Quick question: How do you tell somebody you were gifting them what amounts to a fortune?
Delicately, obviously.
So, in typical Aaliyah fashion, I bluntly told everyone my plans for the winged serpent corpse as if we were discussing me handing out copper coins, and that somehow makes me the bad guy for some reason, I guess.
“Aaliyah, no!”
“Aaliyah, yes,” I grin cheekily back at my best friend, who, like everybody else in the room, was staring at me with a disbelieving expression plastered across her face.
I wonder if any of them were worried their faces were going to get stuck like that?
“I don’t know why you’re angry,” I roll my eyes theatrically. “We already talked about me helping you pay off your apprenticeship fees before I left for the Endless Forest. How is this any different?”
“You know exactly how it’s different, and don’t pretend like you don’t.” Sandra bristles angrily in her seat.
“What? It’s only 10%.” I feign ignorance, trying to sound like it was no big deal.
“It’s too much,” Sandra repeats herself, looking uncomfortable, which was the last thing I wanted.
What was so wrong about my wanting to provide for my friends and family? The way I saw it, I sure as hell didn’t need the money, so why not put it to good use?
“She’s right, Honey,” Mom was quick to take Sandra’s side while frowning at me, concerned.
“Now hold on here,” Camden hastily interjects with a manic smile. “I think we should respect her wishes. You said you were donating how much to the village?” He asks me to repeat myself with a hungry look in his eyes.
“15%,” I chuckle as our headman almost visibly starts to salivate.
“And that’s how much?”
“You don’t need to know, because she’s not,” Sandra hisses angrily at her father.
“I don’t know,” I answer Camden as if neither of us heard anything.
“Tabitha told me that magic beast materials of this level and quality are rare and are often sold at auction to special buyers with connections to people who can make use of them. But based on what she said….” I pause to think and heighten the suspense in the room, because even though some people had certain opinions, I knew everyone was secretly curious about how much the materials we brought back were worth.
“Hmm, was it something like ten thousand gold coins she said?” I think out loud as I tap my chin thoughtfully.
“Ten thousand!?” Camden exclaims loudly as he jumps to his feet in shock. Normally, he would’ve startled a lot of people in this room doing so, but they were already too flabbergasted to do anything else but stare at me blankly.
“Are you sure?!” He asks again in a shaky voice.
“I think she said on the low end,” I calmly correct him, enjoying his over-the-top reactions.
“It’s really worth that much?” Camden’s wife asks from the couch as she gently guides her husband back into his seat before he could collapse from the shock of it all.
“That’s what Tabitha made it sound like, but again, we won’t know anything until the materials are back in Scholl and sold to the proper people, whoever that may be. All I can do is guess,” I tell her plainly without any of my usual embellishment.
“And she insists on splitting everything evenly?”
I nod to Mom with a tired smile. “Believe me, I’ve tried to get her to take more. I really have. But she won’t hear me out again, and even threatened to give me her portion of the proceeds if I ask her again. So, you can see why I would want to give some of it away.”
“How generous of you,” Camden rightfully praises me to Sandra’s continued annoyance.
“Not now, Dad.” My friend looks ready to throttle her father, but was more interested in confronting me. “If that’s the case, and Tabitha feels so strongly about it, don’t you think you deserve it for all your hard work? Think about what you could do with that much gold,” Sandra pleads for me to see reason with glistening eyes.
Damn, she really knows how to use emotional blackmail.
I said it once, and I’ll say it again, she’s going to make a great mom.
“I’m not saying I don’t deserve it,” I reply diplomatically. “I just don’t think I ‘NEED’ it. I can’t even imagine what I would do with that much money.”
“Oh, I don’t know, maybe spend it,” Sandra doesn’t hesitate to sassily retort, making me chuckle.
“And I will… A small part of it,” I visually hold up two fingers close together as a demonstration. “I’ll tell you all what I told Tabitha in the woods. I don’t want to buy all my gear from other people; I want to make it myself. Personalize it. Now, I could take all the money, and I could go out and buy a bunch of expensive materials to work with in the future, but who knows how long they would just sit around collecting dust.”
“The simple fact of the matter is, I don’t need a lot of money to grow stronger—If anything, it would only harm me in the long run because it would stagger my crafting skills,” I do my best to try and explain my reasoning.
