Reaching into his tunic, the man pulled out a sealed envelope and handed it to Jace. “Pray thee, what answer should I give His Majesty?”
Chapter 40
An invitation to the princess’ birthday party? Jace wanted to facepalm himself as he suddenly remembered the king had mentioned that. At the time, he’d been too shocked by his sudden elevation to Baronet and the implication it carried. Now he remembered clearly the king had mentioned her birthday party.
Thoughts flooded his head. An invitation to the palace. Was this it? Was this his way in, his opportunity to look for the Help Desk? Would he be able to look for it? Or would there be too many people around? What if they all searched? Wait. Could the girls even come with him?
“Sir, what answer shall I relay back to the king?” the man in livery asked again.
“Am I allowed to bring a guest?” he asked.
The man put on a practiced smile but somehow managed sad looking eyes. “I’m sorry Baronet, invitees and spouses only. No other guests.”
“Spouses only?” Diana chimed in.
The man bobbed his head towards Diana. “Correct, Madam. Spouses only.”
Diana then jabbed him side with her elbow. She leaned toward him. “Tell him yes. Tell him you’ll bring your spouses.”
Jace looked at her confused. “What?”
“Tell him,” she nudged him. “Tell him you’ll be attending along with your spouses.”
“My…” Jace started but Diana jabbed him again.
“TELL HIM!” she whispered louder. “You’ll be going with your SPOUSES.”
Jace turned to the man and smiled. “Yes, I will be attending with my spouses.”
“Sir, your… SPOUSES?” The man looked slightly taken back and emphasized the “s” at the end of spouses.
“You did say invitees and spouses, right?” Diana asked sweetly.
“I... uh…” the man stuttered but then recovered. “Yes, of course. Um, may I tell the king how many spouses will attend?”
“At least two,” Diana answered for Jace. “Possibly three.”
“Three?” the man looked at Jace with a slightly impressed look on his face. “Very good. I shall relay your answer to the king.”
“Thank you,” Jace managed.
The man turned and left the inn. When he had gone, Jace spun and faced Diana. “My SPOUSES?!”
“It’s perfect, dear one,” Diana soothed. “You can marry us and then we can go to the party and, I’m guessing, get into the Noble District. Am I right?”
Jace opened his mouth to protest but then closed it. He remembered back to when he’d received his signet ring at the patents office. The man had talked about a spouse. A spouse. As in singular. “But the patents office only mentioned a spouse. Spouse. Singular!”
“Dear one,” Diana laughed. “I may not have played this game before, but I have played the game of life for quite a while, not to mention contracts. Ugh! Too many contracts! One thing I learned is there are always loopholes.”
“Yeah but…” Jace started.
“I’m not as familiar with this game as you are,” Diana broke in. “But are you allowed to marry more than one person in the game?”
He thought about it for a moment and realized she was right. That was possible. In fact, he knew for a fact people paid good money to marry a lord or lady, so they had access to the Noble District and possibly the Royal Palace if the person had a high enough rank. “Yes.”
“Can you marry three?” she asked. Her eyebrow was raised but she already had a look of triumph on her face.
Jace wasn’t sure. It wasn’t something that had ever been relevant for him. He started to tell her so, but she held up her hand.
“I happen to know that you can have at least four wives because I saw the ceremony at the temple last night… or was it the night before?” she grinned. “Some male pig, sorry, I meant player, and four women got married while I was getting my quest. I’m pretty sure he was just a knight.”
Jace looked from Diana, who was smiling, to Mika, who was blushing. “Are you serious? You want me to marry all three of you?”
Diana brushed away his question with a gesture. “Three wives is nothing. I’ve had five husbands. Granted, not all at the same time, but I think it still counts for something. Besides, do you have any better ideas on how to get us all into the Royal Palace?”
Jace thought furiously. Unfortunately, she was right. They’d all been trying to think up ways to get into the palace since they’d arrived. This was the first and probably best opportunity they’d have. Possibly even the only opportunity. Then he thought of a way out.
