Chapter 13: Wit’s End

Rei followed Feld in a surprisingly close house that was bigger than Louise’s house; it can be described as just a little short of a mansion. The house they we’re staying in was a close family friend of the Rendelfolt family was Crois family. The Crois family was a friend of the Rendelfolt family for generations, they had marriages between families as well; the only son of the Crois family was promised to marry with Louise.

Although the promise to marry isn’t set by Louise and Gus Crois, they were childhood friends and both had mutual feelings for each other which made the arrangement very agreeable for the both of them.

Among all the suitors lining up for Louise, it was Gus who stood at the top of the list.

Rei and Feld were greeted by a lady dressed in a Victorian maid outfit. The lady led them to the dining room where everyone was already seated and was preparing to eat.

The house was especially spacious on the inside; it was really just short of a mansion. The dining room was well decorated the dining table was long and the chairs looked like they’re expensive.

The maid then pulled some chairs for Rei and Feld, Rei’s chair was the opposite of Louise’s.

A conversation started between the Crois family head which was Beau Crois, the grandfather of Gus Crois; Gus’s father died during the War, he was a splendid mage.

The chat between grandfathers became somewhat nostalgic for them as they were both childhood friends themselves, Roselle felt a little out of place in the conversations but she kept her smile.

Louisa on the other hand seemed rather quiet for her playful personality was suppressed by the delicious food as she continued to consume food.

Louise quietly ate her food in a very graceful manner as if she was pressured on how she eats. Rei was the same as Louisa but he showed a little restraint despite being so hungry and tired.

Feld in on the level beyond recognition, he was so well-mannered that you would not even know it was him eating at that table. Rei was surprised by Feld’s actions multiple times since leaving Ribas but what surprised him the most was how Feld can transform from a dirty drunkard to noble in a blink of an eye.

The dining table grew livelier as time flowed and before they knew it, it was already late in the night. Each of them was lead to their separate rooms, Glace who was already in one room and was not part of the dining table from earlier slept like a baby; it seemed that she was stressed from all the things that happened earlier in the afternoon.

Morning came and Glace awoken again, beside her was Louise that was preparing to use her healing magic again on here.

“Oh you’re awake, Ms. Glace would you like something to drink? Are you feeling hungry?” said sweetly by the lovely flower that is Louise

“Thank you, I’d like to have some water please.” Said Glace as she tries her best to create a smile but only accomplished half of the task.

Glace received a glass of water from Louise and she also ate the porridge Louise brought her.

Louise felt worried because Glace’s condition reverted back to the same state she started with.

“I’m sorry Ms. Glace, I think it would take another week for me to fully heal your wound.” said Louise in a very apologetic tone and a voice that is full of worry and sadness.

“Don’t mind it, thank you for doing your best” Glace replied as she tried to grab ahold of Louise’s hand.

“Yes!” Louise said as she took and held Glace’s hand with both of the hands then placed them onto her chest.

Several hours passed by, Louise already left the room a few hours back; Glace was feeling a little bored not being able to do anything but lie there in her bed. The room she was in had a window but all she can see was tall grass; the wind that caressed her was warm yet felt chilly for Glace.

As her hours passed and her boredom grows; she tried to stand but she failed to do so because her stomach still hurts.

As she lies on her bed, she could only sleep her boredom away.

In his room, Rei was busy practicing making a mana essence; after a lot of failures he still couldn’t create one.

Feld kept the weapons and armors Rei made in his spatial ring, after Louisa and the others return his rings he gave one to Rei but Rei only had his bag to put in there.

Rei only had few clothing which was why Feld went to the market by himself to buy Rei some clothes; he disguised himself by wearing a bandage on his head and he wore merchant clothing.

He proceeded to a Genoah’s merchant association in order to get a permit to have a stand. Feld planned to sell the weapons and armor Rei made for a high price at Ribas once he returns there but since he also told Rei to create some farming tools for the Rendelfolt family he thought to just sell those for a quick buck.

Feld was denied the permit to have a stand; it seemed that you can only have the permit if you’re a citizen of Genoah which Feld was clearly not. Feld has been here many times in the past but it was the first time he tried to get a merchant’s permit here.

Having no other options left, Feld proceeded to a blacksmith that makes farming tools for the town in order to bargain with him.

The farm tools store was rather well-kept; it had a variety of tools displayed on the walls. The storekeeper appears to be rather young; he wore a very clean and tidy robe with the color of green laced with blue and gold.

He politely asked Feld “What may I be of service with sir?”

“I’m more interested in servicing you instead!” Feld excitedly replied to the boy.

“Sorry sir, I don’t swing that way!” the young man loudly said as he hides at the corner of the counter while peeking slightly at Feld with his eyes filled with fear and his hands covering his privates.

“No no no no no! I meant I want to sell you something!!” Feld quickly retorted as he denies what the young man understood of what he said

After being given a little time to calm down, the young man regained his composure and straightened up his clothes.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t think there’s anything we need right now.” The young man said politely.

“Look at this.” Feld said as he brought the rake out from his spatial ring.

“Sir, I’m sorry but we don’t take glass tools.” The young man said as he assumed that what Feld brought out was a glass rake

“This is not glass, this is made of mana!” Feld proudly said as if he was the one who made it

“Ehh?!” The young man could only react that was because what Feld was saying was rather absurd

“Sir, please don’t take me for a fool; that glass doesn’t look like mana at all. We may be a farming village but visual mana isn’t something that rare for us.” The young man said as he explains that he isn’t a fool. But he is, since it really is a mana rake!

