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An Otherworldly Scholar - 190
🕑 Added 2024-12-31 22:03:52 +0000 UTCI woke up to the warm spring breeze and the softness of Elincia’s bed. The sun was high in the sky. The room smelled like lavender, old books, and soap. I took a deep breath. After a month of roaming the Farlands, I thought this was the smell of heaven. Being alive felt great. It was the third time I cheated death, and I hoped it would be the last. I wasn’t a superstitious person but deep down I knew there wasn’t going to be a fourth time.
I stretched my back and pulled the blankets to my feet. I looked down my shirt’s neck to find a fresh pink scar on my stomach where Janus had almost gutted me. I felt no trace of pain or discomfort. On the night table were a few empty vials. The bitter taste still lingered in my mouth. By Elincia’s desk, wisps of vapors still rose from her concoctions. Her work was recent.
“It’s hard to kill high-level people,” I muttered.
My mind drifted to my fight against Janus and that strange place without sun. An empty sky with a sole white star, still water, and ruins old beyond recognition. I recalled the feeling. A world as old as time, just like the void in the Fountain rested. Could it be that the Fountain was actually a physical object?
I closed my eyes and accessed my mana pool. The stone walls covered in runes were back up. Beams of light sneaked through the gaps on the bottom. The Fountain raged like a sun, preventing me from seeing the void that lay behind it.
Suddenly, I felt sick. I wasn’t sure I was up to discovering any more world-class secrets, at least not for a lifetime or two. I opened my eyes back to Elincia’s bedroom and focused on the small things. The old bookshelf with Mister Lowell’s personal collection, the chest with Elincia’s belongings, the brass alchemy tools on the table. The silver lining was that our problem with the mysterious person sabotaging the orphanage was finally over.
Elincia was nowhere to be found, nor was the enchanted ring.
I got out of bed and changed my pajamas to simple attire: leather boots, riding pants, and a wide-sleeved shirt. I fastened my belt and secured the straps of a black leather sheath with a short rapier. The weather was good, so I left my jacket on the rack. We were a month into spring, but the weather was just returning to normal.
When I opened the door, I almost bumped into Elincia.
I looked down at her.
“Did you shrink?” I asked. She seemed an inch or two smaller than I remembered. Her eyes were lower than I remembered.
For an instant, she was at a loss of words, but she quickly regained her usual poise.
“Did you hit a growth spurt?”
Elincia jumped on me, wrapping arms and legs around my body. I opened my mouth to speak, but she pressed her lips against mine. I realized how much I’ve missed her. Despite all the risks I had taken during the last weeks, I couldn’t imagine any scenario where I wasn’t with her. Being back home felt great, but it felt even better to know how much Elincia had missed me. Just as I was going to get handsy, [Foresight] caught small steps from the corridor.
“So romantic,” Shu said.
The little ones swarmed me.
“Did you fight a dragon?!”
“Did you miss me?”
“How many Wolfs are there in the Farlands?”
“Is everyone green out there?”
“Where are our presents?”
“Why did it take you so long?”
“Did you find the Great Potato?”
The kids asked faster than I could answer. Elincia leaned back against the wall and smiled as she watched me struggle to get on the same page as the kids. I could handle a dozen Gloomstalkers at a time, but I was quickly overwhelmed by just four children. When the questions concluded, I heard Shu’s Monster Surge theory: the monsters had attacked Farcrest because Holst had returned to town. The explanation was extremely convoluted, and not even [Foresight] could follow.
After a few minutes, the kids lost interest in me and left the sleeping quarters.
“You haven’t lost the touch,” she pointed out.
“It’s only been a month,” I replied, although it felt like a lifetime.
Elincia grabbed my hand and brought it to her face. She closed her eyes, and a blissful expression appeared on her face. Almost like she had taken a weight off her shoulders.
“Ilya told me everything,” Elincia said with a mischievous smile. “Everything you put them through.”
“I swear I had it under control,” I replied. “Most of the time.”
