“We’ve heard rumors of this tournament,” Poressa said, glancing at Balathor. “I confess I’m… a little surprised you would want to attend. Is there… a reason?”
As people who lived in the Kingdom’s settlements instead of walled cities, one thing we shared in common was wanting a bit of freedom and independence from the crown and the machinations of the Kingdom’s capital. I could read the unspoken implication in Poressa’s question; it was being widely advertised that anyone who entered the tournament could have their records expunged and crimes forgiven.
“Ah, I’m not exactly headed there for my own purposes. As leader of the Tamers Guild, I was… invited? The kind of invitation that came with a squadron of soldiers who intended to accompany me,” I explained, then chuckled. “One such soldier is probably sleeping in the stable with my beasts right now.”
Balathor leaned forward. “The new king is interested in your beast taming?”
“That’s… unclear,” I answered, having mulled it over myself repeatedly on the journey so far. Not everyone saw the point in battle taming. “Perhaps he just wants me in his pocket so he can take control of the tarand business.”
“I don’t like that he’s gathering power,” Lamora stated. I glanced at her, surprised. While we were in good and trustworthy company, it was still risky to outright state displeasure about the crown at all. “The Kingdom is still recovering from that pointless failed war in the north.”
“Not entirely pointless,” Balathor mused. “That was good business for many, before the northerners fought back. The economy is still rebalancing from the loss of cheap steel.”
“There are means to continue acquiring steel from the north without throwing the Kingdom’s best and brightest into a war,” I said, swirling some wine in a cup. I frowned down at it, and hoped I was not being too loose-lipped from the alcohol, but continued. “As every merchant knows, all of trade is the delicate dance of finding supply and meeting demand. Surely, the north is in need of something the Kingdom can provide, and values it as highly as we value their steel. Through trade, both our economy and the growing economy of the Velg—of the north could grow.”
“Do you really think that the northerners are capable of that?” Lamora asked, and I almost angrily snapped a retort before I realized she was not being disparaging, merely curious. It was a common rumor that the north was full of barbarians, perpetuated by the crown in order to justify invasion.
“If they’re wise enough to be able to manufacture the steel that we so desperately crave, they’re surely wise enough to engage in a mutually beneficial trade agreement,” I pointed out. Lamora mulled that over and I set my wine cup down. I had probably had enough.
The next morning, I made my way back to the stables, where I found a rather displeased Damir waiting at my wagon.
“You can’t just run off like that,” the soldier scolded, although it felt more like the grumbling of a teenager to me.
I looked over his rough state, the smell wafting off him, and the piece of straw poking out of his hair.
“Did you sleep in the stable?”
“Do you know how much the inn costs here? Of course I did! Couldn’t you have brought me with you wherever you were staying?”
I suppressed a laugh, and instead shook my head at him. I climbed up into the wagon and started digging through my cargo as I spoke. “Don’t you get paid for this? I’ve been doing all the hunting and providing food the whole way, too. Do you even know the value of all my fruit you’ve been eating? Sounds like you need to learn some money management.”
Glancing back, I saw his face flush a bit in embarrassment. I hefted a sac to bring back with me to Balathor’s estate, and turned to look back at the young soldier. Sighing, I pulled out a small pouch of copper and silver and tossed it to him.
“That won’t get you very far, but it should keep you until I’m ready to continue on.”
“I can’t take your coin. It’s, uh… a bribe or something. I’m supposed to be chaperoning you.”
I shrugged. “Unless you want to sleep in stables or camp outside the city, you’re going to have to figure something out, otherwise you’re basically already living off my charity, which more or less means I’m chaperoning you. This is just a layover, but we’ll be in Roko for months. You better start thinking about what you’re going to do then. Come on, Rika.”
The sleek direfox ran forward, circling my legs before settling into a trot at my side as I moved to leave the stables. Somehow, despite Damir’s poor state after a night in the stable, Rika’s fur was smooth and spotless.
“That should at least get you a cheap room somewhere until we go,” I said as I walked away. “Don’t blow it all at the brothel.”
“Brothel?” I heard Damir echo as I left the building. I shook my head. Perhaps it was a bribe, and I was willing to bet that the soldier would be sleeping in the stable again before too long.
* * *
Stolen novel; please report.
I enjoyed the following days as I recovered from the journey so far and prepared to continue onward. For me, part of that recovery was doing business. Checkpoint was an active settlement full of merchants and traders, and while I did not want to blow through all my merchandise before reaching Roko or the capital, I did sit down with a few individuals to make a few deals, purchasing some things that would make my own travels more comfortable with the profits of the trades.
While my supply of cheese, fruit, and syrup was limited, mostly because moving it in bulk was suspicious and could be easily compared against my wagon’s minimal storage, I had some items that were easy to store and conceal and traded at a high value.
My magically produced gemstones were one such item. Once I had added 8-point magic to my repertoire, which let me extract and manipulate individual elements, I had been able to include them while building my gemstones with intentional trace impurities to produce an array of various colors.
