That kind of uncaring relationship is not what I want to be involved in. I voice my concerns to Thia about this and she barks a short laugh. Before I know what is happening she lunges forward and our lips are locked in a passionate kiss that I reflexively return. After kissing me soundly she pulls back and looks at me for a minute as I take control of my spinning head. Her scent and taste are intoxicating and that is when I realize that I love her every bit as much as the others. Leaning her forehead against mine as I regain my wits she speaks. “Do you feel like you are in a loveless relationship?”
I can’t help but laugh a little at her question. “Heh! How could I after that? Thank you. I feel much better and I promise to take care of all three of you, no matter what. I love you Thia.” When I say that I can hear a slight whimper from Timbre’s direction. Thia motions her way before giving me a peck on the lips and walking over to start whispering with Azzaria. “Please come back over here Timbre.” At my words I can see her tail start to sway back and forth as she gets up and takes a seat on the bed next to me. I lean my head in next hers, rubbing our cheeks together. Then I move it up to one of the ears that is higher on her head than a humans to whisper like a sacred secret. “I love you too Timbre.”
At the admission I feel better like I had been holding back for fear that I would lose them all by admitting it to them. I love all three equally and without reservation. Then, because it will mean the most to her, I lick her across the cheek. She lets out a quiet whimper once more, and when she turns to me I give her soft kiss on the lips. She returns it and gives me a warm smile. We sit there for a few minutes just enjoying our closeness and the new dynamic between us. Finally I pull away and walk over to Azzaria sitting at the table. Standing behind her I lean down to talk into her cutely pointed ear. “Have I told you that I love you today?”
She leans her head into mine as she responds coyly. “No, I don’t think you have.”
Leaning down, I kiss the side of her neck before returning to her ear. “I love you.” She turns and gives me another deep kiss that leaves me a little dizzy once again. I can feel the stupid smile spread across my face involuntarily as I stand up again. Can’t help it, just feels good to be appreciated by such an amazing women.
I stumble a little on my way back to the bed and sit heavily on it. With nothing to do for a few more hours I lay back as Thia and Timbre continue their whispered conversation. Timbre leans back as well and snuggles into my side. Laying there I go over the plan in my head once again to see if there is anything else I can plan for. Unfortunately, there isn’t much else we can prepare for. The plan is simple, but that allows for the most flexibility. I have ideas about what to do in case we find guards when we enter the compound and many other possibilities, but it all depends on the situation.
Laying there I remember that I never assigned the new talent point I got for my profession after my last level up. Opening the tab in my status I look through the options available to me. From the path leading from my Active Skill/Spell talent one is available to increase the power of the enchanted skill which piques my interest, but I am really drawn to something else. The Self Charging talent that comes from the Set Charges and Compress Mana branch. Making my decision I place the available point there. Any active enchantments that I attach a reservoir for now will recharge slowly over time at one charge every eight hours.
Next I open the Land Development Menu. It is a little different than I am used to. There are two tabs to it at the top. One is named Thunderbird’s Roost and the other The Pony. When I mentally select Thunderbird’s Roost the information there is grayed out. I must be too far from it to view it. The Pony tab is different and I can see it. This tab is much different from the other. It doesn’t have a level or anything like that. Instead it is more of a report. It has the list of employees, their salaries, and another tab to see information on the inn’s financials. There is even a section that allows me to see the room availability. I think the difference is due to this being an individual establishment and not a territory. Also, not having control of a mana fount for things like upgrades may factor into the difference.
Closing out the LDM, I turn back to the present. Thia and Azzaria seem to have finished their conversation and are looking at Timbre laying next to me with warm smiles. They raise their eyes when they catch me turning my head to look at them. As if speaking in a way I can’t hear they both get up at the same time to walk over to the bed and join Timbre and I. We just lay there for a little bit until there is a knock on the door. Sighing at the break in our bonding time I get up to answer the door.
One of the newly freed slave workers in the inn is there with a bright smile on her face. “There is a woman here that says she is supposed to meet with you. She is kind of blunt but I don’t think she is here to cause trouble.”
Already the staff here at The Pony are trying to look out for me. Kind of makes me all tingly inside. Joking aside I do appreciate the loyalty. Looking out the window I can see that it’s around noon. I didn’t realize how much time passed while I was debating my new professional talent. “Thank you. I was expecting someone who fits that description. We will be down shortly to meet with our guest.” At my words she smiles even brighter and bounces off down the hall. Turning back to the three women on the bed I find them all looking to me. “Looks like Grace is here. Will you join me ladies?”
A few minutes later we are downstairs and seated at a table with Grace. She looks at us for a few minutes and I ignore her as I order lunch for all of us, Grace included. When the waitress leaves she finally speaks up. “I had to pack light for the trip and was not able to include much given your advice, but the bag helped. What kind of support can I expect from residents to create things like furniture and such?”
