Tom left for the capital early in the morning, having spent a brief two days in Kruth. Tarrik and Leona were making the trip with him, He had long suspected that Rodney was less retired than he let on, as the day after the adventurers had dropped off their find, he’d been summoned by the Baron to deal with some complication related to it.

“It’s weird seeing you two without him, he’s been babysitting you since you were apprentices.”

“That’s not completely true. I was technically a squire.”

“Being a squire only matters if it’s to a noble house, Larrik.”

“Give me a break, it’s the same years of shitty work, but without any of the pomp.”

“What about your apprenticeship, Leona? Got any thoughts on it now that you’re been a journeyman for, what, three years?”

“Not really. There was more difference between my first and second masters than there was going out to start doing actual jobs.”

“I thought you’d said that you’d got an especially good one on the second draw?”

“I did say that, and it’s still true, I’m just trying to say he prepared me well for ‘independent study’.”

“Not much more you can ask for when it comes to good apprenticeships.”

“How about good food, or the weekends off?”

“Once again, we know you had it hard. You don’t need to keep telling us.”

The trip to the capital by foot was three days. However, that trip time failed to account for anything more than breaks for breakfast, dinner and sleep. Of course, there were faster ways to get around, but Trish and Parn could take them there in three days even when taking ample breaks so as to not tire the horses out.

~~~

When dinner finished, they kept talking for a while, and before they finished I had now run out of firewood. I tried getting the attention of the butler to bring more, but just as I got through to him the wizard and his student got up to leave. The kid waved for me to follow him, So I gave another glance back at the gray-silver robed wizard, and he seemed quite pleased about something.

We passed a maid who was just finishing mopping the mess I’d made, but we passed by the door to the laboratory. It was just after the lab that the kid and the wizard split up, and when I went to follow the kid, he pointed for me to follow the wizard instead. I managed to catch up to him easily, but we seemed to be headed deeper into the castle, as there were no windows in this new hallway. I was just starting to get concerned about how much more opulent everything seemed to be getting when we turned the corner at the end and came across a pair of large double doors.

He knocked twice and then entered, despite not having received any reply. There was another butler holding the door open for me to come in. I entered what must have been some kind of reception hall, as there was a throne raised up on a wooden stage, along with what I could only describe as a battle grandpa sitting on it.

Now when I say battle grandpa, what I mean is an old looking man, missing one eye, and wearing a silver circlet along with a long fur coat. He didn’t have any weapons to hand, but his arms were bare and he still seemed quite fit. Also on the raised platform was a younger looking man that shared a family resemblance, likely his son, a woman and her child. The child was a girl, and shared the same familial resemblance with the battle grandpa. Everyone here seemed excited to see us, or more accurately they seemed excited to see me.

After the wizard kneeled down, I sidled up beside him and did as good a bow as a dog can manage. I would have turned into that armor before I came in if I knew I was going to be meeting people, but someone neglected to tell me where we were even going. Giving him the side eye, the conversation started after what I can only assume was an instruction to rise.

The little girl seemed like she was about to lose control and run over to me, despite her mother’s firm grip. The battle son seemed thoughtful, and the battle grandpa himself just couldn’t stop laughing whenever the wizard finished a sentence. Near the end of the conversation, he waved his daughter or grandchild over, and then beckoned for me.When I looked at the wizard, he just gave me a shrug and followed it with a thumbs up.

~~~

Baron Rawphor had always had a soft spot for his daughter, he and his wife had been trying to have another child for years after all. His only son and heir, Eugene Rawphor, was less martially inclined than Brengt had been in his youth, but made up for it with a shrewdness of mind. Or at least that’s what the Baron would say if he was in a good mood. If he was in a bad mood he would say his wife had coddled the boy too much and he’d developed a streak of craven. The truth was somewhere in between, but today he was in a good mood.

The Baron’s territories were small but prosperous. He prided himself on the stability of his rule, and the safety he gave to his subjects. He often butted heads with the ambitious Duke Drake, but mostly on matters of policy.

When one of his court mages had sent a pitiful two sentence report about having found Soulsteel while on a Skysteel recovery mission, he'd initially planned to summon him immediately. It didn’t sit right with him that Cole had gotten to skip out on that boring meeting to go play with more of his magic toys. That being said, his wife had talked him down to summoning him after dinner, and to have him bring this special Soulsteel along.

However, when the Soulsteel showed up in the form of a dog, Franchesca had fallen in love with it. She was trying to pull her wife’s arm off while begging to pet it, so he’d come up with a plan to let his daughter down easy.

“So, This is the Soulsteel that’s already caused such a ruckus, all in one day?”

“Yes, Baron.”

“Just how ‘safe’ is it to handle? I certainly couldn’t touch it unprotected, right?”

