After the day I had I was genuinely tired, but disturbed by the fool accompanying me I found my way to my feet. "I'm going to go find somewhere I can sleep, even if it's in the woods. Tomorrow we start training in earnest, around doing what you want, but training is the only time from now on I will spend with you. Best make the most of it."
I ended up at Rain and Fala's home, asleep at their table with rain after some drinks, only disturbed on one occasion when Fala fetched us each a blanket. Giggling happily as I tousled her hair as payment.
Come morning I made my plans for the day.
Train Sil so brutally she learns whether she wants to or not. Help Fala with some gathering. Go and visit Rain and the tradesmen in the afternoon, both to meet them all and progress my wager with Halsan.
It was a brutal training session as well, whether it was to help her keep up with me or not her physical abilities were definitely superior to mine. That said, I had enough experience to make it worthless, in fact the only reason I sweated was because I had to fight the urge to just be done with the charade and end her.
My aggressive training also put a spotlight on her in front of the whole garrison, this meant in a worst case scenario they would know she was too dangerous to approach, in fact her sheer, overwhelming physical power might be too much for anyone other than me. I doubt the average caster of this world would have a chance to use a single spell before she finished them, which begged the question. "How should I go about protecting everyone from her?"
Luckily for her, Leeson was watching closely and called an end to the session so he could borrow me, pushing his way through the wall of men watching the session. "Teach' I need your opinion on something, can you act your age and let the children play amongst themselves." Suddenly the wall of men dispersed, wanting no part of any suggestion that involved training with Sil.
As I told her we were done for the day she slinked off somewhere, with all the haste of a teenage girl going to see her boyfriend. "Maybe she met a man?" Leeson guessed, apparently thinking the same thing. I shrugged his hypothesis off, telling him everything that had happened up to then and he went a little squeamish. "You really do have a frightening talent for upsetting women, you know that right?"
"Yep, in a thousand lifetimes I only remember one liking me." I spoke aloud, increasingly unwilling to lie and subconsciously letting tiny slithers of truth slip, though I quickly realised that was perhaps a larger measure than I meant. "Maybe it was passed down with the genetic memory, but it seems a lot of my predecessors had the same knack for it."
"Between that and the way they're drawn to you, maybe one of them was cursed by the god of love for womanising?" Leeson laughed, only briefly hesitating to consider the chance of me taking offence or whether the joke might hit a little too close to home.
"Annoying the gods is basically our purpose so it wouldn't surprise me. I mean they made us to arbitrate between men and gods, but then they get annoyed because we don't just manipulate people into doing what the gods want. I'm probably closer to the gods than anyone and take it from me, they make toddlers seem mature sometimes." I then watched Leeson as he jerked his head omnidirectionally as though trying to spot the coming smiting in time to not get caught in it.
"Please don't speak like that, the Abelegians would probably mount a crusade against you, 'Seraph' or not, whatever the hell a seraph is, I still don't get what Byurik was going on about." This the third comment he had made since the old woman's house, his ham-fisted attempt at covert intelligence gathering.
"I don't know what an Apple legion is so I guess we're even, that said, I have just remembered a recipe called apple crumble, I'm gonna leave it at the guild on our way out and bring Halsan over there tonight will ya." I then patted him on the back and headed off to go grab Fala, Hearing Leeson inform Doran that his ward was escaping and breaking into a light jog when I realised Leeson caught him sleeping on the job.
As Doran jogged after me, I found myself having to respond to a lot more morning greetings than usual, all the people I spoke to the day before now doing so since they no longer saw me as a stranger. It was nice, but at the rate we were going I would need to make poor Doran's life harder for the remaining few days of his assignment just to get anywhere on time. An idea that was quickly proven as potentially fatal when he collapsed at the end of my gentle jog to Fala's home.
The door to the home creaked open as he did so, so I decided to help him inside and lay him down before asking Rain if we could leave him there whilst we headed off. Rain was of course curious what had happened to him, Doran wasn't exactly an athletic slouch by normal standards, it was just that my standards were likely so different my idea of a gentle jog may have been a bit more extreme than I realised.
