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A Soldier's Life - 269 - Burden of Leadership
🕑 Added 2024-09-25 03:58:52 +0000 UTCChapter 269: Burden of Leadership
When we returned to the suite, Lirkin and Castile brought me aside. Lirkin seemed eager to talk about his options in the city. “I found a few places. Some I thought were out of reach.” He looked at Castile, who nodded. “One is nestled between the trade district and the river dock district. An older proprietor had a lovely little inn that hadn’t seen much business since the new docks were built further upriver, with two new luxury inns opening there. He wants to retire with his wife and move away from the city.”
“How much?” I asked.
Lirkin looked to Castile again for support before saying, “Twelve hundred gold, but the furnishings for the eighteen rooms will be included, as well as a fully stocked kitchen.” His voice had changed to hopeful. “He showed me his books, they do about three hundred gold in business annually, but it used to be closer to four hundred.”
I looked to Castile and back to Lirkin. “And one of the rooms will be for Castile?”
“There is actually a small house attached to the stables in the small courtyard in the back,” Lirkin said eagerly. “It has three additional bedrooms.”
“And that is fine with you?” I asked Castile.
Castile laughed softly, a good sign she was adjusting. “I slept on the ground among filthy men most nights these last twenty years. A private room with a bed is a luxury.”
“You can handle Elaro’s brokering the sale of the wine then,” I said as I made the 12 promised bottles appear on the table in succession. As far as I was concerned, the company men were entitled to the bottles as a share of the loot, I was just doing my job as the company porter. It also was some penance for not revealing my capabilities to the company.
Lirkin huffed, “You had some left, huh. Didn’t think I would see another bottle in my lifetime. Maybe, we have a chance to enjoy it now.”
Castile started cleaning the bottles and had other ideas, “These bottles are your inn, Lirkin.” Castile turned to me, “Ignis said you own half of her smithy? Are you doing the same for Lirkin’s inn?”
“Why don’t you and Lirkin split ownership?” I replied indifferently. The truth was, it was very doubtful I would ever return to Gramney in their lifetime. Even if we failed to find Zorana, I had still promised Maveith to travel with him to confront his father. Stone Mountain Island was on the other side of the world.
“I don’t think that is equitable,” Castile rebuked with a shake of her head, and Lirkin nodded in agreement. A three-way split for ownership?” She offered, and Lirkin was already nodding, so I guessed they had planned this.
Mateo was moving across the room, his eyes locked on the bottles of Caelorian wine, having not heard our conversation. Castile barked in her command voice for everyone to hear. “Mateo, those bottles are worth more than the Primus’ sword you carry.” That caused him to pause and look down at the weapon on his hip in confusion.
“Primus Scorpio?” I asked, slightly confused.
Mateo grinned, “Yeah, he didn’t need it anymore.”
I held out my hand, and he drew the blade, handing it to me. He had disguised the hilt, but the silvery metal along the blade and the runes clearly marked it as dungeon forged. I tested the blade with a few swings, sensing a power in it; unfortunately for Mateo, that power needed to be unlocked. I could feel the sword thirsting for my aether like the magebane.
“It is a fine weapon, Mateo.” I handed it back to him. “Be careful where you draw it.”
“We had a lot of practice in the last few months hiding the nature of our weapons. I have Delmar’s dungeon blade, but it is yours if you wish to carry it.” Lirkin said as he retrieved his sheathed weapon in his room.
“No need,” I stopped him. I am well equipped. I fingered the Orc’s Tormet on my hip. I would have to switch it for a different blade before we entered the Caliphate, maybe even before I interviewed the orc guides. “We have a portal to Artiria, Esenhem’s capital, in four days. It should save us a lot of walking.”
Benito’s eyes went wide in excitement. But it was Mateo who asked a question. “I always wondered if there were brothels in the Elven kingdom.” Castile gave him a sharp, disapproving look. “Not that I would partake, but I just heard that Elves know things... Never mind. I will shut up now.” Benito looked confused, and I doubted Mateo would restrain himself if there were brothels in Artiria. It would be fine as long as he didn’t get himself into too much trouble.
