B01DCAV4W2 (S) (42 page)

“Welcome back, my Lord,” the tall man said.  “I am happy to see that you have prevailed.  If I’m not mistaken, you have come back stronger.”

“It’s good to be back, Randy,” he said with a grin.  “And yes, I have been through quite a bit, but I came out the other side stronger.  Now, I’m assuming you have a lot to speak with me about?”

“I do indeed, my Lord,” he answered while stepping back and gesturing towards his office.

“Others are going to be joining us, Randy.  Let’s go to the room with the large table instead.”

“As you wish, my Lord.”

Randolphus walked back into his office to retrieve some files, while Richter walked into what was, in effect, his conference room.  He noticed as he was walking that another two guards had been placed at the entrances to the treasury and armory.  Richter realized that he should have instituted measures like this before now.  He didn’t let himself spiral back downward with recriminations though, he just walked into his conference room. 

Sitting at the head of the large rectangular table, he tried to get comfortable.  Shifting in the wooden chair, he decided to invent the La-Z-Boy at the first opportunity.  This thing was seriously uncomfortable. 

The chamberlain joined him at the table and started filling Richter in on what had happened in his absence, starting with when Terrod had been brought back by the okami.  Sion had immediately taken a group of villagers and sprites to find him.  They followed the trail of the okami back to the where Richter had slain Sonirae and her accomplice.  Then they had found the site of his battle with the rock giant.  Sion hadn’t known exactly what had attacked him, he had only known it was very large.  Though the search party had barely rested over their days of travel, Sion immediately took off along the trail of devastation the rock giant had left in its wake. 

Sion had ultimately found the collapsed cave.  Richter’s tracks had led inside and the rock giant’s had clearly led off to the north.  Sion and the others had apparently spent several hours digging, but to no avail.  He had then started the trip back to the village to wait for either Richter’s return or his rebirth. 

Randolphus continued his story with what had happened in the village while Sion had been gone.  After spending a small amount of time with Isabel, both Terrod and his love had approached Randolphus.   Both said they had been in seclusion long enough.  Richer nodded along.  He had already known that Isabel would be taking an active role in the village thanks to the completed quest prompt he had received. 

Terrod had taken charge of the village’s defenses.  The very next morning after his return, he had called for an assembly of all of the villagers.  Terrod had spoken passionately about how special the Mist Village was and how it deserved to be protected.  He reminded them of the harsh laws of Yves, of the beatings, of the rapes, of the murders.  According to Randolphus, he had stoked the fires of their anger and indignation, then he asked them if they would let anyone or anything force them back to that life.

That wasn’t all though.  Isabella had joined him in addressing the crowd.  She had shared some of the stories of the indignities she had suffered.  She had told the other villagers about how Richter had rescued her.  She had spoken about how he sent her to safety when Ronin had attacked the fleeing party, and had stayed behind to fight.  She pointed out other villagers who had been captives and asked if their freedom was worth fighting for.  She had asked the loved ones of the former captives, if they would fight to make sure their families weren’t torn apart again!  Then she had simply asked them if they would fight for the man who had offered them the right to choose their own fates.

Randolphus told him that although Terrod had fired up the villagers, it was at the end of Isabella’s speech that every villager was on their feet and shouting Richter’s name.  Terrod had to restrain many of the villagers from immediately running out of the village to search for their Lord.  The crowd had apparently shouted in fury and fervor for long minutes until they could be calmed.  Afterwards, more than a hundred villagers were clamoring to sign up for the militia.  Randolphus had interviewed all of them and found that while almost sixty people had been going to fight to preserve the safety of the village after Terrod had spoken, those numbers had more than doubled after Isabella speech.

Since then, the forges had been going into overdrive to equip those who agreed to serve.  Terrod had also been able to convince almost everyone who had agreed to serve in the militia to swear fealty to the village and its Master.  Richter smiled when Randolphus related that part.  It would make what he had planned much easier.  He still wasn’t sure exactly what being a Companion entailed, but whatever else it meant, Terrod and Sion had been indispensable in Richter’s rise to power.  Terrod’s Comradery ability was amazing.  The story also explained to Richter why the Loyalty of the village as a whole had gone up by +20 after he had completed Isabella’s quest.