Fala and I made good speed, me carrying her on my shoulders into the woods, I enjoyed the job watching her and she enjoyed describing the different plants to me and explaining their uses. I didn't notice when we first met but she had a strange tic and would often hesitate before speaking to me after any period of silence and she was growing quite embarrassed about it after doing it for the third time since we arrived at her gathering spot. She was about to yell at me after I poked fun at her but before she could I had moved to her and blocked a fireball that seemed to come out of nowhere.
I tried to find the source of it but I had no luck, that in itself though was enough of a clue. I was tempted at that moment to hunt her down, but the consequences would have been grave. Too much risk of collateral, but I would be asking Byurik and Halsan to attend the next day's training so they could witness the spectacle firsthand rather than work solely on Leeson's predictably lackadaisical reports on the intricacies of combat. I had learnt he was considered a combat prodigy, but prodigies had a tendency to oversimplify evaluations on the matter of their expertise.
I stayed close to Fala after that, subtly placing a couple of glyphs on her for protection in case I was ever not around, though I would like to think she only went that far knowing I would step in. Each were single use glyphs and would only last a day, one reflected physical damage and the other magical, however even a splinter would activate and use up the glyph and any attack more than two seconds after the first would land unimpeded. Such magic wasn't my forté since I preferred absorption to reflection, but Fala's little body would likely be crushed by the strain of absorbing any attack Sil inflicted.
When the sun reached its apex I lifted Fala onto my shoulders and headed back, taking her to the guild and then home to make her father's lunch as well as to collect Doran who was pacing about their home out of concern.
Then we headed over to the tradesmen district, her father was a mason, partnered with an architect and a carpenter. The three of them had been partners since long before the town was founded and ran its trade guild as a council with each man holding a secondary position. "This is Janus, a carpenter and the guild's charterman. He publishes any changes to guild regulations and periodically sends the updated editions to all members. This is Elm, an architect and my brother-in-law, though his wife didn't move with us since the kids are apprentices with his firm back in the largest town of the kingdom, he also handles the material procurement and the logistics since his family is well established and has many collections. Chaps this is Teacher, saved my daughter, then me, then had the balls to piss off Valo, took a kick full pelt and laughed it off."
"So you're a mad man with a death wish? good to know." Elm said before bowing low. "Thank you for saving my niece and brother-in-law." His tone was sincere, but I was so awkward in these situations I was going to ignore it before Rain interjected.
"Stand up straight, if you stay like that too long, he'll be using your back as a table to roll his leaves." Rain laughed, as I slowly returned my supplies to my pocket, not even realising I had begun withdrawing them. Had to give him points, the man was getting to know me quickly, though it seemed he wasn't alone as the thought reminded me it had barely been a week by any world's standards.
Janus stepped forward to shake my hand, asking if I knew anything about the trades. "I built a few houses in my time, but its been several decades." I said flatly, earning bemused looks from the two men.
"Oh, he isn't joking, guess I never said. He's what was it? Timeless, I get that right? A foreigner from across the Farwater says he's an old man despite his baby face." Rain explained as they gave him a look as though asking for a piece of whatever he was on.
"Think I'm baby faced, you should have seen my dad. Hundred and twenty but barely looked a century younger, the man was the envy of Oross." I laughed with Rain, while the other two chuckled nervously, thinking we had lost our mind.
After that though they were eager to see my skills, until I waved it away and told them I was more interested in seeing the way the experts did things. In a world with magic I could probably create the town we stood in in a day, but by hand I doubted I could even cut the timber straight unless I did it with a sword. The simple fact was I respected these men greatly, their talent, patience and passion for the art of construction was admirable and I had no desire to impede their work.
There was a seamless overlay of two distinct work-forces, one who processed materials manually, then they passed it on to one which refined it magically to give everything a pristine finish. A marvel to behold, I watched in awe. "If anyone ever tells you their way is better, tell me and I'll put them in their place. I've never seen tradesmen so full of pride or with smiles that big." I said watching the men building a new house celebrate every completed step of construction, they looked insane for sure, but the happiest usually do.
Of course I asked serious questions too and the trio were happy to oblige me. "Separating the work keeps cost down, for the magic users to do something start to finish, usually costs about eighty percent more, they also tire out faster and projects usually drag on for weeks." Elm started when I asked why they don't do everything with magic.
