When Eleanor wore the necklace, she realized this necklace was a special object, a divine object to be precise.
If aura and mana were more of pure human abilities, divinity was much more special. There has been no scientific reason for this occurrence, but because of its spontaneous nature, it is seen as the power of god which lies in the human. Thus, only humans chosen by god can use divinity. Eleanor did not know if gods existed or not, but divinity was one of the few reasons priests use to preach their beliefs however crazy they seemed. It was also the reason they absolutely loathed alchemist, those who actively rejected the idea of god, or rather the idea of a benevolent being above mortals.
Divinity was rare, very rare, and most those people became religion heads when in possession of this rare power. It was a power thought to be given by god, after all.
Divine objects are objects which have been blessed by priest. These blessings can range from small scale enhancements like toughness for armor, or haste for boots to even the highest level like purification or regeneration. The enhancements are usually dependent on the skill level of the priest.
The necklace, if Eleanor was correct was most likely blessed by someone at least at the saint level. It radiated a pure divine energy as soon as she touched it. It did confuse her a bit that this necklace hid itself from her even though she was once a grandmaster, but she just chalked it up to an effect of the object itself, [Concealment], which she deduced as the object before contact never seemed to have any radiating energy. There seemed to be another enchantment too, but she couldn't figure it out yet.
The thought of a divine object hiding itself from her made her sweat a bit, but she once again put those thoughts behind her, now was not the time. She looked around for a mirror.
She looked at the mirror and nothing had changed, maybe she became a bit "transparent", as in hard to detect, however it was not to the level of being able to mask her presence perfectly. And it definitely didn't live up to the pure divine energy it had.
"Something is wrong, I definitely see a bit of concealment, but it's not enough; maybe I'm wrong?" Eleanor said out loud.
She thought to herself how one usually used these object, and usually they would be self-applying, so she was a bit stumped. Then she realized-
"A necklace? A pretty normal and bland looking one at that…maybe, it's something to be worn whenever, and it needs a special keyword to unlock?"
Eleanor was definitely on the right track with her new realization.
"Since it is a concealing necklace, maybe the word is just simple, [Conceal]…"
Nothing happened. She thought a bit more, maybe concealing was a secondary objective, and maybe the main objective of this object was something more. Eleanor thought of new enhancements the object to have, like [Regeneration], [Haste], [Immune], [Heal].
Out of ideas, she thought that without knowing the objective of the object it would be border line impossible to find the word.
She raised her energy once more, this time she was much more careful than when checking for her brother, because objects can have strong repulsion and can be easily damaged when foreign energy is used to examine them, as they do not have "adaptation".
Carefully she realized what the real objective of this necklace was, [Protection].
"[Protection]", she chanted, only for nothing to happen.
"I don't know why this isn't working", she inquired, "I'm sure, this is the real objective of this necklace so…"
Eleanor racked up her brain some more. Out of ideas again, she began listing of a few more things.
"[Barrier], [Sheild], [Block], [Defend]…um…[Armor]?"
At last something happened, a suit of silver armor wrapped around her body. The armor seemed sturdy, and allowed for good movement, the armor also made no sound while it moved around or struck something, this might've been the area where [Conceal] acted on; however it still did not live up to the energy it had radiated. It didn't seem to provide him with any strength related buffs either, so overall it would quite disappointing find even though the initial find was much more promising.
Eleanor thought she might've been mistaken, or unfortunately "scammed", but wearing the armor she realized a few things.
The armor hid her face, and it made her a bit taller. No one could make out any discerning features just from the armor, aside from the armor itself.
"Now that I think about it, isn't this a really good concealment method?" she said out loud, the voice that sounded was more rough.
"It conceals the voice quite well too; it is a decent armor too. It might save me from a few hit but, it will work I suppose." she remarked, making a few quick adjustments to her plans in her mind
"Rebecca, no too girly, I need a name that people can trust from a, well…mid-teens looking guy. Well, Elin should do the trick." Eleanor quickly chose a name.
"From today you're Elin" Elin pointed at himself at the mirror, the silver armor shining brightly against the warm sunlight.
"And I suppose I better get used to being a 'boy', this should improve my reliability a bit…" Elin said as he looked at his slightly taller build.
With that she chanted armor again, and it was sucked into the necklace.
An identity concealer was much required; she knew a 9-year old girl couldn't do many things. Now that she looked a bit more mature and looked like a boy she could do some things incognito while hiding her identity.
Her previous plan was just to sponsor in the business in her land as an eccentric travelling merchant and take a bit of their profits, since she did not have access to the taxes the citizens were paying, and maybe do some cleaning of the surrounding forest using stealth. But with the help of this necklace she could do more physical work without being suspected as much.
