“You guys done praying?” asked one of the caravan guards. “If so, let’s go party.” They had earned a bit of money while working as farm hands, but with the current cost of alcohol they would probably blow all of it tonight before we left. Still, we’d be back at Starshine in two days, at which point they would get paid, so it wouldn’t matter if they spent everything they had on them.
“No, I’ve still got some praying to do, after which I think I’m going to check on my local business and go to sleep.”
“Come on!” one of the other guys said. “There’s a brothel in town that’s full of elf girls.”
“I have a girlfriend that I’ll meet in two days. I’m good.”
“Aw, come on.” he responded. “I’m sure Lady Samantha won’t mind. Hells, if we asked she’d probably j...” he let out a pained sound as the caravan master elbowed him in the stomach. Not that he was wrong. If we weren’t together she probably would join them. Still, you didn’t talk about your employer like that.
He made a quick attempt to see if Persy wanted to join, but actually accepted when she turned him down, and the group left. I noticed that Wally and Robert were going with them.
Once they were gone, the Deer-man priest came over to us. “My Lord just informed me of your status, sir prophet. He asks that I teach the two of you to use the power he has granted you.”
I nodded. “I just need to thank Keshan quickly.” I said, and he held up a hand.
“While it is acceptable for you to work with another deity and their followers as long as your goals align, it wouldn’t be appropriate for either of you to pray directly to another deity. I will ask one of the priests of Keshan to thank him on your behalf. Now, if the two of you will follow me.” He turned and went through a back door and we followed him into a room in the basement. “This is the training room where all of the newly appointed priests and priestesses learn to use their divine powers. While your powers work a bit differently, I shall teach the priestess how to perform miracles, and will have to hope that you learn something as well.”
He taught Persy a few official prayers that he knew would produce certain results, but reminded her that those were not the only prayers that would work. She could pray for any effect that was in his domain. There were also specific blessings that she had to learn, as the people would ask for them, such as the Hunter’s Blessing which helped you track and stalk prey. For The Lord of the Forest, his domain covered many plant and animal based abilities, including controlling them and temporarily granting abilities animals possessed, though at a stronger level if you willed it. As he also controlled The Great Forest, a neutral afterlife which everyone qualified for at death, we also had some power over the souls of the deceased, at least enough to speak with them if they were there or hadn’t yet traveled to an afterlife. While a priest couldn’t resurrect the dead, we knew that The Lord of the Forest had done so in several stories, especially where their children were concerned, so the priest suspected that I could do so if I had enough divine energy.
I found that using the abilities I had been granted was similar to spell casting, with two differences. The first was that it was more limited. Instead of just focusing on an effect and feeding it mana, I had to figure out how the effect I desired tied into his domain and which plant or animal I was drawing it from. Secondly, the powers drew from my soul’s pool of Divine energy. I didn’t have large reserves of mana compared to most mages, but I had less than half as much divine energy. And while Persy had larger mana reserves than me by about half, her pool of Divine Energy was only ten percent as large as her pool of mana. The advantage, however, came with the fact that divine magic always produced the maximum effect possible, and it could only be resisted by divine energy, allowing it to bypass armor or mental resistances. Priests and prophets, however, naturally resisted harmful effects due to the use of divine energy filling their bodies with it, and every creature with a soul would instinctively attempt to resist such powers with their own divine energy, so it wasn’t always the instant kill you might assume it to be.
Persy and I practiced casting miracles for the next few hours, using only tiny amounts of divine energy each time, until the priest stopped Persy. “That should be enough for now. You understand the basics, but if you continue you risk annoying the Lord and getting a twisted or opposite version of what you ask for. And while Lord Cameron doesn’t have to worry as much about that, the Lord can tell whenever you draw on his powers and may grow annoyed at you if you do it too much. Like a child asking a rich parent for money, they won’t care at first, but if you annoy them too much they may cut you off temporarily.”
With that, we left the temple. It was long after sunset, so I took Persy to the brewery. The indentured woman was there, as it was common practice to house indentured servants in the business where they worked, but we didn’t bother her too much as I explained to Persy what I was doing there, and how I would expand in the future.
After that, we went to the nearby inn and rented two rooms, even though the innkeeper kept insinuating that we only needed one, ate supper, and went to sleep.
The next morning, after spending what money I had left on food, we set out for the border. We traveled all day, pulling into a village just as the sun started to set. It wasn’t the first village I visited when I got here, as we were taking a slightly different path, but they seemed just as bad off as that village, if smaller. I knew that we only had a day before we reached the border, so I cooked a massive pot of stew for everyone, including the villagers, and Persy and I gave everyone checkups. After everyone had been treated and fed so that they would have the nutrients to continue I handed all but two meals worth of food for our men to the mayor. It would only feed them for two or three days, but it was all I could do for now.
We slept in a barn that night, as the buildings were too small for us to stay with any of the villagers, and set out the next morning. By the time we made it to the border the sun was already setting. The men came out to greet us, and took us to the mess tent to get something to eat. Samantha was there, apparently using up their small supply of alcohol in a drinking contest, but when Creampuff notified her that I was back, she excused herself from the contest, grabbed me, and drug me back to her tent.