“I can’t, even if I wanted to,” Jace told her. “A marriage is thousands of gold. There’s no way we can earn that much in a day.”
The older woman just grinned, apparently already having an answer. “Didn’t you just inherit an entire estate? Doesn’t that include a house, probably some servants and… some bank accounts?”
Trying to keep his mouth from falling open, Jace realized she was right. In the excitement of getting the title and the lands, he’d forgotten about the bank account. But how much money did Baronets get? Tiebaut had been willing to pay a million gold for the tiara. Maybe he had millions more.
“Yes,” Jace said cautiously. “There was a bank account. I haven’t checked it yet, so I don’t know how much is in it.”
“Perfect,” Diana said. “You and Mika go check your account while I go pay a visit to the temple and see what the cost of marriage is.” When neither Mika or Jace moved, she stood up and made a clapping gesture. “Come on! Chop! Chop! We haven’t got all day!”
Then she pushed past Jace and started out the door. Over her shoulder Diana called, “Meet you back here in an hour or so!”
Jace watched her leave and then turned to Mika. There was still some color in her cheeks, but she looked resolved. “I will marry you.”
Rubbing his forehead, Jace motioned Mika. “Come on, let’s go to the bank.”
Jace and Mika left the inn, followed by Luna. The cat immediately resumed her giant size the moment they left the inn, causing Jace to stop and look at her. “You like being big, I take it?”
Luna rubbed her enormous head against him, knocking him back a step and causing Mika to giggle. “Yes.”
The three of them walked down to the Luxury District. Among the shops, Jace had also seen the Bank of Whitecliff. Even though it was called the Bank of Whitecliff, all of the banks were interconnected, and money and bank vaults could be accessed from any bank in the same alliance. It hadn’t originally been that way and had been more realistic, where your money stayed in whatever bank you deposited it in. Eventually, pressure from the users had forced WorldCog to make the change and explained it away as the banks partnering with the mages guild or something like that.
He thought of his Mordred character again and the money he’d accumulated and stored in the bank. It was only a few hundred thousand gold, but he thought he’d have plenty of time to amass more wealth before becoming a permanent part of the game. Of course, once he woke up from the coma, he’d have a second chance.
They arrived at the bank and went in. The guards had started to object to Luna, but the cat seemed to understand that indoors, she needed to be small. Before they could even articulate their objections at the huge cat, Luna shrunk down to her former size and strutted past them as they gawked.
Unlike modern banks, the Whitecliff bank didn’t have a line to see a teller. Instead, they talked to a receptionist who, after looking at Jace’s signet ring, directed him to the office of a small gnomish woman.
“Hello,” the small gnome said in a cheerful voice. She motioned them to sit in the chairs opposite her. “My name is Jiteyzz Copperchart, how may I help you, milord?”
Jiteyzz was about three feet tall with green and blue hair pulled back into a bun. She had a cute button nose and large orange eyes. She was wearing a plain grey dress but bright orange shoes that matched her eyes.
They both sat while Luna started wandering the room, sniffing everything. “I’d like to check the balance in my account.”
Jiteyzz nodded. “What name is the account under, milord?”
Cringing inwardly, Jace told her his monster name. “Dedrurrurth.”
“Thank you, milord,” she said. “Just one second while I look that up.”
The woman brought out a large, leather bound volume that she paged through. “Ah, yes, Sir Dedrurrurth. It appears you have 557,438 gold in your account, presently.”
Jace’s eyes bulged as she read off the number. A half a million gold. That was twice as much as he had on Mordred. He wondered if he could have it transferred over to Mordred once support resolved whatever bug had happened to him and the girls.
Mika leaned over to him. “You are rich!”
He nodded though he wondered how rich he actually was. He guessed that as a landowner, he had taxes to deal with and who knew what else. Tiebaut must have a clerk who kept track of his finances. He would need to see if the person had been transferred to Jace’s employ and get an accurate idea of what money was coming in and going out. Provided he was in this character long enough to have to worry about it.
“Was there anything else?” the little gnome asked.
