by Kevin Culp
We walked into the house together, Christina started preparing dinner, and I prepared a bath for myself. I bathed quickly and then prepared one for Christina. She ate quickly and then went to take a bath herself. It was unfortunate that we didn’t have more time to just sit and eat together, but I knew she was exhausted and wanted to get to sleep.
I ate slowly, and before I realized it, Christina was out of the bath. She came to give me a kiss goodnight. She was wearing another piece of clothing given to her by the Princess. This time, though they were a little more practical. Pretty standard looking purple silk pajamas, but the top was cut low, and the shorts were even shorter than the previous night. I did an internal eye roll and wasn’t sure these days if I wanted to thank or strangle the Princess for these “gifts.” As she turned to leave, I grabbed her arm and stood. I pulled her close and gave her a long kiss. She sighed when it ended like she was catching her breath and then laid her head on my chest.
I looked down at her and swept the hair from her face with one hand. “Let’s go to bed.”
She nodded, and we walked to the bedroom.
Chapter 7
The next few weeks went by pretty uneventfully. Tyler had told me last week that the elves' home was finished, but I hadn’t taken the time to visit. Korana spent the days with Gregory either in his home reading books or in the clearing between my home and his trying to practice magic. In the evenings, she still joined us for sparring practice, and Rin had really taken to trying to help her. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say they were becoming friends. Rin even watched sometimes when Korana was practicing magic while the tavern wasn’t busy.
Ever since Irene had started working at the tavern, Rin had stated she felt pretty useless there. Irene was a lot less intimidating, and therefore, the customers preferred her. I think Nicholas was too scared of Rin to tell her she wasn’t really needed there anymore. Eventually, we would need to find a more permanent position for her if she wanted to stay in Freid. Likely, that would be as a guard. To be honest, I had considered appointing her as Christina’s personal guard. I’m sure Christina wouldn’t like that idea since she was trying to improve herself as a fighter, but anyone coming into town could find out that she is probably the most important figure here. Even more so than myself.
A few days ago some soldiers had shown up from the kingdom on Prince Leovald’s orders. There were about two dozen of them, and while I hadn’t seen them fight, none of them looked like rookies. They had introduced themselves to me, though I couldn’t recall any of their names and then set up a base of operations in front of the cave. From my understanding, a scouting party had ventured in the previous day, but I had heard nothing back on their findings.
It was definitely getting colder now. I was having to light the fireplace in the house every evening, and Christina was bundling up every morning before she left. The cold didn’t bother me at all. I could tell it was cold, but part of having a resistance to the cold was that I could survive comfortably in cold weather up to the point that it was cold enough bypass my resistance which would probably be somewhere around minus fifty if I had to guess. Rin also didn’t seem to be bothered by the cold, and when I asked her about it, she revealed she had an Amulet of Elemental Adaptation. It didn’t give her any resistance to cold or fire, but it made her able to be comfortable in hot and cold weather. She said despite what people have said about her armor, it’s designed for mobility, and she didn’t want to worry about changing it due to weather.
Christina stayed extremely busy like normal. I had started to think that finding some kind of adventure to go on with her might be a good idea just to get her away from the exhaustion that came from catering to the town 24/7. I’d take fighting another troll over solving a dispute between Geoffrey and the smith any day. She would probably enjoy the travel as well. What I felt I needed most was some people to share the burden and help run the town, but they also probably needed to be locals or they wouldn’t be well trusted.
This was actually a great idea that might be able to help solve some of my problems. I know Christina was stressed about taking care of the town, and eventually, I would have to travel, if nothing else to find my friends. I walked towards Nicholas’ farm.
When I got there, Vincent and his brothers were hard at work, as I had expected. It had gotten cold enough that there wasn’t any work to do in the fields anymore, but it still took a lot to care for the animals. It was still early in the morning, so they had probably only been there for a short while. I approached Vincent.
“Good morning, Vincent. Can I have a moment of your time?”
He put down the bale of hay he was holding and turned to me. “Of course, what can I do for you today, Archaeus?”
“I hoped that once you were done with your work here this morning, you and your brothers could let everyone in town know that there will be a meeting tonight in front of my home around dinnertime. Food and drinks will be on me.”
“Absolutely, I don’t think anyone will turn down a free meal.”
“Thank you, Vincent,” I said as I turned to take my leave.
Next, I went to find the builders. They had finished the Elven home about a week ago, which was the last home of a new resident. Once they finished, I pointed them to a small plot of land just off the main road near Nicholas’ farm and asked them to build a small home on it just in case. They were already almost done. I wasn’t sure if their speed was a tribute to their skill or because a home like this was just so basic. I think it was a combination of the two.
When I arrived, Tyler’s aid Patrick approached me. “Hello, Archaeus, how are you today?”
“I’m doing okay, Patrick. Is Tyler around?”
Just as I said it, Tyler walked out of the home. “You needed to speak with me?” As he asked, he walked towards me and extended a hand.