"By having everyone work in the two man teams, everyone stays fresh, whilst working constantly. Not many mages would have the capacity to do each task from start to finish for the entire day, those that do are adventurers or with the military or serving as someone's librarian." Janus finished for his partner after he had to run off to give some direction to the team.
"Hey, Elm! Teacher! We have a problem!" Rain suddenly called out after walking off with a messenger to let us chat in peace.
"What kinda problem needs us two? Are you going senile or did you just edge Janus out?" I laughed at him.
"Well it looks like the merchants are trying to hike up prices after finding out the locals are all signing on with the guild and the town will be footing all the bills. Guess they want to wring as much gold out of everyone as possible."
"Guess they really do turn good to gold." Janus joked, still confused as to why I was called, well until they saw the hatred bubbling away up to the service.
"Are they going to survive?" Elm whispered to Rain.
"I think they might… I don't think he'll kill them, but just to be safe I'll let him know Fala's friendly with some of their kids, he won't want to upset her." Rain joked, loud enough to make sure I heard, laughing harder when I gritted my teeth at that annoying development.
"Can I at least take a few of their grubby little fingers?" I asked the pouty-faced little girl, before sighing and heading off with Elm to the mercantile guild's hall. I stepped in and took a seat that Elm gestured to, putting my feet up on the small table in front of the chair as he went to ask for a meeting.
"Excuse me sir, could you please not put your feet on the table." The obnoxious voice of the small cocky little man screeching through me like claws on a blackboard. Unwilling to acknowledge such a man I ignored him and simply told Elm to catch as I threw him my "Honoured guest of Lord Halsan" ID, making the man shrink faster than a… well fast as a man not dressed for the cold to put it politely.
I then quickly dozed off, even as Elm took up the chair next to me, stifling his own reaction to the man's sudden change in demeanour. Though he composed himself just before a fat, gold-plated man in the gaudiest possible clothing as though trying to compete with the bandits for most stereotypical individual in the world. "Glad you agreed to meet with us, sorry for the short notice." I heard Elm say as my eyes began to blink open a bit more.
"I'm only here out of respect for an honoured guest of the local lord." He said derisively, and stupidly to someone I liked and held in esteem.
Suddenly putting my leg through the table and breaking it in half before offering an empty apology, adding "Wait I guess authority means I don't have to have manners doesn't it. Let's hope that there is no other knee high furniture in my path." I said stamping the remains of the table down to give me a flat stand. "Anyway, what kind of host makes his guests wait an hour, I'm a busy man you know and no refreshments? You dishonour yourself sir." I was laying it on so thick Elm couldn't restrain his laughter as the man's merchant instincts struggled to contain his rage at my offences.
Clearing his throat did nothing to stop his voice cracking as he spoke. "I'll certainly have someone more suited to such menial tasks bring refreshments to the meeting hall." I couldn't resist the urge to try and break the man in record time.
"Fine I suppose, I would hate for someone who can scarcely do his own job to attempt someone else's, I imagine it would only hinder everyone else." Elm began to laugh so hard the merchant actually swung for him, but I grabbed his wrist and smiled softly as I hunched myself to stand over him. "Careful, before you throw a punch, you should always remember that things thrown are often lost." I whispered just loud enough that only the two immediately present could hear.
Sweating profusely, the merchant, whose name I did not care to learn then or since, led us to the meeting hall where all members of the guild leadership were assembled. "So how many elections have been rigged?" I asked, shocking everyone gathered. "I am well aware that ninety-five percent of local merchants are residents of this town, yet not a single one was elected for any position? I find that ludicrous."
My announcement left everyone present panicked, immediately revealing the foul play. "What proof do you have?" One man tried to croak out like a startled toad, making even the one who led us here more nervous, which I don't think he thought possible.
I told the one who collected us to take his seat and the others cringed at the sight of him obeying like a whipped pup. Even Elm felt bad for them until I told him not to waste heart on such people. "I don't need proof, I have power. I don't live life by any rule but doing what I think is right, I also don't mind giving Halsan an ulcer or two. I am Teacher, a guest of his and a foreigner from across the farwater. This town has been kind since my displacement and I'll die long before I let the likes of you pilfer it." I snarled at the increasingly bewildered gathering.
