Chapter 21: Chapter 21

Elijah opened his eyes, and said "this is the best day ever!"

He heard a chuckle and saw Ferwen's grey eyes starting back. Elijah just realized this, but there were really unique eye colors everywhere.

"Good morning, I assume you're doing well?"

"I'm a Method!" 

"I realized- it wasn't hard to figure out with all the noise and flashes, and you starting to float while sitting cross-legged."

"I did that?" Elijah asked excitedly, "is that normal?" 

"Nothing about you is normal, but as far as that goes it's not unheard of."

"So... breakfast?" Elijah asked.

"What do you plan to do?" Ferwen asked.

"Explore!" Elijah said excitedly, his tail rod straight, "I only have two years before school starts."

"School?"

"I promised Pont I'd go."

"Pont... Pont of Moira? In Durm city?"

"Sounds about right. You know him?"

"We were in the same class," Ferwen had a bitter look.

"With Sheridan?"

"You know of him as well?"

"Yes. Is it trendy to be captured nowadays?"

"What?"

"Nevermind. Breakfast?"

"Come, let's go."

Elijah stood from his bed and realized he was very uncomfortable.

He looked down and saw that his pants were too small, reaching above his ankle and only covering most of his calf. The same could be said for the clothes underneath and his socks but his shirt still fit snuggly.

"A growth spUrt!" Elijah's voice cracked.

"Really? Any taller and you'll be the rebirth of the titans," Ferwen laughed.

They walked downstairs, and were served breakfast by Braen. This time Ferwen had paid for both their shares.

"Are you also traveling?" Elijah asked with a mouthful of dwarvish gretel- a honey-pickled piece of meat that had carrots, onions and a bit of salt cooked with it. He was using his utensils like a five year old.

"Yes, I'm heading towards Vilgenour."

Elijah didn't recognize the name, so he asked "do you mind if I join?"

"Feel free."

"I already do."

Ferwen looked at him and critiqued "you're going to have to learn proper etiquette."

Elijah's satisfied smile wavered, "slightly less free," He said. He didn't like etiquette. "Whatever, I'm trying to eat," Elijah dismissed.

"I'm serious Elijah, you'll get chewed out if you eat like that."

Elijah rolled his eyes.

"How about this- we've a month and a half to Vilgenour, so I'll teach you on the way."

"Are we getting a carriage?" Elijah perked up.

"No, I've a mount, what need I for a carriage?"

"Even better!"

"If you're t'be goin' so soon, ah'll hand ye wha' ah promised," Braen spoke up. "Ye," he said to Ferwen, shaking his head in disappointment, "a bag full'a coins. And ye!" He said more excitedly as he turned to Elijah, "a bel'!" He held a leather belt that had some gemstones imbedded in the metal hold. It looked very fancy.

"A belt?"

"Aye but no'just any ol' bel', bu' dwarven 'chanted!"

"Ooh neat! Gimme! Gimme!" Elijah tried reaching and managed to snatch it from Braen's hand and put it on, asking "what's it do?"

"Well first ye got'a bond with i'."

"Bond?"

"Ye got'a try connect ta i' fer round an hour, then ye'll get what it does."

So Elijah followed his vague instruction, and an hour later, he got a system message.

[You've bonded with item: dwarves belt(rare)

+2 DURABILITY 

Poison resistance (assistance on poison checks)

Dwarvish (language) ]

Neat! He got an extra three health, setting him at 26 maximum health.

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"What the heck is that!?" Elijah was awed. He ran around the creature, his tail swaying to and fro in excitement, "It looks like a giant turtle!"

They had both reclaimed their belongings from the inn, and had gotten Elijah several sets of new loose clothes so he wouldn't outgrow them too quickly like the previous set that lasted a whole of five days. It had cost them eight Ironcrest silvers for three pants and six underwater, as well as six socks- which was expensive as it was well over in gold piece sums. After Ferwen made one final stop by himself they were ready to travel.

"Close, it's a zeniltort, they're versatile mounts that can travel almost anywhere and are pretty resilient. In addition," Ferwen patted it's shell "the seating is wide and the movement is stable. They're dream mounts that are difficult to tame and impossible to train unless you find an egg, and getting one of those is a downright nightmare! The adults grow several tens of meters high, and are aggressive if you try to take an egg. That was quite a story," he reminisced.

