that you will sensibly obey my plan for that gathering, but no, you have to believe that fantasy of yours, a deception by that Escribanorr.”

Cultrost brushed his fingers against his mace strapped on his waist, but the [Knights] drew their pistols.

“However, I will waive your debt, if you give me the book of secrets. I’m even willing to let you conduct your business here.”

“How did you–is this your plan all along?” Numisley realized that he might be working with someone who knows about the book, which is the one who killed their father.

“So, are you willing to give the book? The book that your father wrote? That traitor, who committed treason by writing secrets?”

“Never.” Numisley barked. Cultrost held him back from whacking him with his cane. “Never.”

“[Let’s Make A Deal], then. [Listen to Me], Numisley and Cultrost.”

The brothers knew better than make a deal with him, yet the Feat had compelled them to consider the offer. They struggled to turn away from him, forcing them to listen.

“You can work for me. As my [Merchants]. Following my exact orders.”

“Your exact orders?” Numisley asked, still defiant.

“Yes. You had broke the conditions of the Signo Dato. I’ll let your employees free. Under the condition that I will take every coin you have. One of my Feats has been extracting your money coin by coin, money that will be used to pay your debt.”

“Every coin? But that means that we can’t pay our employees.”

“It is your choice if you rather work for your debt, or you give me that book. Either way, imprisoning you two will not benefit me. See, I still think that you two are still useful.”

Numisley and Cultrost stared at him as if he is the incarnation of evil.

“Be grateful that I have given you this opportunity.”

In the end, they resigned to once again work under him. However, they were bound by the Contiearl’s powerful contract-Feat, with additional clauses that prevented them from going against him. By the end of the day, Graten and the others were released from the castle’s dungeon in the middle of the night.

Raudaeiz and his men had gone home that night, shaken. Numisley and Cultrost decided to have a meeting the next day. Graten reported that they were suddenly arrested by the Contiearl’s men, and Raudaeiz reported to Numisley of his encounter with an agent of the Diamond Shore.

“We are at an impasse. We will be unable to pay every employee in Gildin Trading.” Numisley announced, his words heavy with regret. “In short, that poncy count-or-whatever he’s called trapped us with debt. His Feats will extract every coin that we will ever own, no matter where we are.”

“However, I have an idea. My father had left money in various banks.” Numisley spoke before Graten and Raudeaiz protested. “In the meantime, I want to make sure that are your men still willing to work with me.”

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“We believe that this place is best for my men. My men had lost their families to war. I want them to build a new life here, despite the speciesism. I hope that you can still help me achieve that. And, with you and that book of yours, I can become stronger.”

Graten spoke first. Numisley had let Graten borrow the brown leather book that contain the secrets of gaining Feats and Roles, under Cultrost’s watchful eye during their journeys across Ascogres and Semsella. Graten had gained a few Feats with practice, but many Feats can be only gained with experience and challenges as cited in that book.

“My reason for working with ya’ isn’t as pure as that merc over here.” Raudaeiz verbally jabbed at Graten. “You brat outsmarted me in the first place. I’m here for revenge. I’m here because I know that you have a plan. And I’m patient. I know how hard and slow it is to build a gang. For now, I’ll still work with you, until you run out of plans.”

“That’s good to hear.”

Graten and Raudaeiz later went to their underlings to inform them of the situation. Numisley had found out that he has three clients waiting for him, with four other clients already left because they cannot afford to wait for Numisley to come back. The brothers rushed to their office.

One of the last clients for today was one of the [Merchants] that Numisley met in the city’s Merchant’s Guild, one of the few he invited to travel with him to Ascolitica. He wore colorful green and red silks on his pale skin and a cloth headband constricting his curly hair. Like him, he was a Human not from here, but his origins hail from the southern continent of Lemuria; which Numisley only knew as the “Beastkin Continent”.

“Coasts bless you. I never thought you were the ‘Trader of Secrets’ of all people. Fancy.”

“Good to meet you too, Merchant Guizzimeraime.” Numisley greeted. He was one of the few people that he genuinely liked; unlike the local [Merchants] who see him as a bottom-feeder and a simple [Shopkeeper].

“Please, please, call me Aryyrad, Friend Numisley. You too, Cultrost. You’ll fit in my home of Rhundi.”

“Rhundi? Why?” Cultrost asked. He stands behind Numisley as his [Bodyguard].

“You got horns.” Aryyad laughed, but both brothers didn’t get the joke local from his homeland. His bulging eyes refocused on Numisley.

“Let’s talk cadl ‘fore business. You mind?”

Although the foreign [Merchant] had spoken Common and Torregornian for years, there is still traces of his accent.

“Cadl?” Cultrost asked, unfamiliar with the foreign word.

“Casual talk. Before business. I heard what happened in Ascolitica.” Aryyad said.

“Yeah?” Numisley stared at his parchment on the table. “How did you know?”

“I heard from a friend of a friend. I’m honored to be in the presence of a noble.”

“Noble? I’m not yet a noble. I’m not recognized as such, even.”

“Nevertheless, it’s great to have a friend like you. As a [Merchant] of a foreign land, same as you, I’ll offer help whenever you can.”

“Thanks.”

Although the information Aryyad was looking for from the book is dated, he generously produces a pouch of twenty gold coins, a couple of coins more than Numisley’s price for that information.