I moved to sit with Blaze, who I hadn’t talked to for some time. He was inspecting some new arrows he had purchased and was regluing some fletchings. “Why did you decide to join Castile?” I asked privately.
He put down the arrow he was working on. “It just felt right. Every time I draw my bow and release, I get a feeling that my aim is right. I got that feeling with Castile.”
“Then why are you not staying with her here?” I questioned further.
“Same reason. It just feels like the right direction for me. It is a noble act to help Maveith and his sister. Maybe I was always destined to be an adventurer and defend those who couldn’t defend themselves with my bow.” Blaze talked plainly, but there was something deeper in his words.
“Did Castile tell you that you use aether when you release an arrow?”
“She mentioned it, but I have never been able to feel the aether, no matter how hard I tried,” Blaze said, smirking. “My aether shaping is just five. I will never be a mage.”
I opened my hand to reveal the pink hair ring. Elven hunters chased elk around the workings. “This artifact will help you with your bow.” I placed it in his hand as he inspected it. “It needs to be worn in the hair, and if you don’t like the color, you can paint it.” Blaze’s hair had grown some, but it would be a challenge to wear it at the moment.
“Thank you. How does it work?” He asked, turning the pretty hair clip over.
“Figure it out with Castile. Once your hair lengthens, it should hold it comfortably.” Next, I pulled out my Hound poison kit and showed him how to treat his arrows. I then gifted him the poison kit, including the lesser thermal stone. He would need to channel aether if he wanted to use it so hopefully it would motivate him.
Ignis returned, beaming as she announced to the room, “I am now the proud owner of the smallest blacksmith forge in the city!” We all clapped and would shortly use it as an excuse to drink.
“We leave in four days. Can you get this sorry lot fitted and suited?” I asked, grinning at her.
She surveyed the eager expressions, each wearing mismatched armor they had collected during their difficult journey. A few sported pieces of armor they had recently bought at the Adventurer’s Hall. We looked like true vagabond mercenaries. “I might be able to make you look decent, but as for new armor, I have no jigs, stamps, or stencils prepared. It would be from scratch, and maybe I could get one of you properly suited.”
All eyes turned to me, and it appeared I was the one making the decisions from here on out—the burden of leadership. “Do your best with Maveith, Mateo, Blaze, and Benito. You can sell this for supplies.” I tossed her a ring.
She caught the gold ring and inspected it. “The Angella Crest?”
“First Citizen Boris Angella’s ring. He no longer had use of it,” I said snarkily. “Boris was trying to loot Caelora, and Maveith, and I ran into his exploration party on the old road. A wyvern had killed most, and the rest were limping back to Telha.”
Castile snapped, “The First Citizen pixie prick deserved his fate. It doesn’t leave this room, though. The Empire may be a thousand miles away, but its ears are not. If Boris’ mother lives, she will seek vengeance.” Everyone nodded in understanding. I doubted Duchess Veronica cared about her brother’s death, but Castile had spent more time with the family and knew them much better than I did.
We had food sent up and started feasting and drinking late into the night. My thoughts turned to Ginger, and I left the group to feed her an apple. She was happy to see me and nudged me for a second right after. “So, Ginger. An opportunity has come up. Lirkin is buying an inn in this city. You could stay here with him and Castile, or you can come with me. If you come with me, strange things will happen, and it will be dangerous. Do you want to stay here in safety or come with me?”
I think it was my serious tone, but Ginger seemed to be listening intently. She cocked her head to the side and nudged me in the chest. I produced an apple and she didn’t take it right away, and nudged me again—and then she chomped on the apple. I was going to take that as a yes. I sent out an earth pulse to make sure no one was close, and then Ginger disappeared. This spooked some of the horses, and the stable boy came running. I explained that I had traded Ginger away.