“And what about the future?” Mom takes a different approach from Sandra and asks me calmly from her seat, never taking her eyes off me. “You may not need the money this moment, but by your own admission, you will in the future. Excluding Camden, how do you think it makes us feel, knowing that we’re essentially sabotaging you?”
I want to immediately deny her claim that they are sabotaging my buy accepting my money, but pause at the last second. If I rush things now, it will only prove their point that I wasn’t thinking things through, and I didn’t want that.
“Okay, that may be somewhat true,” I admit after a few seconds of thoughtful silence. “But allow me to point out, I’ve never had trouble making money.”
Then an idea hits me. “Plus, let’s not forget about my new master,” I make air quotes in the air with my fingers while smirking. “He’s taking me on as an apprentice. It’s only right that he covers most of my training costs. It’s only fair,” I smile shamelessly, making most of the people in the room gape at my brazen audacity.
Of everyone in the room, only Sandra gives me a single approving nod, which I appreciate more than all the gold in the world. Oh, she was still mad at me, and I could see the conflict in her eyes, but that just goes to show how much she cared about me in the first place.
“So, your plan is to extort Pacore the Deathless, is that right?” Mom folds her hands in front of her and addresses me challengingly.
“Do you have to use his lame as—” I stop myself mid-swear when mom’s eyes narrow dangerously. “Fine. And why not?” I ask her in return. “Neither of us can pretend he isn’t using me for his own gain; turnabout is fair play,” I laugh, but nobody else does, and suddenly I’m picturing Pacore sitting in my place, and feel slightly sick to my stomach.
“Because,” Mom tells me with a voice as cold as ice, “You’re casually talking about blackmailing somebody over level 150, and I think you need to be reminded of that.”
And with that, it feels like Mom splashed a bucket of ice-water in my face, but while eye-opening, I still didn’t feel as if I was wrong. Maybe it was my friendship with Tabitha, or my faith in my ability to level, but I just couldn’t picture Pacore turning on me. At least not without a significant reason, and we both knew I would never consider doing something so reckless when my participation directly correlated with my family’s continued safety.
“I don’t think he’s that kind of person,” I begrudgingly admit after a moment of silence. Especially after what I’ve learned today, but I don’t say that part out loud.
Slowly, Mom’s expression softens, and eventually she smiles, albeit lightly strained. “It sounds like you’ve decided to start trusting him.”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” I feign disgust. “More like I’ve realized we each have our own reasons for tolerating each other, and I can…. I can respect that. Ugh, just saying that makes me nauseous,” I pretend to gag, making mom and Sandra smile, though neither could be compared to our headman.
The only thing keeping Camden in his seat was his wife’s hand resting precariously on his thigh, and even then, he looked ready to jump up and celebrate, especially after his earlier confrontation with Sandra.
“So, does this mean you’ll finally accept my charity?” I hesitantly ask Mom and Sandra, ignoring Camden entirely, as I already knew his answer. But neither of them is quick to give me a definitive answer.
Mom glances at my friend with a knowing look, and Sandra reciprocates with a similar grin, while I brace for what I sense is coming.
“NO.” The two of them answer as one, looking proud of themselves.
“Really? After all that, you won’t—” I try to get them to change their minds one last time when I’m cut off by mom raising a hand.
“We’ll take your money.”
“Huh?” I’m completely caught off guard by Mom’s sudden reversal, but they weren’t done yet.
“But we don’t want your charity,” Sandra adds hotly before simmering down in her seat. “But we aren’t averse to taking a loan.”
“But you don’t need to pay me back,” I try to tell them, but neither of them is having it.
“But we want to,” Mom states firmly, earning an approving nod from Sandra and a silent tear from Camden, who reluctantly nods along after Sarette subtly pinches his side.
“Neither of you is going to budge on this, are you?”
“I can be convinced,” Camden raises his hand meekly, only to immediately lower it again when Sandra whips her head around violently and shoots him a wrathful look, before slowly turning back to me.
“No, we won’t,” Sandra tells me matter-of-factly.
“Then I guess I have no choice,” I slouch in my seat, appearing defeated, but secretly I was smiling on the inside. I didn’t care if I ever got any of the money back, so long as they accepted my initial offer and used it to improve the lives of everybody in Spotted Creek Village. And I think on some level, they knew that.
“Alright then, as I stated earlier, 15% goes to the village as a whole,” I smile at Camden, who regains a bit of his vitality at the mention of coin, before turning to Mom. “I’ll leave 10% with Mom and Dad, 10% Sandra and Richard, and 10% to Master Del, who I’m happy isn’t here to hear this,” I chuckle mirthfully.
