Novum opened the door and the old lender was already there waiting on him. "Sorry that I am early but I have some thing to do later today and I would really like to look around."
"Of course sir. Come on in and take a look around." He stepped back and the old man looked around. He looked at quite a few things and finally stopped and really looked at the same set that Peter was interested in the night before. "That is a very expensive set sir."
"Gold and garnets with amazing workmanship. Will you take five and a half?"
Novum pretended to think about it for a minute and then gave in. "After deal I got on the house how about we go to five as a favor."
"I am not one to say no to a deal like that. I had my eye on a few other things but after spending that much I should probably stop. My wife and daughter will kill me the way it is."
"Good luck with that sir." The man took the box the he put the stuff in and handed it to the lender. As he walked out the door a few more people were coming and he just left the door open and went back inside. He greeted all of them and then let them look around. By the time that all of them left the sun was high in the sky and he had tripled the money that he got from the lender but the problem was that almost all the stuff that was left was pretty big.
Noctis spent the night out back and while people were looking around he fed him some oats. After spending all his time in the big paddock Noctis was not real happy with the situation. He was not so petty as he would not let Novum ride him but he did seem to be moving a little slower than normal. "I am sorry Noctis. There is not enough space for you to run around and if another mare in town goes into heat you will disappear and I can't have that. Listen I have been spoiling you. We have a long trip starting tomorrow and a few days in the city so you are going to have to suck it up."
As they rode past the general store the three workers were back in their spot. "Guys I am taking a trip to the capitol starting tomorrow. Need two drivers and someone to look after the garden and horses. I will pay all three of you teamster rates and the two that come with me will get free lodging. You in? Wait before you answer we are taking the stuff out of my house here and taking it to the capitol to sell. I am going to be picking a few things up while I am there but that will not require you and then driving back. Should not take that long but probably a week or so."
The three men turned to each other and after a heated discussion they all turn to him. "We are in. Sorry sir we should have told you that first. We were deciding who would go with you and who would handle the house." Novum realized that the man in the back lost and he would be taking care of the house. "We will all load up the cart and the Al will head out to the house and take care of things."
"Sounds good guys I will see you in the morning." Novum headed to city hall he needed to find out about the letter and the coin. When he got there he motioned Peter to the back room and pointed at the stone that silenced the room. He pulled out the letter and the letter and the coin. "What can you tell me about this?"
Peter was shocked at the coin, "this is a royal coin. This coin was given to a noble by royalty. If used the right way it can be used to take any property that is not in the possession of anyone with a coin of equal or higher rank. With this coin a person could take any land that did not belong to the king, to include the Duke's property. This coin is very dangerous."
"I can see that. Do you have any idea who it belongs too?"
"Let me see if the letter can tell me anything." Peter read the letter and it looked like he was going to throw up. "This is bad. This is really bad."
"Okay Peter what is bad?"
"Sir Christopher Lions! He saved the life of the grandfather of the king and all of the royal family. This coin was a gift to him from the king as a thank you. He decreed that he would never use it and wore it around his neck as a badge of honor. Well I should say that officially he did use it but it was for a one foot piece of land in the king's garden. But if it has been unsealed by a magistrate that means that it can be used again by anyone that has the coin."
"Who is the golden girl?"
"Sir Lions had twins a girl and a boy. The girl had hair like gold and a beauty like no other. She was also highly intelligent and athletic. They called her the golden girl. He brother is referred to as young lion. He is almost as big as you are and he is a powerful fighter."
"So it appears that someone kidnapped the golden girl and used her to get the coin and had it sent here as a precaution. Wait." He looked at the letter again. "Stewart. Jim was not his real name. Jim is short for James and Stewart James is the son of Earl James. He is the second in line behind the Duke. Technically there is a rank step in between but that role has been empty for decades."
"In other words I just ended up in the middle of a lot of trouble."
"That coin or that letter can get you killed without question. I would not tell anyone about either of them. The Earl is a cold and calculating man. He will hire every mercenary in the realm to kill you if he thinks you are a threat. He is after the Duke title and property and you are nothing to him."
"Thank you for the information Peter. I will be extra careful. By the way could you not tell anyone about this?"
"That would be like committing suicide so yeah it is our secret."
"Do you know anything about this Magistrate Long?"
"He is in the Earl's pocket. He gambled a lot and got so far in debt that there was no way out but death and the Earl saved him and his reputation. Now almost anything that comes against him disappears quicker than it got there and usually the people with it. Everyone knows about it but no one can prove it."
"Okay. Again Peter than you for that. I need to get back out to the farm and get things settled before I go."
"Novum.....just be careful. Oh, here is the package for Rachael." Novum took the package and headed out to finish things up. Peter was not sure if he would come back from the capitol or not.
Novum smiled a little. He could take two feats at level 6 and one of them was a level feat and not a class feat. He already knew that he was going to be taking track. Now he had to figure out what the other feat was going to be. That also gave him a second attack. Things were looking good as far as he was concerned. The pup was glad to have him back and came running up to him. He was not after food but companionship at this point. Normally he would have other cubs to play and train with but he had only Novum spent a couple of hours with him and then got everything set up for him to be gone as long as two weeks.
Now that he was alone again he pulled up his character sheet in the system and added all of his skill points concentrating on mercantile skills since he was going to be selling things in a big city and then went to his feats options. He also noticed that he got luck on his hit point roll and maxed it out. That was always a bonus. He looked at the list in his mind and immediately selected track and than he stopped and started looking at all of the feats that were available as fighter feats.
Novum was looking over the list again and again and then he noticed the error that was bothering him. 'System there is an error.'
'Leadership in not a fighter bonus feat.'
'Understood system. Thank you.' Novum chose leadership as he second feat. Now things might really get interesting. He was not high enough to go out looking for any followers but if he could get a few it might make things interesting. Novum spent the rest of the evening getting everything ready for Al as he would be the one taking care of things until he got back. He was not sure how long he was going to be so he wanted to be prepared.
A quick meal and some meat for Fang and he headed to bed. He thought about lighting his pipe while in bed but remembered all of those horror stories form his last life and did not want to take than kind of chance. He rolled a cigarette and smoked that and made sure it was out before he went to sleep. He thought about it and realized that he was going to need a new bed. The couch at his new house was better than his bed here.
Novum was up before the sun and after rubbing Fang's belly he headed for the village. He was there just as the sun was coming through the trees. The wagons and his workers were already at the house. He was not sure how the man knew where to bring the carriages but he was not going to complain. Between to the wagons and his bag they had everything loaded up. "Al I left you a note out there and most of the feed is split up so no big deal. Please rotate riding the horses back and forth to get them some exercise. And it will make your trip quicker. And don't spoil the pup to much, he will get fat."
"I will take care of it sir. And thank you for the use of the horses."
Novum headed for the gate and let the horses pulling the wagons set the pace. If he overworked they would die and there was no way that they could have kept up with Noctis without the extra weight. The one big advantage they did have was they were out of the city well before most of the normal traveling groups. If they timed it right and the sun was in their favor they might even be able to make the city by nightfall in two days. Not into the city but close enough that they would be under the protection of the roving night patrols just outside the city. It was a huge advantage to merchants.