Moving on, she made her way to the back of the room. There was a single showcase which held something that resembled a spear head. Looking at the weapon, she remembered how much her father had fought over that weapon, even when he was in his worst condition. She remembered her father desperately trying to stop the collectors from taking it.
Eleanor slowly opened up the casing and took the spear head. It was quite worn out but it had a handle to hold it with. The spear, in its entirety, came out a little bit shorter than broadsword from its ends. The spear had a long, slender shaft made of some unknown metal with a sharp, pointed tip, which had a black-ish color. At the base of the spearhead, there was a cross-guard that extended horizontally to either side of the shaft. The cross-guard has two curved prongs that curved slightly towards the tip of the spearhead. The spearhead itself had a triangular shape with two edges that taper towards the point. The edges of the spearhead were serrated, giving it a more menacing appearance.
She swung it gently to test it out as it cut the sides of the wooden table the casing. There was no residue remaining, it was an extremely clean cut. The metal itself had some unknown origins and it seemed to have some effect on the sharpness and strength of the blade, as it seemed to be able to amplify its power multiple folds.
"It makes sense why father tried so desperately to stop them now. But, it makes me wonder why a family known for swordsmanship has a spear head as its heirloom? And what's up with the metal...something is weird. Well, I don't need to know the origins to use a weapon, do I? So this should help me plenty...I do feel a bit bad using the family heirloom in doing such menial tasks but, I need all the edge I can get." She talked to herself.
Thinking about her family gave her a grim feeling but she stopped herself from feeling that way for now, it was not a time to mourn. Then she went over her immediate plans.
First, she would invest the little money she had on local businesses, like restaurants and clothing stores as the travelling merchant, this was her original plan. While currently money was her biggest setback, she was now the official baroness and she couldn't see the people her family looked after suffer because of her family's circumstances. This was also an excellent long-term investment.
Now, because of the necklace she had a major change of plans. She could use it to disguise herself as a wandering warrior living in her estate with her other hidden identity. This would be quite the cover story which would even bring her family reputation up in her area. Then using the disguise, she would do some odd jobs around the town, which would make the Russel family be looked more favorably by the townsfolk and at the same time be a source of income. Eventually she hoped to find some outside connections which would help in regaining the lost glory of the state, and she couldn't forget that she needed to pay back all the suffering her extended family caused.
Although the disguise worked very well, she still looked young so, she had no other choice to hide herself more.
The major fork in her plans was her brother, since Eleanor didn't want her brother to know of her double life or, want him to waste his youth away training, she had to make up another lie that would hopefully make it so that her brother would not find out. That was something for later so; she readied herself for the current big thing.
"This is it!" Eleanor thought to herself as she readied herself for the things to come.
She went outside and looked at the broadsword attached to her waist She remembered an old memory. It was hazy but it was something about honor and why one should not hold a sword if one did not have the will and spirit for it.
She had many choices she had thought of when her parents passed away. One of them was marriage, but that option was quickly discarded. She had too much to lose.
It was somewhat normal for noble children to be engaged around her age, but in the modern age being engaged at her age would still be considered too young. But, regardless it was still an option, so if she wanted to she could find a rich merchant to marry. She doubted anyone would look down on her for that decision, but she would rather kill herself than do it. More so, it was even more doubtful if anyone would be willing to marry or be engaged to a 9-year old seriously even after considering her bloodline. She would sooner be sold as a slave than be thought of as a bride.
The next option was selling the mansion. This was a great plan, but Eleanor knew that reputation would be something that would become a big problem if she wanted to make connections in the future. After all selling the mansion would indirectly mean that her title as a noble would be revoked, or at least it would be showing weakness, and giving opportunity to her extended family.
But, after gaining the divine object she had new better plans. It would require a bit more finesse, despite that it seemed to be the best option for now.
So, she made her way out of the treasury. Today was the first day of her plans and she had decided to complete all the tasks required for her passive long-term income ready today.
"Now we wait."
***
It was about afternoon, and Elin went out of his window. He didn't want his brother knowing about this as this; it would just worry him more. He had written a few letters to the local shop owners and he would deliver them today and hope for a reply as quickly as possible.
The contents of the letters were somewhat like this:
I really liked your shop last time I visited. I am a wandering traveler who would like to invest 1 gold coin every month to your business. In exchange, I will receive some of the profits that you make.
The profits can be delivered to the Russel family estate as I am residing there with my companion, and will be residing there for 5 years. If you decide to accept this offer, I will invest 3 gold immediately as investments. I hope you accept.
We may discuss the percentage of profits through letters to the estate or through my companion. I will be waiting for your response.
-Travelling merchant
***
Elin made 5 letters to for the 5 stores he had decided on supporting. While he wasn't training with Alex, he would look through the documents of every shop in his state, and after a bit of stealthy info gathering at the dead of night while Alex was fast asleep, he had decided on 5 shops; "The morning morsels", "The midday bistro", "The afternoon attire", "The moonlit lounge", and "The dawn breaker inn".