“Full support” I tell her. “There are crafters of all types and I will help you get started with anything you need.”
“I will hold you to that” she tells me.
“Of course. Plus there are already a number of people who I’m sure will love to officially enroll in the guild. They should be making pretty decent money now too from a little program I instituted before leaving to come here.”
“Right then, when do we leave?” She looks anxious to get started.
The waitress returns with our meal and we all start to eat. When we are done I answer the question from earlier. “We leave tonight after a little errand we need to take care of.” She is obviously curious as to the late departure but keeps her mouth shut, showing a surprising amount of trust. Is this one of the benefits of an ability regarding charisma? I will probably never know. “I guess I better inform you of what is going on if you are to join us tonight. Let’s go to my room to discuss it more privately.” When we are secured away in the room I explain the plan for the night to Grace.
After a shocked look at me and the girls she takes a moment to calm down. “And you want me to assist you in your plan to free the slaves?”
I smile to her and answer. “On the contrary. You are just going to be along for the ride, waiting at the place we are planning to bring them all to. Our mode of transportation is limited somewhat. I will need everyone that is leaving to be together when we get started.”
“You still haven’t told me how we are traveling or how long it will take” she says, a little grumpy with my avoidance of the subject.
“What is the fun in that. I can’t ruin the surprise now can I.” With my next words I lose the playful tone in my voice, being utterly serious. “As long as we make it together I promise we will have no problems leaving the city, without possibility of pursuit. She accepts the seriousness of my statement and for the next few hours we all talk of lighter things. I am glad for the opportunity to learn about our soon to be Adventurer’s Guild Master. After a little while I let all the girls continue to talk while I pull out a book to read.
I am still extremely naïve about much of the world, its workings, and history. The book I’m reading is called Gods War. As I read I find that i
t’s mostly theory, as a lot of the writings from that time have been destroyed. The destruction of the records from that age is one of the first things the book covers. According to the author the gods war took place thousands of years ago. The exact amount of time from now is inconclusive partly due to the lack of records and partly because of a different calendar that was used then. Now that I think about it I am not familiar with the calendar that is currently in use. I will have to look into that soon.
Thousands of years is a long time for a book to last without falling apart. On top of that it is known that some religious orders actively destroy these remnants of the past. Theories from the author (Korinar Bent) include an embarrassing defeat for some gods to more sinister ones. One theory even says that it may be an attempt by the gods to rekindle the war. The less people know about what happened with the last one the more likely they will be to do their gods bidding. This last one actually worries me some because I have met a god personally. Could it be that she brought me here to start the war again? Prevent it? The only way I will know is if I ask her.
Getting into the meat of the book I read about how there were vast empires in the world. These different empires had deities that they worshiped. The group of deities worshiped by an empire was called a Pantheon. Each of these empires had a great cathedral to their Pantheon and smaller temples and chapels to the individual gods. From my own experience I suspect that at least the main cathedrals for these empires were Mana Founts. Possibly some of the smaller temples as well. As commanded by their gods these empires warred against one another. Their goal to take the other empire’s places of worship, especially the main cathedral.
There is mention of the Champions of the gods as I read but there is not a lot of context to go with it. All I can piece together about these people is that they were powerful warriors, the strongest known in the world at the time. As I am reading something just seems to click in my head. I remember. Not the gods war, at least not all of it. It’s my dreams that came back to me in perfect clarity. Scenes of death and epic battles race through my mind as the memories crash into me. I can feel myself wobble in my chair a little but I catch myself on the table. I can hear the girls around me asking what is wrong. I am able to hold my hand up to them, asking them to give me a moment.
Either feeling uncomfortable with the situation or just trying to be polite Grace excuses herself from the room. I don’t object as I am trying to get a handle on my gorge. Some of the things from my vision make me physically ill. When the visions from my dreams recede once again into mere memory I look up to the girls. “What happened Vol? I saw disturbing things from your mind through the bond” Thia asks me. I shake my head to her before answering. “I don’t know for sure. I think those are the dreams that have been bothering me some nights.”
Azzaria takes the book I have been unconsciously clutching and sets it on the table. “Why are you having these dreams. Are they something from your past?” Shaking my head I continue with my theory. “No. There was magic in them and I didn’t recognize anyone or anyplace they were set in. I think they were from Herst.” Looking back at the book again I shake off my doubts and just tell them what I think it might be. “If I was to guess I would say they were events from the gods war.”
This is met with a pregnant silence. Mainly from Azzaria as I don’t think Timbre or Thia know anything about it. “Are you sure?” There is worry in Azzria’s voice.