Over the next three days, I helped Lirkin and Castile purchase the inn, signing papers and negotiating with the current owners, while the others helped Ignis set up her smithy. They came back filthy every night from cleaning and doing repairs. Ignis balanced her effort on equipping them and getting her smithy ready. She removed the stones from the ring and melted the metal down before selling it, heeding Castile’s warning.
Even though they were tired from the hard days, I had us all start training together in the small courtyard behind the Crescent Crossroads before the evening meal. They complained ten-fold what they did from when Delmar or Adrian had enforced their training. But they were seasoned men and knew the value of it. For all their whining, they worked hard to win the prize of being the first to use the bath that night—I always won. I used the dreamscape amulet at night to sort out their weaknesses to correct for the next day’s session.
The tavern Lirkin had selected was old but well-maintained. It had a small basement larder with no connection to the city’s sewers, which, after Macha, we all agreed was a good thing. However, it didn’t have running water like the Crescent Crossroads, so he would have to hire staff to haul it from the city's aqueduct.
Elaro was doing his best with the wine, but such luxury items took time to sell, which included verifying the authenticity and negotiating a price. The first two bottles he sold were to the Esenhem Ambassador for roughly three hundred gold each. The aged ambassador was able to decipher the meaning of the relief art and took the two most valuable bottles out of the four. The other bottles were sold to an ambassador from Keisinia and a merchant prince from Linshania for just over two hundred gold each.
The nine hundred gold started the transfer of the inn. There was a balance due of two hundred and ninety gold at the closing in the City Deeds Hall. Lirkin sold an elven runic dagger from Caelora, and Castile sold something of her own. Annoyingly, they had me sign the ownership documents as well.
It was still going to be a few days before the current innkeeper and his aged wife could move out, but the structure and all the headaches that came with it were now Lirkin’s. Castile had the dozen bottles of wine to sell in an emergency. She didn’t think revealing more to Elaro at this time was prudent.
The search for an orc guide did not go well. The orc caravan guard, Bragaran Agher, had returned but was not interested in joining us. He made good coin doing two trade loops with a local merchant. The next candidate, Synrathe Glimmerborn, was actually a criminal in the Caliphate and laughed at me when I asked him to join us. He said he would be strung up by the testicles if the Warlord he stole from caught him, and he was being literal, not figurative. The last potential guide was Folmar Crimsonhand.
Folmar was large for an orc and had tattoos that marked him as one of their elite warriors. I was not familiar enough with orc society to know if he had belonged to either faction. He was haughty beyond compare, looking down on me and commanding half of all the coin we made. By his tone, I also guessed he assumed he was the one who would make the decisions. With this failure, I hoped to try again in Artiria but was worried about the local Guildmaster interfering since he did not like ex-Telhian legionnaires.
I managed to get some time in Elaro’s library. All the books were in Elvish and from the fallen Empire of Milvanoris. Although the Elvish writing was consistent, the calligraphy was slightly different, making it harder to read.
He let me page through all his volumes on spell forms. He lacked volumes on materialism and worlds, but had tomes on all the other affinities. He thought I was just searching for something to imprint, and was not aware of the dreamscape amulet.
On a night in the dreamscape, I took the time to try to figure out my night vision spell form from the illusion affinity. I had imprinted it during the fight with the gnolls and it was imperfect, with limited range and mostly shade of gray. I quickly found the reason why that was.
I had not imprinted night vision, but something similar to something called mage sight. Mage sight allowed a mage to see aether clearly and differentiate objects by their aether density. It was extremely valuable to mages trying to learn how to write out spell forms in the air and see the framework of spells of other casters. My aether sight was just a weaker version of mage sight called aether sight.
If I had imprinted night vision using the spell form within the books, my vision would have had color and significantly greater range. If I had imprinted mage sight, I would have been able to see aether and its flows clearly.
