James, flaying the reins of the carriage to a blissful crawl. Leaning into the cabin he whispered with purpose, “Master Freble it seems we have arrived.” Stepping down from the carriage he moved swiftly, not wasting energy with unwanted motion he opened up the door to the cabin with unerring grace. From within out stepped a man of gentleman-like stature, “James, please wake up Ruby and Sapphire. I have a meeting to attend to.”

Having parked the carriage in front of a nobleman's house, Freble noticed the wellkept grass as the pathway leading up into the main entrance was lined with statues of vague importance. As he was perplexed after staring at the statues with more enthusiasm, it seemed his effort did not go unnoticed as a man, roughly resembling a butler approached him with conviction.

“Master Freble, if I am correct in assuming, The King is ready to meet with you.” The butler spoke fast and to the point, preferring to make his sentences concise and to the point it seemed. As he was preparing to take his guest towards the designated meeting room, a nobleman was seen to be walking out from the main entrance to the estate.

The man grumply turned to Freble and spoke, “It is beyond use conversing with that fool! Trust me when I tell you that it is imposs-”

“Another word and I will cut out your tongue where you stand Earl Harg.” Glaring menacingly the butler spoke, resolved in continuing with his threat.

A cold sweat dripped from the Earl, clearly overtaken by this new aura and threat. Liquid rage seemed to pour from his eyes however, as his face thusly mangled into a deeper shade of maroon. Barely controlling his temper the Earl passionately stomped off in blinded fury, rambling to himself his own strange delusions.

“My apologies for that Master Freble, The King deals with a variety of persons.” Bowing slightly the butler expressed his utmost sincerity in declaring his apology.

Freble stubbornly raised his hand at this remark stating, “it’s perfectly understandable, think nothing of it.”

Simply smiling and nodding, the butler inquired Freble to follow him. Making their way through the gardens and into the estate, a noticeable change from statues to artwork progressed as they directed their efforts into moving towards the designated meeting place. Finding it relatively easy to navigate, both men managed to work their way to the living room, making quicktime one might add.

The butler stopping motionlessly at the door, beckons Freble to open and enter into the room. Doing just that, he notices the iron handle, feeling the cold metal brush against him, he opens the door examining the new landscape.

A well designed, lavishly constructed room appears to him, chairs seeming to be made of leather housed a man dressed in casual apparel, however still showcasing the remarkably devised golden crown utop his head. “Ahh, Freble, I’ve been anticipating your arrival.” The King, as he was known by many, spoke elegantly as his voice seemed to carry a layer of wisdom not understood by others.

“As I have been preparing for it my liege. I come bearing a terrible message. It seems that the Sin of Gluttony is glowing red on the tablet, that now makes it the third Sin to have woken up.”

This news seemed to have shaken The King, fully aware of what this must mean. “If what you say is true Freble then it would seem I must speed up my plans.” Beckoning the butler over, The King seems to whisper into his ear, saying but few words. However the butler mysteriously exits the room, seeming to carry out his new found orders. “You said you noticed two drifters, correct?”

“Only one my liege, the girl traveling with the man seems to not wear any strange clothing, thus leading me to believe that the drifter found her on his travels.”

“Regardless, we will need to capture the male. See to it Freble, I have other matters to attend to in light of this new information.”

With that the meeting seemed to be complete, as another of the many servants escorted Freble out of the meeting room, making their way to the carriage he was greeted by two women in maid outfits, speaking in unison, “Hello Master.”

Both sharing crystal like hair with different colours, respectfully red and blue, Ruby and Sapphire as the maids were known decided to make their appearance, waiting for the Master to return to his carriage for this greeting. Whilst they didn’t want to reveal to him how long they had been practicing the synchronization to their voice, their expression must have let it slip, as Freble couldn’t help but let out a hearty laugh as he entered the carriage.

Regardless of this, James flung the reins tied to the horses, developing their humble walk into a galloping stride, set off with new ambition, Freble pondered within his carriage about how to best approach the situation for his better interests.