Suddenly Leeson and Halsan appeared at my back, apparently summoned by the receptionist after the table incident. "Should I ask what inspired this rampage, m'lord? Or should we just let these gentle squirm for a while?" Leeson asked Halsan, who was nursing what was likely a sore ulcer from the way he rubbed his cheek.
"Teacher, please explain what is going on, I remember asking you to gain the people's trust, did I not?" Halsan asked, already knowing I wouldn't cause a scene like this so publicly unless I had cause, but wanting to appear unbiased.
"Of course Halsan, I apologise, but after remembering one of the papers in your private study stating that only five percent of active merchants were not locals, I found myself frustrated by the fact that not a single one was elected to guild leadership."
"Frustrated? You think frustration is worthy of such animosity?" Halsan was playing his part perfectly, continuously proving himself a prodigal politician. "Of course, I understand your concerns friend, but you don't have the right to act so rashly with no proof." He continued, remaining diplomatic whilst allowing me room to enact whatever plan I concocted.
"Of course." I turned and bowed to the gathering, catching Elm completely off-guard. "I'm sorry for my unruly demeanour, recent events have left my nerves frayed. That said, my concerns I'm sure we can all agree are not unfounded. So why don't we hold a new set of elections for the entire board tomorrow, overseen by the impartial adventurer's guild. They provided a similar service for the kingdom to this one's western border if I remember correctly."
"They did and I'm sure these honest merchants will be happy to oblige you, but I must ask that when they win the elections at such short notice with no time or means to interfere. You make a public apology to them each personally, as well as monetary compensation and repair what you damaged." I cannot express how much I hoped I was right at that moment.
Leeson grabbed my shoulder. "Obviously we can't just let this slide or risk you interfering to save face either, so you'll be staying with me tonight under watch." I could see it took every ounce of self control to remain composed, as well as feel it in his grip.
"Apologies Elm, I hope I haven't caused you any problems. Please tell Rain and Fala Leeson will be babysitting me in their stead tonight. Then get over to the guildhall with them for dinner and dessert, I want to know what the little one thinks of it." I bowed goodbye to everyone and left to serve my house arrest. Though it quickly became two friends drinking and laughing, as opposed to any forceful detention.
"Before I forget. Put double guards on every exit, no one leaves, unusual monster activity in the area." Leeson says to a guard standing by to relay any messages from him whilst he watches me.
"Should a commander really lie to the town?" I asked him as I poured our second cup each.
"Between you and the girl I'd say that qualifies as unusual monster activity and I don't want you leaving a trail of destruction requiring the materials they will undoubtedly try to disappear before they get kicked out of town post election. Seriously though, when did you look over the paperwork on Halsan's desk, or learn about the kingdom to the west?"
"When I spoke to him about the taxation issue, and when we went to send Byurik Halsan's way. I read all the papers on their desks." I grinned, swirling my mug before taking a swig.
"You read dozens of papers in a few moments, while chatting, without their knowledge… Wait, you didn't go near Byurik's desk, how did you read that one?"
"It was a recent report, he was reading it himself when we walked in and it was front and centre, I read it from across the room after he looked back at desk."
"See… Unusual monster activity." Leeson laughed as the distant sound of troops moving to the cardinal gates echoed across the town. It was becoming apparent he had issued a set of new coded orders specifically to preempt my antics. I was so flattered we both toasted before we moved to the windows to observe the two gates we could see from Leeson's chamber at the top of the barracks' tower.
As we reached the bottom of our third mug, Byurik stormed in, raving about the amount of extra work I'm causing him but I simply poured him a glass and patted the empty spot next to me. Which he took as his first sip robbed him of his annoyance, leaving him in more of a mind to enjoy the show.
I raised my glass to the window as the first merchant wagon was halted, piled with the same lumber that Elm was trying to get hold off. "Halsan's a rare breed, an honest politician. Let's do our best to give him an honest town to run. Endangered species are a tragic thing to lose."
They raised their arms to clink their glasses against mine, agreeing wholeheartedly that they were most fortunate to find themselves in a town under his leadership. Then we saw one of the merchants try to slip past a guard, only to face plant the ground as they were tripped with a well placed spear. "Oof, when did the boys learn that one?" Byurik said grunting at how painful it looked. Leeson gestured to me, saying that they saw me doing something similar with a sword against Sil and formed groups to practice it after I left.