Sion and Terrod had wandered in while Randolphus was talking, but hadn’t wanted to interrupt.  Richter rose and embraced them both though, and they joined him at the table.  At that point in Randolphus’s story, Terrod spoke up and told Richter that he had formed nine scout groups of five people each.  He had chosen the party number based on the fact that anymore would decrease the amount experience gathered from fighting.  No group was allowed far from the village by itself though.  Terrod looked at Richter with a serious expression and described some of the dangerous animals and monsters that had been seen in and out of the mists.  Mountain lions, cave bears, giant spiders and vampire bats were just a few of the had started to be seen frequently in the lands around the village.

Terrod told Richter that almost everyone who had had their magic awakened had agreed to serve.  None of the children were allowed to join the scout groups of course, magic or no.  As it was, the adult Air mages were too numerous to be in the scout groups all at once.  Terrod’s solution was to cycle them out.  Each was mostly in the groups for support, seeing as how they had almost no offensive spells.  Terrod also told him that everyone in the militia trained for a portion of each day, whether they were scouting, guarding or fulfilling other duties. 

Apparently, Isabella had been contributing as well.  Terrod being kidnapped had snapped her out of the well of misery she had been in.  He told Richter that the fear she experienced proved stronger than the emotional pain her sexual enslavement had caused.  Randolphus had had to have her physically restrained to stop her from running after Terrod on her own after Richter left. 

She had taken charge of the herb garden near the Quickening with a vengeance.  In the last week, it had tripled in size.  She had a natural ability with plants apparently and an advanced Herb Lore skill.   She has also organized groups to scour the forest for useful plants.  Terrod reported that Isabel was requesting that an herb shed be constructed.  The building would apparently allow her to dry and treat harvested herbs, increasing their potency and longevity.  Richter nodded to Randolphus who made a notation. 

Basil, Zarr, and Sumiko filtered in.  Richter greeted each in turn.   Randolphus was about to start on the next item, but Richter asked about the ships anchored outside of the village. 

“That actually ties into what we needed to discuss next, my Lord,” Randolphus said.  “I will let Basil describe what transpired.”

“It was an… interesting trip, my Lord,” the man said.  Then he told his story. 

Outside of navigating a section of turbulent river, the trip back to Leaf’s Crossing had been uneventful for Richter’s emissary.  The sailors had apparently been happy to be gone from the village.  Though they had not been in any direct danger, they too had seen dangerous animals and monsters the closer they got to the mists.

The ship had eased into the harbor at Leaf’s Crossing and Basil had carried his precious cargo of Potions of Clarity amidst a few other boxes of trade goods.  Basil recounted that the idea of having hundreds of pieces of gold hidden on his body while he also carried items worth hundreds more had stressed him out to know end.  He knew that he had been any thief’s wet dream, and so he had paid ten tough looking sailors to accompany him while he was in Leaf’s Crossing.  Basil had considered it a worthwhile expense to put the sailors up in the inn as well.  With such a guard detail, Basil told him that he had arrived at the Whistling Hen with no difficulty.  Basil gave a wide smile at that point, and thanked Richter profusely for recommending that particular inn.  Richter smiled back knowingly, remembering exactly how friendly the women there could be. 

Basil continued his story.  Rosy, the proprietor of the inn, had told Basil that no one resembling the contact Richter had described had been to the bar.  He then said that he planned to simply wait as long as necessary and in the meantime, spend the time relaxing and buying supplies.  Rosy had apparently had other ideas. 

The tough woman had pulled Basil to the side almost immediately.  Rosy had not forgotten the ships of nonhumans that had stopped in Leaf’s Crossing before sailing to a better life with Richter.  Apparently neither had many of the townsfolk.  Since Richter had left almost a month before, a long line of hopeful people of all races had formed.  They all wanted to immigrate to the Mist Village.  To be exact, another one hundred and sixty-three people wanted to join. 

