Sylfaena

  Master Merlinda, would she be happy to know that I have an apprentice now? He's actually one of the young princes. I've known him since he was a baby. Prince Hayden is but a few years older than Princess Katherine, and he's been a good student. I think I can say confidently that he is at least ready to defend Castle Kurvenberg in my place for a time. It is not as though I'd planned to leave him without help, of course. I spent several days after meeting up with Valyrian and the others setting up a series of guards, wards, and other safeguards throughout the castle. Nenewyn was actually helping me in this endeavor; she is an older and more powerful mage than I am, and can even teleport up to, um, seventy miles as long as she has been there before or has a decent description. Protection magic is one of her specialties, and as a matter of fact she’d been my tutor in that particular discipline. These precautions weren't necessary for me to take a leave of absence, but I wanted to do it anyway.

  A letter from my father and an earnest plea from myself was all it took to allow me this urgent break. Actually King Morgan Karlstein III was also someone I had known since he was little. I had been caring for the family's magical needs since the time of the previous monarch and, well, I guess I was sort of like everyone's big sister. I had plenty of experience being one already so I was already good at it, hehe. Little Morry, er, his majesty was more than generous.

  Gah! I was concerned about the predations of the noble houses but, am I worrying too much? King Morgan has loyal knights, Sylfaena, you enchanted their equipment, too, breathe. This was a serious matter. Illiana had gotten involved in something dangerous, and moreover, I had just found out about something that changed everything I knew about the worst thing I'd ever experienced: the Spellscourge was a weapon. In other words, those who died from it were in fact murdered. Someone had done this to us on purpose and I was livid!

  At last it was done and we returned to the Inn where everyone else was gathered. Of course Valyrian still had those two barmaidens fawning over him. I sighed. It wasn't that I thought it strange that he would seek companionship among humans; I could see the appeal, having experienced it myself…But have some class in public, dear brother! The girls reluctantly left Valyrian so that he could lift-squeeze me, gah, it would be an understatement to casually comment that my baby brother was strong. But did he really need to take both of them to his bedchamber at the same time?

  Nevermind. I wasn't going to press it. Yet.

  Valyrian clambered on top of Snauro,. We all touched the good boy, and Nenewyn teleported us. It took several jumps to get back to Tor Anaura, and even then we could only materialize just outside the city walls - there was an ancient ward which redirected all teleportation to a designated wait station. Not that teleportation was terribly common given how difficult it is to master, but our forebears had a great deal of foresight. Gah! Poor Nenewyn was winded; I took it upon myself to be her support.

  After a brief meeting and a little bit of catching up with my father and my older sisters, it was decided that the next step was to meet up with Illiana and that man from another world. To that end Nenewyn, Chiyorielle, and myself would take all of Hanzorian's findings directly to them. As for locating them? That was simple - we would ask.

  "Illiana, we must meet soon, discuss urgent matters relating to black order, deliver Lord Hanzorian's intel, please designate meeting place and wait there. Miss you."

  Transmission was sent, and so I awaited an answer.

  Illiana

  "Sweet child of mine," I heard a voice in my dream, distant, could it have been my mother? No. Not my mother. The mother.

  "Elianora?"

  "Verily, beloved one," she said softly, "your recent deeds have not gone unnoticed. More of my divine grace, I grant to thee - let nature's bounty grow where you will it, let greater wounds be mended, and, your eyes shall witness a common miracle where e'er your gaze doth fall upon it."

  "Goddess, wait, what does that last one me-"

  That's when I woke up. Oh well. That was the night after we stopped Fayd, many days before. It wasn’t the first time that the elf-mother had spoken to me in a magical vision, and, as usual, she’d spoken in riddles as the divines are wont to do. I’d solved all but one of the riddles during our return journey from the Grimdark Forest. I’ve been granted access to advanced grade healing and nature magic which explains what she meant by nature’s bounty and greater wounds; self-explanatory, really, I think. As for miracles? I had no idea what she meant and it had been bothering me. At first I was feeling confused, bewildered, but now my heart was full of joy, ah so much joy with the sweetness of a thousand highborn honeybiscuits. Yes, even sweeter than the ones Vardrina makes - sorry ‘Drina!