"Neat!" Elijah said, already on top of it.

Ferwen shook his head and continued feeding the zeniltort. Then he too mounted and tapped on its shell in several locations. The zeniltort stood up and started moving fairly quickly and smoothly. Elijah was giggling delightedly and excitedly.

They got to the gates, entered the elevator still on top of the giant tortoise, and were transported up with a fee of five copper.

Exiting into the ravine, Ferwen patted the zeniltort on the right, the opposite way that Elijah had come from, and the creatures complied, turning and continuing its walking. "Now then," Ferwen said, turning around and procuring wooden utensils including five different knives and forks each, four plates and bowls each of varying shapes and sizes, three cups of different styles and three different spoons. Like that the lessons came, and Elijah had to suffer for extended periods of time trying to memorize appropriate mannerisms, of which there were needlessly many of. For three weeks they drove on the zeniltort, Trotter, only stopping to hunt a deer twice, some rabbits thrice, and a bear once, (turns out, non-feral animals don't give experience, so he only got one for the bear) and the occasional bath that Elijah insisted on (the baths much to Ferwen's exasperation) before Elijah had learned the {table manners} skill.

[You've learned table manners

You are reading story Elijah at novel35.com

+1 experience

3/1000]

And Elijah was suddenly much more motivated to learn. Ferwen was confused at Elijah's abrupt display of enthusiasm, but was none the less happy at the opportunity to teach the no longer grumbling Elijah. This was an amazing discovery for Elijah, as he had not known that he could gain skills from outside the system's influence. Although he should have probably realized this when he gained competency with chained knives. 

Another two weeks at Elijah's insistence, and his competency improved to specialty. Together with hunting a low leveled monster, he gained more experience.

[You've specialized in table manners

+2 experience

6/1000]

It only took such a short time because Elijah only had one thing to focus on, so instead of learning for three hours a week like a normal noble child, he learned for 21 hours a week and practiced 49. In the end, it took him around 350 hours to make table manners a specialty.

A week later, and it had already been 51 days since Elijah had conjoined his memories, and he was currently eating like a six year old.

"What happened to your etiquette!?" Ferwen was devastated. Elijah had shown true mastery at wielding the fork and knife, better then he himself, and now he was eating like a child.

"I'm not going to be eating like a prick all the time! Only when I need to!" Elijah retorted.

Ferwen sighed, "whatever, at least you know what you need to. We've arrived," he said, tapping Trotter's shell and sliding down onto the dirt road. The scenery had changed a lot from the dwarven mountains- there was grass covering the ground for miles, and flowers spotting the green in colors of red, yellow and blue- though Elijah spotted the occasional purple.

The road lead to a low-walled city, that they traveled to the rest of the way on foot.

"Why are you going to Vilgenour?" Elijah asked.

"My friend Sommaly the connoisseur lives here, and I thought she'd like if I brought her some dwarven booze and drink. I only ended up staying there so long because I" "was locked up?" Elijah completed with a twitch of his ears.

"Had taken contract," Ferwen corrected, his gaze attracted by the twitch. "I'd been meaning to ask, but what manner of person are you? You're features aren't quite what I recognize in any known race."

"I'm a halfbreed-tabaxi!"

"A halfbreed you say?" Said the half-elf, "interesting..."

"Why? Aren't you a halfbreed as well?"

"Indeed, which is what only makes it more interesting. Here," he said, as they both reached the gates, handing Elijah some coin, "the fee for entry should be around this much."

"Ferwen?" The guard asked, and received a strained smile in return. "As I live and breath- glad to see you still do as well. Still handling those cases? I hear investigators have some tough tasks in the field. Come! Come in! I'm sure the captain will be pleased to see you!"

Ferwen lead Trotter forward, and Elijah payed the entry fee for himself, slipping in an extra coin and taking out his new pocket-watch, asking, "hey Ferwen, when do nobles eat?"

"What?"

"At what time do nobles usually have lunch?"

"Around four is standard time I think. Why? You don't have a... Where did you get that?" glancing and realizing that his friend does indeed have one, he asked, suspicious of its origin.