Richter looked at the man sharply, but let him continue.  When Basil saw he wasn’t going to be interrupted, he explained that his initial feeling had been one of caution and alarm as well.  Before he left for Leaf’s Crossing though, Richter had told him that Rosy could be trusted.  In light of that, Basil agreed to at least speak to each of the potential immigrants.  Rosy had helped him to coordinate the interviews.

Over the next several days, Basil had conducted interviews.  To make the process easier, he had hired the services of two Professed Scholars.  He apologized to Richter that their services hadn’t come cheap.  Richter didn’t mind or care about a little overhead cost, but he was confused about what a Scholar did or was.  Seeing his Lord’s questioning expression, Basil explained that the two Scholars had various administrative Talents.  Between the two of them, the men he had hired possessed the Talents of Association, Perfect Scribing, Still Image, Knowledge Tablet, Copying and most importantly Confidential. 

Seeing that Richter looked even more confused and was also starting to look a bit annoyed, Basil quickly explained further.  Association let the Scholar recognize patterns and then organize large amounts of data in the most efficient manner.  The Perfect Scribing Talent was just as it sounded.  The Scholar could write with perfect penmanship such that anyone who read his work would know exactly what he was trying to impart.  Richter was about to ask why a Talent like that would matter, but then he remembered how a lot of doctors wrote.  The chicken scratch that health professionals called handwriting was a travesty.  Richter was convinced that people died in hospitals because of it.  When you factored in that many people in The Land were illiterate, the few who could write most likely had a wide variability in how they formed their words.  Being able to KNOW what someone had meant to say when you read it would actually be worth quite a bit. 

Basil continued to explain that the Copying Talent let a scribe fully duplicate a letter or parchment in every detail.  As long as they had enough parchment and ink, they could use their mana to immediately make another copy of what they had in front of them, down to the last ink blotch.  Basil added that he had heard the Talent could be leveled to be able to copy scrolls, skill books or spell books, but that was beyond the abilities of the scribes in Leaf’s Crossing.   Those advanced talents were also apparently prohibitively expensive. 

Basil didn’t even try to explain the Still Image and Knowledge Tablet Talents, but instead just handed over a heavy piece of wood with a smile.  The wood was about a two feet in height and width and one inch thick.  It was sanded smooth and then lacquered brown except for a white circle in one corner.  When Richter pressed the circle, a picture of a gruff looking gnome appeared in the corner of the wood and a list of information was written in the Common Tongue right next it. 

Richter almost dropped the item in shock.  He suddenly felt like he was looking at an iPad.  He stared at the Knowledge Tablet in wonder.  Once again, he had to remind himself to abandon his preconceptions.  He often thought of the people in The Land as medieval yokels with their kings and swords, yet in his hand he held proof that his perception was at least not universally true.  Through magic, these people had achieved a result that had taken thousands of years of Earth’s science to create.  

Richter ran his hand over the wood and the picture and information changed.  He realized he was holding the equivalent of a PowerPoint presentation that showed detailed information regarding each of the people Basil had interviewed. 

“You have reviewed this I assume?” Richter asked Randolphus. 

“I have, my Lord.  The Knowledge Tablet is a valuable tool and the information gathered upon it was most informative.”

“Can you add more information to it?” he asked Basil.

“I cannot, but a Scholar with the Talent could.”

Richter nodded, still enthralled by what he was holding, “And what about the last Talent?  Confidential?”

“That is what makes Scholars truly invaluable, my Lord.  Every guild Scholar takes the Confidential Talent first.  It makes it literally impossible for them to betray the confidence of their employer.  Even in the face of torture, a Scholar cannot in any way violate the terms of their contract.  So if you tell them to never reveal the information they have been given access to, the magic of their Profession ensures that your secrets remain safe.”

“Man!” Richter exclaimed.  “I wish you could have brought one of those scholars back with you!”

Basil exhaled a loud sigh of relief, “I am so happy you feel that way, my Lord!”