Trent left his note-taking card thing on the table so I took it along.

A fight broke out in one of Big Tree’s barns, of particular concern to everyone in barn #2. A man accused another man of touching his daughter. The accused denied it and the argument quickly devolved into a fist fight. By the time I got there, six men had pulled the fighters apart and were holding them back. But the shouting was still heated. People were gathered around talking over each other, trying to get a word out. Naturally, the rumors had spread to people from other barns, too.

“I saw Hogar with her yesterday before sunset!” a woman said. She was a young mother, rocking a baby wrapped in a shawl.

“Hogar’s a family man!” another woman replied. “He wouldn’t do that!”

“How do we know for certain?”

Among the crowd of nearly one hundred people, five women were consoling a girl in tears. She was a prettyish girl in her late teens with an orange sundress torn in certain places around the hips. It did seem like the kind of rip you’d have to make on purpose. But she could have also gotten it stuck in a prickly thorn.

It was unbearably hot today. Lately, we’d put all the able Big Tree villagers to work doing grunt tasks and helping out in the farms, aside from active hunting trips to be planned in the future. If they were here, that meant they weren’t working and that they were delaying the village’s recovery. And that meant more sour eggs.

I clapped my hands loudly. “Alright, people! Let’s quiet down here!”

Lots of eyes looked my way.

“Mister Alster!”

“The chief’s assistant. Sir, we need you to punish this man!” a woman with the girl in question said, clutching her shawl as she pointed to the accused.

A crowd developed around me. Both sides started spilling their side of the story, but I said I didn’t want to hear it.

“Settle this among yourselves. But first, get to work. Anyone who wants to be transferred to another barn can make a request to Oswald. You can find him in the banquet hall in his office. Keep in mind, the bandits burned down three barns, so space is already tight. You. What’s your name?” I pointed to the accused.

“Hogar Kling, sir.”

“I’m moving you to barn #1.”

He scowled. “I swear I didn’t do nothin’! That ain’t fair!”

I knew that punishing a potentially innocent man could tarnish his reputation unjustly, but I stood my ground. “Since I don’t know if you’re guilty or not, the most I can do right now is just separate you and the girl. Get Albert to settle this dispute later. Everyone else, report to your designated workplace. Now.”

The tension began to die down. My presence seemed to have an effect, and the crowd started to go off. Men went to work. A few women went back inside the barns.

It was such a stark contrast to when they’d first arrived. I’m sure tales of my heroism from hunting and the chief’s trust in me were helping.

I left to check in on the repairs taking place. Oswald and Craig had moved affected villagers to the banquet hall or asked the unaffected to house a few people or whole families while handymen tried to repair their homes. The repairs hadn’t begun, but at least the areas were already sectioned off and the order request for materials and tools was approved by Craig. Trent and Elfindor were supposed to arrange for the purchase… but no one had seen Elfindor since he went to get the whole wanted posters for the bandits thing in Lancaster. And as I asked around, no one had seen Trent either.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

I guess the whole milk run thing was a lie. What the hell is he up to? And why isn’t Elfindor back yet?

I spent the rest of the day in the house playing with the new Divine Restraint card. Unlike other cards I’d registered, I couldn’t get it working right away. I tried using it on Matilda, imagined the magic circle I’d seen around my chest and shouted the words I’d heard the others say, but it wouldn’t activate. I sat on my bed for hours, confused, until I re-read the description and figured out the trick.

I had to believe in the goddess. I had no idea who she was, but I had to believe that someone was granting me the ability to use that card. Once I figured that out, I ran to test it again on Matilda and the ring manifested around her chest.

I pushed it to the limits. While it was active, it felt like my mind was being strained to keep the spell together. It was a strange feeling in that I didn’t have to concentrate very hard, but if I felt fear or started doubting the card’s ability to hold the target, the effect would weaken and the target would break free. The effect relied on faith.

On Matilda, the restraint lasted about ten minutes. I had a little extra juice in me, but she’d gotten tired of standing by that point and I released the spell.

It was starting to get dark and Matilda got dinner ready. Today’s dinner was just steamed vegetables, potatoes and bread. All flavorless and bland.

* * *

Trent didn’t return home at a timely hour that night. Matilda stayed by the door, having pulled the dinner table closer so she could sit and be ready to leap into his arms. She’d prepared warm tea and kept reheating it until I grabbed the cup and gulped it down out of frustration.

“Why isn’t he back yet?” I said, grinding my teeth.

Matilda delicately raised her hands, motioning me to calm down. “I’m sure he has his reasons. Master Trent is a very capable man.”

“I know he is. But he didn’t take any of the cards. I have a lot of questions for him. If something happened to him now, I’d—”

The door slammed open, drawing our gazes. Trent burst in and immediately closed the door. He grabbed Matilda’s hand and dragged her close to me. He was out of breath.

“Trent! What happened?” I demanded.

“Alster, there’s no time to explain. I need you to—”

“What—?”

“Are the cards registered to you?”

“All but the invisbility card. I couldn’t re-register that one. It says to wait a few days.”

“Which means it’s mine,” he mumbled to himself. He reached for the basket. “Where is it? Hurry.”

I had stuffed them all in my crotch as usual. I pulled them all out and gave him the invisibility card. He held it up and used its power on me and Matilda.

“I need you both to stay silent for a while. Alster, have you used the new card? Can you use it?”

“The holy card? Yeah.”

His brows lifted. “Truly? That’s good. Stay hidden. Don’t make a sound—”

A knock on the door interrupted our thoughts. He shoved a piece of parchment in my hand, then silenced us.

Trent took a deep breath. For some reason, he wanted to appear like the only person in the room.

He welcomed a man inside. It was a fat man dressed in a suit and top hat wearing a single spectacle with a golden frame around his right eye; a striped white shirt underneath, fancy leather shoes and a sturdy walking cane.

“This is my humble home, Chief Inspector.”

“Yes,” the man replied. The man walked in sloppily as if he were going to sumble. He took a few curious glances at the interior and gave a small nod. “Shabby. But a cut above the rest. To say the least.”

Men wearing chainmail, armored boots, gloves and legs entered behind him. They spread out, their backs against the walls and two blocking the door.

“Please, sit. You must be tired from the journey,” Trent said.

The inspector waved him off. “I’m fine.”

“I insist,” Trent said, pulling up a chair.

The man took a seat and set the cane on the floor. “Very well. What is it you called me all this way for, old friend?”

“It’s about our dream. I think we should try again.”

He took off his spectacle and wiped it clean with a cloth from his shirt pocket. Then he sighed. “You haven’t changed, Trent. It’s been twenty years since we met. I always thought your talents were wasted in this village. But I see it’s the chains of the past that held you back.”

“Wallace, I wouldn’t have brought the chief inspector of Lancaster’s military police here to sip tea. I have a reason.”

“And what would that reason be? Our master died over ten years ago. He sacrificed everything for a vessel that betrayed him. A vessel now fattening himself up at the margrave’s side, drunk on power and wine.”

“I found a new vessel.”

The inspector sighed again, trying to get up. “I have no time for jokes—”

Trent held him back, shooting him a glaring look more serious than I’d ever seen him. “This is no joke. The person I’m referring to already has several spell cards and he is able to use them all without fatigue, without any sort of drawback.”

“You jest!” the inspector retorted. “Surely!”

“What’s more, he can use Holy cards and Dark cards.”

“What?!” the inspector slammed his fist on the table. “That’s not possible! Who is this? I must know!”

The inspector began to breathe heavily, as his hands trembled. His eyes were glued to Trent’s mouth, awaiting his next words.

“It’s my son.”