It had taken me years to acquire the various sources I used to pull the metallic elements I needed to produce the nicest possible gemstones, but with my double-advanced 3-point magic I was able to appraise stuff down to the element, so it was just a matter of seeking out rarities and unique ores and drawing out what I wanted from them.
Once I had the gemstones built, it was easy enough to shave away at the materials with the same magic in order to produce “cut” stone. I could produce the stone’s facets the same way. More often than not, this produced a lovely stone with relatively high value, although it never quite matched up to a stone lapped and polished by an expert. Learning to do that myself was excessive, because in the time it would take me to polish a stone to perfection, I could produce a dozen. For the stone market, I targeted quantity over quality, and to that end, I usually did not even bother with careful cutting and faceting.
Instead, I made myself a source of rough and uncut stone, particularly amethyst and citrine from quartz, ruby and sapphire from corundum, and even some diamond which was just pure carbon. I had needed to double-advance 8-point magic to produce those without burning up all my MP.
Then, I had to carefully find a number of different buyers, occasionally masked in illusions or employing middle men to keep my identity safe, the more trustworthy ones sworn to secrecy about their source, and even then I limited what I sold to avoid flooding the market.
Since I had other businesses that were profitable and that I felt did more to improve the world, I did not spend that much time dealing in gemstones anymore. What they were good for were sporadic, large injections of coin into my purse, the kind of thing that would make a long stay in Roko much more comfortable.
Checkpoint was a good town to turn some magic stone into cash, as people asked fewer questions than in the walled cities. I had sold some the last time I passed through, and found the same buyer to offload some more. He was thrilled to pick up some relatively cheap stone, and I was not bothered being lowballed given that my markup was almost one hundred percent. I sold enough to make sure I could stay in the nicer inns in Roko until spring without issue, as well as enough to put Damir up in some of the less-nice inns if necessary.
It was not like I hated the guy, I just did not want to spend all my time with him. I was not just going to let him sleep in a stable all winter, though I hoped he would have some initiative and come up with something on his own.
After that, I looked through the markets for niceties I was fond of. It was nearly winter, and various harvests were available at that time of year, including things that I did not or could not grow easily at the farm. I bought a number of additional fruits, vegetables, nuts, and grains by the sackload which vanished into my inventory after a quick lap around a less-populous part of the settlement.
I spent much of my days in Checkpoint at Bal’s manor, enjoying the company of his family. His boys loved Rika, and I watched them all play around the garden yard, memories of them doing the same with Treepo a few years prior coming to mind unbidden. It was a bit bittersweet, but I found myself smiling more often than not.
The food was good and the company was even better. After beating my awkwardness into submission, I was able to properly enjoy the company of a bright and beautiful woman like Lamora. We had a number of conversations over tea and snacks, which at times felt almost flirtatious, if I was not misreading her body language.
Lamora’s mother Poressa certainly noticed, and started not-so-subtly encouraging us to spend time together more and more over the days. Balathor, at least, had the sense to seem a bit embarrassed at his wife’s attempts at matchmaking; it was a bit uncomfortable, since I considered Balathor a friend and Lamora was his daughter, but it was the way of things to try and build family connections among other successful people in order to strengthen both sides.
Marriage was not something I spent a lot of time thinking about in this life. Relationships had not gone well for me on Earth, and I had spent so much of my second life as a literal child and then an immature teenager. Adulthood might officially start at fifteen years old in this Kingdom, but I was only just beginning to view myself and others of my age as actual adults in the last year or two due to my first life.
After days in her company, any view I had of Lamora as less than a full grown adult had faded. We had both grown up in the last three years. At twenty-one, she was unquestionably an adult in both worlds, and while she did occasionally still slip back into slightly childish behavior, it was more endearing than anything else. Had her marriage happened, she would almost certainly already be a mother, part of her own household, and even that would have been a late start compared to many in this world, held back, in a way, by her family’s wealth and the need to find a proper partner.
So, on my last night with their family, I was not entirely surprised to receive a knock at my bedroom door.
I was already prepared for sleep, so I pulled on a pair of loose trousers before I answered. I opened the door to find Lamora waiting, also dressed down for the night in a casual, lightweight slip, with a large shawl pulled around her shoulders to fend off the chill of the approaching winter. She held up a bottle of wine and a pair of glasses. Her eyes flickered over my bare chest, but she only flushed slightly.
“Nightcap?” she asked, leaning against the doorframe. The slip she wore hugged her curves as she did, and she dropped her chin slightly to look up at me with an expression that spoke to how the rest of my night might go.
I let out a breath, crossing my arms because I suddenly did not know what to do with my hands. I want to, but…
“Only if you swear that your mother didn’t put you up to this.”
Lamora chuckled, and shook her head. “I don’t let my mother make all my decisions. This is just me, seeing you off, and wishing you luck in the capital.”
I did not want to read too much into it, and I did not want to risk souring any relationships, but I also did not want to send her away. And I did figure out that major fertility debuff with 6-point magic last year…
Stepping back from the doorway, I made room for her to step inside. She did, then turned and shut the door.