“Do you know anything else about my finances?” Jace asked.
“I’m afraid I only have access to your current balance, milord,” she apologized.
“Thank you anyway,” Jace said. “I think that will be it then.”
Closing the book, the gnome stood up and came around to the other side of the desk. “If there’s nothing else, milord, then I thank you for your patronage and wish you a good day.”
Jace and Mika got up and left the bank with Luna following after them. The moment she was outside of the bank, she once again grew large.
“Does this mean we get married?” Mika asked.
Jace looked back at the bank. Obviously, money wasn’t an issue, so he couldn’t use that as an excuse. Despite his internal misgivings, he knew Diana was right. He needed the girls to come with him and marrying them seemed to be the only way.
He nodded at Mika. “It looks like we are.”
At that, Mika jumped onto him, wrapping her legs around his waist, and encircling him with her arms. “I will make a good wife!” Then she kissed him.
Chapter 41
They met up with Diana later that morning. She was smiling wickedly as Mika and Jace slid into their chairs at the table.
“Good news,” Diana said before either of them could speak. “The ceremonies will only cost 10,000 gold each, if we all get married at the same time. If we each want separate ceremonies, it will be twice that. And my temple can do it tonight.”
“What?!” Jace sputtered. “Tonight?!”
“As soon as Charlena logs in,” Diana nodded. “Don’t tell me you’re getting cold feet.”
Jace realized it was only in-game marriage but part of him didn’t like to be rushed into decisions like this. Plus, it was only temporary. Once support got him sorted out, he’d be Mordred again and he doubted the marriages would carry over.
When he really thought about it, he realized he was too practical to let this opportunity pass him by. It was what they’d been striving for this entire time. To get into the palace. Was he really going to let a little thing like matrimony get in his way?
He also knew divorce was easy in the game and didn’t cost anything. Much like marriages in the real world, virtual marriage had a high divorce rate. Of course, that could be because so many people sold or traded marriages to nobility for money or favors. Just like in the real world, there were always people willing to sell or trade a piece of their soul for a little slice of the good life.
“No,” he finally answered Diana. “It was just a bit sudden.”
Diana waved her hand dismissively. “Not at all. I assume we’ll need time tomorrow to make things official with the nobility police or whatever they are calling themselves.”
Jace nodded. She had a good point. He assumed he’d need to take them to the patent office to get them signet rings or whatever type of passes spouses were given. “Good point.”
“At least there isn’t a lot of red tape or waiting in this world,” Diana observed. “Imagine if there was a two-week waiting period or some such nonsense.”
“Oh,” Diana looked up. “I almost forgot. Do you have money? What did the bank say?”
“We have money,” Jace sighed. “About a half million gold.”
A wicked gleam came into Diana’s eyes and she put her arm around Mika. “Girlfriend, I think you and I need to go shopping for wedding dresses!”
“Wedding dresses?” Jace gasped. “Are you serious?”
“Shopping?!” Mika repeated enthusiastically. Jace eyed both of them. They both grinned back at him. “Fine. But I need to go get money.”
“We’ll go with you,” Diana said. “After all, we’re both going to the Luxury District.”
The three of them, plus an enlarged Luna, left the inn and went to the bank. While the girls waited outside with Luna, Jace withdrew the gold he needed for the ceremonies. He also took out another 10,000 gold for the dresses - he hoped they wouldn’t be more than that, plus some money to get himself something to wear to the birthday party and he assumed he’d need to bring a gift. As an afterthought, he made sure he’d have enough to get the girls some wedding presents.
He also thought of certain magical items they would need once they got to the palace. Glasses of Revelation. The glasses were fairly rare and only useful in certain situations. Most people didn’t even bother with them, but for their purposes they would be invaluable. The Glasses of Revelation revealed secret doors.
After taking enough money to buy one or two pairs of glasses, Jace gave the girls their money and told them to find something for the wedding and the birthday party.
“We’ll see you tonight,” Diana said and taking Mika’s arm in her own, they took the money and hurried off, leaving Jace and Luna alone.
