Chapter 379: Preparations (Part Two)

We made a round trip to the mansion. Or rather I was planning on making one. 

Neira was dead set on traveling with me. She didn't care if I was going to the battlefield or the capital, she just wanted to tag along to gain experience- or so she claimed. 

So, I had to get rid of her. And for that, I was going to have a conversation with her mother. Surely, she wasn't going to let her daughter march into death, right?

Right?

"Why the hell are they on the ground?"

We'd reached the mansion. 

There was a small garden in front of the mansion. It mostly had grass and some small trees. 

The people, and the soldiers were on the grass, just lying there. They were conscious and very much alive. It seemed more like they were passing the time. 

So, what the hell happened?

"They were probably scared of what was about to happen," Neira said. "But once you saved us, they just relaxed?"

Why the hell was she asking me that?

The crowd that was prevalent even moments ago, didn't exist here. These people had a very short span of celebration time that was for sure. 

Weird. 

Anyway, we went into the mansion. 

Apparently, Neira and her mother lived in the mansion as they were very important people. Her mother being the general and her being a royal guard. 

Now that the lord was dead, his only daughter was going to take over- or she would have, if Neira's mother wasn't elected by the general people. 

And these guys were still here to make sure the negotiations or whatever that was going on inside went smoothly. They weren't lying here out of relaxation, no. 

Weren't these people a bit too laid back to think that the army above wouldn't have done anything to them?

"So, your mother wants to be the new lord, or lady, or whatever that title is."

At this point, I wasn't sure, and I certainly didn't care. 

"Well," Neira paused as we walked through the two-story mansion. "She didn't want to become so. But if she doesn't, who knows what the daughter of that man would do." She sighed. "I was her guard, so I can tell, she's not a bad person, but I'm not so sure about now."

Well, we did kill her father. Or rather, I did. 'Wouldn't meeting her right now, invoke her rage and stuff-?'

Anyway, I had to see Neira's mother first. I was going to get out of this place in about two hours, so I didn't really care about hate and all that. 

The interior of this place was reminiscent of properly tiled buildings. Not too fancy, but definitely not cheap. 

But that was basically it. It was too average in terms of architecture. 

There were some guards here and there- they didn't try to stop us. Some servants were running around.

We went up to the fourth room on the second floor. With a knock, both of us went in. 

Two women sitting at a table, just staring at each other. One of the women was Neira's mother. 

"I don't know what's the holdup, but I need to talk to you," I said. 

A very distinct smell drifted in the air. A smell I was really familiar with: tea. 

"Oh, you're here. Everything went well?" Neira's mother smiled and angled her head towards me. 

She was pretty busted, those wounds were going to take some weeks to heal, if not months. 

"I'm sure you've already heard."

"I have, but hearing from you is different, is it not?" She was a tiger demi-human?

Neira meanwhile didn't look like her mother. Most of the time her head was covered, so I couldn't tell if she had cat ears or not. Frankly, I didn't care. 

"Yeah, that's great. But I'm leaving now, and you should chain your daughter here or something, cause she won't leave me alone."

"Well, she's a grownup and has her own will."

"Might I remind you, I too have that and I could just punch her unconscious and leave her here."

Neira took a defensive stance, eyes unwavering. "I haven't been to a real battlefield. But I assure you, I'll go with you no matter what."

"See what I mean?" I stared at Neira's mother. 

"Not really." The other woman- the daughter of the lord said. "If she wants to go with you, why not allow her? If something goes wrong, just use her as a meat shield?"

Weirdly, she didn't seem to hold grudges against me. Or maybe she just was amazing at pretending. 

"Funny you can say that with a straight face." I pondered. "Though I guess that's always an option."

"HEY!"

"Jokes aside. I don't think she'll live if she goes with me. Therefore, I'm not taking her with me. Besides, there's no point in taking a random stranger with me who would certainly slow me down."

"There is actually-" Neira said. "What if they trick you into taking you somewhere else or just take long routes to stall you?" She stood next to, exhaled sharply from her nose. "And we're not strangers! You freaking saw me naked!"

"I doubt they'd do that when they know I could kill them any time." I gave her a dull glare. "Might I remind you, you were in the midst of being torn by goblins and I gave you clothes."

"They are devoted to the country, don't forget that," her mother said, not quite following the conversation. 

"And running away after seeing her naked? Hmm…." Meanwhile, the daughter of the lord finally showed her true colors. "Quite the character."

These people were hellbent on guilt-tripping me. 

Well, I suppose that was true. "But if I take her-"

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"Look, I'm going with you because I want to. That's it. I want to learn more about the world and you just happen to be my best bet at surviving. I'm really weak you know. I try to act tough, but I'm weak. And that's why I'm tagging along with you. After all, you're so strong." She spoke frankly.

"I can't guarantee you'll survive."

"You've already made that clear enough. But still-" She cleared her throat. "Just make sure. Just make sure I don't die."

Didn't I just say I couldn't guarantee?

I sighed, my palm on my face: facepalm sigh. 

There was no point in continuing this charade. This was going nowhere. 

Sigh. This was becoming a drag. "Fine." On the other hand- "And what the hell are you people still doing a meeting about?"

Because no matter how I looked, the two women were just chatting with smiles, having tea and biscuits. Not, arguing and negotiating and stuff. 

"Oh, we were discussing whether we'd finally make a proper road leading out or not."

Meaning, they'd already finished negotiating and stuff. 

"Good for you." I started walking out. 

I had more shit to deal with.

And I had to get that sword.

Then I had to get out of this place. 

Then I had to cross a desert. 

Then I had to go fight a frigging army.

Sigh.

I had too much shit to deal with.

***

I spent some time shopping around, alone.

I bought some potions, some high potions, and mostly water. I could store it, so I bought plenty of barrels. I also bought some tea. 

I had money, so I didn't hold back. If I didn't spend now, when would I spend it? After dying?

Well, I was already kind of dead anyway. 

There wasn't much left to do, so I headed to the smithy. 

"How's it coming along?"

The old woman was manually sharpening the sword with strokes against some sort of stone. 

"Almost," she said.

The sound was kind of irritating my ears, so I wanted to get out. But I waited anyway. 

It took her another good twenty minutes of manual sharpening before she stopped, washed her hands, and came my way. "That'll be one dwarven gold, kid." 

I checked the sword. It was good. Not the best sharpening job, but it was good. "As promised." I paid her full. 

I did want to bargain and all but since I hadn't done that beforehand, it seemed stupid to try that now. 

Besides, I wasn't hurting for money anyway. Even with all the shopping and all that, I still had like three hundred elven gold left and they were technically four times more expensive than dwarven gold which in turn was twice as expensive as demon gold which in turn was slightly more expensive than human gold. 

The whole thing was kind of blowing my mind. 

Why couldn't people just stick with one frigging currency?

I had no frigging idea.

Anyway.

"I don't know where you got that sword but-" The old lady paused. 

I was just about to walk out. "The broken blue one?"

She grinned. "There's a smithy near the north border. He goes by Swine. Yeah, the guy's a pig. Try searching for him if you have time. A total nutjob but he's good."

"Thanks for the info."

With that over, I bid the people goodbye and headed straight for the exit. 

Neira stayed behind with her mother for farewells and stuff. 

If I could just outpace her and get out before she could-

"Good afternoon."

And she was already here, just outside the store. Wearing light armor, not quite covering her whole body like before. 

Sigh. 

And wait, she did have cat- rather, leopard ears!

"Afternoon."

Instead of just complaining and stuff we headed for the exit together. 

Having her was a good thing as she could instantly get us up the place anyway. 

There was still a crowd out here on the streets, just far less than before.

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