"What are you talking about? Everything I adorn is bought and payed for. Ten minutes," Elijah said, closing the pocket watch and inserting it into his pants. "Excuse me, I'm going to show off,"

"What?" Ferwen turned around from a greeting and noticed a cat's tail disappearing behind the house infront of him.

"Why did he leave?" He wondered, worried at what his friend and perhaps future pupil would get himself into.

He continued regardless, getting all sorts of greetings along the way, some more suggestive and amorous then others, to all of which he replied politely and moved on. Reaching the wine shop that he hadn't been to in eight years, he opened the door and saw the familiar and nostalgic interior.

Gray stone tiles lined the floor, and bottles of different shapes and sizes lined shelves that ran across the long walls, protected with anti-theft enchantments. Infront was a desk adorned only with a bell atop it. Behind and to the right was a staircase leading down. Ferwen tapped Trotter's shell, signifying for him to stop and wait, as he grabbed the heavy luggage of barrels and after several trips, when everything was inside, he rang the bell. Not long after, the owner appeared, rising from below. She had brown features- mahogany eyes with no scelera, chocolate skin and ebony hair. Her cheekbones were set higher then most from the Fenril empire, and her stained horns and scaly tail were giveaway traits to her demonic lineage. A devilkin.

"Wow, you're still alive?" She asked with a wicked grin, showcasing her pointy canines. Her wagging tail though was also a dead giveaway to get emotions.

"With the sway of your tail, I'm not sure whether you missed me or longed for which I bring," he gestured behind him at the barrels of liqueurs and liquors. 

"What are they?" She asked, leaning her body to get a better look and tilting her head.

"Dwarven. stopped by an inn and met a dwarven brewer."

"Thank you!" She jumped excitedly before hugging him.

"So," she asked after coming loose, "why'd you disappear for eight years?"

"Dealing with some abominable Eldritch goose chase."

"Did you solve it?" Sommaly asked.

"Of course I did! Though then I landed in a few more troubles in several cities..."

"Well, sit and tell please! I have a lot of time as not many appear in winter."

As the spring had passed, the winter had arrived in most parts east of the Fenril empire, though some it affected less then others- or more erratic in the case of Vilgenour, where it would snow for five days, dry the next, then a great heat wave would come and settle for the next week, only for it to drizzle literal natural holy water a day later. The western part was experiencing a tropical summer at this time.

"I'm not sure how much time I have, but I could probably spend a few hours while he's distracted," Ferwen said.

"He?" Sommaly asked, jolting.

"Please, lead the way, I have much to discuss with you about a certain someone I've been traveling with for the past few weeks."

"It's it a paramour?" She teased.

"Hardly. I'll tell you all about it when we're sitting."

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"Are you going to teach him?" She leaned forward in anticipation.

"With him, if he finds out I don't think I'll have a choice. But it should wait until he's older."

"Do you have a School in mind?"

"I'm not sure. He doesn't fight like me- I'm a frontline fighter, while he's neither front nor back nor middle, but a meddling, a proper rogue- almost no one fights like that. They'll either fight front like me or try to finish it in one go, and whatever doesn't work will be left to those who can finish the job. You occasionally see spellcasters and mind warpers, but a rogue fighting so purely is... Frightening. He sneaks in and out of combat, hiding so proficiently and striking repeatedly- and this is before he became a Method. I don't know who taught him to hide like that, but he must've been a master."

"And it couldn't have been natural talent?" Sommaly asked.

"Talent like that at sixteen is hard to find. Ascendance only happens on the third tier, and to be so proficient in stealth as to almost disappear completely is almost unheard of."

Sommaly thought for a moment. "Well," Sommaly reasoned "isn't that the point? if it's stealth then you wouldn't find out about it even if a thousand people had the same ability at age five."

Ferwen begrudgingly nodded. "Still, any rogue is difficult to find, and a pure even more so."

They stayed silent for awhile, contemplating, before Sommaly said "the black paladin is in Vilgenour."

The black paladin, who some called the mourning knight, was a paladin who had an oath with no deity. No one knew what his oath detailed, only that it was called the oath of protection, as it was one he had founded himself without the help of some god.

"And?" Ferwen pressed.

"Just saying. Apparently he's inspecting some noble's mansion in the area."

Suddenly, for no reason he could think of, Ferwen had a sinking feeling in his gut.

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