“It's still mastering mana control, but as long as it’s one person at a time, it won’t drain you even if you made physical contact.”

That was exactly what he didn’t want to hear. The rest of the conversation had rapidly devolved into Mage Cole recounting the many weird things it had done, both before and after arriving in Kruth, with it acting sometimes like normal Living metal, sometimes even smarter than Elder Soulsteel, and most notably interpreting and exhibiting human social behaviors.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“Fine, come here Franchesca, if it lets you, you can pet it.”

“Thank you papa. It’s like a living statue. We really can’t keep it?”

“No, it’s considered a citizen of the realm once it is designated as Soulsteel. But the Duke’s gonna pay us a tidy sum for it landing out in the greenwood, so I think I can make it up to you.”

“Letting me pet it is already enough. Mama will yell at you for spoiling me again.”

The Soulsteel took its time ascending the dais’s front steps, and hung its head in front of the two of them.

“Go ahead and put your hand out, just make sure he moves the last of the distance into your hand.”

“I remember from when we visited the kennels. I also have to slowly back off if he tenses up, right?”

“Correct. You’ve been playing with them again, haven’t you?”

“Mommy always says I have Daddy’s courage in my blood.”

When Franchesca put her hand out, the Soulsteel gave the Baron a look. He replied with only a wide smile, and the Soulsteel gave in. He promptly picked Franchesca up after only a couple light pats, as he didn’t want to try it’s patience.

“Okay dear, I think that’s enough. It's not an animal you know.”

“It felt like one of the silver trays, but warm like someone had just used it to serve tea.”

“I expect so. That will be all, Mage Cole. We’ll talk about your trip to the capital at tomorrow’s meeting.”

“Yes, Baron Rawphor. Have a good night, to you and yours.”

The Soulsteel looked lost, it kept glancing between the departing Baron, Eugene and Cole. It wasn’t until Cole clapped to get its attention that it came back down the dais and followed him back out into the hallway. He had no sufficiently large Ignariums to hold the Soulsteel overnight, so his plan was to leave it in his attached living room fireplace. It was stocked with enough firewood to last the night, and it also connected to Tommen's room.

~~~

If it wasn’t for the fact battle grandpa was obviously a noble lord of some kind, I would have booked it out of the room as soon as he tried to bring me up on stage. I wasn’t going to bite the kid or anything, and he knew that. He also seemed to know I couldn’t make a little girl cry. Next time I’m going in as armor. Mark my words.

I figured this traitorous wizard was gonna ditch me in his lab again, but instead he brought me to where Tommen had split off from us, and to a new hallway. When he opened the single door, there was a modest living room that already contained a fire, and the kid. The kid was sprawled out on a couch by the fire, seemingly having been waiting for us to arrive.

I quietly went and laid down on the hearth stones, and the wizard went off to what must have been his room. I spent the night tending to the fire, and stocking up on the silver mana I would need to avoid another situation like that again.

~~~

Tommen spent the morning drawing the Soulsteel. Master Cole hadn't left him with any work to do beyond to just watch it and keep it out of trouble. He had awoken to it sleeping in the fireplace. He wasn’t sure it was actually sleeping, as the second he stood up it had opened its golden eyes. After hearing about it from master Cole, the first thing he’d done was try the same negotiation tactic the Baron’s daughter had used the night before, and when it worked he was ecstatic.

“What, you want the gloves?”

The Soulsteel had taken the gloves of Resist Cold he’d been planning on using if he couldn’t pet it bare handed, and it didn’t initially click for him why it would want them.

“What do you want those for? You aren’t gonna copy the enchantment again, are you?”

Receiving no reply, he watched as it returned to the fireplace and rested its chin on them. Tommen knew there was some reason it had taken the gloves, but his mana glasses were still in the laboratory. He supposed he could go grab them, but it didn’t seem like a time sensitive thing. The Soulsteel was going to do whatever it was going to do with them, he wanted to take the time to draw it.

“I’m gonna send this one to Natasha. We probably won’t get to leave for a couple more days, so I’m gonna send this stuff ahead so she can see it sooner.”

“...”

“Master said you could hear him clapping last night. Can you just not understand Wernst?”

“...”

“I’ll ask Master Cole about translation spells. But as far as I know they can only interpret from one language to another, not if you don’t speak any language.”

Despite not receiving any verbal reply from the Soulsteel, it had held his eye contact and tilted its head after each separate statement. Tommen was about halfway done with his second drawing when Master Cole returned.

“Allright Tommen, we can leave as soon as we finish something for the Baron.”

“I thought he was gonna take the money for it?”

“When I broached the subject of what the Soulsteel is capable of, he jumped on the artificial eyes.”

“He didn’t lose his left eye that long ago, right?”

“About a year before you got here, during a hunting trip.”

“So what do we have to do, exactly?”

“He wants his own Artificial Eye.”