I had been going to and from the manor for several weeks now. No one searched for me in the day, or if they did it wasn’t very hard. The servants were long used to my absence before I began going to town. How far away I went seemed to be the only thing they picked up over the days.

I knew I was safe, but that didn’t feel like a good thing. No one cared, no one.

I was back earlier than usual today because I had something to do. I changed out of my black cloak and into a brown one foregoing the mask too. unlike being a mercenary, I needed to talk to sell things. The mask came off because this town wasn't big enough for the two of us.

I grabbed a basket, within it were several spools of wool and thread along with needles and other miscellaneous tools. The only thing I needed was flowers and some herbs. I would not turn a profit by making terrible accessories with pre dyed yarn, I needed to do it myself. The flowers would also be a great way to get parents to spend money on their children.

I still had plenty of dyed yarn from the storage room however and I stole it for now. There would come a time where it wouldn’t be a viable option, and I planned for that.

There wasn’t much foot traffic in the town, but I could refine the location later with the info from being shh. I sat down in an empty spot on the cobbled path. Most of the other peddlers had been there since morning and would soon pack up, but not I. I laid down a thin bit of coarse fabric before laying out the yarn. I sat there knitting, sometimes sewing. Everything I made was quick and small, big and ugly didn’t seem to sell well.

I only had a few hours left in the day and that was all it took. I had no idea what I was doing, I assumed it would be easy, I was wrong. I was so wrong that I considered why I had even thought of it, I would earn better profits by going to the nearest city and entering the arena. Not to be deterred I considered my options. I couldn’t sell whatever abominations I had laid out and my first day had proven that. I was a fool; however, I was determined… and bored.

I sat there as the wind grew colder and night threatened to set in. I needed a teacher, even if it were simple books, I couldn’t go in blind. I tried to think of other options, but I needed to see a library to truly find out. The manor had a library; however, it was in the main building. I would need to save up and get a book myself and hope that it aligned with something that I was good at.

After looking back on what I did wrong I fell down a rabbit hole. There was much more I had done wrong: for a mercenary I wasn’t eating enough. I wasn’t maintaining my tools. I had been letting my money sit and go to waste. I was a hypocrite to myself. I reasoned that money was merely a tool, yet I had saved up all of it that I had. It was a tool that needed to be used, alone it was worth nothing. The only value money held was when it was used to get something else.

I needed to change. every time the thought entered my mind it felt like a burden. I had tried to change so many times before, but nothing truly changed. I was still me, I still couldn’t feel, everything just seemed to plateau.

I wanted to lie down on the manky cobbles but I knew what I needed to do, and so I headed back.

***

No matter how I thought about it the library was not an option. There wasn’t much I could do about it so I moved on. The best way for me to invest my money would be… I had no idea. There was nothing that came to my mind other than body and weapon maintenance.

I could try literally investing my money, but I didn’t have enough for such a contract. I needed an ideas man, someone that would shut up and bring me ideas. The concept seemed familiar, and I realised father once had such a man.

Mr Cedar was father’s aide, but he lost the job after mother took charge. He was terrible at managing the manor, but he did quite well in business. His main upside was the ideas department, he was creative. If I found him and beat him into submission, I might be able to get a steady business going. The idea was great, but I needed to find him.

Thinking began to hurt, and I went to my bed for a nap. The sight of my bedding poking out from under my bed reminded me. my windows were still fucked. Instead of crawling into the space I was sure I wouldn’t be getting out of, I waited for dinner.

***

The morning graced me with yesterday’s problems. It didn’t take me long to give up and guess that Mr Cedar had retired to crypton, it was filled with the old and dying so he should be there. He was certainly old, and he might be dying, it was worth a shot.

I finished my morning training and headed to the shed. I wore my black outfit as shh but then I wondered how I was going to ask around. There weren’t many options that I knew of, but the shed had at least one of everything. I grabbed a pen and dipped it in the old and somewhat crusty ink. The sensation was like eating sand… not that I had done that before. Writing on the coarse fabric I had found was finnicky and I had to add only a little ink at a time.

It looked like shit, but it seemed to be readable enough... to me. Hopefully miss Shelly could help out, she had read the job ticket, so I knew she could try.

I was going to leave but then I wondered how I was going to talk to Mr Cedar. My solution was simple, I wrote on another piece of cloth telling him to follow me quietly. Any sane person would follow such a crudely written letter from a stranger in a mask, right? If need be, I would have to speak in front of others, it wasn’t like there was going to be people I would see regularly around him. I was also going to have to reveal my identity to him anyway if I wanted his help.

I didn’t like the idea of father’s old servants helping me. But I needed someone. I accounted for the slim chance that mother had kept an eye on the servants she booted. But unlike all the others Mr Cedar was genuinely shit at his job. I think I even heard mother complain that he had to go since firing him made it look like he was a threat.

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Before heading to crypton I picked up a job from the guild. It was for helping a village to the west with some well issues. It was close enough that I could finish it and then head over to Crypton, so I delayed my visit.

Jobs that involved domestic issues generally just required me to be a gofer. This time was no exception, and I ended up removing a dead bush babble from the well then running to and from the doctor fifty times. it was after this that I decided there was nothing more time consuming than cleaning water. I counted the act as one of lifes mysteries, how does one clean the thing used to clean?

By the time I had reached crypton it was midday. Instead of going to find miss Shelly first I headed to a tavern. It was easy to order a simple meal since I had helped around and they knew I didn’t speak. My issues arose when it came to consume though.