There were some benefits to aether sight, namely that it did not require your eyes to see. So, if my eyes were removed or I was blinded, aether sight would still give me the ability to see. I could also increase the distance I could see with a higher affinity, but I would never be able to see color. Unfortunately, there was less clarity in seeing aether than with true mage sight. I counted it a blessing anyway, no matter the limitations.
It had been a great few days of working, eating, drinking, and joking with everyone again. Castile’s sternness had started to slip as she started to get accustomed to her new life. We all moved to the Lirkin’s inn. Although the old innkeeper was still in the house by his stables, the inn was temporarily empty of patrons.
I was in the largest room on the third floor with Castile, dawn just getting ready to show itself. The teleport to Artiria was at high noon. The others had already suited up and said their goodbyes. Castile looked me over. I was wearing my black manticore cloak, earth drake boots, and bracers. My adventurer armor had been cleaned, repaired, and properly fitted by Ignis. Even though, she noted she despised working with leather and inferior armor.
“So, are you going to leave her on the bed?” Castile asked to break the silence.
“Yes.” But I was thinking of what else I could do to help Castile. I had been seriously considering leaving the Elven tablet reader for her. She could have run a very profitable business with it. But it was worth thousands of gold and might make her a target. I didn’t have many books left in my space, but they should be easy to sell and wouldn’t draw much attention. All of them had been copied into the amulet anyway. A stack of twenty-five books appeared on the table, one or two at a time. “You can sell these and give this one to Ignis.”
She shook her head in wonderment at the assortment. I didn’t have the heart to tell her about the stash in the Chancellor’s Suite at the Telhian Mage College. Over five hundred books were hidden there. I only had six books remaining in my space now: two Caelorian herbalism books, a spellbook reward from the Shimmering Labyrinth, an Elven spell form book for the energy affinity, and the three-volume set for the displacement affinity.
“I have copies in the amulet,” I explained the reason for the books, and then went silent.
Castile looked hard at me, “Well, this doesn’t have to be an awkward farewell. Somehow, I expect to see you again. You always turn up eventually. I hope you find Maveith’s sister.”
I nodded, moved to the bed, and deposited the heavy pack of trinkets and coins Selene had fled with. “If she asks where the rest of it is, tell her I gave it to her legionnaires.”
Mage Selene Greco appeared on the bed. The clean room suddenly filled with pungent odors, including urine and body odor. Castile inhaled sharply, showing her shock at seeing the body and the mage’s chest slowly rising and falling. She moved to the woman whom I had tightly bound and had a bandage on her leg from where I cut her with the magebane. I had told Castile about the poison and oblivion pills I had force-fed her. I had treated her fairly roughly, and it was best if I were gone when she regained consciousness.
“Fortuna watch over you,” I said softly to her back and left the room.
Castile muttered to herself, “Like she has time to take her eyes off of you.”
The others were all dressed up and mainly wore matching armor now when I joined them outside on the street. Ignis had even made Maveith mostly match the style of the others. We looked more like a proper fighting force, except Benito was blowing snot rockets, Blaze was leaning against a building trying to get a few more winks, and Mateo’s eyes were wandering to every woman walking the streets.
I gathered my company and headed to the courtyard for the teleport while Maveith explained to the others how it worked. On arrival, the Elven golden-haired displacement mage noticed me immediately. My group tensed as she approached, wearing a grin. “How was your stay in Gramney?”
“It was fine,” I replied cautiously.
“You know, there was a very disheartened young elf in Artiria who was upset when you and the goliath didn’t come and seek her out.” The mage said slyly. “I hate to ruin a surprise, but she may be waiting for you when we arrive.” The mage retreated, and her guards encircled her while she recovered, leaving me stunned. What elf?
Mateo was instantly at my side, staring at the beautiful Elven mage walking away, “Eryk, you sure get around. How are elves?”