I gladly took his hand and shook it. I really liked Tyler. You really didn’t see that many lazy people in this world in general, but Tyler was a shining example of a hard worker. Not only that, but all his men were hard workers as well. A big part of that seemed to be out of their respect for him as a boss. It also reflected on Leovald to an extent that with these men, the quality of materials he was sending, the veteran guards sent to investigate the cave, and even Gregory everything the Prince had done for us seemed to be of the highest level of support and quality he could manage.
“Yes, Tyler, I have your next big project and a smaller one for the day. It looks like you’ve made some good progress here, and you can finish before moving on to my bigger request, but I definitely need your help today.”
“Of course, that’s what we’re here for.”
I explained to him everything I needed. He said it would be a stretch and likely crude, but he could get it done. Satisfied, I decided that I would need to head to the tavern. I wasn’t sure if Nicholas would be happy with all the business they were about to have for the evening or furious with all the work I was creating for him.
It was pretty slow when I got there. I expected as much given it was just past breakfast, but far too early for lunch. I didn’t see Nicholas when I walked in, so I went behind the counter and into the room in the back. As I expected, he was doing the morning’s dishes. I hadn’t seen Irene, so I’m guessing she had run out to get something.
Nicholas glanced at me when I walked in, then turned back to his task. “Hey there, Archaeus. To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“Well, I’m actually here on business. I need a lot of food and drink tonight at my house.”
“Oh, how much food and drink are we talking about?”
“Enough to feed most of the town. I’m not sure if everyone will show up, but here shortly Vincent and his brothers should begin notifying everyone to meet in front of my home around dinner time this evening.”
“The whole town! How do you expect me to prepare that much? I’m not even certain that I have the supplies here for that.”
I pulled ten platinum pieces out of my
belt and handed them to him. It felt a little strange to me to throw around money to buy someone’s cooperation, but I guess if you had it, it was one way to get things done.
He sighed and started drying his hands. “I guess I can get it done. I’ll need help though. Let Christina know what’s going on. I hope this meeting is important. You couldn’t have at least set it up for like a week from now or something and given me a little more time could you.”
I just laughed and told him I would let Christina know he needed her help. He wasn’t entirely wrong. I had thought about putting this off for another week to make sure that everyone knew and get a better turnout. At the same time, I had found in this world that people were pretty reasonable in supporting their community and without all the random means of entertainment; it tended to be a lot easier to organize people on short notice. That wasn’t to say life here was boring. People had things to keep them busy, and most of them seemed to be pretty happy with their lives.
I was also somewhat worried about what the soldiers would find investigating the cave. I had been having Zeus stay guard out there for the past few weeks, which meant the rest of Freid’s borders were less protected. He hadn’t really spotted much, but I’m guessing anything coming up into the cave from below and seeing all the slaughter may have turned around. That being said, if I needed to venture into the Under Realms on short notice, I needed to be certain the town could govern itself without Christina.
The thought of letting Christina venture into the Under Realms was still scary. Part of me worried that she would think she was invincible with me around and wouldn’t be properly cautious, but I also felt that after seeing what happened with her father, she wouldn’t let having me around go to her head. I wanted her to feel safe with me but not to the point of throwing caution to the wind.
I found Christina at the stables on the southern edge of the town. Tony and his family were some of the first to move here after the capital started encouraging new residents. He had built his home just off the road leading into town on the way in from the forest. Behind it was a large set of stables full of horses. I could hear Tony and Christina speaking in the stables from the front of the house, so I walked around to meet them.
They were standing on either side of a pretty palomino mare. Honestly, I knew nothing about horses, but I guess Archaeus did. I had heard the term palomino before but didn’t know what it meant. It looked a little on the small side and was the color of a lightly toasted marshmallow with a white mane and tail.
Christina was gently patting the horse and said, “No, I couldn’t. It’s just not something that we need.”
Tony, a man in I’d guess his early thirties with a dark tan and a mop of brown hair, responded in a voice that sounded like a redneck car salesman, “I’m telling you, little missy, I see you doing all this walking all over town day and night, this pretty girl here would carry you all over without a second thought. I think you’d look good on her too. Why don’t you give her a ride?”
Maybe I should have been annoyed that he was trying to sell something to Christina like this, but the normalcy of it actually made me appreciate the scene. “I agree, you should give her a test ride.”
Christina looked up surprised to see me. “Oh, hi, Archaeus. We really don’t need a horse, you know.”
Archaeus had a great sense motive, and I could tell that part of her actually was interested. “I disagree. We lost the horses pulling our carriage during the orc attack. Aside from that, you never know when we will have to travel. Zeus could easily carry both of us, but I don’t want to force him to and there could be times it would benefit us to have separate mounts. Also, maybe we could get a second one that could double as a pair to pull the carriage and a workhorse for Nicholas while we are here.”
Christina tried to be casual, but I could see her mood improve. “Alright. I’ll take her for a ride then. Can you help me up, Archaeus?”
