Omen: 6, 14

Adam had traded his loot with the others, before he passed the kurabara plates to the porters, who thanked him profusely.

“There’s no need to thank me for this,” Adam said, chuckling. ‘Man, I wonder how they’ll respond once I hand them a magical weapon.’

Once they were gone, Adam wondered what they should do. There was a lot of time until the noonval festival, they had a few weeks before they’d really need to make their way back to the Iyr.

“Should we head back in a few days?” Adam asked his companions over lunch. They were all taking it easy after they had spent so long on the road.

“It is best to rest for a week before we return,” Sir Vonda said.

“We’ve worked hard so give us a break!” Jaygak complained. “You’re always so eager to work.”

“Hey! I said a few days, so a week is fine!” Adam grumbled back at the Devilkin. “Sheesh. What’s wrong with me wanting to return back to the Iyr? I just miss my Lanababy so much! I bet she’s even cuter now.”

“We have brought much to the Iyr,” Jurot said. “I am glad.”

“Speaking of which…” Adam eyed up the magical daggers which he passed to Brittany. ‘No, no. It’s best that she keep them for now. It’s not like the rest of us need them.’

Brittany reached for the daggers to return them back to Adam. They hadn’t been useful for her during the Outbreak, so she assumed she needed to return them now that the danger had passed.

“Just keep them on you for now,” Adam said, waving his hand dismissively. “I wonder what I should do today…” His eyes fell to Nobby’s large form. “How about I go pay a visit to your family, see how they’re doing? I’ll tell them all about how heroic you were!”

Nobby flushed slightly. He didn’t feel he was heroic, but he certainly had felt he had grown stronger.

“Nobby rages well,” Jurot said. “He possesses the rage of the Rot family now.”

“Really?” Adam looked to Nobby. It hadn’t been that long, but he supposed Jurot had learnt the Level 3 ability of the Barbarian pretty quickly once they started adventuring. “Nice! Good job, Nobby!” Adam pat the boy’s arm. “It won’t be long now until you’re an Expert!”

Nobby flushed deeper. “Yes, mister boss.”

Once they had finished their breakfast, Adam followed Nobby back to his home. A thin woman with long dark hair opened the door, before she smiled at Nobby, and then glanced cautiously towards Adam.

“Good morning, Annie,” Adam greeted. “I hope I’m not bothering you.”

“No, not at all,” Nobby’s mother replied, before quickly inviting them in.

Adam glanced aside to see the young girl peeking from the other room, only seeing her forehead and eyes.

“Would you like some milk?” Annie asked.

“Oh, no thank you,” Adam replied. “I just came here to check up on you and tell you how great Nobby was.”

“Nobby’s told us a little about the Outbreak,” Annie said, pausing. She decided against asking for more.

“Nobby was brilliant. He’s such a big, strong lad. He did really well, protecting another of ours, with his axe and shield. Slew a bear with two heads all by himself.”

Nobby’s nostrils flared and he smiled, before it disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.

“Oh my!”

“He’s doing really well, actually. Jurot says that he’s managed to learn the ways of raging properly, so he can even handle a bit of fire now.”

“Fire?” Annie asked. “You can’t be walking into fires, Nobby.”

Adam chuckled. “When he’s angry, he can shrug it off properly, can’t you Nobby?”

“Yes,” Nobby said, having tested it the morning under Kitool’s guidance.

“He beat some kurabaras back, lizard like creatures with backs made of stone,” Adam said, before beginning to speak Nobby’s tale, rather quickly as he didn’t want to overstay his welcome.

“Nobby, you didn’t tell us any of that.” Annie rubbed her boy’s back. “Anne, did you hear?”

“Yes,” the girl replied with her tiny voice, peeking her head out further, staring at Adam in his puthral breastplate.

“I’ll try and get him his own magical weapon or shield soon,” Adam said. “Nobby brought back fifty gold as part of his bonus, and I’ll send another ten gold monthly for this year. I think the Guild has everything sorted until the end of the year, but since he’s doing so well, I’ll double it up for this year. At the end of the year, he may very well be an Expert at the rate we’re working.”