  Where did that joy come from?

  Well, the truth is that I learned two things today. First, I learned what Elianora had meant when she told me about being able to see miracles. My life sense has a new function! I was happy, humming as I strolled beside Sir Victor with bounce in my step, because I had discovered this new ability in an unexpected way, yes, by learning about the second thing in the process of learning the first:

  My friend Juliette is pregnant.

  I can now tell at a glance if a woman is with child - oh - there's another one! Oh! It's all female lifeforms who bear live young, I realized, as a queen cat scurried by; you wouldn't know by looking at her either. While we were handling affairs at the adventurer's guild, I noticed something strange as we were talking to Juliette, it wasn't as though there were floating letters over her head or anything. More like I could sense life within life, humanity wrapped in humanity, the growing love. I wondered how far along someone had to be in order for me to detect it, and-

  "What's got you so chipper," Sir Victor was smiling, approvingly.

  "It's a secret," I said.

  Juliette wasn't even sure herself but had begun to suspect, judging by her reaction to my question. She was probably only a month or two along and wanted to be the one to tell her lover the news, so I’ll not breathe a word of it to anyone. I’m so happy for her, and I’m grateful to Elianora for this gift! Surely I’d start floating away if my heart became any lighter!

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  Sir Victor shrugged, "Shoulda guessed." He yawned and stretched, "I can't wait to take a hot bath and lie down."

  I felt the same way. While I could clean my clothes with a quick utility spell, of which magical discipline that spell belonged to is debatable, washing my body was a different matter. Elves aren't as musky and prone to odors as humans are but, I really loved soaking in hot water. Yeah even the darkborn with their habits don't smell much; Charlean proved that some of them might be capable of learning some manners.

  But for the lewdness on display, publicly, and brazenly in Ara Lahee was too much to bear. They were openly trying to seduce Sir Victor and Malcolm, showing off their hips and bosoms while making the most suggestive of hip movements and hand gestures. Well, actually the primalborn are a hundred times worse in that regard, but at least the primalborn don't make fun of my breasts! I chose to stop that train of thought; mayhaps I need a cold bath ere I take a hot one. The point is, after several days of ruminating and asking questions regarding Elianora's mysterious words…I had answers.

  Victor

  "Thirty what?"

  I fell off the bed and nearly knocked over a nightstand. I was shocked, I was in utter disbelief. What excessively high number did the princess just utter whenever I asked how much money we’d earned on that last quest? Out of all the answers I could have heard that was a doozy. I knew there were a lot of things to sell, and I won't bore you with the minutia, but that much? By the way, we kept the food, drink, and spices for our own personal uses. I mean come on, you’re talkin’ to a world class griller here!

  "Thirty-two thousand gold pieces," the princess said. "That's fifteen-thousand from gear sales, fifteen-thousand from gems and coins, and two thousand from quest rewards and selling the animals, less taxes and fees."

  "Um, so, that sounds like a lot," I said.

  "Is it?" Mal said, mock-questioningly as if having read my mind, "Yes indeed. What we did is no small feat, Victor. We did successfully raid a military depot, after having thinned their numbers rather handedly beforehand I'll admit, but still. Adventurers do have the potential to make this kind of money, that's why it is such an attractive profession! There is great risk but also the potential for great profit! Some get nailed to a tree by a crossbow bolt on their first outing, others become kings and legends, ah yes, indeed, I believe that the Kingdom of Cara's neighbor to the west, Andalon, was founded by a heroic homesteader who slew a great red dragon and was declared king by the populace. To say nothing of what he and his allies did to stop the evil of the Deep Grimdark from creeping southwards!"

  I took a deep breath and asked. "Well what can I buy with this kind of cash?"

  The princess said, "most adventurers like to improve their gear. Stronger enchantments on existing pieces of equipment, new magic accessories, wands, better weapons and armor - that sort of thing."