“Sure you did.” Elincia elbowed me, but her expression changed into pain as soon as her elbow impacted my arm. She squeezed my biceps. “Did you get an iron arm while I wasn’t looking?”
“I got a few levels,” I replied, stroking her hair. “You can touch. I don’t mind.”
Elincia raised an eyebrow and clung to my arm.
“More than a few levels from what I was told, Mister Man of Steel. You did a good job, Rob, from start to finish. There is nothing you could’ve done better.”
I didn’t know it until then, but I needed to hear those words.
It was great to be back.
“I’m sorry for taking off the ring. I thought Janus would… inquire if he noticed anything strange,” I said.
Elincia closed her eyes and leaned against my shoulder. She spoke with a sweet voice.
“I know you wouldn’t do it with a good reason. Janus often stopped by the orphanage for a week after your disappearance. He asked many questions,” Elincia said, taking a deep breath. Then, I felt how she siphoned mana out of my reserves. She tugged at my mana pool until I felt a slight shiver. “If I wanted to know you were alive, I could’ve drained your mana, but I figured out you’d need it more. I knew you were alive.”
“It’s okay if you are a little mad at me,” I said. Taking a bunch of low-level kids into the Farlands during a Monster Surge wasn’t the most responsible thing to do. Even I knew that.
Elincia leaned back and looked directly into my eye.
“Have I ever been mad at you?”
“I could think a couple of times from the top of my head,” I replied.
Elincia smiled and elbowed me again, this time aiming at my ribs. I grabbed her by the waist and lifted her. She was light as a feather. We kissed.
“How long was I out?” I asked.
Elincia looked through the window.
“Three hours?”
My heart skipped a beat. Considering the amount of blood I’ve lost, I expected to be out for a few days. Elincia gave me a smug grin.
“I don’t want to take all the credit, but I’ve been able to replicate several of Mister Lowell’s potions,” she said. “We have to write Lord Vedras a letter of gratitude for the recipes and the journals.”
“Can’t we just meet him at the Great Hall?” I asked.
Elincia shook her head.
“The royal army is already leaving. When the Monster Surge stopped, the nobles and their armies marched northeast to the frontline. Prince Adrien wants to complete the campaign this summer.”
Alarms went off in my brain.
“Where is Captain Kiln?”
“She should be in the Great Hall, I guess,” Elincia said.
“I need to go,” I said, kissing Elincia’s forehead.
“What? Why?”
“The kids can still be conscripted,” I replied. “I need to make sure the Marquis keeps his word.”
We had two ways to avoid conscription: getting the kids into the Imperial Academy or performing well in the tournament. We had reached the finals; however, it was the Marquis’s opinion that counted. I regretted not using more precise wording for our deal. We had actively sabotaged his deal with the Osgirians and there was a lot of money involved. Before the Marquis could do anything rash, I wanted to put my cards on the table. Offer him a new deal.
“I’ll be back for dinner.”
Elincia nodded.
I crossed the sleeping quarters with long strides and reached the vestibule. The old white paint peeling in the corners greeted me. Everything was the same. Before I could get to the door, Corin stopped me. She wore her usual courier attire, and her leather bag showed signs of heavy use.
“I have something for you, Mister Clarke,” she said in a professional voice. She stuck her hand in her bag and pulled out a thick stack of paper, which she extended to me.
Unlike the stacks of letters we had received during the tournament, these were addressed to me. To the excellent Master Robert Clarke… it would be an honor… extend an invitation… court… marriage… Prestige Class… honor. It seemed half of the kingdom wanted me to become either their courtier, their bodyguard, or their son-in-law.
“Elincia will answer these for me,” I said, putting the letters back in Corin’s hands.
“Will do,” she said. “And welcome back.”
Corin skipped her way into the orphanage, her coins pouch jingling heavy in her belt. Smart girl. Her clientele had grown in my absence.
I opened the front door. In the front yard, Ginz was directing a group of porters around the orphanage. The bulky humans and half-orcs were carrying heavy crates. Ginz turned around. A bulging purple and green bruise surrounded his left eye.
