Kiri laughter echoed through the forest. Nate snorted, trying to ignore her. It was becoming difficult though as his best friend started slapping the Alliram’s hump in front of her as she continued to laugh.
“So…” she tried to say, before devolving into another fit of laughter.
“Come on, it’s not that funny,” Nate said, giving Frick a dirty look. The little bastard had caused this, first outing him, then prompting Kiri to ask what he’d left for Valeria.
“So, you get some farewell sex, and your first thought is, let's paint her in my bed!” Kiri howled with laughter as she finished, going back to slapping the Alliram’s hump.
“It was three paintings. Three! Two for the Oaken Ring and one for Valeria. It was small enough that she should be able to hide it somewhere others won’t see it. Or maybe they will. Who knows, people are into that, I think,” he finished, unsure about that last bit.
This wasn’t even the worst of it. Frick had been muttering ‘paint me like one of your French girls’ every few minutes when he’d been creating the painting after Valeria’s…fond farewell.
“Bet I wasn’t the only one though. What were you doing last night, Kiri? Or should I say whom? Melinda let you know how much you were going to be missed?” Nate asked, trying to taunt her back.
“Yep. Better believe it. What can I say, Nate, when you’re good, you’re good! Know what I mean?” Kiri replied, waggling her eyebrows.
Nate started laughing in response, “Guess you can’t embarrass someone who is already shameless.”
“Too right!” Kiri crowed before growing a bit more sombre, “No more sightings of the demon?”
“There were another two sightings during the week, but I think it could see Frick watching it as it left both times. Deverell didn’t mention it? What level are you now anyway?” he asked.
“Still seventeen. Deverell is focused on helping me improve my dagger Skill as well as pushing Soul Tether towards an interesting evolution. I am hoping it will help me get a Secondary Class like Dagger Dancer actually. What about you? We didn’t get to chat much last night about the direction you’re pushing your Skills,” Kiri replied, leaning forward. “And Deverell said Luc should’ve been able to really push you. So, how’d it go?”
“I’ve got four Skills left to get to their first evolution. My issue right now with From Me, To You is that I need to be close to whatever I am teleporting. I am trying to push the Skill so that I can be further and further away from my target. If I can get it right I think I should get an evolution that allows me to teleport things to myself, as well as away from myself,” Nate paused to hum thoughtfully. “For No Steps Necessary it’s kind of the opposite. It’s got a longer range and I am actually trying to shorten it and reduce the amount of mana I expend on it. Frick thinks that if I force the two Skills down this path that they should synergise into a much more adaptable teleportation Skill.”
Looking up into the canopy above he continued to outline his plans. “As for Runic Artistry, I am pushing for it to make the runes behave more like enchanted gems. Each gem seems to be able to receive a separate Intent, which can get around some of the issues of needing many more Intents than I imagine most Enchanters have available to them. My problem right now is when I create a runic array with Runic Artistry, the entire thing functions as one single rune, which is limiting the amount of Intents I can use with Imbue Intent. Finally, Enhanced Magic Power, which honestly, I am at a loss for what to do with it.”
He glanced over at Kiri to see that she was leaning with one elbow on the hump of the Alliram as she stared at him listening intently. He’d always appreciated that. She never made fun of him for rambling. Mostly it was just about his taste in women when he thought about it. The thought made him smile and Kiri responded with a smile of her own.
“Sounds like you’ve got it mostly worked out. Maybe Aisling will give you some one-on-one training while we travel?” Kiri said, smirking as she started to waggle her eyebrows at him again.
Aisling put a stop to her teasing as she dropped back to interrupt them.
“Actually, you’re correct. I am going to give you both some training as we travel. But not on your skills. It sounds like Nate has all he needs to keep progressing and knows in what ways he intends to push his skills,” Aisling paused to give Nate a small nod of acknowledgement. “I’m glad you’re taking this seriously. As for you Kiri, Deverell has informed me of your plans and I approve of the direction you’re pushing yourself. You’re both on the right path in terms of your development.
“What I am going to be training you both on is the Adventurers Guild and the Capital of Etrua. What to expect. What will be expected of you. However, we will start on your very basic education once we reach Pinewater in four days time. Until then we’re going to be in the saddle all day, every day, so if you’re going to do any skill training, you’ll need to do it while we’re on the move. The added challenge should be good for both of you,” Aisling finished, punctuating her words with a small kick to her mount that sent it running a little ahead of them to rejoin Deverell.
