Author's note: The next two chapters are a bit shorter (around 5k words combined). Second one for today will be up in a few hours and will finally have some action again.

Chapter 21: Visiting Marcus

Paul’s inquiry with the innkeeper left him a bit depressed. Apparently there was a certain establishment in Prozor, but there was a serious problem with it.

“You see, we are not sure if it is because of the goddess Urnera’s blessing, or if some other god is pranking us, or if it is just bad luck, but every girl in child bearing age working there gets pregnant without fail, like, immediately. No contraception potion or magic seems to be working. So the only girls currently working there are either old hags or less… female…” The innkeeper told Paul so, with an unhappy face.

No matter how sexually frustrated Paul was, old women or guys were definitely not in his strike zone. It would definitely take another week or two living with his perverted servant before he would consider going there. At least a couple more days.

Paul decided to visit the library a last time before his trip to the mining settlement. He had seen a certain book that he had disregarded at first, but he wanted to give an idea he had a try at least.

Sitting at the desk in the library, Paul opened “Adamantine to Zinc – A collection of Dwarven Knowledge on Mining, Metals and Ores”. The title was pretty much conclusive, it was a work on mining and processing different types of ores. Given that there was a mining town under the jurisdiction of the lord, finding a book dealing with the topic in his collection was no surprise.

So far Paul had learned most of skills by getting taught by someone with the skill, or by himself just randomly doing things. After gaining the [Enchantment Understanding] skill after studying and looking at the enchanted items, he now planned to get a mining skill. Paul hoped to get a good skill to make money, and the faster and easier the better. Leatherworking was more of a survival skill, and he had initially planned to produce enchanted items or create potions to sell, but both crafts required certain spells or rare materials, or both and he had access to neither.

So, just going for raw and expensive materials was Paul’s next best idea. First, he utilized a method he had nearly perfected over the last few days. Opening his note function, he started reading through the book at a fast pace, while creating a note containing all the information. As the [Menu] could write down the words he was thinking, he didn’t need to understand the content and just make sure to read the words correctly to not add any mistakes to his “mental copy” of the book.

Paul already had a few works on different types of monsters among his notes. Luckily, the current book did not contain any sketches or maps, and was based on descriptions only. After he had copied the book, which took him nearly two hours, he went back to the passages dealing with geology and how to spot and distinguish between ores.

After spending another two hours with the relevant section and making a bunch of notes, physical this time, Paul went to see the counsellor and inform him that he planned to go Steinnes, the mining town. The counsellor gave Paul a short letter bearing the Earl’s seal, introducing Paul as an official investigator and assuring him of any support he might need during his stay in the town.

Afterwards Paul went to the inn to get Kana and go out to have dinner. The atmosphere was a bit awkward at first, but Paul decided to not mention the earlier “incident”. Before visiting the food stalls, they made a stop at the armour smith. The armour he had commissioned for Kana was ready and he had her try it on.

It was nowhere near a full plate mail, but that was not the intention anyway. It was basically a flexible leather armour that was reinforced with chainmail and steel plates at the front and back, as well as shoulder guards and plates protecting the upper arms. It was plain but very sturdy.

[Steel Reinforced Armour (female)

Defence 20

Durability 50/50

Iron/Steel Armour (chest)

An armour piece created by a skilled craftsman. It protects the wearer’s upper body from most cutting weapons and arrows. It has been fitted to comfortably accommodate a female wearer.]

Kana, now wearing the chest armour, together with a pair of chain gloves, iron shin and knee guards, gave off the intimidating vibe of a skilled mercenary. Her gorgeous, smiling face, animal ears and wagging tail somewhat contradicted that feeling, but Paul was happy with the result nonetheless. He had the smith strap a small iron buckler to her left arm as well and then haggled him down to one gold piece for the whole set. Given that it was for the protection of his only companion, it was a steal.

After feasting on small dishes from various food stalls, Paul and Kana went back to the inn. They planned to leave early tomorrow, so after packing two new backpacks, they went to bed early. Paul decided not to spy on Kana in the dark today, he didn’t want to see something outrageous again.