“Be careful with Elincia. She didn’t like we kept your escapade into the Farlands a secret,” he greeted me. “Kinda miss the orc tribes.”
I put my hand on Ginz’s shoulder.
Everything remained the same.
“Thanks, my friend, for keeping the secret,” I said. “What are all those things?”
“A few things for the workshop, nothing spectacular,” Ginz said. “We received our royal allowance, so Lyra pushed Elincia to buy a couple of necessities for the workshop.”
Half a dozen porters carried the crates into the backyard. There were even more crates waiting in the cart. “Necessities” seemed to be a great stretch of the word. Ginz seemed to be creating a whole warehouse.
“Remember we promised a hundred rifles for the Teal Moon tribe,” I said, walking to the haphazardly tied entrance gate. We should save a few silver coins to fix it. “I’ll be back for dinner. Tell Lyra I say hi!”
Ginz gave me the thumbs up and followed the half-orcs into the backyard, yelling instructions.
I entered into the labyrinthic streets of the Northern District. The roots of the Warden’s Tree had torn down several buildings. The streets were either ruined or blocked. Laborers cleared the paths while mercenaries and guardsmen used their skills to chop at the remaining roots. Regular metal tools weren’t up to the task. Some of them seemed to recognize me, but they quickly looked away.
The main street wasn’t in much better shape. The cobbled path was destroyed, and only a handful of stalls were open to business. [Foresight] caught snippets of conversation as I walked up the road. Spirits were high. Most of the damage caused by the Monster Surge was merely material. The royal army had done a great job protecting the city.
I reached the inner walls without anyone stopping me.
“I’m here to meet the Marquis,” I said to the guard at the lateral entrance.
“R-right away, sir,” the man stuttered and opened the service gate. “This way, sir.”
I didn’t know where all the deference came from.
We crossed the front yard. The royal soldiers were making preparations to depart. The skeeths were munching on the bushes of the gardens, although they weren’t eating the leaves but seemingly destroying them for the pleasure of doing so. As we reached the staircase, the guards at the entrance rushed to open the door and greeted me.
“Good afternoon, sir.”
“Good afternoon, sir.”
We entered the vestibule. The courtiers had disappeared. A well-dressed aide came to meet us. He paled as soon as his eyes fell upon me. Then it hit me. The word of my duel against Janus must’ve spread like wildfire. I had just killed an Imperial Knight. Although I hadn’t been born into nobility, my strength alone put me above most of the population, noble or not. I was both an asset and a danger.
“S-sir?” The aide said.
“I’m here to meet the Marquis,” I said, softening my voice to avoid pushing him into a nervous breakdown.
“This way, sir,” the man stuttered.
The guardsman bowed and exited the vestibule, seemingly relieved to pass the baton to someone else. The aide guided me through the Great Hall. The white canvas and the clumps of light stones had disappeared with the rest of the decoration. The place returned to its usual sober aspect. Butlers and maids prepared the travel equipment of dozens of nobles. Vedras’s people were nowhere to be found.
A girl’s voice rose above the chaos.
“Mister Clarke!”
I turned around to find Belya Nara dashing at me. The girl was wearing a black-and-white travel dress—the colors of the Osgirian dukedom. On her shoulder hung a purse decorated with tiny multicolored beads that stood out against the sober dress.
“Lady Nara,” I greeted her.
She stopped short and made a curtsy, seemingly remembering the formality requirements.
“Is Firana back home?” Belya asked.
“Yes, she is,” I replied.
“It’s okay if I meet her? I want to say goodbye.”
I nodded.
“Sure, I don’t see any problem if Lord Nara—”
Before I could finish the sentence, she put a green geode in my hand ‘as a gift’, and darted through the entrance. A moment later, a group of servants with the Nara crest embroidered on their chest entered the vestibule, searching for something. Or someone.
“Shall we continue?” the aide asked.