"Best give that man a raise, your room exits directly onto the stairs." I added as the guard in question twirled his spear to catch another by the same means on his opposite side. Byurik started laughing, then asked for another glass, until I reminded him he had a busy day coming with the sun.
"If anyone deserves raises it's us two." Byurik retorted as his bad mood returned in the absence of good liquor, then he left us to attend to the unexpected issue he had thrown at him.
In the end, I managed to convince him to give every man a bonus for each effective use of the tripping technique. Though he was only swayed by his increasing blood alcohol level, I suddenly hoped that merchants were the only thing that caused the town issue that night, since the commander was now unable to string a sentence together. I was forced to rectify that however when Halsan entered and demanded we follow.
"The private forces of a merchant tried to break through on the north side. They were dispatched far easier than expected." Halsan began as we made our way down the tower.
"Then why are you rushing, along with someone under house arrest?" Leeson enquired, not out of insubordination, but because he could see genuine concern on his lord's face.
"They were carrying evidence of our intentions. This farce is officially over, I need everyone taken prisoner. Teacher, can you use your magic to inspect their memories, we need certainty to ensure we are safe and leverage before we release them." Halsan elaborated.
"Release? Why not kill them after? Much safer." I asked, genuinely intrigued by his choice of method, surprised when he stopped mid step so suddenly.
"I will gladly play your games, endure your tests of my character any time Teacher, but the future of my people is at stake, so do not push me right now." I was surprised by the ferocity of his tone and offered my apologies. "I'd apologise for my forcefulness but I sense that would demean me in your eyes." He continued to say as he continued to move.
"Just so you know though, this won't be pleasant, I can't filter the memories of others so I'll need to view their entire lives. I might need a bucket and something to rinse my mouth out. Also, I'll make this clear, depending on what I see things might get messy so you might need the same for yourselves as well." I answered honestly, Haslan and Leeson nodded, knowing the kind of depravities some people engage in and how someone like me will react if forced to witness it.
"I'll tell the men to leave us be when we get there, don't want them unfit for duty. Many are too young to bear witness to the kind of things I'll think you'd do to certain men." I only nodded in response and could see them both clench as they braced for whatever horrors they might witness.
Upon arriving at the jail the prisoners were being held at, all the guards were ordered to bring buckets, strong booze and then leave us be. When we were supplied and alone, I got to work, the first man was some heir and barely twenty five. "I really hope you haven't been too bad or things are going to get real depressing, real fast." I said as I approached the terrified young man. Fortunately, his crimes were fairly basic, bribery, extortion, embezzlement, and stupidity, though that last bit only counted in my opinion as I told Leeson where his men will find a complete record of all his crimes.
Unfortunately things did become messy pretty fast, I didn't erase them from the world so thoroughly to repeat them here, but their judgment was immediate and absolute. They were not spared the pain in the same way as the bandits were, having to witness them first hand left my well of mercy spent. We all had a need for the buckets as well, particularly for the chairman and two others. "I don't want to know what they did to deserve that, but I get the feeling they deserved far worse." Leeson said after pulling his head out of the bucket the final time, Halsan gesturing that he agreed whilst still indisposed.
"I'm in no mood for jokes, Leeson, I'm leaving before someone pushes me. I'll camp out in the woods for a couple of days, I can't stand the sight of you humans right now." I growled, struggling to reshackle my liberated savagery.
"If you need anything, use a magic flare, I'll send Doran to find you, minimal contact and I'll tell Byurik to warn the adventurers you should be avoided for a while." He nodded as Halsan finished and fell back. With both of them finished, I used magic to move all the buckets into the rooms that had been soiled and sanitised them in fire before leaving.
The four men I passed, skilled enough to have even a fraction of Leeson's sense, all made the mistake of looking me in the eye to greet me and simply fell unconscious out of self-preservation. Well, fear, but it's the same thing but saying fear makes them seem like cowards. Those that were ignorant enough to stay conscious, were gladly aware enough that I was not a person they should impede or engage in any way, shape or form and simply turned on heel as if pretending to have not seen me.
I didn't bother with a camp, I just went a bit feral, found prey with nothing more than my senses, hunted with my hands.