Chapter 16: Ch 15: Road To Riches

A gentle shake to my shoulder attempts to rouse me gently. There is no reprieve in the waking world and I desperately try to claw back at sleep before it becomes too elusive. My soul itself still feels exhausted. Headaches, sore muscles, or burns are a different kind of discomfort from what feels like your very soul is tired with life and almost unwilling to go on.

Another shake and I turn my head from my arms, still no pillow… Blinking the sleep slowly out of my eyes, it is still pre-dawn light and I can barely make out the visage of Akira through what light is filtering into my room.

Blinking slowly more and more furiously as I look up to Akira, trying to place something. Wait. Akira’s waking me up? Akira’s in my room… Bolting upright in bed and clutching my sheets to my chest, a bit of panic goes through me. Akira’s in my room, watching over me as I was asleep. I rub quickly at my mouth to ensure that I was not drooling and shoot him a pointed glare.

“You should not have entered a lady’s room. Out!”

“As you wish, your two friends are waiting downstairs for you.” He says as he backs up and exits the room quietly. Why was he being so quiet? Another slow mental click makes a connection in my sleep riddled mind. Oh, shit! Dad… and I just yelled loud enough to wake him up.

Getting dressed as quickly as I can into something that would be comfortable for traveling in the still spring weather. I look over to my desk where my tiny little grimoire rests. Reaching over and passing a couple of fingers over the cover, I can almost feel my soul sigh in relief and some of the soreness completely recedes.

Grabbing my Den-izen side bag and ensuring that they are still happy, I grab the last few items off my desk. Making sure to secure my soul pouch filled with 160 embers to hang off my belt. Having tried to place the soul pouch or the grimoire in the compartment, it just does not feel right and so I grab a thin strip of leather and pass it through my grimoire. Tying a knot so as to secure it along the spine and looping it onto my belt, I can still feel the elation of my very being at the proximity of the grimoire.

Looking over my desk one final time, trying to think if I am missing anything. I glance over my engraving tools and a bag with some jet black river stones just waiting to have my hobby applied to them. Reaching down I collect a few of the tools and while it would be stupid to run around the countryside with a bag full of rocks, at least I can maybe use the tools to help pass some time around a campfire.

Taking everything I have and heading downstairs I am greeted by a grumpy Jessica and an all too chipper Zoe who’s possibly trying to keep quiet so as to not wake my father, and failing miserably. Her natural state is bouncing and being talkative. It must pain her to try and be sneaky or simply quiet, as opposed to Jessica where she normally can be shy and subdued and if she feels like I do, I do not blame her.

I lead the party to the kitchen where the four of us sit down to eat a quick breakfast before we head out to the town of Golthal before noon. It is at this time that my father makes his way into the kitchen as well.

“Morning girls.” He says with a big yawn.

“Thanks for waking me up, I wanted to make sure I could wish you good luck.” There is a hint of melancholy in his voice as he addresses us.

“Yesterday, when those paiges came to deliver the messages for you all, I presume that all the parents and guardians were warned in no uncertain terms that the guild master was pushing for us to not be able to provide aid to you all.”

“He can bloody sod off for all I care. Now if possible, I’d deck you all head to toe in armor, but I doubt that’d be good for walking out in the sun for several days for you all. However, I can let you all take a weapon of your choice to hopefully help guard against wild animals or any possible issues. Sometimes, just openly carrying a weapon that fits you could discourage any would-be trouble makers.”

“Thanks for the offer Mr. Foregess, however, I’ve already got a small bow which is the preferred weapon for wind mages.” Zoe chimes in and snaps a hot glare at Akira who sneered at the possible use of a bow while he muttered under his breath.

“...useless…”

“I will not be! You’ve never seen me use a bow!” She shouts at Akira for his untoward comment.

“Not you, the weapon choice.” Akira quickly says in defense, however, it’s dad who comes in and breaks up the possible bickering.

“Now, now, tiss okay little Zoe, he probably just prefers the feel of steel in hand, many warriors feel naked without a sword or shield. You at least got a dagger there on your hip which looks to be good.” He motions towards the dagger she has which is her father’s memento.

“I’m okay as well.” Jessica chimes in shyly.

“Jessica, listen, you need at least a dagger, just in case.”

“No I’m fine, I don’t want to hurt anyone or anything. I want to be a healer and I think I’ll maybe aim to make a stave in the future.”

However, it is Akira that chimes in at this point to try and convince Jessica.

“A dagger still has its uses for a healer. To cut away clothing or to sometimes make an incision to remove a foreign object. Sometimes a healer is required to cause some harm to alleviate more harm or to allow the body to heal, a dagger is a must unless you’d plan to try and dig into a wound with your fingers to remove a broken fang or other items.”

“O-Okay, but just a small one.” She concedes and dad is more than happy to go grab one of his better light daggers to give to Jessica.

That leaves just me and I feel stuck. I’ve never actually had any training with a bow like Zoe may have, nor have I really practiced or used anything dad made. I could maybe use a hammer, as I had practice at wielding one for helping dad out or when he tried to teach me his craft. I also use smaller ones for engraving sometimes, however, I don’t like that idea. I’m not sure why, but it would feel like using a hammer in such a fashion would taint the crafting tool that I like to use to lose myself in my hobby.

“Akira, what weapons do you know how to use or could you teach?” I ask as I’m truly stuck and maybe I should just grab a small dagger, like Jessica, but that does not feel right. I want to be able to protect her if it came down to it.

“All...”

“What?” I ask for clarification.

“I’ve trained with all weapons to a sufficient level of aptitude.” This statement earns a scoff from William at Akira bragging in front of all the girls, however, he does not call him out on it as he’d rather they feel safe on this small foray and not demoralize them out the gate.