Numisley waited for the coin to disappear from Torresso’s debt-collecting Feat, but even as his candle already melted, it was still there.

“Contract.” Numisley gestured to Cultrost to find the new contract that the Contiearl had made and saw a loophole that was there all along.

“Wait…” Numisley uttered. “Get Raudaeiz. I got an idea.”

Raudaeiz was summoned to the office, accompanied by Cultrost.

“What?” Raudaeiz was in the middle of playing cards with his men, so he was slightly miffed.

“I might have another solution for the debt. My new contract states that every coin earned by selling goods by Gildin Trading will be given to him. However, I think that he didn’t consider that I’m not selling information under my company. This made me think that if I pursue alternative sources of income not officially under Gildin Trading, then we can make more money.” Numisley explained.

“My gang, right?” Raudaeiz raised his eyebrows.

“Yes. I assume that you had been building it. What’s your source of income?”

“Petty theft.”

“Keep doing that, I suppose. But, our expenses are still in the red. You should target [Traders].”

“I can steal from a [Trader] or more, if I had my old numbers. Right now, I just have some alley kids. The Guard’s tight as Tucken’s alleys.” Raudaeiz said coolly, remembering how his old gang was arrested because of him.

“I believe in your ability.”

They left it at that. Numisley sighed. Cultrost tapped Numisley’s shoulders.

“I got an idea,” Cultrost exclaimed.

“What idea?” Numisley brightened up.

“Remember adventurers back home, yeah? What about we make one? Graten’s people. They could send a portion of their income to us.”

“Cultrost, that’s a great idea. However, if we implement this now, we’ll stretch ourselves thin. We don’t have enough people. But yeah, let’s go to Thewardn’s.”

Their last task for the day is to ask Thewardn. After he let them in his safehouse, they sat down.

“Fuck did you do to his a Contiearl off?” Thewardn asked, fearful that this hideout will be compromised by letting them in.

“He found about the book, it seems like,” Numisley answered. He briefly explained how they got trapped in debt and how he got humiliated in Ascolitica when Escribanorr tried to introduce him as the true scion of the Naveirei.

“There’s no way that we told anyone other than our men. And there’s a handful of people like that Satyr who paid guys to chase us out of our home.” Cultrost added.

“I think I know. That Duci. Dustitoz Gaviolos.” Thewardn had connected the dots.

“He killed our father.” Numisley’s voice sizzled with resentment; the surface of a rage deeper than the world’s ocean.

“He chased him across the ocean? So that’s why he left for Libertalia.” Thewardn mused.

“You know this guy?” Numisley asked, leaning forward. He almost fell off the chair before Cultrost caught him,

“He’s someone important, which means information about him is either plentiful or scarce as the sun up north,” Thewardn explained. “He’s a Duci–a Duke in the Common tongue. The head of the Gaviolos House. And the one who attempted a coup against His Majesty Coespandorr.”

“A coup?” Numisley paused for a second, remembering the meaning of that word. “So he overthrew like, the head of government?”

“Exactly,” Thewardn said.

“If he did something that serious, he should’ve been arrested or killed! How?” Cultrost asked, bewildered.

“In an ideal world, Divine Law should have struck him down for treason. However, he possesses deep connections to the Synod of Iberreos. Hence, he got only a slap on the wrist by demoting him to Marquis. If what you said is true, then he is cooperating with the Contiearl. The Commerros and the Gaviolos are long-time allies.” Thewardn explained.

Numisley leaned on his chair, before straightening himself to face Thewardn.

“Once again, I need your help. Our father has multiple bank accounts in this kingdom, yet we do not have a map of them.”

Cultrost handed Thewardn the identification documents that their father had left behind.

“These are outdated,” Thewardn said to Cultrost. The brothers looked at each other.

“So, you need a map and forged documents. However, you are out of money. Are you banking on my friendship with your father? I’m running a business here, you know. And you pissed off the high nobility. As far as I’m concerned, you brought trouble in my safehouse, making it not-so-safe.”

The brothers went silent. Their minds ran miles trying to come up with a solution, but the deafening silence was interrupted by Thewardn’s boisterous laughter.

“Got you good, eh?”

Cultrost nervously smiled, and then he was the first to laugh. The jolly Dwarf slapped Numisley’s back, making him cough once.

“We shared a drink. In Dwarven tradition, we are family. Of course, I’ll help! However, I’m still running a business. Normally, the price would empty a [Merchant]’s bags, but here’s the deal. When you withdraw the coin, I’ll take 30%, deal?”

“Deal.”

Numisley and Cultrost shook Thewardn’s hands. He pulled up an old map of the kingdom and marked down the locations of the few banks spread about in the kingdom.

“So there’s only three of them. Compared to our Auroleonian neighbor, our state is small. My advice is: bring a lot of [Mercenaries] with you, and wagons, of course. The more coins you have, the louder the [Thieves] could hear it clink.”

“Thank you.” Numisley and Cultrost expressed their gratitude.

Thewardn got to work on contacting his network of [Document Forgers] within the city after the brothers left.

The next day, they managed to buy supplies with the little money they had, and they dismissed the few locals that they hired in Gildin Trading because they were unable to pay them.

They were ready for another journey.