“But you are going to tell him, aren’t you?” Mom gives me an exasperated look.
“Not if I don’t have to,” I semi-joke. While it would be fun to imagine the look on Master Del’s face when he randomly receives a giant bag of gold coins once I’m gone, I know he wouldn’t appreciate it as much as if I told him beforehand. It was just one more thing I would have to do in the coming days.
Man, at this rate, I wasn’t going to have any time to relax before Sandra has her baby and we’re forced to leave.
And now I’m sad again. Curse you, emotions. Today just isn’t my day.
“Well, at least you’re keeping over half of it yourself,” Sandra lazily comments, thankfully, distracting me.
“What do you mean?” I look up and tilt my head.
“What do you mean?” Sandra repeats back at me, equally bewildered. “15+10+10+10=45%,” she counts out slowly as if I were a child. “That means you’re saving over half for yourself…. Right?”
….
“See, funny thing, really,” I rub the back of my head awkwardly. “I was giving percentages according to the entire snake, which I’m only entitled to half of. Sooooo…”
“No!” Sandra and Mom shout together again.
“Yes,” I reply with a goofy grin, and the discussion continues.
**********
“Sheesh, everyone is so hard to please,” I groan loudly as I walk away from Camden and Sarette’s house, while subtly glancing over my shoulder to make sure none of them had secretly followed me out and heard me. I may be a fan of taking risks, but I wasn’t suicidal.
But in all seriousness, Mom and Sandra had tried lecturing me for hours, and while I ultimately won our little debate over money, I didn’t need to sense their fluctuating souls to know that they weren’t exactly happy with me after everything was said and done. I’m hoping they’ll change their minds after sleeping on it, but I also needed to be prepared for the opposite to happen, which would really suck.
Of course, I felt bad that they felt bad, but at the same time, I don’t think I was willing to compromise any further than I already had, not when I agreed that they would eventually pay me back someday, not when it concerned our village.
Technically, it wasn’t my job to worry about my village’s growth, that was Camden’s job, after all— but at the same time, my friends and family were here, and if I wanted them to grow and live longer, Spotted Creek Village needed to grow with them to facilitate that process.
And contrary to what I like to pretend, I couldn’t do everything by myself; our new walls were proof of that. Sure, I could’ve built something similar with enough time, but by myself? Yeah, maybe over a couple of years, maybe.
Like it or not, Spotted Creek was going to need help to continue growing at its current pace, which in turn requires bringing in more help, which requires money and unique materials. It was a never-ending cycle that even the best cities struggled with, but you know what helps?
A shit ton of gold, that’s what, and if that’s all I can do to help, I’m doing it regardless of their feelings, because at heart, I was selfish.
I wanted to be able to hug my mom and dad a hundred years from now, preferably longer than that, so I wasn’t going to budge on this.
That said, I was probably going to have to try to find a way to make it up to them before I leave. But first, I had to go grab my stuff and take it home with me before Pacore and his men got any ideas, so I was taking a detour to the front of the village and Pacore’s camp.
In fact, I was already over three-quarters of the way there. The south gate was only a few minutes’ walk from Camden’s house, and I was making excellent time, though not on purpose.
It’s funny, my default muscle memory was still used to keeping pace with Tabitha, so without somebody slower than me by my side, I was unconsciously defaulting back to our previous movement speed. Probably not something I should be doing inside a public place.
With just the lightest step, I soared across the ground. To me, it felt as natural as breathing, but based on the reaction of the few knights I was passing, it was very much unnatural to everybody else. You would think they would be used to somebody moving at my speeds, but for some reason, they were all looking at me with the same nervous glances they usually reserve for Tabitha and Pacore.
That’s not concerning whatsoever.
Speaking of which, now that I wasn’t trying to pretend like I couldn’t find them whenever I wanted to, I could clearly sense Tabitha and Pacore casually walking along the section of unfinished wall on the western side of the village. It’s because I could sense them that I was heading toward their camp now instead of procrastinating and waiting until later.
While I wouldn’t mind spending more time with Tabitha if the old man wasn’t around, personally, I’d had enough of Pacore for the day, and I doubted I could separate the two again without selling my soul in the process. Therefore, my plan was to avoid both for the rest of the day and simply enjoy my time with my family. But again, work had to come first, which is why I'm in my current predicament.
