Harlan had to retrain his sheep and improvise on his foxes. He could leave the house under guard, but he couldn’t really watch foxes with 4 other people next to him.

He decided to work on the sheep and foxes just before sunrise. He wanted to do some exercises since he had spent too much time doing other things.

The sheep didn’t take long. It took longer to find the maid he was looking for, she seemed to have an uncanny ability to avoid him, leading to an hour of “oh well she was on her way here.”

But he found her, they locked eyes and he could tell she wanted to run.

“H-hello Sir Fomoria, what can I do for you today?”

“Here, a gift.” She looked at the fluffy sheep sitting in his hand like it was a fireball. She jumped and screamed when it went baaa. This wasn’t going how Harlan wanted it to.

He just waited for her to realize that it was just a toy.

Eventually she removed her hands from her face and looked at it. It was only a handspan and a half tall, covered in fluff, with the nicest eyes that Harlan could paint.

She finally grabbed it and stared at it intensely.

“Thank you.” Harlan thought to ask again why she was so scared of him, but decided to not possibly ruin the moment.

“I just wanted to let you know that soul enchanting is more than weapons and armor. That sheep will keep acting like a sheep and nothing more as long as it doesn’t get broken, it doesn’t take any mana from you.”

“I don’t think I can accept such an expensive gift, Sir Fomoria.”

“It barely cost anything, just wood, paint, and putting the mimic tree to sleep so I could get a soul fragment from it. I think 80 bronze? Balor is better at the math of it all.”

She held it close.

“Thank you then, I will keep it safe.”

Harlan felt great, he got at least one person who was scared of him to stop looking at him like he was a monster.

He returned to his room and began his work on the foxes, movement wasn’t really as much of an issue. He might not have seen exactly how foxes acted but he saw plenty of them running away yesterday, eventually the thought came to him. Why not just make them act how he wanted? They didn’t need to act like foxes, they needed to act like toys for babies.

He went outside, 4 guards in formation around him. And set up a small obstacle course to test how well they really moved.

Some rings, some stairs, a steep hill to climb. They could do it well enough, but he couldn’t get his mind away from the wolf yesterday, it was perfect. It was better than perfect, it could shift itself to get longer reach, it was smart enough to try and lead him somewhere. If it was made less mechanical and more magical he wouldn’t have been able to get away.

The two foxes would be a curiosity, he would keep them around, but he decided on a new project.

He barely left his room for 2 days, the first prototype was done, it had slides in its legs to grow larger. It was reinforced with stone that he magically manipulated into the right spaces to avoid it limiting its movements. It had far more articulation than the smaller models. Then Harlan had to put a soul inside it and teach it magic and that it was meant to protect the people who it showed him.

This was all disrupted by a messenger arriving however, Harlan never did get around to speaking with the count about nobility.

“Sir Harlan Fomoria, do you have a place in which we might speak privately?”

“Yes, I do. Follow me.”

Harlan led him to his room, trying to remember everything he was taught about etiquette.

“Have you spoken with anyone about this?”

“No, I got caught up in the creation of small golem toys and failed to remember to ask the count for advice.”

“That is fine, I will make this simple, there is few options for you at the moment anyway. The first option is to become a count in the frontier. You will be paid a nominal fee to set up a home and set up governance in an area provided by the crown, your real pay will be by taxing your new citizens. But you are quite young, not the youngest I’ve seen but quite close. You are unlikely to have the knowledge to set up such a thing, you would end up tossed around and abused by the other nobles in the area and you would likely never accomplish much as a count.”

“That… isn’t the sales pitch which I expected.”

“Rosewell sent me, I am here to make sure you know exactly what you are getting into. Another option is to be a knight, you will be paid a monthly salary by the crown which you can increase by building a warband and doing great deeds as they would say, the more they benefit the kingdom, the more money they get. But you won’t get lands other than to build a single castle, which will need to be in someone else’s lands anyway. The third option, which from what we can gather isn’t talked about since no one has taken it in such a long time, is to deny both options and become a noble mage, it's a confusing title as many nobles are mages. But a noble mage is very close to being a knight, but instead of your merits being winning battles it will be the things you create, the magical knowledge you hand over to the crown.”

