Chapter 34 — Of Worries and Magic Knights

The doorway darkened, and her fur-caped hero stepped through. Ria ran and threw herself at him. "Thank youuuu, Jarrel!!!"

"Hahaha, I'm glad you're safe, Ria," Jarrel replied, giving her a big hug and ruffling her hair. "Sorry about that, Lina, Dennis. If you find any damage, let me know later, and I'll pay for any repairs."

Mr. Dennis nodded. "Ah, thanks for that, Jarrel. It's been a long time since we've seen you around these parts. Are you planning to stay for a while?"

"That depends on Ria. If she gets a sponsorship to the Grand Academy, I'll go with her to the capital city. By the way, Ria bought some of your pastries yesterday, and I think they've gotten even better than I remembered."

"Thanks. It's mostly because of Lina's help and advice," Mr. Dennis said humbly.

"I can't believe it, Jarrel! You look even wilder than before you left!" Miss Lina exclaimed.

Jarrel chuckled. "I know I spent two months crossing the wilds, but the villagers calling me a barbarian is just rude! I even shaved yesterday!"

Miss Lina laughed. "That's not it! It's the cloak! Definitely the cloak!"

"I'm proud of this cloak, you know. It's a trophy!" Jarrel protested. "Ria and I took down this huge bear together. Kept us fed for a week, it did."

"Wow, Ria! You fought something huge like that?" Emily asked in disbelief.

"Yep. I put it to sleep, and Jarrel stabbed it," Ria said proudly.

"Woof!"

"That was all because Ranger tracked it back to its den for us," Ria added.

"Booo, that's so boring!" Emily complained, and Leon laughed.

Ria grinned. "It's like Jarrel says, 'Most fights are won before they start,' right Jarrel?"

"Well that's true, but they were so impressed before you told them how we killed it, you know?" Jarrel complained.

Collin cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "I don't know whether I'm supposed to thank you for dispersing the crowd or arrest you for threatening to murder twenty or so villagers…"

"T'aint murder to protect family from killers," Jarrel pointed out. "Fortunately, seems like the cowards weren't so eager when they weren't facing a little girl. Though, suppose I have you guys to thank for holding them off long enough for me to arrive."

"Well, that may be so, but Irene's accusation is going to continue stirring up more trouble," Collin warned and slumped his shoulders. "As if we didn't have enough already."

"Why is that? What's got the villagers so riled up—that rumors of a barbarian and witch has everyone lathered into a frenzy?" Jarrel asked.

Wenden spoke up, “About ten days ago, some boys went missing in the western farmsteads, near known barbarian lands, and there were some gruesome murders at a farm to the north a few days ago."

“And yesterday, there are conflicting accounts of what happened, but your witch girl caused a big fuss by leaving three boys unconscious in a back alley,” Collin added.

Jarrel grabbed the top of Ria’s head in a one-handed vice grip and turned her head to look directly at him. “Care to explain why you didn’t mention that yesterday?”

Ria gulped. “I-I already talked with Captain Bastach about it, and I didn’t want to worry anyone or ruin the mood after Grandma Fana had put so much effort into preparing dinner.”

“Oy stupid! Didn’t we tell you that you don’t have to do everything on your own?!” Jarrel admonished her then sighed. “So what happened?”

“Gebs and his other guardsmen’s son buddies tried to rob me and beat up Leon, so with Ranger helping keep them busy, I used my Wand of Sleeping Winds on three of them and scared off the other two,” Ria reported. “There was no way I was going to let them have the money that mom and dad left me.”

“Looks like I’m going to have to pay a visit to their parents,” Jarrel said icily, and Collin grimaced.

“Um… Maybe we should go see Gebs’ parents together? Captain Bastach said that I need to return a piece of Gebs shirt that I cut off,” Ria nervously admitted.

“You cut off a piece of his shirt?” Wenden asked surprised.

Ria nodded. “His price for attacking me, and so Ranger could track his scent if needed.”

“Alright, Ria. I need to talk to Bastach first, and I want to ask him about these farmstead incidents, too. Let’s go visit Gebs’ father in the evening, after your date with Leon, okay?” Jarrel agreed.