Nate looked at Kiri who shrugged back at him and started pulling small wooden daggers out of her backpack. Nate grinned and dug into his spatial storage pulling out some partially full mana gems and a common metal plate with a rune engraved into it. He began channelling Conceptual Material into the metal plate as he split his attention to focus on planning out other runes.
This Mana Gathering Array, when completed, was going to be even better than the one he gave Luc as payment. Luc’s one had been made from epic materials, of course, matching the materials Luc had provided him. However, he hadn’t bothered to apply any affinities to the materials. That was not a shortcoming he intended for his own arrays. This one would be a fifty fifty split of mana affinity and gathering affinity. He was going to experiment with the percentages as he intended to make himself at least four of the Mana Gathering Arrays. He’d make sure he never ran out of mana for his experiments and crafting ever again.
As he focused on ideas for runic arrays, both for combat and comfort, he let the forest blur in his vision. Concepts were the truth of reality. That is what his Eyes of the Runic Artist told him. Everything came back to Concepts and how they touched on each other. There was beauty in that, to his mind. Beauty in the interplay of the world. Sighing happily he settled in for a few days of crafting and planning.
*************
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Nate entered the Dancing Fiddler behind Aisling and Deverell. He’d been sore after the first day in the saddle but when Deverell had taken Kiri off to hunt in the evening to keep her Soul Energy topped off, he’d broached the idea of stealing a little from her using a Life Drain runic array. Kiri had of course readily agreed. Between stealing life energy to heal away the soreness and Kiri’s ability to expend soul energy to do the same for herself, they’d ended up handling the minor inconvenience.
He followed Aisling and Deverell as they approached the Innkeeper, with Kiri by his side and Frick sitting on his shoulder. The man was clean, but Nate was hard pressed to think of someone he’d seen in Helmfirth who could match this man's… roundness. That reminded him of a saying he’d read somewhere, ‘Never trust a skinny Innkeeper’. The thought made him laugh and Kiri punched him gently for being so awkward before raising her eyebrows. All he could do was blush as the Innkeeper glanced at him like he was mad.
The man looked back to Aisling, “Evening. Adventurer’s Guild, unless I miss my guess. What’ll it be for you? An’ before you ask, I don’t care if the beast is tamed. I ain’ feeding no goblins.”
“Dinner for the four of us,” stressed Aisling. “The Familiar doesn’t eat.”
Frick punctuated her words by vanishing in a puff of blue smoke that Nate had to activate Eyes of the Runic Artist to see was somehow soul energy that joined Frick a moment later in the Familiar Contract.
“Bloody demons,” muttered the Innkeeper. “Aye, fine. Food for four. Drinks for the lotta ya?”
Nate shook his head when Aisling glanced at him. Honestly, he’d rather have eaten their road rations than put up with this Innkeeper. He had been planning to get a room but Aisling hadn’t asked for one so he figured they’d be staying elsewhere. After Aisling had paid for their dinner and drinks for herself and Kiri she led them to a table. Sitting down next to Deverell the man offered him a flask. Too awkward to say no, Nate took a careful sip before frowning.
“Is this water?” he asked.
“Of course,” replied Deverell, flipping his straight black hair out of his face. “What were you expecting?”
“It’s a flask. I was expecting alcohol. Hard alcohol,” Nate shot back.
“It’s not just a flask. It’s my flask. You should get one. Good way to avoid getting poisoned,” Deverell said, starting to turn back towards the ladies.
“Really? Couldn’t someone just teleport poison into the flask? Doesn’t look like it’s enchanted to me. Actually, now that I think of it, aren't there enchantments to purify water or something to prevent things like poisoning?” Nate asked quickly, getting excited. That could be an entirely new idea for runecrafting!
“Before you get ahead of yourself Nate, we paused here for dinner so we could go over some of the details about the Capital of Etrua and the Adventurer’s Guild in general. So let's focus on that first,” said Aisling before Nate’s mind could start running rampant. “So firstly, you both need to understand that the Capital will not be like Helmfirth. Helmfirth is a small community. Most people know each other and the community tends to manage itself, including its more deviant denizens. That’s not the case in the Capital.
“The Capital is cutthroat. Everyone is vying to get ahead, even a little. The merchants will swindle you. The toughs will try and rob you. I doubt most of them would be successful, but some will try. You both need to be incredibly careful. You’re going to stand out, and that will make you a target. Deverell and I will try to make sure one of us is with you, but we can’t guarantee we will always be there, so I need you both to promise to be careful.”