“Why does no one take that option?”

“Because you would need to be a mage with revolutionary ideas to make it worth more than being a knight or a count, and a count has the chance of eventually having your bloodline ascend to a baron or higher, a mage is a mage. You could be a great mage, but the other titles don’t actually stop them from being called an archmage, since the only archmages which are respected are granted the title by the grand academy. Not by the kingdom. You are granted lands to build a home and research area, but your money will be from selling your products either to the crown or to whoever can afford them. Many counts and barons have made impressive magic and then just give it to the crown for political capital and kept being a count.”

“From the sounds of it I will basically keep my title so others can’t directly push me around and then I get to spend my time however I choose. While setting up almost like a merchant. I don’t get the benefits or downsides of the other options.”

“Correct. You could still some day choose to try and be a count or a knight, but for now a noble mage is your best option, you wouldn’t really have time to enter the academy if you were setting up some house and getting married to whoever the crown says in the north. You… and I’m not meaning any offense, but you are not built for nobility, you are built to discover things and then maybe kill things, we aren’t entirely sure on the second part.”

“I… I don’t think I take any offense to that, when do I need to make my decision?”

“I must leave here before dinner time. You have until then.”

“I will be contacting someone for advice, if this takes longer than I think would it be possible to send a letter with my choice?”

“Yes, but then I would need to come back to have you stamp your signet on a document.”

“I will try to be back before then.”

Harlan brought Lugh and Balor with him for extra defense.

It took some convincing but once Breken realized what he was really asking for he came along.

Harlan and his 4 guards who where at least 30 feet away from him and knew to be ready to run at a moments notice stood deep in the forest.

Harlan closed his eyes and sat, trying to become deep in thought.

“Welcome back child, I am glad you are feeling better than last time.”

“Thank you, I wanted your opinion, you won’t give an answer to change my path. But what about if an option will better support my path?”

“Yes, I believe you should be a noble mage.”

“That was quick.”

“You are not lost to me now, I see what you do at all times. I knew from the moment you started walking here what you would want.”

“Was the thing that attacked me really not related to the fomorians? Are fenrir your children like wargs are?”

“Yes, that thing was simply a random event in the universe, you were not directly the target, just in its path. And yes, I asked my child to spare you. You are kin in a sense, she might have spared you regardless, but I asked her to be sure.”

“That was a girl?”

“Judge not by your own standards child, you would endanger yourself if you do not mind your tongue around them.”

“I’m sorry, I will try to not make that mistake again. And thank you for your advice, I no longer have doubts about this.”

“I shall see you again child.”

Harlan opened his eyes, either an entire day had passed, or only a few hours. Only the land within 5 feet of him was damaged this time, he wondered what determined that. A question for another day.

”How long was I out this time?”

“A few hours is all, you need to get back to answer that messenger, right? We should leave now.”

Harlan hurried back to the house, it was a short trip, he stopped by the orchard to pick up Balor.

Mostly he just watched over them now, not really needing to be trained, just learning through repetition.

“Please stamp here.”

Harlan did as asked.

“You have already been knighted by the king, so all I can offer you is thanks for what you have done, and will do for our glorious kingdom. Details regarding land will be worked out between the crown and Count Redwall. Most likely you will have property between here and your parents farm, in the woods to avoid disturbances from people and to avoid any… Accidents from reaching too far. Construction of your home and workspace will be left to you. 100 gold coins will be sent by the crown for workers and material.”

Harlan had no idea how much anything really cost, the only house he built was for Kass, and that was from trees nearby that didn’t cost him anything.

He had many ideas now about what he could do, and he needed to ask balor about what things actually cost. Underground test ranges and rooms would be basically free as long as he had mana. Did he need a maid to clean things? An assistant to buy materials?

That was all things for another time, he wanted to work on his foxes now.