Ria’s cheeks turned red. “If Leon still wants to go with me… and Mr. Dennis and Miss Lina don’t mind?”

“I-I still want to go,” Leon affirmed.

“Lina, you know this witch girl might really steal away our son,” Mr. Dennis said half-teasingly, and it was Leon’s turn to look embarrassed.

“In the case that he becomes a mage or an adventurer, I guess we’ll have to count on Emily to find a baker husband and take over the bakery,” Miss Lina declared.

“Hey!” Emily protested, to her parents' amusement.

“Is everything okay?” a timid voice came from the doorway.

“Ah, yes. Come in, Alice. Did you want your usual? We have pastries and pies from yesterday, if you’re interested,” Mr. Dennis smoothly answered.

“Then I’ll have one pie for the kids to eat later, as well,” Alice agreed, and gave nervous glances in the direction of Ria and the guardsmen as she received her order, carefully placing it in the basket she was carrying. “That was really scary with Irene and the others. I don’t understand why they can’t just leave such things to the guardsmen and Lord Vorshan to handle.”

“Doesn’t Irene have family in the farmsteads?” Miss Lina suggested then noticed the burnt smell drifting in the air. “Ah! The ovens! Emily, go ahead and finish setting up.”

Miss Lina disappeared into the back.

“Here, Ria, Leon. These two baskets of pies go out front,” Emily called over. "And here Ranger. A treat for you for being so well-behaved."

Ranger's tail wagged happily at the treat.

"Thanks Emily!" Ria replied, happy that her new friend had thought about Ranger.

"Woof!"

When they went outside with the baskets, the guardsmen led the way and were approached by polite but concerned neighbors. There was some further concern that Ria was helping with the pies, but Leon spoke up in her defense, and the guardsmen reported that Ria was cooperative and that nothing illegal appeared to have happened, but they would properly investigate just in case.

Jarrel decided to accompany Ria and Leon to the Adventurers Guild, since he was worried about another incident happening and had promised to find Ria someone to train her dagger skills.

When they started back toward the butchershop, Ria asked and was excited to find out that the Adventurers Guild was on the west side of the village, across the stream. That was an area of the village she hadn’t explored yet.

It turned out that the bridge crossing the stream wasn’t that far down from Jarrel’s parents’ house. When they approached closer, she could see a blacksmith’s forge on the other side next to a grain mill, and the main road continued up a slight hill where it was quickly hidden by the row-houses on either side.

A thought occurred to Ria upon seeing the stream. The village alchemist was probably located near water. Jarrel and Leon confirmed her suspicion, and since Leon was also interested in getting some potions of his own (particularly healing and stamina), Jarrel led them to the alchemist’s shop.

The stamina potions were surprisingly expensive considering their ingredients, and Jarrel just laughed and shared a secret smile with the friendly woman tending the store when Ria asked why. Leon didn’t seem to know why either, and the adults didn’t seem to want to tell. Weird.

Ria bought some potions to restore her magical energy and asked about working at the store and about the Alchemy Guild. The woman, Miss Kylie, kindly informed her that they weren’t interested in any new apprentices but that she was welcome to rent a workspace when they weren’t busy and that they would pay her to imbue materials with energy.

Joining the Alchemy Guild was apparently a long and involved process requiring her to apprentice to a master for several years, so Ria decided to pass on that. Fortunately, because she was a member of the Enchanters Guild, as long as her potions were certified by a member of the Alchemy Guild, she could still sell them.

Miss Kylie was interested in her healing scroll idea and agreed to sell them for her if they were effective. Ria suspected that her scrolls might be reusable to some extent, something which would hopefully help them sell at a profitable enough price.

When they were finished at the alchemist, the day had moved more fully into morning and many more shops and businesses were opening. The Adventurers Guild was near the west gate, so they continued in that direction.

