We spent the night up there, tucked away in a shallow cave I had found, then we made our way down the mountain.
Mini status.
------------------
Health:725/725
Energy:1052/1052
Stamina:532/532
Excess energy : 4,034
------------------
I used the rest of the mana potions we had left, made it about half-way to a full energy stat, and had to wait the rest of the night to get fully recharged.
Once we made it to Harvain we immediately went to the teleportation circles.
The circles are situated in a huge open-air building, think aircraft hangar times ten.
The floor is a slab of hard rock that is leveled off and smooth to the touch.
The teleportation circles are carved directly into the floor, runes on signs besides the circles dictate where they will take you.
Attached to the ceiling, walls, and columns are huge mana hearts that transfuse the air with magic.
Before you can get inside, you have to buy a pass from a toll booth in the front of the building.
In the booth is a dwarf saleswoman doing want salespeople do best, wasting time and trying everything to avoid giving a refund.
The unfortunate target of the sales pitch is a small girl, with grey hair, pale skin, and deep blue eyes.
"I think you should reconsider, this after all is a pass to the capital!
That in and of itself is an opportunity that only comes once in a lifetime!"
(Salesperson)
"And I still plan on going to the capital, I just have other means. Way cheaper other means."
(Little girl)
"How about I throw in a free return trip - if you buy two extra passes to other destinations - and get you a reservation at the Blue Boar. And before you ask, yes that is the tavern that the Duke of Highcliff was seen at."
"I don't need any of that, I just need this refunded. I wasn't going to buy a pass in the first place, but my party members - when I was engaged elsewhere - thought I would need one and brought me one."
"What if I ....."
This looks like it's going to be a while.
Someone reached past me and tapped Jurea on the shoulder.
We all looked back and noticed a middle-aged man in a fine tunic and leggings.
God, I can't get over what these people actually wear on purpose. Hehehe.
Shut up Patty.
Jeanne Lawfer made me wear that, in return for... services rendered.
Thinking back on it.... it was still worth it.
Ah! Jeanne Lawfer.
"Ma'am I need to be in the capital in the next few minutes. If you let me skip you, I think I can solve the hold up."
Jurea looked at us, and we all shook our heads in agreement.
She gestured for him to go.
"Be my guest, we're not in any rush."
"Thank you ma'am."
He gave a curt bow, then went up to the toll booth.
"Excuse me, correct me if I'm wrong, but the problem here is that you want your money back,"
He pointed at the girl, then the saleswoman.
"And you want to make a sale, correct?"
They both nodded their heads.
"Well, here is my solution to the problem, you return her money, and I'll buy three passes just for this one trip."
The dwarf's eyes widened in shock.
"All to the capital?"
"Yes."
The dwarf reached under her booth desk and pulled out some money.
"Here is your refund ma'am. I hope you have a lovely day, and decide to travel with us again."
She isn't traveling with you in the first place, how can she travel with you again?
The little girl just nodded her head in thanks to the dude, collected her money, and left the toll booth.
Once she was a good distance away, she waved her hand and a gryphon appeared out of thin air.
She then climbed onto its back, and flew off.
Patty, what spell was that?! And why didn't I learn it?
A chunk of energy left me.
< It wasn't a spell, rather a skill called summoning. Summoning is when a practitioner takes a mana heart and forces his or her mana through it, the mana then reconstitutes the monster under the practitioner's control. It is similar to your polymorph ability, in the fact that it uses mana to create matter.>
Shit! I want that.
You just can't understand Patty.
"Come on lizard."
(Flora)
They were already headed for the booth, the middle-aged man had already bought his three passes and was running for the teleportation circle.
"How are you doing today?"
(Salesperson)
"Fine, here."
Jurea passed her our passes that Ledina had given us.
"Oh, I see, you know it is truly a shame to waste passes on going to a back water town like SaltWater. You know just for a simple eighty extra gold you can go to the Golden pond or..."
"Lady I just faced down a wyvern up in the mountains. If you try fucking with me, I will personally drag your short-ass up that fucking mountain and throw you directly into that wyvern's fucking mouth."
Jurea interrupted her without a second thought.
The message was definitely received.
"Please be on your way, have a lovely trip and I hope you'll travel with us again."
We walked right past her and headed for the circle.
"You were right Jay."