He looked to Luna. “Will you be coming along to the party?”
“Fish?” she asked and Jace suddenly had a vision of her pouncing on servers and devouring platters of any seafood dishes.
“Possibly,” he told her. “But if you go, you have to remain small, okay?”
She seemed to consider his request and then sat back on her haunches. “Yes.”
“Fine,” Jace agreed. “You stay small and I’ll see what treats we can find you at the party - assuming they let familiars in at all.”
That seemed to appease the big cat and she got to her feet and rubbed herself against Jace, purring.
“Hey,” said a nearby voice. “How’d you get a big cat?”
The speaker was obviously a player. He was a large, imposing werebear in golden plate mail armor. Across his back his back was strapped a large shield and at his hip hung a wicked looking spiked mace. Jace examined him.
Deegon Templarr
Level: 25
“A special quest,” he told Deegon. “In a swamp south of Skystead. It gave my familiar the ability to grow.”
Jace wasn’t about to elaborate but he saw no reason to be rude. After all, if he saw someone with a giant cat, he’d probably ask about it too.
“Oh,” the werebear replied, obviously disappointed. “It's a familiar. I thought maybe it was a pet or something. You must have gotten it a while ago.”
“Why do you say that?” Jace asked curiously. It seemed an odd thing to say.
“The dragon, man,” he said. “Haven’t you heard? It controls the entire area around what used to be Skystead. It’s crazy man. The thing’s been destroying entire towns and now Crossroads. It must be some sort of new expansion.”
“Wait! What?” Jace sputtered. “What was that about Crossroads?”
“It was destroyed yesterday,” the werebear told him. “Dissolved into puddles of goop by the thing’s acid breath.”
“What about r
aiders?” Jace asked.
The werebear shrugged. “I read on the forums that three raids tried. Tried and failed. Not only that, but the thing dissolved their bodies man! That’s insane! They lost hundreds of thousands of gold worth of gear and potions. Everyone’s wondering if that’s going to be the new normal. If so, raiding just got a lot more dangerous and a lot more expensive!”
Jace nodded. “Hopefully not.”
The werebear grinned. “Hey, people will get their chance soon, raider or not.”
“What do you mean?”
“A couple of players who have been shadowing the dragon reported that it’s heading this way,” the werebear said grimly. “It’s coming to Whitecliff.”
“Are you serious? When?” Jace managed to get out. The idea of a dragon laying waste to a city like Whitecliff didn’t seem possible but a raid level monster in the hands of a player was a very dangerous and unpredictable thing.
Deegon nodded grimly. “It’ll be here early next week unless it stops and destroys some villages along the way. At least, that’s what the scouts are saying.”
“Thanks,” Jace told the player. He was trying to get his head around what this might mean for him. What if the dragon attacked and destroyed the castle? He’d never be able to use the Help Desk. At least, not in Whitecliff.
“No problem, man,” Deegon said. “If I were you, I’d do what I’m doing. Get the heck out of dodge. I’m taking a ship on Saturday… uh… I mean, Weeksend. It cost a pretty penny and you always risk the pirates, but better than being a puddle of goo when the dragon gets here.”
Jace nodded. “Good luck.”
The werebear grinned again. “You too, man!”
After the player ambled off, Jace looked at Luna. “Did you hear that? The dragon’s coming. Now we don’t have a choice. We have to try during the party. We probably won’t get a second chance.”
“Dragon,” Luna’s ears went back at the mention of the dragon. “Bad Dragon.”
He couldn’t help but to agree. “Yes. Bad Dragon. We’d better go find the girls and let them know.”
The two of them wandered around the Luxury District, trying to find the girls but didn’t have any success. Most likely, they were in one of the shops, trying things on. Jace considered looking for an outfit for the party, but remembered he probably had an entire wardrobe of outfits at Tiebaut’s house. And since all gear and clothing grew or shrank to fit the wearer, he should be able to find something for himself there.
Veil Online - Book 2: An Epic LitRPG Adventure Page 26