“I wouldn’t know,” I said numbly, dismissing Mateo’s assumptions. I was more concerned about the elf waiting in Artiria. Shit, there was only one elf that knew me and Maveith. How could she be in Artiria? Why wasn’t she in Bartiradia? I looked at my currently happy companions, wondering how I would explain this.
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Comments
Louis Nel
I wish he would let his friends (who can) into the dreamscape so they can make copies of themselves rather than his impressions of them.
Javen
getting on eryks good side might actually be the best decision anyone could ever make. if you really make him like you you also get the equivalent of an immortal looking after your entire bloodline. he can just keep on taking time essence and stretch that time dilation so far that it might as well be eternity after all.
HappyNoms
"Blaze said, smirking." I'm dying here, nonplussed. If there is ever a feature on RoyalRoad or Patreon that lets a reader mass find and replace a word in a series they're reading, the combined misuse / excessive use of smirking is at the top 3 of my list of words to nuke from orbit. Unless it's describing Natalie Dormer playing Margaery Tyrell in Game of Thrones, who used it as a political weapon to bluff confidence - for a brilliant reason - nobody should be constantly writing characters as smirking, and FFS, Natalie Dormer is prone to subtly smirking predominantly because she has Bell's Palsy. (In all other regards, an excellent chapter. The lines Blaze has, "It just felt right. Every time I draw my bow and release, I get a feeling that my aim is right. I got that feeling with Castile." are just magnificent writing.)
Kevin O'Malley
Gold is worthless if it is hoarded. If he gets back to town he will have earned his money back in less than a decade.
Trevayne
Thanks for the chapter.
Erick Thiemke
correcte
Erick Thiemke
edited
Andrew G.
I really enjoyed the imagery of our motley troupe after Eryk left the Inn at the end of the chapter 🤣. Well done
Jordan A
“my adventurer armor had been cleaned, repaired, and properly fitted by Ignis. However, she despised working with leather and inferior armor.” How about removing the “.” After Ignis and replacing “However,” with “even though”. Flows better.
Erick Thiemke
maybe in book 6. Castile is still grieving the damage to her aether channels
Rene Schweitzer
I feel like there is a missed opportunity for Eryk and Castile to talk before he leaves. She still has the runes for lying to truthseekers so I feel like he should talk a bit about earth with her. Spain at the very least because of her grandpa. Maybe even teach her a local dish or two for the inn?
Karnnie
Great chapter. I hate how easily Eryk tosses money away but I guess that since he is now part owner of 2 businesses, he will have quite a bit of money come the future.
Jordan
He said he would be strung up by the testicles if the Warlord he stole from caught him, and he was being literal, not figurative. Run on sentence
momo2009
Naive
NightRider
Just before Eyrk portals out, I would love to see Viridia arrive to see him off. She could deliver to him a backpack with rations/goods, for the kindness he did for getting her out of the empire. It would put him in even more of a predicament trying to explain to Mateo and the Benito, what his relationship, is with her!
Brandon Baier
I regret nothing
hrs
budged should be nudged when he is feeding ginger the first apple
hrs
"...but it was mateo who asked a question. i always wondered it there were brothels in the elven kingdom." make it "...mateo who spoke up."?
Silver Beard
Plenty happy is he opts to wipe Sergie off the map. Octavian will have lost both Hound Masters and a sizable chunk and logistics of whatever is left. (Just when he needs them the most)
Tetsu-nii
Joke's on you! Still looking forward to it!!! 🤪
Jordan
I’m excited for both chapters coming shortly. Leaving us on this little cliffhanger is dastardly though haha.
Jordan
I’m also curious how she found out Eric was coming.
Jordan
I didn’t realize she was exiled. I thought she was getting blamed to a degree for the deaths of the summoner and his apprentice so they kicked her out of the rangers, but I don’t think exile was mentioned. The reason given for her leaving Bartiradia was so that she could fix familial relations between the those family members living in each country right?
