Chapter 53: Chapter 52: Changed Lives

“We’ll be right behind you if you run into trouble, but you really shouldn’t.” Tess said. “Slimes are like…trivial. You could just kick it to death and there wouldn’t be any issues.”

“If you say so.” Jacob replied, gripping the quarterstaff nervously. “It’s still nerve wracking to know that I could potentially die here.”

“Not really.” Alice replied. “You’re in no danger whatsoever as long as we’re here, not from anything in this dungeon. If you go to other dungeons, though, that might be a possibility, but for now you really don’t need to worry about it. You’ll see once you actually fight a slime.”

“We can offer proof if you would like.” Ellie offered. “We could take out the slimes from a distance without breaking a sweat.”

“No, it’s fine.” Jacob replied. “I can do this.” And, as if to stave off any further discussion, he opened the door to the first floor of the dungeon and strode in, leaving the others to follow him.

Inside the first room there was, of course, a slime waiting. Jacob stopped for a moment while he stared at the slime, before walking forward and swinging the staff. It wasn’t exactly a skilled swing, more raw power than any sort of finesse, and something more mobile probably would have dodged it easily, but the slime wasn’t that mobile, and Jacob landed the hit.

The slime burst into rainbow haze, and Jacob breathed a sigh of relief, slouching a bit as he turned back to the others. “Is…that it?”

“Yeah.” Tess said, smiling. “Told you it’d be nothing to worry about. The only thing in this dungeon that can actually be a threat is the boss.” She paused, thinking for a second. “And the Challenge, but that’s not something you should be thinking about until later on, those can be…well, challenging.”

“Will…you guys be helping me with the boss?” Jacob asked.

“If you run into trouble.” Tess replied. “We’d probably have a hard time not one-shotting it, so it would be better if we could let you try it yourself first. We have healing magic, so don’t worry if you get a few bumps and bruises from it, you’ll be good as new by the time we get you home.”

“Alright, I’ll…well, I’ll take your word for it.” Jacob replied.

So, they made their way through Slime Tower. Jacob was able to take care of all of the slimes fairly easily, though once they started appearing in groups of more than two, he began to occasionally take a couple of hits from them.

And, after another ten or twenty minutes, they had made it to the top floor. It was about as crowded as Tess had remembered it, mostly people who were looking to make relatively easy money farming the boss for its drops.

“There’s a lot of people here.” Jacob whispered. “Do we need to wait until whoever’s in there is done, or…?”

“No, this is just the easiest boss in the city, and you can make kind of okay money with very little skill here, so a lot of newer freelancers tend to earn some starting cash by just fighting the boss a bunch for a while. And, occasionally, civilians who have need for extra money will come here in their free time.” Alice explained. “So, this place is generally pretty crowded.”

“I…see. I guess I hadn’t really…though about it that way.” Jacob replied. “So, do we just go in, then?”

“Pretty much.” Alice replied. “Just go ahead, we’ll be right behind you, ready for if things turn sour, so just go for it.”

Jacob nodded, and the group entered the boss room. The fight went smoothly, Jacob took a few hits, but after a few minutes he managed to kill it. “That wasn’t that bad, I guess.” He said, panting and sitting down on the floor. “It hurt a little, but I can handle that.”

“You get used to it after a while.” Alice said. “Want to grab your reward? We can take a breather in the lobby; it’ll be more comfortable.”

“Yeah, that sounds good.” Jacob replied, standing back up. “Is it that other door?”

“That’s the one.” Ellie said. “Lead the way.”

Jacob made his way to the door, with everyone else following, and they were soon in the room with the Rewards Crystal. Jacob walked up and touched it, then waited for a moment before turning back to Tess and Ellie. “Did it work?”

“It…should have.” Tess said, frowning. “Did you not get a window explaining what you got to you?”

“He doesn’t have one of the nice bands.” Alice said. “He’ll have to get scanned when he gets back to the guild.”

“Oh. That’s…a little disappointing, I guess.” Jacob replied. “I don’t really feel different, I’m…not sure what I expected.”

“Yeah, you usually don’t.” Alice confirmed. “And portable Skill scanners aren’t that expensive, you could probably get one by the time you fully clear Slime Tower if you make sure to pick up all your drops.”