He felt a bit guilty, since he would be paying for the sponsor with potentially the same money they gave to keep the town safe, but it was only the start, soon he would have to make connections outside of the barony.
This offer was incredibly profitable for the other party, mostly because the average commoner household's income of one year was roughly 6 gold.
He decided on those shops because he believed that they would be the most helpful for the future of his state. The inns would promote traveler's accommodation which would increase the reputation of the state, improving the trade of the state itself to a certain degree. And the others would greatly improve the general living standards of the people living within the state.
Of course there could be a chance that they would refuse, but he didn't think anyone would reject such profits. He delivered each letter stealthily without anyone taking notice of him, because he was really unsure of his next move so he decided to play it safe, even though he really hated being stealthy. But, ironically it was one of his strong suites even while wearing a full set of silver armor.
"It seems like I have to do this a few more times now." he said chuckling. Next he went to the town hall; he was wearing a robe which covered most of his body.
On his way to the town hall, he passed many people. Children who were playing a game of 'Knights and monsters' were running in the narrow alleyways of the state. Their laughs were the loudest amongst the buzz of the townsfolk. Many bars were readying their counters, and some even had people already in a drunken rage as they danced and sang within the walls even though it was barely evening. Although, the town was relatively small in terms of population, the area near the town hall was brimming with life. Looking at the people minding their own business as they lived their lives in this somewhat decrepit state brought a sense of sadness to Elin.
At the same, it reminded him of his past life before any major things occurred. Playing among friends in the orphanage, window-shopping goods knowing he would never be able to afford them, watching peoples' reactions as they would be in awe of the marvelous monuments in her town. It was a feeling of nostalgia that Elin felt after a long time. He took his time making his way towards the town hall, reminiscing his past but, it seemed he had already arrived at his destination.
He went inside the hall and found a people in armors and people who had weapons attached on their waists, or back. They briefly looked at Elin as he walked in but, after the initial surprise of a young looking man in a full set of armor entering the hall, they simply went back to minding their own business, as Elin made his way inside and went towards the request board. He was shocked as many lowest level subjugation quests were gone, and quest which were even a bit difficult were ignored.
"What's this? Are those weapons everyone's carrying just for show? It's quite embarrassing." Elin internally clicked his tongue.
His eyes scanned the request board, and the entire quest that were easy or those that generally didn't require people to venture outside the town into the wilderness were taken.
"MEDICINE FOR AERO'S DISEASE", "DUNGEON DISCOVERED", "INVESTIGATION OF A DRAGON"...
"What are these people on about? A dungeon? A dragon? I haven't even heard rumors about this. Besides how can there be a dragon here? I haven't felt it...And, medicine for Aero's disease, that could be possible...but not currently although, its pay is quite good...30 gold can really help me in a pinch...Also, how can anyone even afford to pay that much? I don't think there's another noble in this town besides me..." It seemed Elin had more investigating to do.
"Well, I'll take the quest when I'm ready. I should just leave the ones I can't do immediately here.", Elin said as he scanned the request board again, as he became a bit worried of the town's safety since none of the subjugation quests had been fulfilled.
"I have a lot of work to do..." Elin said in a downed voice as he touched the hilt of his sword.
He took the Mocc hunting, silent lily flower gathering, and goblin subjugation requests. All those seemed to be in the vicinity of one another so, he was confident that he could do that on his own in a couple of hours. He took the requests and left the town hall.
A receptionist, who had been slacking off, just noticed the young man take some quests and leave without registering and tried to stop him but, by the time she was calling out to him, he was gone. She looked at the request board once to check what quests the young man had taken and she was distraught.
"...Seeing as how confidently he took the request, he should be fine right?"
The receptionist wasn't a very good employee, or a good person it seemed.
***
In the nearby forest, Elin decided that he would gather the silent lilies first and hopefully run into a mocc or the goblins.
Silent lilies were small white-petal flowers which did not make any sound when the wind blew past them so, they were used in making stealth potions. Medicine for cough could also be made using them because of their minty taste. He had to gather quite a bit of lilies so; he began searching for patches of clay, where those flowers could be found nearby.
One patch after another, he managed to get a little less than what was asked for but he couldn't find the last patch no matter where he went. As he was looking around, it was going to be evening soon; he felt a chill in his spine for a second. He hid himself instinctively and found a mocc.
'Mocc' were creatures which were referred to as the 'king of the mountains'. They were usually the main dish in some local bars and restaurants. They smelled awful but their meat was quite soft, and due to their thick hide their meat were quite juicy, although wild moccs had more muscles making it more chewier, yet they were still a delicacy. Soups, or dried meat, mocc meat was quite common although they spread quite a bit of diseases due to bad preservation methods.
Elin was quite surprised that a mocc was in this area.