I put the geode in my pocket, appreciating that Belya was in a rush. We resumed the way. A month had passed since my last visit to the Great Hall, but everyone reacted to me like I was someone completely different. The courtiers moved away like I was some eminence from a faraway country, and even Lord Tirno gave me a slight bow when I passed by his side. Despite being only a baronet of a small fief, Tirno was nobility, and I was nothing more than a somewhat famous commoner.
“And a Prestige Class,” I reminded myself.
The aide guided me up the staircase into the audience room. The massive oak doors were shut, and a detachment of honor guards guarded the corridor. I was going to tell the aide to ask for Captain Kiln, as she would probably get me inside without problems, but the guards moved to the side as we reached the top of the staircase.
The doors opened. The Marquis sat on the throne, overseeing a small afternoon gathering with the remaining nobles. Lord Nara stood by the tall windows with the Osgirian troupé. Lord Herran and a small army of his redhead progeny occupied the center of the room. Prince Adrien spoke to his advisors while young noble women fluttered around the group, trying to get his attention. There was a table with food and drinks, but the occasion could barely be called a party. The atmosphere in the room was tense as if they had been arguing a minute before my arrival.
Captain Kiln was nowhere to be found.
“Announcing, Master Robert Clarke, Headmaster of the Rosebud Fencing Academy!” The aide said.
Suddenly, I was the center of attention. I bowed if only to maintain the appearance. I entered the audience hall and walked directly to the throne room. The Marquis tensed, knowing I was aware of his dealings with the Osgirians. He shifted on the throne, trying to determine my intentions. Other than my word, I had no proof of any wrongdoing. The documents from Kellaren’s safe were in Janus’ possession the last time I saw them. Getting a hand on them would be great to keep the Marquis under control, but that could wait. The kids came first.
I stopped by the staircase under the throne.
“What business do you have here?” The Marquis asked between his teeth.
“I’m here to inquire about our agreement,” I said, not loud enough for everyone in the room to hear.
The Marquis grunted.
“Your kids are exempt from conscription, as promised. Now get out of my sight; your presence isn’t required in the Great Hall anymore,” he said, dismissing me with a disdainful hand movement.
The Marquis’ guards and the low-level nobles shifted uncomfortably. I didn’t want more problems, so I ignored the condescending treatment and bowed goodbye. However, I couldn’t ignore the Marquis’ hateful eyes. Regardless of my Class, he was still the lord of Farcrest and had power over Elincia and the kids. A shiver ran down my spine as [Foresight] resurfaced an old memory.
But remember, Robert Clarke. Serve me well, and I’ll give you everything you need. Betray my city, and I‘ll take everything you love.
The doors burst open, and Captain Kiln stormed into the room, followed by a retinue of guardsmen. It took me a moment to realize the guards wanted to stop her but didn’t dare touch her. Captain Kiln was fuming, and her expression was that of stone. She stopped before the throne and threw a piece of parchment to the Marquis’ feet.
“What does that mean, Tauron?”
The Marquis signaled an aide to pick up the parchment.
“Izabeka Kiln, your services as Captain of Farcrest’s Guard are no longer required. You are relieved of your duty. Marquis Tauron of Farcrest,” the aide read out loud.
The floor seemed to plummet under my feet. Without Captain Kiln among Farcrest's higher ranks, the position of the orphanage was weakening. I hoped she would be a counterweight for the Marquis’ anger until I could think about something to remedy the situation, but I didn’t foresee this outcome.
“I can’t have a cripple as the captain of the guard, cousin,” the Marquis said. “I want to make this clear. You will either accept my judgment or be banished from my city.”
I glanced at Captain Kiln. We had little power without the documents tying the Marquis to the Osgirians. Our words alone would dent his credibility and complicate our situation. Izabeka Kiln was still a thane, even without his title of captain, but I didn’t have the same political protection, and neither did the kids.
The Marquis smiled with satisfaction.
Izabeka was going to raise absolute hell, but I stopped her. I saw a way out.
“Can you announce the result of the tournament, My Lord?” I asked.
The Marquis was puzzled.
“Monsters attacked before the finals could be completed. The tournament ends in no contest,” the Marquis said.
I held my breath.