Jarrel explained that the west gate was used more by the hunters and adventurers because there was a forest nearby to that side, and the wilds were not much further. Much of the rough terrain between Vorshan’s Hills and the Arengrade Kingdom was unclaimed and home to several barbarian tribes. Neither of the countries wanted to antagonize the tribes too much, worried the tribes would formally concede the land to ally with the other.

Ria found learning about the area to be interesting. Leon didn’t know the politics of the situation either and actively asked questions of his own during the explanation.

Before they arrived at the guild, Leon pointed out an adventurer supply shop and wondered if he shouldn’t get some better gear. The answer was obvious, and Ria was glad that he was showing initiative, even if she was secretly worried about talking him into spending his saved up allowance on gear when he might give up after the first day of training.

One glance at the inside of the shop and the displayed prices eased her worries. The shop mostly dealt with used and low-cost goods. Leon wasn’t likely to find anything as nice as her gear, but he couldn’t afford that quality anyway.

“Welcome to Gerard’s Adventurer Supply! I’m Gerard. Oh, is that you, Jarrel? Haven’t seen you around in years… decades really,” the slightly flabby, balding man greeted pleasantly.

“I was in Revant for a while. Good to see you, Gerard." Jarrel and Gerard gripped arms like old companions, and Jarrel looked to the stairs. "Your grizzled father still around? He sold me my first bow. I should at least say hello to the old goat."

"Yup. Head on up and give him a good shock. I'll take care of the kids," Gerard replied with a laugh and shooed him off.

Ria and Leon (and Ranger) introduced themselves, and Gerard started showing them around the weapons and armor, telling them that he and Jarrel were adventurers together when they were teens. Jarrel always had more talent than the other boys and rose quickly through the rankings until he left most of his old friends behind.

"I see Farrel finally sold that ridiculously-priced kid's leather armor. You should have come to me. I've got used sets for 2 silver," Gerard chided.

"Using armor some boy already sweated all over is a bit…" Ria scrunched up her face.

Gerard laughed. "Fair point. I do clean and oil them, but it's true that padded armors get smellier with age and use. That's a sign of experience though. A guy with shiny new armor probably doesn't have the experience to back up his words."

Leon nodded. "Like a baker with a clean apron."

"Yes! Exactly!" Gerard energetically agreed.

Ria rolled her eyes.

While Leon was enthusiastically picking out his suit of hopefully less-smelly-than-expected armor, Ria wandered over to the hunting bows and tried to see if she could draw any. Ranger stayed with Leon in case she was needed for anything.

The bows weren't strung, so Ria's first test was to string them. She had seen Jarrel string and unstring his bow plenty of times, and she had a good idea how to safely go about it.

To her surprise, several of the smaller bows bent easy enough for her to string. Ria held off on actually completing the stringing until she eventually found a bow staff that was difficult to bend.

The bow staff was taller than her, but when strung, the length wasn’t difficult to hold. She liked that the wood was a darker color and that the string had fur tufts near the ends to silence the release and reduce wear.

Drawing the bow took a lot of effort, but her arms didn’t shake at full draw. She slowly brought the string back to neutral and let out the breath she had gathered pulling the string back toward her ear. A draw strength that made her work without causing her to strain, this bow was a good match for her.

“Try that again, but raise your elbow more,” Jarrel’s voice came from behind her.

Ria spun around in surprise and gave him an annoyed look.

“Haha, your fault for concentrating too much on one thing,” Jarrel smirked, but he had an approving look. “Can’t fault you for paying attention to my lessons though. Not a bad choice for a first bow. ’Course we won’t know for sure til we see how it shoots.”

She was happy about the compliment, but something about his attitude still annoyed her. That said, he was her master for hunter training, so she did as told, and as she drew the bow, he made small changes to her stance, improving her spine alignment and head positioning.

Jarrel nodded, satisfied. “Okay. Looks good. Let me check the draw strength; I’ll pick out some suitable arrows for you.”

She knew from Jarrel’s teachings that matching arrows to a bow was complicated and was glad for his help. He also helped her pick out a nice dark-themed quiver with ties to hold her bow.