(Jurea)
"Of course I was, what was I right about again?"
"You told me weeks ago that being nice to people had advantages, and you were right. I was just nice to that dwarf, and she just let us right in."
Wait! That was her being nice?!
____________________________
After we made it back to Saltwater we collected our money from the guild, and went over to Emira's forge - sans Flora who said she had shit to do.
Once there we were met with a weird sight.
Anytime Emira needed something cooled, my pet slagan would cool it by absorbing its heat, and then promptly be fed a piece of dried meat.
Emira would then scratch her head.
"There's a good Thonie."
I chuckled at that.
"Thonie, really? And they all said I've got bad naming sense."
Shut up Patty.
Without stopping what she was doing she answered me.
"It is short for Anthonia, it was my late mother's name.
Also, she seems to like it."
Great, now I feel like an ass.
"That's actually... a great name."
< Great save. >
Shut up Patty.
She shrugged.
"It's the first one I thought of, I thought we would need to call her something."
The slagan started rubbing her head on Emira.
Emira started scratching her head in return.
Wow, it looks like she really bonded with it... I mean Thonie over these past few days.
Hey Patty, is it possible to transfer pets to other people?
< Yes, and they would take the burden of XP sharing. >
Yes! Not only can I rid myself of that XP parasite, I can tame other animals and just sell them off to level up that skill.
"Hey Emira, you like Thonie a lot, right?"
"No."
"Huh?"
"I'm sorry, were you not just about to suggest giving Thonie to me? To rid yourself of splitting your - what was it called again? Oh, yes - XP?"
"Yes, but how did you know that?"
"I'm not stupid. Beastmasters sell monsters all the time, and I've been 'leveling up' without having to kill anything, so I just assumed you split your XP with all of us. By you trying to get rid of her I'm assuming she takes even more of your XP."
"But I thought you liked her? Shouldn't you want her as your own?"
"I do like her, which is why I don't want her growth stunted."
"Fine. By the way here."
I tossed her a very heavy sack.
"That's all of the money we owe you, for our equipment."
"This is too much."
"We all - except for Flora - decided that since you're part of the party that you should get a percentage of all of our cuts."
(Jurea)
Emira shrugged, then went over to a chest to put the coin in.
"Did you start on my gear yet?"
(Eric)
"Yes, in fact I've already finished it."
"What?! Our equipment took over a month!"
(Jurea)
"Yes because I had to get supplies imported, forge some items from scratch, and your gear was more complex. All I had to do for her bow was carve the ogre bone, coat it in steel, and craft her quiver."
Emira went over to a craft table in the back, and came back carrying a beautiful bow and quiver.
It looked similar to a recurve bow made of metal with intricate carvings, except all along the outside was a steel blade separated by the hand grip - which was covered in a supple leather.
"Here, I used ogre bone as the core and the steel will add durability. The blade is for when close quarter combat is unavoidable. The grip and string are made from leather from the skin of that corrosive dragon y'all brought back. Your quiver is also made from the dragon skin, I used an old capacity bag so you can hold over a hundred arrows. I designed the quiver to fit beneath your capacity pack, so always load up as many arrows as you can in it before heading out."
Eric took off the capacity pack to put on the quiver.
"Thanks, I'll make more arrows to put
in it."
"No need, when I was done I had extra time, so I made a bunch of arrows and put them inside for you to use."
"Thank you."
Emira pulled out a dagger with a hilt made of bone, and the blade was slightly wavy.
"This will make cutting apart monsters easier."
"Thanks, again."
"You should name your bow."
"Okay, I will name it Eric."
"No, you have to name it something close to your sou..."
My interruption was interrupted by Eric's bow lighting up, signifying that it had worked.
"Never mind, I guess you really like that name huh?"
"Why wouldn't I? It was my grandfather's name, and he taught me everything I know."
"Why didn't your parents teach you?"
"Because my father got beaten to death when I was real young and I never met my mother, but considering how both my father and grandfather were slaves I always assumed she was either sold off or dead."
Both Jurea and Emira was staring at me.
Why can't I just keep my mouth shut!
< I ask that same exact thing when I hear your voice. >
Shut up Patty.
"Look, I'm sorry."
"Don't be it, was a long time ago."
"Still, I shouldn't be....."