“Here, hold it” said Feld as he hands over the mana rake.

As the young man held the rake, he couldn’t believe what he just held in his hands; it was like he was holding a balloon! Mana was basically as weightless as air which is why when the young man held it he expected it to be a bit heavy but to his surprise it was weightless!

“Is this really made of mana?!” the young man was still surprised was trembling with excitement

“Yes” Feld replied with a slightly smug expression

“If it’s made of mana, isn’t this going to disappear?” asked by the young man seemingly confused

“The guy who made this is a bit special, that mana rake will not disappear.” Said Feld

“I want to test its durability.” The young man said while seemingly forgetting to be as polite as he was earlier

Excitedly, we went and fetched the shop’s biggest hammer; it was a sledge hammer only to have a bigger head than usual. He placed the standard steel rake they had on two large bricks with a curve to keep the rake from moving then smashed it with the hammer. The standard steel rake they had was broken on the spot.

He then placed the glass-like rake Feld brought out and said “You’re fine with testing this thing right? I’ll pay 2 gold for it if it breaks.”

“Okay” Feld said in agreement

With all his might, the young man struck the glass-like rake and to his joy and surprise the rake didn’t show any scratches at all!

“For how much are you selling this rake?! I could buy it with 30 gold!” said the young man who couldn’t contain his excitement

Feld thought about it and 30 gold for a quality of this magnitude is a little low, even high quality weapons are priced at least 100 gold without enhancement. But Feld did understand that what he’s selling isn’t a weapon but rather a tool for farming which farmers won’t spend much on.

“I want 70 gold” Feld said to the young man as he was increasing the sale price

“As much as I want this rake sir, 70 gold is a little much; only farmers will use this.” Said the young man “But if you’re willing to go for 45 maybe we can have a deal” the young man continued

“50 each, I have a total of 23 farm tools of the same quality; you can check if you’d like” Feld said as he bargained a wholesale.

The young man was surprised yet again because he never thought that a unique item such as this and Feld has 23 of them.

The young man calmed himself down as he said “All right, but I’ll have to check.” then proceeded to check each of Feld’s merchandise.

Feld received a total of 460 gold for the tools and an additional 10 gold as a tip that probably means Feld should sell only to his shop. 460 gold was a fortune compared to what Feld was going to buy for Rei, clothes usually only cost a gold or two for high quality ones and around 50 silver for intermediate quality ones.

Feld did a lot of shopping of food, clothing, and other necessary items. Among them was a high quality healing salve for glace that costed 120 gold.

Feld then headed to the Crois’ family home.

Rei was overjoyed when Feld bought him new clothes; he reevaluated his impression of Feld from cheap dirty drunkard to dirty drunkard.

The healing salve Feld brought really helped Glace’s recovery, it was already feeling well after applying a little healing salve.

After a few hours, Glace was finally able to stand almost normally and walk around like she just had a stomach ache and not a stab.

Healing salves are expensive but they are extremely effective on physical wounds especially non-fatal ones.

Finally, Glace was able to join everyone for dinner.

As they were eating dinner, a loud noise was suddenly heard outside of the Crois family home. When Feld and Rei took a look outside they were surprised to see about 200 soldiers surrounding the whole house; they never expected that they’d be found so quickly.

The good news is that Glace has already recovered enough and they can easily escape through force is they have to, but the bad news is that the whole Crois and Rendelfolt families would be left behind.

After weighing in pros and cons of the decision Feld decided they should run but as he looked at Rei and Glace his choice on the matter was immediately shattered; Glace and Rei were clearly not going to leave the families that helped them behind. They’re expression says that they will fight if they have to.

Feld couldn’t risk it, fighting a Lord army is very much above him; they had low chance on escaping but they have no chance at all in fighting 200 soldiers without casualties.

“Why is the Lord of Genoah so hung up on Louise?” Feld asked himself

After a moment, they saw fire lit up in every direction surrounding the house; they were arrow lit with fire aimed at the Crois household.

“Bring out the girl named Louise that the Lord is looking for or we’ll burn the house down!” shout the battalion commander

The battalion commander had a big build and wore A-grade armor, he had black short hair and a huge longsword; he seems like the kind of guy that cuts his opponent in half. His expression is strict and determined like someone who would do anything to finish the task assigned to him; there is no way Feld can convince this guy to withdraw.

Feld knocked his head as he thinks of a way to get everybody to safety, but sadly he couldn’t think of anything.

While everybody was focused on the battalion in front of them, Louise went out to surrender herself. She chained her fear and unleashed her inner courage as she walked towards the battalion commander.

She stops in the midway to say “Leave my family and friends be; I’ll come with you!” Louise was determined to give herself up for her family and friends; it was the first time Louise has shown a fierce and angry expression.

The battalion commander then walked towards where Louise was currently standing.

“Heaven’s lightning strike!”

Suddenly a huge lightning strike struck the path where the battalion commander was in but with his fast reaction we was able to dodge quickly and did not receive any damage.

“No one is taking my Louise!” said the young man as he demolished the wall of soldiers in his path towards coming to Louise’s location.

“Look it’s big brother!” Edward said while inside the house

They looked at a tall slim figure, dark skinned like the Crois family; he had white unruly long hair, and he wore a vest-like white hoodie.

His clothing was like clothing for winter cut to be worn on summer, the vest-like hoodie he wore was only as long as reaching his ribs and he had winter bracers; his clothes didn’t look like clothes at all but rather accessories.

He was barefooted, and wielded a single knife holstered at his left side waist.

The young man’s name was Gus Crois.