Erick Thiemke
added the 'interviews'
Erick Thiemke
corrected
Erick Thiemke
Konstantin POV coming
Erick Thiemke
added
Erick Thiemke
corrected
Erick Thiemke
you will be disappointed/happy? next chapter is the Konstantin POV
Erick Thiemke
not bad but that would fit better in the last chapter
Erick Thiemke
if i dont - remind me
Aiden Wilker
Ohhh, please tell me she slaps Eryk when they meet for how he packed the griffin egg
Faa Diallo
Aww I wanted to see the mages reaction to getting dumped with Castile. Any chance for a pov?
hrs
"liquid assests" for title? hes selling stuff off also most of his money is made off the wine
Tetsu-nii
Really enjoyed the chapter! So looking forward to the next one! ^_^
Tetsu-nii
Silver Beard
It's implied he was going to return the Mage's stuff/pack but I didn't actually read that he did so.
Silver Beard
It's good that he is running into her then- something he will have to watch out for in the future. Curious the elf mage didn't mention the young gryphon?
Brandon Baier
Next chapter is going to be awesome, I think.
saber
Superr hyped for the next one!
Erick Thiemke
Yes I did. I will add a sentence or two
Erick Thiemke
Yes, missed that. I will was a paragraph about the interviews
Erick Thiemke
The owner ship of the smithy was just more banter. He wasn’t actually planning on it but Ignis will keep her side of the deal and eventually teach him in exchange for full ownership
Erick Thiemke
Yes wrong nation. That was the Bartiradians from which she was exiled
Erick Thiemke
Six he keeps in his dimensional space
Juan Magallon
“Adventure awaits” for title?
NightRider
She removed the stones from the ring and melted the metal down before selling it, heading Castile’s warning. Typo - heeding Castile’s warning.
Silver Beard
the one he was hoping for is out on assignment... and was supposed be back in 2 days... suppose he's overdue now
Silver Beard
Need a little work- he makes a stack of 25 appear but then it's only 6 he leaves after lamenting on the 500 left in the War College. 25 = 6?
Zurko
actually, thinking further, she told his secrets to the elves in her home country. not the elves in artiria. so maybe he's safe? unless they went with her or share information.
Zurko
I'm a bit worried, didn't she tell the elves most, if not all of eryks secrets like affinities, items and that he killed the elven apprentice. think they might do something or just let him go? it didn't seem like the elf girl had any power so she can't help. especially now that she's in another country from her home.
Raelik
I think you forgot to have Eryk leave selene's valuables with Castile. Or was she wearing them?
Kbzzy
Why would he not pass through gramney again in Castille’s lifetime when he’s going to be coming by every few years to see Ignis anyway?
Silver Beard
Thoroughly enjoyed it. Tied up a bunch of loose ends, especially the sales. Eryk might not be worried about gold today- but there's always tomorrow. Sucks they never found an Orc facilitator. Perhaps the elf's will be more forthcoming with one of their own.
Jordan
Wasn’t Eric supposed to meet some orcs in the duchy and potentially select one as a guide?
Raelik
Touchè. Lol if I had any energy I'd return to my own story. Hmm would be short. Not sure if I'd be good at Castile's particular form of rude competace. It's to bad that Castile is straight in the Canon. I think Selene might swing the other way if I'm interpreting what we've seen so far right.
Erick Thiemke
Fan fiction submission ?
Erick Thiemke
Fan fiction submissions are coming due….
Andrew
Thank you!
Raelik
A shock or tongue-tied for chapter name. I would also like to see the interaction between Castile and Selene.
Win Rar
I would love a small paragraph of the interaction between Castile and the mage when she wakes up . Or maybe as an option in an upcoming side story poll?
Erick Thiemke
4th of 4 for cycle. next cycle starts tomorrow. Still have a World Sphere cooking though. It was late and I might have rushed the last 700 words in this chapter. Lots of 'business' to tie up in one chapter but I wanted to get onto the adventure!