Aisling looked at them pointedly, waiting until he muttered, “I promise.” Kiri followed a moment later.
“Good. Now that that is settled, let's talk about the other dangers. The main danger. The Nobility of Etrua. There are plenty of them in the Capital of Etrua and they will make your lives difficult, given half the chance. They are not as cavalier with the Guild as they are with their own citizens, but I would expect trouble. More so than usual,” said Aisling, a note of worry in her voice.
Kiri surprisingly nodded her agreement. She must’ve seen the confusion on his face as she smiled at him before speaking.
“Aisling should never have been in Helmfirth,” she said, as if that explained everything.
Nate looked at Aisling who sighed and nodded, “She is correct. A Platinum as Guildmaster for a town like Helmfirth is not just unlikely…it frankly, should be impossible. A Gold would more than suffice. The fact that I was there, acting as Guildmaster, when the slaving operation was getting underway was not a coincidence.”
“You knew they were starting a slaving operation?” he asked.
“I didn’t. But someone in the Guild did. Worse, they knew enough to know a Platinum would be necessary. How they knew that, I don’t know. But it was likely one of the Prefects, if not all of them. I was moved, like a piece on a game board to combat what they considered a threat. And they’ll move you like pieces as well. I’m not telling you this to scare you. I’m telling you this so that you can learn how the game is played.
“Most Nobility like to pretend that they’re the only ones who know how to play politics and yet the Adventurer’s Guild is present in every country I have ever heard of. The upper echelons of the Adventurer’s Guild play politics every bit as well as Royals do, and to them, you’re just pieces on a board. To be moved or sacrificed, if the benefit is great enough. Are you understanding what I am saying?” she asked, a serious look on her suntanned face.
“Trust no-one,” volunteered Nate, which earned him a gentle slap on the back of his head from Deverell.
“Don’t be dumb. No one gets through life without trusting people. I’m not saying don’t trust anyone. I am saying be careful who you trust and always consider that they may have their own angle or agenda. Sometimes that will mean you can work together, sometimes, it won’t. I’m just trying to make sure you’re careful about who you talk to and what you share. Both of you. Your secrets are important enough that I don’t think you should discuss them at all. But I am not your parent. I am not going to tell you what you can or can’t do. I am just going to do my best to guide you,” Aisling said, pausing for a moment before staring at him intently. “Consider this me warning you of the dangers of trusting too freely. You’re going to make the mistake of trusting the wrong person eventually. Everyone does. Just learn from it, and do your best to clean up any messes.”
“What’s the Capital look like?” asked Nate, changing the subject as he processed what Aisling had said. She’d basically told him to be careful about trusting other members of the Guild, especially the Prefects, and that anyone else couldn’t be trusted as far as he could throw them. With his arms that is. Thinking about it he could probably launch someone like they were thrown out of a catapult with the right runic array…maybe a gather and release array that focused on gathering kinetic force? Be more efficient if he could include the Sigil for force or kinetic energy…he stopped thinking about his human catapult idea as he focused on Aisling’s response.
“Depends where you are. The docks can smell but they’re colourful and the ocean is beautiful. The slums between the docks and the city proper are drab and dangerous. Desperation and discontent breeds vice and those who take advantage of such. Red and yellow sandstone houses that are falling apart at best, and completely collapsed at worst, make up most of the slums. The city proper is in better repair and split up between a few districts. The Merchants District is obviously where most of the trade is conducted. It’s also where the Adventurers Guildhouse is. The Crafters District is right next to it. Then there is the Nobles district. That is also where you’ll find the Royal University and the Castle. Finally there is the Temple District where anyone can come to pay their respects to the various Gods of Galle.”
“Galle?” Nate asked.
Aisling gave him a look that said she couldn’t believe he was asking before whispering so others in the room wouldn’t hear, “The name of this world.”
Nate nodded. He finally knew the name of the world he was on. It had only taken him three months. Maybe that was a record? Their conversation was interrupted as the food arrived. It didn’t even come close to the fare provided at the Oaken Ring and he picked at his food more than ate it. Besides, Aisling had given him a lot to think on. Unbidden, his mind kept going back to one particular comment. The drab slums she’d called them. That stuck with him and already a plan was forming. Now he just needed to see what he could get his hands on. What was life, after all, without beauty?