“No. Just a guess. It could be nothing, but I don’t think it is. It feels like a warning when I am dreaming. Like it is something that could or will happen again. I know of a few things I would like to ask Gwydia though. Until then there isn’t anything else we can really do. We are already trying to build up our village and get stronger.” They understand that I don’t know anything else and we just relax for a while. I try to put the images from my mind but I know we all can’t quite shake the implications of what they mean.
All too soon it’s time to get underway and Marcus is at the door. He tells me that John agreed to manage this place in my absence. I will need to talk to John a little more next time I’m here. We follow Marcus downstairs to the common room to meet his family and Curt. Looking around the room I see it is dead. It must be the lull in business just before dinner rush starts. Seeing me Curt nods and tells us “Stay close. I will take us around lower city so that we aren’t noticed.”
That is all he says before he leads us out of the inn and I give John behind the bar a wave goodbye. Our little procession leaves upper city through the south gate into lower city. The guards give us a curious look as we pass but with no reason to stop us they say nothing. It may have been a problem if we continued south to the docks, but after passing a couple streets Curt turns us left and we start making our way east. We walk a winding route to the east and north for a little bit. Everything was going so well that I should have known better.
The sun is setting and casting long shadows throughout the city as we turn into an alley cloaked in darkness. I’m following behind Curt with Timbre beside me. Azzaria and Thia are right behind us with the rest following closely behind them. About halfway down the alley, knives start to rain down on our party. The grunt from Curt in front of me is my first warning. My sudden stop is all that saves me from a grave injury. All the sudden there is a sharp burning pain in the right side of my chest as I feel an impact. Looking down I see a throwing knife embedded just below my right collar bone. I’ve been keeping my Magical Armor active all the time now since I upgraded it so even that damage is reduced some.
“Ambush!” I yell to the others and cast a Mana Barrier on myself. As I cast I see a man step into the alley from the direction we are headed. There are still knives coming down on us but my girls have activated their own barriers. Timbre jumps back to where the others are and pulls out her shield to cover those in the back. Thankfully the attack was directed at those of us in the front so Marcus and his girls are unharmed. Grace, who was in front of them has a scratch along her left forearm. It doesn’t look bad but her face looks pissed. Focusing back on the man in the mouth of the alley I see him walk cautiously our way.
Raising my left arm up I cast the Mana Shield ability from my staff and the knives start pinging off that instead of my other barrier. They are coming from somewhere on the roof to our left. The man in the alley with us stops and I can see him using a staff like a walking stick. He is wearing dark robes and leans against his staff just watching us defend against the attack. I notice that the knives have focused on me and stopped aiming for the others before they stop all together. We all just stand there for a moment in anticipation of the next attack. I use the momentary lull to Identify the one person I can see.
Malice Mathers: Male Human, lvl 26, Dark Mage, Barrier Mage. HP: 100%. Title: Bagman.
This guy is much higher level than I am, and a mage at that. Also, apparently I can see titles now. I can only assume I didn’t notice before because I didn’t use my skill on someone with one. Takes me a second to understand what a bagman is but then I remember a few mob movies I watched back on Earth and it comes to me. These are assassins sent by some criminal organization. Then Malice speaks in a surprisingly cultured tone, educated and patient, like a professor giving a lecture.
“Mister Vol I presume” he says looking to me. Azzaria pulled an injured Curt to the back and the safety of Timbre’s shield. I can see a soft green light from behind me so I assume she is patching him up.
Yanking the knife out from my chest I respond to him in a growl. “That’s me. And to what do I owe a visit from a bagman?”
His head tilts a little to the side, as though he is curious or surprised by my knowledge of him. I can’t see his face very well though. It makes it hard to gauge the response because there is a hood over his head and it’s dark in the alley. Finally he speaks again. “Guess it doesn’t matter really as my boss wanted you to know any way, and for you to be an example of what happens when you cross him. His name is Lord Enlit. You have interfered with a
few of his enterprises in the city recently. Removing a few thugs from his employment he would have ignored, but you took his property. He can’t let that go without response. Turn yourself over to me and your death will be quick. Additionally, nothing will come to happen to those behind you. After all, Lord Enlit needs some people to carry the warning.”
Someone steps up next to me. At first I think it’s Timbre, but when I look to the side I see Grace. She has a spear in her right hand and a buckler on her left arm. “What is the meaning of this?” she says, steel in her voice. She even gives me a chill.
“Grace! We didn’t know you were there. We have no wish to start anything with the Adventurer’s Guild. This is between us and this man” he says pointing at me.
Grace just turns slightly to display her cut arm to Malice. “Didn’t I just hear you threaten these innocent people, me included?”
A Mage Rising: (The Chronicles of Herst 2: A LitRPG Saga) Page 35