“I guess I’ll save up, then.” He said.

“Nah, I can get you one.” Tess told him. “I make a fair bit of money and have nothing to spend it on. My gear’s about as good as I can get, and I don’t need weapon upgrades, so…yeah.”

“You sure about that? I’m not sure of the value of this money, but it’s gotta be worth a fair amount, right?” Jacob asked.

“I probably made at least a fourth of the cost just taking you through here.” Tess said. “I get the maximum amount of money dropped even if I don’t participate in the kill, I just have to be in the party and present at the kill.”

“Oh.” Jacob said. “I…didn’t realize.”

“Yeah, it’s a little nuts.” Tess replied. “But we can discuss that later. What do you want to do now? Do you want to go again, or would you rather grab some food?”

“Let’s eat.” He said. “I’m hungry and more than a little curious as to what kind of food people eat here.”

“Sounds good.” Alice said. “I know just the place.”

And with that, the group left the dungeon, off to eat and see what else the day might have in store for them.

---

“You don’t have to do this, Maven.” Maven’s mother said, giving her a pleading look.

Maven wasn’t falling for that act. She could see in her mother’s eyes that she had already accepted that Maven wasn’t going to be dissuaded. “I do, Mother.” She replied curtly. “You and I both know that I have potential, and I’m not going to squander it by just boosting my way up to a high level.”

“Boosting is not squandering potential.” Her father said indignantly. “It’s a time-honored way of getting your strength up, much like any other form of training. If anything, it gets you to the point where you can actually begin doing the interesting things faster.”

“Yeah, and have no basic competencies that you should have at that level.” Maven countered. “I’ve met people half your level who would be able to beat you with one hand.”

“That is no way to talk to your father.” Her mother said sternly. “And I very much doubt that you’ve met anyone meeting that description.”

“I’m going to be in a party with her.” Maven replied defiantly. “You may not believe me, but you didn’t see what I saw. She was easily able to clear that dungeon, and I know she was holding back, I could feel it.”

“You may feel that way,” her mother replied, “but you don’t have the proper experience to know what someone is capable of. I think you were just overestimating her because she’s related to the Guildmaster.”

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“That’s enough, Abarrane.” Amara said, stepping out of the hoverer that was waiting behind them. “We’ve already had this discussion multiple times. Dragging it out further would be…less than productive.” She said, giving Maven’s mother a meaningful look. “It would be best if we didn’t delay things further.”

“I…” Maven’s mother, Abarrane, trailed off as she looked into Amara’s eyes. “Yes, Grandmother.” She said, looking away.

Amara looked back to Maven’s father. “I trust you have no other objections, Saburo?”

“You aren’t queen anymore, Amara.” Saburo said. “Do not talk to my wife that way.”

Amara’s gaze hardened, a sort of threatening aura surrounding her as she looked at Maven’s father. “I may not be queen, but I’m still her ancestor, and as such the duty of making sure she behaves falls, in part, to me. I’ve done it for every queen before her, and I will continue to do so until the day this family no longer holds the throne. If you have an issue with that, might I remind you of the several revolts I’ve prevented by doing this exact thing?”

“Preventing tyranny and interfering with parents raising their children is entirely different!” Saburo protested, though his tone was notably shakier than it had been moments ago. “You’re overstepping your bounds.”

“That’s enough, dear.” Abarrane said, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Grandmother is right, we need to let them go.”

“I don’t see why!” Saburo retorted. “It’s not like it’s going to matter if they’re a few minutes late!”

“I said we need to let them go.” Abarrane said firmly. “Do not push this subject further. I can explain more after they are gone.”

Saburo stared at Amara and Maven for a moment longer before giving a sigh. “Fine. Be safe out there, Maven.”

“Yes, Father.” Maven replied obediently.

“Don’t forget to write, either.” Abarrane added. “And if it becomes too much at any time, remember that we will always welcome you back here.”

“I will keep that in mind.” Maven said, stepping into the hoverer.

A moment later, Amara stepped in after her and closed the door, before walking up to the control console and setting the hoverer on its way. When she was finished, she came and sat next to Maven. “Before we can truly begin this journey, it is time that you learn our family’s secret.” She said, gently grabbing Amara’s hand. “This is something that every queen learns at some point, and now is the time for you. Are you ready?”