-----------------------

[Level up! Enhanced Memory |Uncommon|]

Level 3

Intelligence + 3

After reading for what seemed like hours I finally managed to place the book down, quite proud of my newly gained skill and staggering 20 Intelligence. It felt weird, suddenly thought that never would have occurred to my previous self stream down like water through my brain. As if a blockage had been removed I found myself able to organize and reference information in my head better with each level up of the skill.

It seemed also that the rewards increased the higher the level of the skill, however I assumed that the amount increased would depend on the skill and the current level. Regardless it was always cheerful to know that my efforts were not staggered in vain, as with this new arrival of thoughts my brain began thinking up new efforts to further strengthen myself before I had to inevitably leave, I didn’t like thinking about it, but regardless of how intelligent I became I could never know for certain if I would ever come back here, the thought honestly terrified me, however with this new system of Cognition, I had a strange feeling that it would follow me even to Earth.

Anyway I had no evidence to back up this claim, ‘better to just not think about’ I thought.

“Well, are you happy? You’ve read out my entire dang library, I can’t even believe that you passed the test too..”

“I guess you don’t want to just say it was beginner’s luck?” I responded meekly, whatever the outcome I had learnt alot from her, it was sad that we would have to part ways soon since I was down to 2 days until I left.

I was hoping Melody would be safe at this village, at least she could live a better life her than in that rotten lake town, maybe Pree with all her knowledge could find a way to cure her somehow as well. Although I doubt it I guess there is always the chance for hope.

Interrupting my train of thought, a familiar figure walked through the door holding a green amulet in her hands, ‘well, speak of the devil’ I said to myself.

“Flow, I- I wanted to thank you for giving me back that necklace you found for me. I know I haven’t told you about it, and I don’t know if I will ever but, please take this as an apology.”

My eyes traced down to the necklace Melody was holding in her hands, as its emerald glow seemed to fill my vision. The necklace was ornately designed as leather bound its strap around the holder’s neck whilst the copper metal held the shard of emerald crystal in the center. All and all, it was a very impressive piece, as my mind raced on how much an accessory like this would cost, however Melody didn't seem to mind and I decided against bringing it up.

Taking the necklace from Melody’s hand I whispered a warm, ‘thank you’ to her, and placing it on, I went about tell her that I didn’t mind if she wouldn’t tell me everything about her past. Saying that everyone has their own secrets and I wouldn’t pry into hers just like I have faith that she would do the same for me.

Whilst still talking to Melody I was unable to notice the dim sheen of green that appeared over the emerald crystal as I placed it on my neck. I continued rapidly walking to the Elders house once again. Asking Pree just before I left if she could look after Melody for me whilst I went out for a bit, thankfully I received a crisp nod from her in response.

I had a lot to discuss with the old man,as I approached his door, after receiving strange glares from the villagers, it seemed I was looked at differently in this village compared to the ordinary stranger whether this would change with time I could never know for certain. After knocking trice at the door to his house, I managed to hear footsteps approaching the door, opening it to reveal the old man once again, “Ahh Flow, what brings you to my house?”

“I’m sorry to disturb you, but I have a favour to ask.” I told him in response, as he invited me into his home. I could smell the faint aroma of some form of herbal tea from the kitchen, ‘perhaps one of Pree’s inventions’ I thought. Sitting down on a wooden chair I stared at the old man once again as I narrated, “I’m going to be gone for a unknown amount of time and I can’t take Melody with me, I was wondering if she might be able to find a house here until I return.”

“Of course Flow, such a simple request is easy enough, with most of the kids of this village-- I mean, I’m sure she will find beds easy enough.”

I thanked the man again, knowing that I had done all I could in the manner of helping out Melody whilst I was away, not knowing if I would return I told the old man I would be going into the forest to investigate ruins, potentially housing a treasure and that it’s very dangerous. I told him this lie on the pretense that if I didn’t return I would most likely be dead.

Afterall, I didn’t want Melody to have false hope that I would be returning one day, better to pretend to be dead I thought.

Making my way outside of the Elder’s house, I stood outside of the gate to the village, looking back, I placed all my hopes of returning deep in my chest, best not to get my hopes up I thought.

With all my planning out of the way, I decided to not waste a single second longer, and began walking into the forest..