Very early in the morning, it was still dark outside, Rudolph the driver came to the inn with his horse and cart. Paul and Kana loaded most of the weapons and leather armour onto the cart, before the small group set off towards the small settlements to the south. They would stop at Jonas’ settlement for the night and then go to Marcus’ settlement the next day.

It was an uneventful journey, given that the bandits had been thoroughly crushed just a couple of days earlier. The cart was rather small but full of items, so Paul and Kana had to jump off the cart and walk whenever the road got too rough. Because the sole horse couldn’t manage the load all by itself under less ideal conditions and putting unnecessary strain on the horse would only result in unplanned breaks.

They arrived at Jonas’ village late in the evening. Paul spoke to Victor, the elder of the village, and arranged for a place to sleep. The three ended up sharing a barn, together with the horse. It did not really matter though, because they were tired from the journey and fell asleep within minutes.

In the morning they met Jonas and had breakfast together. Paul introduced Kana and gave a quick comprehension of the bandit adventure, only focussing on the abandoned mine. Paul felt generous, so he let Jonas choose one of the short swords he had looted from the bandits before they departed towards Marcus’ village.

They arrived shortly before lunchtime. After greeting some of the settlers and talking to Ray, Marcus arrived from his daily trip checking the traps. He was carrying a few bunnies and had a beaming smile on his face after spotting Paul. After a bit too strong hug and some brief words, Paul showed him the items he had brought with him.

“Things happened, and I came into the possession of a bunch of armour and weapons. The armour has been somewhat cleaned, but you should probably clean them again. And a third time just to be sure. Use them as you wish, but I had the idea of having them distributed among the villagers, to bolster your defences.

I also brought a lot of things I thought might be useful, I hope you find them to your liking as well.”

Marcus accepted the items, but had a somewhat troubled expression. He probably had not expected to get anything in return from Paul, let alone so quickly after leaving him in Prozor. In the end he was glad though. The settlement had enough to eat right now, but was very poor otherwise. The items Marcus had bought were the bare necessities and Paul’s items were at least two or three times as much. Together with the newly acquired tools, they will bring the settlement a much needed boost in comfort and security.

“Ahh, no need to look so troubled, Marcus. You helped me out when I had literally nothing, without you I would have been killed by a fox sooner or later. And I will be counting on you in case I need a place to stay for a while. Let me introduce my new companion, Kana, and then let us have dinner together.”

After lunch, Paul told Marcus of his bandit adventure while helping him tanning the bunnies and other hides by the river. Paul also handed Marcus a small coin pouch containing two gold coins worth of silver and copper coins. He did not know much about this world and in case he had to lay low for some reason or another, Paul was planning to go to this place here. Being able to request some support from Marcus was half the reason for his generosity. The other half was genuine gratefulness for the help and hospitality he had received before.

Paul also handed Marcus a strongbox containing the books he had collected so far. He had not wanted to leave them at the inn, especially the magic book, as it was a restricted item that could get him into trouble if it was found in his possession. Paul had made notes of the relevant parts in the enchantment and alchemy book, and even diligently copied the drawings of the local herbs in case he wanted to go collect some. Carrying the heavy book around and risking losing it didn’t seem worth the trouble.

In the afternoon Paul went out hunting with Marcus, leaving Kana in the settlement. She was popular among the children and younger people, who had not come into contact with beastkin people yet and Kana seemed to enjoy playing around with them. Being a servant her whole life, Paul wanted her to have some fun for once. Considering the powerful binding spell, he wasn’t sure if Kana could be herself as long as Paul was around.

Two dead foxes and three killed snakes later Paul and Marcus decided to call it a day. Hunting in the forest was just like before, but after hunting more dangerous pray, namely bandits, it felt kind of dull for Paul.