When they went over to the ‘practice weapons’ section, Gerard had Leon wearing a suit of plain padded leather armor and swinging around a huge wood two-handed sword. Ranger was sitting to the side watching and greeted them as they approached.

Gerard waved Jarrel and Ria over. "He's got good upper body strength, particularly in his wrists and shoulders, but it's uneven. He has good control and accuracy for light weapons, but those won't help him build his swinging strength or fix his overall lower body weakness. I'm recommending a large weapon, either a sword or staff, to address those weaknesses. If he needed to fight now, a rapier or spear would be good, but his footwork is terrible. What do you think, Jarrel?"

"Spears are cheap and easily made. A real sword that size is going to cost a small fortune," Jarrel said, rubbing his chin in thought.

"If I make you a nice enchanted one, he could have Jeni’s grandpa's old one, don't you think?" Ria suggested.

"I've come to rather like this one, but guess I can't complain. What'cha thinking, Ria?" Jarrel asked.

"He needs to reach higher. Reach above his station," Ria said quietly as she watched Leon not goofing off or trying to act cool but focusing on doing the practice swings as Gerard had shown him. "Or he should stay a baker."

The adults seemed to get what she was saying, and they shared a look. Gerard looked away and clenched his jaw before sighing out.

"Hmm… a magic knight," Ria said loud enough for Leon to hear and made a mischievous smirk. "Yes. I think a magic knight would be enough to gain my interest. Though… he'd probably have to be a knight captain, at least."

Leon missed his step and swung wide, hitting a display.

Gerard chuckled. "What a terrifyingly cruel girl you've brought to my shop, Jarrel."

Jarrel laughed. "She did slaughter a pack of wolves by herself, at night, with only a lightning wand, a crossbow, and the high ground, just to save that dog."

"Really?" Leon asked.

"Woof!"

Ria shook her head. "That's an exaggeration. I only got 12 of them before using a lightning bolt to scare off the rest. Half of them got away."

Leon stared at her, too dumbfounded to say anything.

Gerard's first laugh came out as a snort and was followed by hearty belly laughs. "She certainly takes after you, Jarrel! Exaggeration, she says!"

"Afraid I can't take any credit for this one. She's a friend's daughter. I just trained her," Jarrel said dryly.

"Hah! I'd say that's credit enough." Gerard wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes. "A magic knight, is it? What do you say, boy? Want to give it a go?"

Leon looked at the sword in his hands and nodded.

“Good! Let's get you a shield and club then.” Gerard chuckled at Leon's confused expression. “The two-handed sword is for fighting mounted opponents and large monsters. When defending your friends, you'll need a shield, and don't discount the club, kid. A club is a fearsome weapon in the hands of a trained warrior, and it won't break as easily as a sword.”

"That's smart, Gerard. Club and shield will definitely improve his footwork and lower body strength. While the large sword will strengthen his upper arms and back. I'll go find him a decent harness to hold everything," Jarrel said, nodding his approval, and wandered off.

Gerard found Leon a nice knightly kite shield. The materials were wood with a leather backing, and it had weights that could be added for improving arm-strength. The club was just a thick bit of wood with a leather-wrapped handle, but it had removable padding that could be added when sparring.

Both were very nice pieces of training gear, and Gerard promised that he would buy them back at a decent price when Leon was ready to buy metal equipment. The shield was surprisingly expensive, so Leon was relieved to hear that.

For Leon's helmet, Gerard recommended a padded leather one with a metal faceguard that could be raised and lowered. Unlike Ria's raven-themed faceguard, Leon's had a heroic look to it, the angled sides making it like a tower standing in defense.

While Jarrel was showing Leon how to use the harness and strap everything on, Ria paid for her purchases. Gerard was impressed with her bow choice and told her that it was a stronger draw and a nicer bow than Jarrel’s first one. Her total cost was a reasonable 2 silver coins.

Poor Leon ended up paying 5 silver, which was more than half of his savings. At least, he was now properly equipped.

Seeing that he was still tired from practicing his swings earlier, Ria placed her hand on his back and healed his fatigue before they resumed heading to the Adventurers Guild.