Three hours later I managed to drag my exhausted self into the mess hall to eat some left over bread, the only thing that was left. After eating two meals worth and washing it down with a large amount of water, I thanked the chef, then headed back to her tent. Apparently I wasn’t going to get to sleep in my own tent tonight if I got to sleep at all.
The next morning I was up with the sunrise. I may have cheated last night and used a bit of divine magic to call on certain aspects of rabbits to make sure she gave up first and let me get some sleep, but at least I got to sleep. After a tame breakfast, she explained to me that she had went out on patrols with some of the men and got in a skirmish with a group of bandit-mercs. Thanks to her pet razor-claw Ferin’s troops won the battle and managed to capture or kill the others. Those that survived were healed and are currently sitting in the jail, the one permanent structure they’ve built due to the lack of lumber in the area. Once we set out, she promised to take them back to Starshine, where they can stay as POWs. Normally that would mean indenturing them to hard labor until the war ended or someone negotiated for their release, but as we were currently in peace talks with the Free People’s Land, they would simply be held in a detention center, like criminals awaiting trial.
That might have been the only engagement with the enemy since I left, but it was enough for the men to respect her and accept her as a fighter and not just a noble that wanted to play soldier.
Stolen story; please report.
The prisoners were placed chained in the back of our wagon, and several troops that were overdue for leave were assigned to join us to escort them back. The caravan would be staying in Starshine for only a few days before setting out again to continue the trade route, but now that they knew what they would have to pay in tariff and what goods were worth trading, the caravan master was certain that they would start turning a nice profit. I would send as many nutrient potions as I could, as well as any infertility and aphrodisiac potions I could spare along with them to increase that profit, and in exchange they would travel around a bit handing out two nutrient potions per person in any village they came across, though in the beginning they would also be selling as much food as they could in those villages. The soldiers could return to the border with them when they left Starshine in three to four days.
We didn’t set out until noon and didn’t arrive at Starshine until sunset. After dropping the prisoners off at the local guard barracks Persy, Samantha and I left for the palace. As it was on the way, I decided to drop by the clinic. Only Cena should be there, as they normally closed at sunset, but he could look over the books and supplies just to make sure everything was going well.
The first thing I noticed as we got close was a sound like an angry bull coming from near the Slave section. Was one of the livestock upset about something? We entered the attached barn to see what was going on, but all of the animals seemed fine. Seeing this, Samantha seemed to realize something and started smiling, but I wasn’t sure why.
I opened the door into the slave section to see if the sound was coming from in there, but as soon as I stepped into the front I found the source of the sound. Kanta had Cena bent over the front counter.
Sam burst out laughing, causing Kanta to stop out of surprise and pull his pants up. “Uh, boss,” said Cena as she ran in front of the counter to hide, “What brings you here?”
As Cena frantically searched for her clothes, despite half of them being on the opposite side of the counter, Persy’s face glowed bright red from embarrassment at what she just saw and Samantha continued to laugh.
I rubbed my eyes. “I came by to look at the books and to make sure everything was ok. Before I can get here, though, I hear a bull snorting inside and thought one of the animals might be destroying the barn.”
“That was just me.” said Cena, standing up now that she had a shirt on. Judging by the fact that her pants and undergarments were on the counter, having been thrown there by Kanta as he hurriedly picked them up off the floor, that was all she was wearing.
“I know that now. Unfortunately, the people in town don’t, and I doubt you want to go announcing it to clear up the situation.”
Finally, at the thought of having to tell others why the noise was happening, they started looking close to as embarrassed as Persy was. “Sorry, boss.” said Kanta. “I didn't realize we were being that loud.”
I sighed. “Please just keep it down in the future. The walls aren’t very good at blocking sound. Also, she has a bedroom for a reason.” I shook my head. “Look, just use the cleaning spell to scrub everywhere you two have been carrying on before tomorrow morning, okay? I’ll be here tomorrow morning to check the books.” With that we left, begin sure to go through the barn where we were certain we wouldn’t find our coworkers in compromising positions.
When we got back to the palace we had a proper meal, prepared by Chef, and father even let Persy eat at the table with us as it was a celebration of our safe return. After finishing, I said goodnight to everyone and went to bed. I would assign Persy one of the servant’s quarters tomorrow. She had been willing to keep sleeping here and just vacating the room any time Samantha came over, but now that things were getting serious with Sam, and now that Persy had found a man of her own, if only for one night, we needed separate rooms. Otherwise I might walk in on her recreating the Kanta/Cena scene with one of the male servants or the slave of a visiting merchant.
Samantha came over that night but, while she wanted a repeat of last night, she was too tired to repeat it tonight. Apparently my divine cheating had solved the problem temporarily but created a bigger problem in the process.
The next day I returned to the office and started having Kanta help me mass produce nutrient solution. Judging by the bags under his and Cena’s eyes and the fact that everything in the clinic was meticulously clean, including my office and the couch in it, they had stayed up quite late in order to make sure that the place was free of evidence of their indiscretion. I ignored that fact, however. A clinic needed to be clean, and the office wasn’t the place to get your freak on, as they said in my last life.
