I try to lay low for the next few weeks. Everything has been a blur since the storm and Ashley's murder. I hear a few whispers here and there about the Noble's movements but so far none have come back to harass me. The library has filled in nicely since the storm ended. It seems most of the books were already checked out as people were preparing for the storm months in advance, but now the shelves were at least half filled. Nick's room was once again stuffed with all kinds of varying texts.
Lately, he's been reading out loud at night, like a bedtime story. I try to pay attention for as long as I can but his voice inevitably lulls me to sleep. I again bring up the issue of the inordinate amount of time I spend in control but he doubles down, saying he wants to keep it this way.
By the end of the first week, Josh has already learned the Slash skill. He explains that he was spending a few extra hours every night swing a sword he carved which is how he gained the skill so quickly. Sakura and I are not that motivated.
Each week Jezabel has us add another set of rings which means I'm carrying around almost sixty pounds at all times. The chair in the kitchen has even started squeaking when Nick sits down for a meal. We continue patrolling during this time but don't see even a single monster, no signs of fairies either.
We have been making a little money from collecting valuable fauna that Sakura points out. She and Travis have gotten close from him peppering her with questions. He says he wants to retire into a training position at the guild and any knowledge about useful plants is invaluable. Sakura even stops by the library a couple times to check out books so she has more to talk about.
After a month of working myself to the bone, I check my status.
"Status."
Niccolo Drake lv 1
Patron: God of knowledge
Job: Commoner lv 1
Possible jobs: Spearman
Skills: Heat Resistance lv 1, Thrust lv 1
Titles:
Unassigned points: 10
Health: 76/76 (+12)
Stamina: 171/171 (+42)
Vitality: 31 (+12)
Strength: 73 (+31)
Agility: 74 (+48)
Endurance: 101 (+42)
Resilience: 31 (+14)
Perception: 5 (+2)
Mana Capacity: 0
Mana Bandwidth: 0
Processing power: 1 (+1)
I smile every time I see it. It's hard to describe how good it feels to have the fruits of your labor categorized so precisely. I now have the Thrust Skill, which allows me to add momentum to my spear thrust. I try it out and find that it even makes the spear shoot forward when at rest, but only as long as I maintain my grip. Also, due entirely to Jezabel's fervent encouragement, I gain the Heat Resistance Skill. I can't really tell the difference when she shoots me with her fireballs but Nick assures me it'll make a big difference as we level it up. Those Dilata Potions are also making a big difference as my agility stat leaps forward to even catch up to strength.
"By the way," I ask as we walk to the guild. "Why did I suddenly get a point in processing power?"
'That stat is hard to get. I'm not really sure.'
"Well, whatever. I'm not complaining."
A cool breeze ushers in whispers of winter as I head toward the guild.
"Ahh!" I hear a shout coming from down a street and start running in that direction. A couple of people are standing over a pale green corpse.
"Thank you." A woman in a blue dress is profusely thanking one of the town guards.
"Of, course. Did you see where it came from?"
"I'm not sure, I think maybe it came from that alley?"
We all turn and see an open sewer cover in the middle of the alley.
"We'd best report this to the Count." The guard says. Thinking similarly, I head to the guild to tell Jezabel. I feel kind of like a trained dog but I'm sure that's just my imagination.
Two men in expensive looking clothes, walk out with a little girl trailing a ways behind them. It's uncanny seeing people other than adventurer's open those doors so I pause to see who they are. I can only see their back as they walk away but the man on the right is tall and slender, with long blond hair, who moves as if all the world belongs to him. The man on his left clearly works for him as he stand a half step behind while constantly glancing at his superior.
The girl is completely out of place. She's wearing a bright yellow dress that flairs out at the hips like some bourgeois from the nineteenth century. It would be funny if she didn't look so sad; her steps slow and lagging while she stares at the ground.
I forget about the odd scene and walk into the hall. Catherine tells me the Guild Master is in her office so I walk up the steps to the top floor.
The door is open.
I peak in and see Jezabel sitting at her desk while scowling and rubbing her temples.
"What?" She barks before I even knock.
"Oh, uh, I just saw some guards kill a pale green thing in the street. It was attacking a woman and it looked like it was coming from the sewers."
"Sir, there are reports of goblins in the sewers." Mary says as she squeezes past me.
Jezabel sighs, which is unusual coming from her. Mary seems to think so as well because she nervously fiddles with the hem of her dress. The tension in the room builds until I can't take it anymore.
"Aaare you alright?"
Jezabel flinches at my words.
Instead of answering, she responds to Mary.
"Put out a general quest to search the sewers for goblins."
"Right away, sir."
"Wait." Jezabel says as I turn to leave. "Get in here."
I silently walk into the room and close the door behind me.
"You need to keep your head down for awhile, and keep your mouth shut."
"But, that head knight from-"
"Mouth. Shut." She reiterates.
"Yes, ma'am." I reply sheepishly. She closes her eyes and takes another deep breath to collect herself. She must have had a rough meeting with the people that left earlier. I wait patiently as she gathers her thoughts.
"From now on, you are going to do your patrols without Ironhead."
"Really? Why?"
She glares at me so I put my hands up in surrender.
"I need them here to deal with the goblins in the sewers but we still need to patrol for Manka activity. Based on your Agility Stat, you shouldn't have any problem running the short distance out of the forest if you encounter any problems.