  That was something to consider; I hadn't tried on the new magic armor yet as Meli still needed to resize it and transfer the American Flag to it so I had no idea how it felt to wear - but that magic belt sure as hell felt impactful. The idea of getting stronger weapons and some crazy powerful magical equipment was tempting, but I had other priorities. If I was going to try what I reckoned I was going to try with my Cadillac, I'd need to save money for that, wouldn't I?

  "Princess," I said, "what's a guy gotta do to have some custom magical tools made, and um, how much are houses around here?"

  "Huh? Well, that depends on what kind of tool you need made. As for houses, um, in a place like Cara I think a small house would run you a thousand or so depending on availability, bigger ones can run from five to ten thousand, and mansions start in the six figures in terms of price; to even get a mansion you'd need permission from a local lord in the first place. I don't know about land plots in rural lands, though. In Tor Anaura, I think a single house in the human quarter is twice that amount, or more if you want a bigger one with a larger plot of land."

  Was she telling me I had enough to purchase a place to stash my stuff, to hang my hunting trophies, and still have enough to buy even more property thereafter? This is heavy. Yeah, choosing where to set up a base of operations was not something to take lightly; but it would be nice to have one for sure.

  "Well then," I said, after staring at the ground for an inordinate amount of time. "Don't that just beat all? Princess, I'd like to know if there's any specific types of gear you reckon would be useful for the purposes of travel. Your recommendations, in other words."

  "We could each get a special backpack like the one Big Brother has. They're popular enough that they actually keep a few in stock at the guild shop. They never weigh more than five or six pounds because the bag is dimensionally transcendent - I think Big Brother's can hold up to three hundred pounds of weight, but the standard ones are usually just over a third of that.

  I said, "That's handy. What else?"

  We discussed it at length and made a few decisions about how much we wanted to save up. As for where we could set up a house to serve as a sort of base of operations, I kind of wanted to wait for a while before I committed to something like that. I wanted to see more of this region, and more of the world in general, before I started buying property. Honestly I kind of wanted a place by the ocean or way out in the country with some kind of picturesque view. Then maybe, after all of this Black Order business is settled, I could go live the slow life for a while. Oh I'd still go adventuring of course, but I'd want a place to call home at the end of the day.

  Speaking of slow life, we decided to take it easy for a while - which meant no adventures, but I wasn’t idle! Nope, I actually got a temporary job across the street at the Twin Grains Tavern as a part-time bartender. While working there I actually heard quite a few interesting adventure stories since many of the regulars were adventurers. Perhaps I’ll relate the tales I heard while tending bar some other time.

  Incidentally, I also discovered that the princess had some new nature-related abilities and one of them became important right off the plate: she could keep vegetables from goin' bad! I asked her to keep the taters fresh since I had developed aspirations of growing my very own. She, being a connoisseur of fried potatoes nowadays, was more than happy to oblige. The masculine urge to buy farmland was starting to grow, though a ranch could also be a fulfilling thing to care for between adventures. If I could find an area with a suitable climate and some fresh coffee plants, maybe I could corner the market on coffee; I ran that idea by the princess and her eyes sparkled, of course.

  Before we knew it, a full two months had passed since we'd come back, and I was starting to gain a better grasp of Common. Mal and the princess were very helpful in that regard; I had them start conversing with each other in common while I didn’t have Comprehension on. Within the first five weeks or so I’d started to join in with them because I’d actually started to understand them for real, to a degree. In fact, it was during one of our three way conversations that the princess suddenly put two fingers to her left ear. The room fell silent as she concentrated.

  "Huh? Sylfie?" she nodded, looked thoughtfully, and said rhythmically, "We're in Caer Caradon, come to the Dion's Rest Inn, we will wait for you and prepare some tasty food, I miss you too sis!" there was a strange ethereal quality to her words and a slight glow in her eyes.

  I asked “What was that?”

  The princess smiled and said. “It seems we’ll be having guests in a few days!”

  "Answer together..."