Maven gulped, staring intently at her grandmother, “Y-yes, I think.”

“Good.” Amara said. “I’m guessing you may have been wondering why I, of all people, have remained so close to the throne for all this time, were you not?”

Maven nodded. “Kind of, yeah. All of the other queens have sort of…stayed retired, so I always thought it was a bit odd that you didn’t, but I figured there was some sort of reason for it.”

“There is. I’m not just your everyday former queen.” Amara said, smiling. “My main job is as Subterfuge’s Appointed.”

There was a silence as Maven processed that information. “So…” she finally began, “you’ve been pulling the strings of all of us in the background this whole time?”

Amara laughed. “Goodness, no. The whole ‘ruling a country’ thing is way too much trouble when it’s in addition to my duties as Appointed. Plus, if I did want that sort of power, I would have much easier ways of getting it. No, I’m content just making sure my family doesn’t get themselves killed by angry mobs of citizens.”

“So…why tell me this now?” Maven asked. “Surely this would be better saved until I actually take the throne, right?”

“Normally, yes. But circumstances are…unique here. What I am about to tell you cannot be told to another soul. As such, when we get to the city, we will be having you swear a Fatebinder’s Oath to prevent you from leaking it. Is this acceptable?”

“I…” Maven paused, considering that. A Fatebinder’s Oath was a big responsibility, and she didn’t like the idea of having restrictions on what she could and couldn’t do. “Is there any way to…back out once I hear the information if I decide it’s too much?”

Amara nodded. “I can wipe your memory of this whole conversation, and we can take you back to the castle like nothing happened.”

“I understand.” Maven said. “Then let me hear it.”

“As you may have surmised, it pertains to Tess and Ellie. And, as you’re about to be joining their party, having you out of the loop would be frustrating for everyone involved. To get to the point, Tess is Fortune’s Appointed, and Ellie is the Appointed of Life and Death. They’re still in training, but they’re already starting to take on some of their duties.

“You won’t have to participate in those duties if you don’t wish to, but you will be expected to keep any secrets related to their status as Appointed and the abilities they have as a result of it.” She paused, giving Maven a careful look. “What are your thoughts right now?”

“I…well, I wasn’t expecting that.” Maven said. “I don’t know what to say. I…I mouthed off to Tess when I first met her, that’s…scary in retrospect. Scarier than it already was.”

Amara laughed. “Don’t sweat it too much, they’re really nice kids. As long as you treat them well, they’re not going to hold it against you. And don’t stand on ceremony around them either, they were raised as entirely ordinary, unimportant people, so you can just…be yourself.”

“That’s…actually really good to hear.” Maven replied. “I wasn’t quite sure how to address Tess when I met her.”

“Yeah, just don’t overthink it and you’ll be fine. So, do you think you can handle keeping the secret?”

Maven hesitated, then nodded. “Yeah. It shouldn’t be…too big a deal.”

“Perfect. Now, we need to discuss your lodgings and how your days are going to look. I managed to convince your parents to let you go without an escort, so you’ll be living on your own.”

Maven perked up. “Really? How’d you do that?”

“I made sure your mother knew that the Guildmaster probably wouldn’t be happy if his grandkid’s secrets got leaked to some random bodyguard.” Amara replied, smirking. “And I had to assure her that you’d be well taken care of, that your new teachers would be far more competent at actually protecting you in a dangerous situation than whatever random person they’d hired.”

“Got that right.” Maven huffed. “Most of the time it was just one of the higher-leveled servants. They tried their best, but only a couple of them seemed like they actually earned the levels themselves and didn’t boost.”

Amara smiled faintly as she continued. “I’ll show you some good shops in the area, and how best to get your necessities. Do you know how to cook?”

“I know enough. I got curious and made some of the kitchen staff show me when I was a kid, and I’ve done it from time to time. I should be able to make enough to eat.”

“Well, I’ll show you a few dishes anyway, just in case. I’m guessing you’ll take lunch with Tess and Ellie most days, so you should really only need breakfast and dinner.”

And so, the rest of their trip was spent conversing on this and similar subjects, and soon, Maven found herself stepping out of the hoverer and into her new life, one that would hopefully last for as long as possible.