Huddled in a corner I lifted up the bottom of my mask and held my hood down. I knew such weird actions would draw more attention, but I really didn’t want my identity to be exposed.

What I got for eight iron was a pudgy loaf of sticky something. To the side of it was diced meat of varying animals and plenty of greens. Tucking in I found the kind of bouncy loaf to be rather tart, but it went down smoothly. I had not paid for taste; I had paid for food. The meat was anything but fresh but wrapped in the loaf with the greens the unpleasantness disappeared. My only true complaint was that the sticky loaf stuck to my gloves.

Heading back outside I looked around the middle of the town. I didn’t see miss shelly yelling at anyone so I assumed she would be at the church. The old lady managed the maintenance of the village, and the church was in by far the worst condition. I looked at the unintentional skylights before concluding that I should wait outside.

Indeed, miss Shelly was helping out inside and she soon came out after someone went in. the stranger had probably alerted her to the fact a strange person in all black was waiting outside.

“so wee one what brings you to see me?”

The mention of wee one confirmed to me that Mr Hildegard was plotting. I had already been called wee one by a few others that I saw often. Unable to show any dissatisfaction through my mask I handed her the fabric.

It took her a while of squinting and holding it up to the light before she finally responded with a boisterous chuckle.

“it’s nice to know you thought that crazy old man would be here. No, no child he is a few villages over in Southberry.”

I was about to turn away but miss Shelly put her hand on my shoulder.

“not so fast wee one, if you are looking for him you will want to know where he lives. It’s on the main street two houses down from the shop with the boar. Remember it’s not a shop with a boar signboard but a boar. Also you are going to want this back, and tell him that Mr Herbert sent ya, it’ll be easier to talk to him.”

Miss shelly had gently pushed me out of the village as we were speaking, another mystery added to the list.

She filled my head with a bit too much info but it was simple enough to remember. I stood outside the village ready to go, but for a moment I wondered if going now would be worth it. surely it would be dark when I returned… but then I would just be wasting half a day.

Due to a sheer lack of something else to do I pushed onwards to southberry.

*

**

***

It was a shithole. The village had many holes in fact, and each one was filled with animal shit. There were plenty of places with a boar out the front of them but only one was a shop. I went two down from the shop and arrived at a house with a gate. There was no nice lawn beyond the gate, just more animals.

I ventured in and knocked on the door. The wood sounded soft and squishy but was hard as a rock.

No reply came so I knocked again only to be greeted by shouts.

“WHO IS IT?”

I wasn’t great at recognising shouts of people who left years ago so I knocked again.

“Alright, Alright, I get it.”

The door opened to reveal a surprisingly presentable male. His hair was grey mixed with darker grey and more grey. The suit he wore was clean, his shoes were polished and there was only a slight bitt of stubble on his cheeks.

I tilted my head to the man and handed him the same piece of cloth I handed miss Shelly. Unlike her he managed to understand at a glance.

“so, you are looking for me, correct?”

I nodded my head, if he was this presentable then I might not regret this.

“Whatever you want from me you are gonna have to pay for it. in gold.”

At his absurd statement I drew my blade. It was a simple and plain message.

“Alright, alright, so what do you want, or are you mute?”

I looked behind him, but upon seeing no one else I opened my mouth.

“I am looking for Mr Cedar as the heir to the barony. You served my father, and thus I have come to collect you to serve me.”

“Well, that’s very presumptuous of you.”

The man rubbed the sides of his mouth, it looked like he wanted to twirl a non-existent Mustache. At the action I was finally assured that it was indeed Mr Cedar, his habits had always been on the annoying side. I stared a the haughtily acting Mr Cedar for a few more seconds before turning around. That was all it took to get the right response.

“NO, wait, wait, it was just a joke. I would be happy to serve the future baron.”

“ess”

“Yes, yes, future baroness.”

“Good, then may I come in?”

“Go ahead, it would be my pleasure.”

Mr Cedar showed me right to his living room where a shabby table had been set up. The place was a little too small for visitors. However, I didn’t complain as it was my idea to come in.

“So, what was it about me that made my lady come get me?”

“I need some ideas.”

“Oh.”

“Why do you sound so disheartened, father had often praised your ability to think?”

“I was mainly kept around for my other abilities.”

“Such as?”

Mr Cedar had thoroughly intrigued me by his comment. There were few things that father had kept from me that weren’t useless to me.

“I happen to be quite strong, in case the madam ever hired assassins he would keep me near him with the excuse of overworking me.”

“In that case how did he die?”

“The misfortune of a common addiction.”

“Then I suppose you don’t smoke?”

“Indeed, I much prefer a cup of tea,”

“Thank you for this information, I will now be using you for ideas and as a sword.”

“Please don’t abuse this old man.”

“You volunteered yourself.”

“indeed I did.”

“…”

“…”

We drank tea in silence for a while. The sweet smell hid the bitter taste of the unskilled brewer. It was only when the pot ran dry and we ran out of distractions that a conversation resumed.

“Are you a mercenary?”

“Yes, I need my own money. You know how my mother is.”

“Indeed, indeed I could help out with that if you don’t mind?”

“and how do you plan on doing that?”

“If I register, we can then form a binding which will allow us to complete jobs together.”

“Leave it up to the ideas man to come up with a good idea.”

With that I pushed off trying to get him to start a business. It would take a while for him to truly become available. But even so it amazed me at how simple it was. I had acquired an ally with a less than 1000% chance of betraying me within half a day.