Prince Adrien emerged from his retinue.
“The Aias kid scored a single point against Cadet Mihli. Firana used her wind magic to bring her down, and then she shattered her barrier,” Prince Adrien’s voice filled the audience room. “If anything, the combat ended twenty to nineteen in favor of the Rosebud Fencing Academy. And, if I recall correctly, the winner is determined by the number of barriers available by the end of the match, and we can safely say that the match is way over. Congratulations Tauron. I’d say this is a victory for Team Farcrest!”
The room burst into applause.
The Marquis was livid.
“I’m not turning that Scholar into a noble,” he mumbled, his voice drowned out by the chatter filling the room.
Only those who were close to the throne were able to listen.
Izabeka took a step up the stairs. The guards froze.
“If you don’t, I will ensure everyone knows, from the Gray Mountains to the Azure River, that you swore over the city and broke your promise,” Izabeka whispered. “ Do you think my fame will suddenly disappear because I’m not the captain anymore, cousin? I will make governing hell for you. Who would stop me? The Guard? The men and women I’ve been training for a lifetime? Unlike Rob, I don’t have a husband or children you can threaten.”
I put my hand on Izabeka’s shoulder and summoned my Character Sheet—sans the Runeweaving stuff—for the Marquis to see. He was surprised. Not every day a new Prestige Class was born.
“We can be friends or enemies. It’s your call, Lord Tauron,” I said while the other nobles ignored us and cheered the tournament results.
The Marquis leaned back, examining his position. I was a Prestige Class, a one-man army that every noble in the kingdom would want to have among their ranks. I looked over my shoulder and briefly met Prince Adrien’s eyes. He gave me a subtle, almost imperceptible nod.
The Marquis rubbed his eyes and took a deep breath. In the end, he was more pragmatic than arrogant.
“I have an announcement to make,” he said half-heartedly, and the room fell silent. “For his contributions to the city, I name you, Robert Clarke, the ninety-eighth Thane of Farcrest. My aides will complete the proceedings at a later date.”
The lack of ceremony for the announcement caught everyone off-guard. People clapped, but everyone understood the Marquis wasn’t pleased with the announcement. I accepted it with a deep bow. Maybe his contempt was a blessing in disguise. I didn’t want to participate actively in court intrigue anymore.
“Don’t you forget something, cousin? Thane is a landed title,” Izabeka grinned.
I surely would love to own land.
A fiendish grin appeared on the Marquis’ face.
“Well… I guess it’s been a while since a thane stepped foot in Whiteleaf Manor.”
Comments
Paul McGlynn
Is everyone related to everyone else the way it is depicted? The Marquis, Kiln, Holst, other-Kiln - they're all cousins. And also Izabeka was going to marry the Marquis' older brother Riker - were they literally cousins? Like, 'your parents are my aunt and uncle' cousins?
Ben Bass
TYFTC! So the kids won the tournament, and Rob is now a Thane. I hope Lord Tauron will remain pragmatic, as Rob does have a hold over him, yet only wants to help his kids and the city overall, which is in the Marquis’ best interests. It sounds like the Whiteleaf Manor is supposed to be a poison pill, let’s see what Rob, Elincia and the kids can do to whip it into shape.
Matthew
My vote is for Weasel Hunter. I feel like he should have gotten a level or two too. He did solo a guy who had at least 10 levels on him.
Dayne
I wonder if Rob got any specific rewards for taking out Janus, like a title
Matthew
I really hope Whiteleaf Manor is what most people would consider cursed, or overrun by the farlands, or something, but is actually in the perfect position for Rob to stay in touch with the orcs and let his unique blend of abilities, talents, knowledge, and allies absolutely shine. Like it's way too near the farlands, but there are dozens of Orcs who consider it an ideal location to stay because its nearby and by their standards as safe as a walk in a park, plus has room for a huge workshop and plenty of nearby materials for Ginz and Elincia, or the curse winds up being a bunch of something that his rune weaving and/or "esoteric" earth knowledge makes completely trivial and then makes his rune weaving even more powerful.