“Hi,” I smile and wave socially at the closest soldier guarding the perimeter of Pacore’s camp as soon as I step outside the village's unfinished southern gate, doing my best to put the escort knight at ease, only to have the complete opposite effect happen.
“Ma'am!” The forty-year-old looking knight in armor snaps to attention rigidly, looking more than a little nervous to be addressed by me.
“Uh, at-ease?” I reply awkwardly, not sure exactly what I’m supposed to do in this kind of situation. Heck, I had no idea how I fit into Scholl's power dynamic.
At least my hasty response works, as almost instantly the escort knight somewhat relaxes, though not completely.
“Um, hi again. My name’s Aaliyah,” I tentatively introduce myself. “Pacore told me I’m supposed to come here and separate the materials we bought back…. Am I supposed to say or do something at all for you to let me pass?”
The knight in front of me visibly pales when I mention Pacore without any honorifics to the point I’m afraid he might pass out on his feet. Thankfully, he doesn’t, and after he swallows a nervous lump in his throat, he manages to speak to me without stuttering or tripping over himself.
“None of that will be needed—My lady,” The knight paused for a moment before finally deciding how he wished to refer to me. The preceding nod of respect was awkward as hell, for him, and for me.
I still don’t have the faintest idea how I’m supposed to respond to any of this, but I can’t exactly stand here all day either. So, screw it, I’ll just be me. “That’s very flattering, but you can just call me Aaliyah. And I’m no lady. Well, I am. But not how you mean it. Does any of that make sense?” I ramble rapidly.
“I believe I understand, Lady Aaliyah.”
“Then,” I try to say, but am cut off by him.
“Respectfully, my lady, your origins matter not,” Mr. Knight patently explains to me with his head bowed, refusing to make eye contact with me. “Master Pacore the Deathless and Lady Leres have both made it clear to all of us, Escort Knights, that we are to treat you with the utmost respect and to interpret your orders as theirs.”
“What…? You can’t be serious. Are you telling me you’d take orders from somebody you’ve never met before—somebody not yet associated with Scholl in any way. That’s crazy! You’re crazy!” I stare dumbly at the man in front of me as he slowly begins to kneel. “Please, don’t,” I hastily stop him by grabbing his armored shoulders, freezing him mid-motion.
“My lady?” My actions finally get Mr. Knight to look back up at me, forcing me to come face-to-face with his resolve. With one look, I could tell that I wasn’t going to convince him to address me otherwise.
“Alright, address me however you want, just please stand up,” I relent.
“Right away,” The man snapped to attention instantly with a bright smile on his face as if I just gave him a compliment.
At least he wasn’t groveling anymore.
“Did Tabitha really order you to refer to me as Lady Aaliyah?” I ask, questioning why my friend thought doing so was necessary.
“Lady Leres ordered no such thing,” the escort knight tells me with a confused look before brightening back up. “It was Master Pacore himself who ordered us to do so this morning. He told us you were to be his newest disciple upon his return to Scholl. He also made it abundantly clear that whoever didn’t refer to you properly would receive instruction. Personally,” the man shivered so much he sounded like a tin can being kicked down the road.
“Did he now?” I nod along in understanding with a vicious smile. “That old bastard.”
The escort knight in front of me gasps loudly and takes an involuntary step back, but I ignore him as I continue to vent my anger.
“I bet he’s laughing to himself right now, thinking he’s smart,” I growl. “Well, jokes on him, because being addressed as a lady doesn’t bother me at all. Not one bit,” I announce proudly to the universe with my hands on my hips, choosing to ignore the strained smile of the knight in front of me.
“Do me a favor,” I ask him.
“Yes, Lady Aaliyah?” The man replies, remaining standing where he was.
“When the annoying old man gets back, tell him I appreciate the consideration. Oh, and feel free to tell him I’m looking forward to kicking his wrinkly old ass tomorrow. You can do that for me, right?”
The poor man in front of me had grown paler with every word, but to his credit, he nodded along without question.
“Good,” I smile ear-to-ear. “Now, can you take me to wherever you are storing everything we brought back from the Endless Forest? I don’t wish to be here when Grandpa returns and inadvertently get caught up in his old man ramblings.”
At first, Mr. Knight doesn’t say a word; he just stares at me with an open mouth, but true to his professional appearance, he quickly gathers his wits and gestures politely for me to follow him. “Right this way, Ma'am.”