“Well if that’s the case I can lend you my best work, a claymore by the name of Ness, to help protect my daughter and her friends.”

“No thank you, I don’t need a fire-poker.” Cara stifles a small laugh while not being able to look her father in the eye, remembering that Akira had been using ‘Ness’ to poke the embers in the forge the day before.

Her father gives her an odd look at why she might be laughing at ‘Ness’ and before he can go find out what happened to his pride and joy, I quickly change the topic.

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“Well… What weapons are you most proficient with? Could you teach it and would it be something we could learn?” Now I’m interested if it is just perhaps a spear for range or perhaps he’d be using a shield and sword to guard kings and queens previously.

“The best? The best one has always been a division-sword. Learning is not easy but even a minor aptitude in it can be quite effective.”

“Boy. I’m a blacksmith and I’ve never heard of no ‘division-sword’. What are you going on about?”

“A division sword is a weapon that reigns supreme in all battlefronts. It is a sturdy sword when needed and… also similar to a bladed whip, capable of circumventing defenses and attacking blind spots. Extremely difficult to guard against and as long as you learn to not cut your own head off, a remarkable tool to guard your friends.”

“Even if it is a whip, that’s only medium range, a bow is still better potentially at long range. You still have a small chance of taking out a fire mage if they are unaware, and it is safer.” Zoe tries to defend her choice and is still a bit bitter at Akira’s mention of it being useless.

Akira shakes his head at that before saying.

“Unless the projectile you are shooting is alive, any beast or mage can simply block the projectile out of the air and store it in their soul space.”

Heading off another possible bickering session, William steps in with a gruff tone.

“Well I don’t have any ‘blade whip swords’, nor have I ever seen one. Not sure how that cannot simply be cut if extended and then you are left with a nub. I can offer you any other weapon in my shop.”

“I am fine with the single sword I borrowed already. I also have several division-swords stored in my own soul space. Once I can access it without harming Cara I can provide them to the girls and help teach them how to use it.”

“That’s the second time you mentioned a ‘soul space’, is that like a storage artifact?” Zoe asks.

“Yes, though not an artifact, simply a part of your soul capable of carrying anything that is not alive.”

“And you cannot prove that you have one?” Zoe asks again, now curious, potentially the inner merchant that her uncle had ingrained in her now coming out at the possibility.

“Yes, while mine is very large and unable to be used without having Cara suffer mana poisoning, the three of you would be able to develop your own soul pockets in time.”

Zoe seems to deflate a bit at that and I finally notice that she gave the sidewall of the kitchen an ugly look. Following her small reproachful glare, I see that she was subjecting the four heavy packs to it. Realization dawned on me, we’ve got the heavy packs and if we had something as useful as a storage artifact… or four… it would make traveling a breeze.

Akira moves over to the packs and starts to rifle through his own and tosses most of everything, only keeping a fire starter that I showed him how it works and some dried rations, a waterskin, a small amount of rope, a single tent, soap, and a blanket.

William, however, is deep in thought after the mention of the storage artifacts and how Akira confirmed that he kind of has one, not one that is a physical object but something more personal that could not be taken away. Also, he had mentioned that the three girls would be able to have their own in time. He’ll need to bring this up with the other two girls' guardians, as this could be really bad.

Looking over at the heavy packs for myself and the other two girls, I can see that they are incredibly heavy with cast iron skillet, pots, small shovels and a whole host of other items that make them almost half of any of our weights.

Akira tackles the last three bags for us and removes everything except the food, water, blanket and soap.

“What do you think you are doing!?” Zoe asks in protest.

“If we have only one tent, you are expecting to sneak in with us girls?” Finally understanding what Zoe remarks as the problem, I cannot help but remember this morning that Akira was in my room and my face quickly heats up in embarrassment.

“The tent will be for the three of you, it will be tight and I’ll carry the weight for the journey.”

Zoe hesitantly relents and agrees, though is still thinking that Akira is possibly looking for an excuse to maybe sneak in during the night or to try and create the perfect set of circumstances where it could not be helped. Well, even if he did try, I’m sure Zoe and Jessica would be more than able to kick him out.

Jessica and Zoe grab some extra clothes that they brought in a separate wrapped leather and store them in their bags. I quickly toss my engraving tools inside my bag and run upstairs to grab a few clothes to allow me some changes over the coming days.

Returning downstairs, I find Jessica finishing up her packing with some dried herbs and salves that her parents most likely gave her. We grab our now much lighter packs and while dad is still lost in thought we wish him goodbye and set out. He gives a small goodbye as we head out the door.

As we walk down the street, Jessica and I do a quick tally of what funds we have to ourselves. The packs had a lot of stuff, but no comforts. We could not afford a deposit to rent a carriage, much less a wagon.

“I’ve got a few Dens as well, but my uncle was warned heavily from financing us or setting up an escort caravans. He’s actually been barred from placing any trade requisitions to drive that way.” Zoe mentions sadly, as our predicament seems to be having larger ramifications for those around us.

After discussing a little bit more, we decide to try our luck with the tailor and see if she is open this early in the morning. Zoe watches us as we both slip a hand into our hip bags and with a rune stone and try to coax our Den-izens to help alleviate some of our Den issues.

As long as we do not use everything, we could recover some along the road and we decide to use a quarter of our mana to compress some embers and match them up with our internal mana to help our Den-izens produce some silk manes.

I keep an eye on Jessica who keeps referencing her grimoire. I want to ensure that I do not exceed her and that if we do a trade that it is equal and from what I remember from her grimoire, we have the same mana regen rate, but my mana’s depth… depth… I see why it can be considered that… My mana’s depth is deeper.

Jessica’s grimoire still shows that she has 50 some-odd embers while last I remember, I was up near 160.

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