“I nearly forgot how good you were at finding those hidden bastards” Marcus said so on their way back, holding up one of the dead snakes. “If you ever feel like settling down with us, I guess I could retire from hunting altogether. I mean, please settle down here as soon as possible.”

“I will keep that in mind, but for now I want to explore the world. You were a soldier yourself before, right? I want to see some action myself before I go for a quiet life.”

“Yeah, I have seen and done some things I rather would not have experienced though. Nothing wrong with seeing the world, but don’t forget that rebels and even bandits are just people.”

Bandits are people, huh? Paul remembered his first encounter with the bandits and the young guy who did not want to get killed. Paul already knew this, but a red dot on the minimap did not indicate ‘ultimate evil’. The two bandits he captured were red dots before, the bandit Vincent, who became his informant afterwards was a red dot at some point, and even Kana had a red indicator when he first met her. He looked at one of the dead foxes and wondered if he could tame one and keep it as a pet perhaps.

But the world system encouraged killing others to get stronger. It was so subtle, especially at later stages, that it was not a known fact among the people. He had found no mention of the concept of experience points or levels in the books at the lord’s library. Without the [Menu] and the combat log, Paul would probably not know about it as well.

There was some experience to be gained by performing regular tasks, studying and training, but without active combat and finishing off living beings with a level of their own, it would probably take half a year or more to gain a level. Paul pushed the thought away for now. So far he had only hunted the bandits and they were a bunch of murderous rapists, right? No harm done.

To change the topic, Paul decided to tell Marcus about his immediate plans.

“Steinnes, hmm? I only know about the huge snakes living in the surrounding areas, everything else is just rumours. And even the snakes are something I have not seen with my own eyes. But the village itself is said to be one of the nicer ones. Has some skilled craftsmen and gets food directly on orders from the lord. But I only visited it once myself, it has nothing you can’t get in Prozor as far as I’m concerned.”

The information was more or less useless, but Paul thanked Marcus anyway. Back at the settlement, he found Kana still surrounded by children. She still looked energetic, but a little stressed as well. When she spotted Paul, she smiled at him.

“Heya Kana, everything OK? Had fun playing with the young ones?”

“Master! I guess it was fine, but the children were mean. The boy over there pulled my tail and the small girl pinched my nose when I picked her up, it made me cry” The boy looked guilty after hearing it. It was probably like pulling a girl’s hair to get her attention because he liked her. At least that was Paul’s motivation when he was a kid, so he couldn’t be mad at the boy. And the girl was just about two years old, so she didn’t mean any harm. Probably.

Paul rubbed Kana’s hair. “You’ve been a good girl, sorry for leaving you behind. I just wanted you to enjoy yourself without me being around.”

“I always have fun with Master around.” Kana cocked her head to the side and furrowed her brows, like he had said something incomprehensible. The binding spell probably had some sort of positive reinforcement or something, Paul thought.

After a short discussion with Rudolph, the driver, they decided to spend the night here. It didn’t look like Marcus would let them go anyway. Rudolph said that he could make it back to Prozor in one trip with the cart empty on the way back, so it was no problem for him.

Rudolph would sleep at Ray’s place and Marcus insisted that Paul and Kana stayed at his place. Kana could have stayed with another family, but Paul asked her and she wanted to keep him company. Marcus somehow didn’t look too happy about that, but his mood lightened after Paul assured him that nothing troublesome would be happening during the night.

Paul had spent some time in Prozor to acquire a considerable collection of survival gear and camping supplies. Most of the items were distributed among two large backpacks he had bought for himself and Kana, with the most essential items stored in belts. The idea was to be able to drop the heavy bags in case of a fight or having to flee, without risking losing everything in case someone stole their bags.

Paul had opted for his trusted hunting bow, his spear and the light short sword. He still hadn’t learned the sword skill, but with his real life experience and his good agility stat he should be able to deliver a fair amount of damage anyway.

Kana had her long sword, the shield and also a large knife that doubled as a tool and a backup weapon.

After doing a last check of the essential items while chatting with Marcus, they all went to bed.