"If you say so." I shrug. I'm not thrilled about having my safety net removed but I suppose they won't be around be around forever so this was going to happen eventually.
"Also, I may need your assistance dealing with some of the smaller pipes in the sewer system."
"Okay?" I had the distinct feeling that she was withholding something from me, though I don't know what. She didn't appear to be acting against my best interest so I was tempted to drop the issue but I couldn't get the thought out of my head.
"I know I'm asking a lot but I'd like you to keep the weighted rings on during your patrols so I'll help you out by paying the cost of renting power armor."
"Whoa! Power armor?"
"Don't get so excited. It's just armor that raises one of your stats and I'm only doing it to offset the extra weight."
"Oh, yeah. I forgot about those." I chuckle as I move my body around and feel the rings that have faded from my awareness. When I look back up, she has a devious smile painted across her face.
"It seems like you're outgrowing those weights, it may be time to add some more."
"Wait, what about-"
"I'm joking, of course. For the time being we'll just keep them as they are."
I sigh a breath of relief.
"Here is a letter of recommendation for Mr. Tumaal, he's a blacksmith. He'll get you fitted for a better set of armor. Your weapons should be fine as they are.
"Roger, that."
"And remember; keep. Your mouth. Shut. You are gaining a reputation and it may not be just some knight you piss off next time.
"Yes, ma'am."
She gives me directions and I walk back downstairs to wait for the kids to arrive. They're late for some reason. I can't help but fear they died even though I know that's almost certainly not the case. Once you worry about someone coming back and they don't, it will always be the first thought that comes to mind.
I sit in my usual spot and watch the tempered madness of the guild hall. Things have gotten more lively since I first arrived. A roar of laughter erupts from the crowd at the bar, who seem noticeably more sloshed than usual. Chaos is a ladder, I suppose. Everyone has already forgotten the tragedies that befell the so recently. And so have I.
On some level I wish my sorrow had some effect on reality; that I could turn back the gears of time if only by my guilt. But, it marches on. And so do I.
The kids sit down at the table across from me and I take a deep breath to push away the errant thoughts clouding my mind.
"I've gotten word from Jezabel that we're going to continue the patrols on our own while Ironhead manages a goblin infestation in the sewers. Also we're getting new armor."
"Goblins again?" Sakura huffs. She notices me tilting my head and goes on to explain that this has happened two other times this year.
"Well, while everyone is focusing on the sewer, why don't we go patrol the forest edge."
"Okay."
"Sure!"
We stop by the blacksmith and get fitted with leather power armor that increases our resilience by fifty points. The blacksmith was adamant that we shouldn't get armor that increases our strength or speed so that seemed like the logical choice. He also reminds us that this armor belongs to the guild and that any repairs will be paid for by us. It fits like a glove. The leather is made of Bovaal skin which is both tough and flexible.
After we get properly fitted, we head to the woods. The patrol starts off like any other. We walk down to one end of the treeline and enter deep enough that we can just barely make out the light coming in from outside. Then, we turn and weave around the thick trees between the treeline and the fungal layer. There are no Mammoth Trees here although the trunks are still wider than my arm span.
We walk all the way down to the other end of the treeline and turn around when I see a familiar green glow out of the corner of my eye.
"Woohee?"
She doesn't respond and just haunches her shoulders. Her wide puppy dog eyes are looking up at me expectantly.
Confused, I walk over to her but she still doesn't react.
"Woohee? Are you alright?"
"..."
"Woohee?" I poke her chubby cheek and finally giggles before returning to her forlorn expression.
"Nick is mad at Woohee." She finally says.
"I'm mad?"
"Woohee tricked Nick." She says with tears in her eyes.
"You tricked me?" I think back to our last interaction and how I was ambushed. Presumably, she blames herself for that, but the tribe of fairies could have easily captured me without her help so it didn't even occur to me to blame her. "That wasn't your fault; your boss just wanted to have me remove that other kid from your village. I'm not mad."
"Really?"
"Really."
"Really, really?"
"Yes. Really, really."
"Really, really, really?"
"Yes. really, really, really. I'm not mad. Everything is okay. Here, I brought another cookie." I pull out the treat before she can keep asking me the same question and her eyes light up. I break a piece off and hand it to her and she flutters around happily. A warm fluttering fills my stomach as I watch her.
"We're just going on patrol. Do you want to come with us."
"Okay!" Woohee says and lands on my head. She continues munching on the cookie while raining crumbs into my hair. Sakura and Josh stopped when they saw me veer off to the side so I walk up to them to introduce my tiny friend.
"Sakura, Josh, this is Woohee." I say as I lean my head forward slightly so they can get a better look.
"Hello! Aren't you a cutie!" Sakura squeals.
"Hi." Josh says flatly. I'm always shocked by Josh's ability to easily accept all the crazy things that keep happening around us. In many ways he's more seasoned than I am.
"Hi." Woohee glances quickly at the two kids before returning to the heavenly cookie in her hands. We keep walking along and chat a bit before the itis hits Woohee from her large meal and she falls asleep. She limply slides off my head and lands on the soft leather of the armor behind my neck. This piece is there to keep the tough material from chaffing my skin but apparently also doubles as a comfortable bed. It's peaceful, despite all the chaos looming ahead.