The horse already had the tack, harness, and saddle ready. This guy had been ready to make a sale. I walked over and gave her a boost. She took off at a slow trot. I actually wasn’t sure when she had learned to ride a horse, but she at least seemed to know the basics. I approached Tony and shook his hand. He even had a bit of that car salesman smile.
I walked over to a large black horse in the corner and turned to Tony. “Would this guy here make a good workhorse?”
The salesman tone was there immediately. “Absolutely, Absolutely, though I heard you mention you wanted something to pull a carriage with Phara. It’s typically better when pulling a carriage for two horses to be close to the same size.”
He walked over to another palomino that could have been Phara’s twin. “This here is Boon. He’s Phara’s older brother by about a year. He’s a bit bigger, but she will probably match him once fully grown, which should only be a few more months. I’d still say you are better off with Nightmare there for a workhorse, but Boon could do the job.”
I looked at Tony with a stern face and said, “You have a buyer, so just be straightforward with me. Is there something I need to know about these horses?”
He got a bit of a nervous expression. I didn’t mean to be intimidating, but I guess just knowing who Archaeus is could make him staring you down kind of scary. “No, sir, absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. Phara there is a little young. She knows her basic commands but could still use some training. She’s very calm though and has never tried to buck anyone. Maybe I should clarify none of them are combat trained. I don’t think you expected that from me, but you know, just trying to be clear, sir.”
About that time, Christina came trotting back in on Phara with a smile on her face. I looked at Tony. “I’ll take all three of them. Of course, with tack, harness, and saddles. I’ll take some saddlebags for Phara as well if you have them. How much will that be?”
His nervousness went away, and the salesman came back. “Oh well thank you, sir. Given Phara’s incomplete training and the fact that Nightmare is primarily just a workhorse, I can get them all to you for just 200 gold.”
That didn’t surprise me. A light riding horse in the game was around seventy-five gold. Overall, I expected I was getting a pretty good deal once he threw everything in including the saddlebags. Christina seemed to be slightly surprised at the cost, but I think she had gotten used to me not caring much about price.
“I only have 150 gold on me. I’ll give that to you and another sixty gold tonight. In part for the fair price and in part because I also would like you to keep Phara and Boon here for now until I can have a personal stable built. There is a town meeting in front of my house tonight. I’d like for you to be there. You may be new, but it will potentially impact everyone.”
Christina seemed confused when I mentioned the meeting but didn’t ask anything yet. Tony agreed to my arrangement, so I paid him, shook his hand, and we parted ways. Christina and I walked out holding hands, but she stopped once we got to the street.
She looked at me questioningly. “What meeting is there tonight?”
I tried to put on a mischievous smile and looked back at her. “You’ll have to wait and see like everyone else, but for now, your uncle needs your help today.”
“Why does uncle need me?”
“You kind of need to cook for the whole town.”
She slapped my chest. “You should have led with that. What have you gotten me into? Well, I guess I have some work to do.”
I watched Christina as she ran for the tavern. I had been planning on replacing the horses for the carriage for a while, I just always forgot about it. That being said, I think this was a worthwhile purchase. I had probably created more work for Christina today than she would have had otherwise. Honestly, I wasn’t sure why she had been speaking to Tony, to begin with, but it probably wasn’t about buying a horse. Presumably, their business had already concluded when I arrived. While I had created her more work, she would probably view cooking for a bunch of people to be much less stressful than her normal day to day th
ough.
It was almost lunchtime now, and Gregory typically gave Korana a break in her training around this time. As far as I understood, she had made some impressive progress in her training, but her random acts of magic had actually worsened. Gregory had said this was common when a young sorcerer first started exercising their magic because it was kind of like muscle spasms from working out when just getting into shape. He gave her a bracelet that inhibited magic to help prevent this. Korana was exceptionally grateful. I had somewhat worried that she would take that gift and forgo her training since it accomplished her goals, but she genuinely seemed interested in learning magic.
I headed to Gregory’s house and when I got there, the two were sitting at a small table outside drinking something hot. Korana didn’t seem to be bothered by the cold. This kind of surprised me because I had always imagined Dragons were cold-blooded like reptiles and Sky Dragons weren’t cold-based dragons but lightning. From that perspective too though, I guess all dragons would need some kind of cold resistance to fly high in the sky in the middle of the night.
Gregory was sitting with his back to me but seemed to notice me without even turning around. “Good day, Archaeus, what brings you here this fine day.”
“I was hoping to get your help, actually. I’ve seen you conjure some random objects and was wondering how limited you are in doing so?”
“Well, that depends on what I’m conjuring. Also, whether I’ve had any amount of notice to prepare the appropriate spells. I do also have some spells that allow sculpting of existing material though. Does this have something to do with the construction in front of your home?”
Off in the distance, I could see Tyler’s crew dragging logs to the front of my house. They were far enough away I couldn’t make anything out. Archaeus had an excellent perception. It surprised me that this old man with presumably at least one bad eye could see what was going on from here. It made me question if he constantly had some kind of sight spell going to either be prepared for anything or just to overcompensate for his poor vision.