"Hey, I need y'all share of the gold!"
(Flora)
Flora came running into the forge.
"What is it now?"
(Jurea)
"I thought I answered that when I said I need y'all share of the gold."
"Yes, but why do you need the gold? You got your own money."
(Me)
"Fine, I'll try to explain it in the simplest way possible. If we put all of our money together, we have just under seventy thousand gold, and a former hunter wants to sell his land for cheap and will sell it for just sixty thousand gold!"
"Isn't that still too much money for a piece of land?"
"What? No, most pieces of land with similar amounts of land by a dungeon cost a hundred times that, at least!"
"I don't think you can have my share, I'm planning on freeing some slaves with mine."
(Eric)
"Exactly."
"Huh?"
"I have realized our society is wrong about slavery, and that we should buy their freedom. But where are you going to let them live? If they somehow found lodging and work in town, they'd be discriminated against."
"Well, I didn't think about that, but I...."
"Which is why we have to buy this land while the opportunity is still here, then they can have somewhere to live and rebuild their lives. You can always make more money to buy them later, the first thing you have to worry about is somewhere safe for them to live and thrive."
"I... guess you're right."
"Of course I am."
With Eric convinced, she turned her gaze to the rest of us.
"Even if you got her to agree, why would I? After all, you already stole from me once."
As I thought, Emira would never help her.
"Because I wouldn't be taking a single copper from you - at least not really. The lizard promised me half of the next payment for his webs, and I'll give it to you. And if you don't believe me just have the lizard compel me."
That can not work.
"Works for me."
What!
"You may have gotten them to agree, but you still got two more to convince."
Yeah, that's right, and I won't fall for her shit.
Flora laughed.
"Already done, Jurea you want to leave that rented hellmouth, and this provides you a rent-free house. And Jay will do it because it's not like he can really spend any money anyway, and he wouldn't screw over you and Eric just to spite me."
She put on that shit eating grin again.
"Fuck it, the wrong one of us is cold-blooded."
"I try, now hand over the coin."
__________________________________
A while later Flora, Jurea, and me were at
a table in the back of a local tavern called the Horses Head.
Seriously what is with these names.
What?
< Proper grammar would be Flora, Jurea, and I. >
Shut up, you grammar Nazi.
"By the way, what's the catch?"
(Jurea)
"What are you talking about?"
"You couldn't give two shits about some slaves, so why do you really want this property? And what's so bad about it that the owner is selling it for this cheap?"
Shit, I didn't think about that.
This just isn't my day, actually fuck that! This isn't my week.
"I didn't think it would be you who thought I had an ulterior motive, but you're right, I don't care about some slaves. Don't get me wrong they can live in a barn or something, as long as they do work around the property. As for why I wanted the land, it's simple. If we build buildings there, we can undercut the prices in town to get adventurers to stay with us instead - giving us another revenue stream."
"Clearing enough of the land would be a hassle, and cost more than we would probably make in the first year."
"It's already cleared, and ready to be built on."
"Did he show you the land?"
"Don't be stupid, when would I have had the time to go out there? No, he just told me."
"And you're just trusting his word?"
(Me)
"He's an old man, he's probably already going soft in the head. He couldn't trick me if he tried."
"Why is he selling the land so cheap though?"
"Oh, that, it's outside of the protection of Saltwater and there are rumors of a new monster or even a demon in the woods, I think he lost a family member or something. So, instead of sticking it out like a man, he's decided to runaway."
"You really think people are going to pay you when they'd have no protection from town?"
"They will, if the starting price is low enough, greed trumps caution. Every. Single. Damn. Time. And I guess we could put up wall or something, maybe."
"And how - or should I say who - do you expect to build these houses? I know your skinny ass ain't."
(Me)
"Hard labor should come easy to you."
"Fuck yo... huh, what's he doing here?"
At the bar was Geoff downing mug after mug of booze.
Both of them followed my gaze.
"It's a tavern, he's drinking."
(Flora)
"Thanks captain obvious, I meant why's he drinking that much. It's the middle of the day, shouldn't he be at one of the gates?"
"Well, here's the thing, I don't give a fuck."
"Wench!"
Jurea waved over one of the serving girls.
"Are y'all ready to order finally, or are y'all gonna keep nursing those mugs of ale? Dinner is cabbage stew with a side of brown bread."