Three days later we sent a thousand liters of nutrient potion, sixteen thousand vials, to the workshop to be given to the caravan before they set off.
Once they set out with the soldiers on leave and a squadron of reinforcements, I finally had a chance to examine Persy. She was happy to find out that she wasn’t, in fact, pregnant. Relieved actually. Apparently she had a moment of clarity the morning after and realized that she didn’t want to have a kid yet. There was just too much going on in her life right now. After she told me this, I handed her an infertility potion. It should protect her for up to one cycle, but she could have one for free any time she thought she needed it. I also gave one to Cena, just in case, and had her offer one to Hogan, as it would be too embarrassing for her if I did so.
Now that everyone had gotten their hormones in check, things went back to being somewhat normal. We saw patients and sent a thousand liters of nutrient potion out with the caravan every time it left the city, about every two weeks. I hired an extra two apothecaries at the workshop just to make them, and arranged with the priest of Keshan and the other priests to have the temple pay for the cost of making them as a form of charity. The city was starting to take in refugees from some of the countries to the north, and they told stories of being driven from their homes by demon-beasts and armies of devils. We also sent a thousand liters per week to the refugee sector as charity.
All of the charity potions we were making proved to be good publicity, and we extended the workshop to make other potions. Now, instead of just luxury potions, various medicinal potions were also being produced in the workshop, from sleep potions and painkilling potions to health, mana, and stamina recovery potions. Most of these were being shipped north, where the merchants sold them to our allied armies, but some were being used locally by trainees.
The scare caused by the now-public demon invasion meant that many of the people had taken to learning combat skills. The various guilds around town had sold large numbers of training manuals on all of the combat classes, and couldn’t keep up with all of the people asking for training. That gave me an idea for earning more money.
First, I bought twenty copies of every basic combat manual that the guilds had and ten of the intermediate ones, taking them to the palace and storing them in the library. This cost me several tens of gold and we already had copies of many of these books, but I wanted a complete set for the next step.
I asked father for permission to start a training center. Normally training would be done by guilds, as they had a proven history of producing quality trainees, and only the guilds and a few government bodies could certify you as having learned the necessary skills. If I started a training center, however, I wouldn’t be able to certify anyone, as I didn’t have that proven history. So, we made a few modifications to the idea. I would send everyone I trained to one of the guilds for their certification tests making sure that those that signed up knew that they would have to certify elsewhere, and I would only be responsible for making sure they had the skills to pass their tests. Also, as I would be hiring large numbers of combat certified people, I would need to register as a mercenary group. Otherwise I would be suspected of raising an unauthorized private army.
My status as a noble, and the son of a landed Count at that, would mean that there was no legal issue with me running a mercenary company. My company would officially be given orders to deal with bandits and out-of-control monsters in the county. Technically, the Adventurer’s guild would normally handle the monsters and the city guards would deal with the bandits, but the recent civil unrest caused by the war had increased bandit activity, and the large number of Adventurers being sent to gather rare materials for the war and war equipment had disrupted the monster’s habitats and taken adventurers away from stopping them.
Soon the Great Oak Mercenary Company was born and was offering services in combat training. The name was a reference to the Lord of the Forest, but most only saw it as a symbol of our strength. I hired several retired adventurers and soldiers to teach the classes, and rented an office in the slums to house all of my training manuals and act as our headquarters. Due to how cheap our lessons were, the fact that we let trainees borrow our manuals, and the trainee loaner equipment I had bought and was letting the trainees use, we got in massive numbers of people, turning out a group of thirty basic trainees of every type every month, and a group of ten to twenty intermediate trainees of every type per month soon after that. The equipment might be garbage that any of the craftsmen of the town that took pride in their work considered failures, but it worked well enough for basic training.
Persy revealed her status as a priestess of the Lord of the Forest, and, while it caused a bit of a stir at first, people soon adjusted to her holding a service every Holy Day in the Refugee district. Many slaves, not all of them beastfolk, and many refugees came to her services and soon she started performing miracles occasionally. This got her officially recognized as a priestess by the temple, though they still looked down on her for her race. Still, she could collect donations and do charity work without raising suspicion, and by the time spring got here her followers were even talking about building a shrine in one of the abandoned buildings in the nearby slums.
You might think that the fact that her followers were slaves and refugees would severely limit the amount of money she could raise, but when the official treaty was signed with the Free People’s and Ridalia, merchants and tradesmen started to flow into the country who saw the Lord of the Forest as a respected member of the pantheon, and were willing to donate large amounts to building a shrine in the city. While the law still required that all Beastfolk within the country be slaves, a position which stood even with the treaty in place, many of them brought in beastfolk as criminal slaves, or were non-beastfolk who lacked prejudice against them. We even got a few beastfolk merchants in town, though legally they were temporarily indentured to a human, elf, dwarf or goblin that was the caravan master for the duration of the trade run. It was a legal loophole that upset many of the more racist traditionalists, but they could do nothing about it.