“Thank you, mister Adam,” Annie replied, awkwardly. “Nobby, thank the good mister.”

“Thank you, mister boss,” Nobby said.

“No need to mention it. Why don’t you stay here with your family and show off to them for a bit. We’ll be leaving in a few days back to the Iyr, but I want you to enjoy your time with your family until then, alright?”

“Okay, mister boss.”

“Anne,” Adam called, reaching into his pouch. “Come here.”

Anne walked to him, staring up at her reflection in his breastplate.

“Hold out your hand.” The girl held it out, and Adam placed a gold coin into it. “What do you say when some does something nice for you?”

“Thank you,” the girl said, quietly.

Adam smiled. “There we go. Remember, this gold is your gold, so no one else can spend it, okay?”

The girl nodded her head. “Okay.”

The woman wondered if she should speak with Adam, as Remy, her cousin, had said.

“How old are you?” Adam asked.

The girl held up her hand.

“She’s seven,” Annie said.

“I hear education is ten gold a month?” Adam said.

“It’s about that much,” Annie confirmed.

“When can she begin learning?”

“There’s a new class beginning each month.” She had heard it from the other mothers.

“How long will she stay in education before she’s finished?” Adam asked.

“It’s a year for basic education.”

“What about for beyond basic education?” Adam asked.

“I think… I think it’s five years before she can learn a proper job.”

‘Proper job?’ Adam thought. “Five years. So what, that’s six hundred and fifty gold for the entire education?” Adam tilted his head. “One hundred and thirty for basic, though. If I put her through basic education, will you allow her to work for me for my business?”

“Your business, mister? I don’t think she’s suited for adventuring.”

“No, not that business,” Adam said. “It’s a business in the future that I’ll be doing. I may need someone who is good with numbers and letters, so if I put her through education, I’d like to hire her first.”

Annie swallowed. “I’ll…” Annie wondered if she needed to speak with her husband about the matter, but then she recalled her conversation with Remy the day before. “As long as she doesn’t go out on dangerous requests like Nobby, then please…”

“Alright,” Adam said, smiling. “I’ll go to the Guild and they can write up the contract. I’ll let them handle everything, if you don’t mind.”

“N-no, thank you so much,” Annie said. “I’ll tell Ted the good news.”

“I’ll have the gold and contract ready, so please tell him about it and if you’re both happy with the contract, then please sign it,” Adam said, before making to leave. “Hmm. Though, we might be leaving tomorrow back to the Iyr now that I think about it. Nobby, stay here for today, and meet us at the Guild tomorrow morning, okay?”

“Okay.”

Adam returned to the Guild to have them mediate with the contract, paying the gold to them. He placed down the gold for the rest of the year, as well as the gold required for a year’s worth of education. The contract was simple, about as simple as Nobby’s contract.

He’d pay for Anne’s education for a year, and he’d have the chance to hire her first at a discounted rate of a wage to pay for the price of education.

‘Nobby’s lucky he’s built like a damn auroch, otherwise we wouldn’t have picked up him and showered him in our favour,’ Adam thought. It was mostly due to Jurot’s excitement to train Nobby that he really picked Nobby up, though he supposed he would have eventually tried to claim the young man.

‘Now to convince everyone to return to the Iyr so I can see my little Lanababy and make tons of gold.’

When they all met in the evening, Adam glanced between them all. “So…”

“You want to return back to the Iyr?” Jaygak asked.

“How did you know?”

Jaygak smirked. “As if you’d give up so easily at the chance of seeing your little sister.”

“Please,” Adam said. “I’m poor, so I need to make money.”

“How are you poor?” Jaygak asked. “What did you spend your gold on this time?”

“I paid Nobby’s family a bonus, and I also decided to put his little sister through basic education,” Adam said.

Jaygak frowned. How was she meant to make fun of that?

“If you wish to return, we can,” Vonda said.

“Okay,” Jurot said. He had wished for the extra week, but since Adam wanted to return so badly, then he’d just hope everything worked properly. ‘I will need to speak with Kitool.’