She's staring hard at Jurea.
"Why is that guard over there? Do you know what troubles him?"
"I don't know how that could be any of y'all business. I don't know why the owner allowed y'all to enter with that monster, but if all y'all gonna buy is two five copper ales I think you should make room for actual patrons."
"Here."
(Jurea)
She flicked a silver coin at her.
"This is too much, a meal cost twenty coppers only."
"It's not for a meal, tell me what I want to know and you can keep it."
The wench put the coin in a coin purse strung on the side of her smock.
"Short of it is he wants to try to drown himself in ale to forget his troubles, unfortunately he is too broke to buy the good stuff. The long story is he was found sleeping on guard duty, and was forced to escort someone - I don't know who or where he took them. While he was away, two guards he was close to died in the forest."
"How'd they die?"
"Some type of monster attack. The vice captain of the guard said they volunteered to scout, and when they didn't return he went in himself. He came back carrying the head of a third tier monster that had killed them, oddly enough I didn't even think he could fight even a first tier."
"THERE'S NO FUCKING WAY!!!!"
(Geoff)
Everyone in the tavern looked towards Geoff.
Geoff was standing - wobbly as he was - staring daggers at the wench.
"JAXON AND ANNYS WOULD'VE KICKED THE ASS OF A FUCKING MID-RANK, THERE'S NO WAY A THIRD TIER KILLED THEM! BARRYN IS FULL OF SHIT! SOME BANDITS KILLED THEM, AND BARRYN HAS TAKEN A FUCKING BRIBE TO LIE HIS ASS OFF! IF I WAS THERE... IF I was... if I was there I wouldn't have had to watch them burn two empty pyres, I wouldn't have to tell Mary I failed him. He trusted me and I wasn't there when they needed me t..."
He fell down, and fell asleep.
"Excuse me, I should go help him."
The wench went over to Geoff.
"Hey Pat!"
A heavy-set guy came from the kitchen.
"Help me with him."
Pat waved the wench away and picked Geoff up.
"Where are we taking him? Are we throwing him in the alley out back?"
The wench smacked his arm.
"Of course not! He just lost people close to him. Put him in one of the rooms in the back to sleep it off. Watch his head!"
They carried him off.
After a few minutes everything went back to normal.
"Man, I feel bad for the guy."
"It's your own fault. If I were you, I wouldn't have asked, and wouldn't feel this bad right now. Of course, I'm me so even if I did find out, I wouldn't give a fuck. Anyway, the seller is here, don't fuck this up."
A muscular old Man Came walking towards our table, somehow his eyes looked like there was no life in them.
"Flora it is nice to see you again, and this must be your party leader. Hello, I'm Jolan."
He out-stretched his hand, and Jurea promptly took it.
"Strong grip. I'm glad, I'd rather not leave this land to people who can't defend themselves."
"Well, I'm glad we got the introductions out-of-the-way, now shall we get down to business?"
(Flora)
Jurea let go of his hand and motioned to the empty chair at the table.
"If you don't mind me asking old man, where will you live?"
(Jurea)
"I'm sure he rather us not pry into his business."
(Flora)
"No, I don't mind, in fact I'm flattered that you actually care. After I'm done here I'll head over to Ironkeep, I have family there that'll have me."
"Ironkeep is pretty far away, can you get
there by yourself?"
Flora was giving Jurea the 'Will you please shut the fuck up' look.
"Hahaha! Why do you think I'm selling my land for so cheap? I'm gonna use the money to by a pass, like I should've done months ago but was too stubborn to do so."
"There's no shame in protecting and trying to keep your home."
Flora tried to kick Jurea under the table, but she accidentally hit me instead.
"But there is shame in letting your pride blind you to what's really worth protecting.
After I give you the deed please heed this advice, don't be so courageous that you become stupid.
You can always come back to reclaim land, but you can't reclaim a life. Here's the deed, I assume y'all already deposited the sixty thousand gold at the guild, correct?"
The guild he's talking about is the infrastructure guild that handles all purchases of land in Saeria.
"Yes, it's handled."
"Then I bid y'all good luck."
"You too old man."
And with that we became land owners.
______________________________
"YOU HAVE GOT TO BE FUCKING KIDDING ME! HE TRICKED US!!!!"
(Flora)