After that, neither of us says a word to each other as he escorts me to the center of their camp, where I find the sled I made in the Endless Forest, still loaded to the brim with materials. It was parked next to a fancy tent I assumed was Pacore’s, and next to it was an empty cart ready to be filled.
“I take it that’s how you guys are going to be transferring the snake materials once you leave,” I point at the waiting open-roof carriage.
“It is,” my escort knight nods, probably wondering where I was going with this.
“Alright, well, I’m borrowing it,” I tell him matter-of-factly before stepping forward and starting to transfer over everything we harvested other than the lesser dragon materials before he can give me permission.
“Don’t worry, I’ll bring it back tomorrow morning,” I tell him as I work. Initially, I wanted to outright steal the cart to spite Pacore for giving me any sort of authority over his men, but I only needed to think about it for more than a second to realize that wouldn’t be a very cool thing to do.
Stealing a cart wouldn’t exactly hurt Pacore in any significant way. If anything, I’d only make the soldiers' lives harder for no reason, and while there was a slim chance it might tarnish Pacore’s image a bit, it would also affect Tabitha, who I know also vouched for me, and I didn’t want that.
“That will be much appreciated, Lady Aaliyah. You are too kind,” the knight watching off to the side bows his head deeply with a wide smile, soaking up my kindness like a dried-out sponge. Having to deal with Pacore has really done a number on these guys, hasn’t it?
I know Tabitha explained to me why active soldiers hate Escort Knights as much as they do, but I wasn’t raised in Scholl. And while it was slightly disappointing that all these men had given up on leveling further, each of them was still technically serving their country the only way they knew how, and I could respect that.
As someone who briefly worked in the service industry during my past life, I’d rather chop off my left arm than be rude to somebody who was just doing their job.
“It’s no problem on my part,” I try to get Mr. Knight not to read into my actions as much as he was, but I got the feeling that the ship had already set sail.
“Oh, but it is,” my watcher beams with a megawatt smile. “It is our duty as Escort Knights to take care of the everyday needs of those we serve. In fact, if you would like, I could personally come fetch the cart outside your house in the morning if it would please you?”
“Oh, that’s okay,” I awkwardly decline his impassioned offer. “I plan to temporarily store everything by my house, but I need to drop everything off at my Master’s clearing before I bring your cart back,” I inform him.
“Master?”
“Oh, sorry, I mean my smithing teacher. Del-Razen. The stone kin,” I clarify.
“You’re a blacksmith?!” Mr. Knight appears genuinely surprised by the revelation. “But I thought you were a warrior?” He asks, greatly confused.
“Can’t I be both?” I turn and smile cheekily at him while I load a large bundle of feathers into the cart, the exact same feathers we returned to the Silent Falcon nest for.
“But you are so young.” I don’t quite hear what Mr. Knight was mumbling under his breath, but I choose to take it as a compliment anyway.
“I like to stay busy,” I comment lightly as I double-check the sled for anything I might’ve forgotten to grab, while ticking off everything I’ve already moved with my fingers.
· A couple of dozen force-absorbing bricks for Sandra and Del to experiment with.
· The water attuned Magicite.
· All the feathers, excluding the black ones, from the winged serpent.
· Various cuttings of magical plants I found.
· Magic ant exoskeleton pieces.
· Random magic beast materials.
· A handful of various rocks.
Wow, there was a lot more than I was expecting. Other than the small samples I collected during the main part of our adventure, I gathered most of the rest during our return trip. It was a lot more fun collecting things after I had built the sled and didn’t need to worry about fitting everything into my one bag.
Overall, the winged serpent materials still made up the bulk of everything, but I think I brought back a good amount of stuff Sandra and Del could use. I even snagged what was left of our magic beast meat for tonight as a surprise for my family.
Originally, I was going to divide everything and hand it out to them separately, but after thinking it over, I don’t think Master Del will mind if I store everything in his clearing temporarily. Sandra wasn’t exactly a stranger after all the time she’s spent experimenting with me there, and while Del can be prickly at times, I think he and Sandra get along just fine. That, and Sandra didn’t exactly have a proper lab yet anyway.
Once brother gets around to building Sandra her magic tower, I can picture her moving her share of the materials out of Master’s clearing, but until then, I think the two of them are stuck with each other regardless.
“I think that’s everything,” I announce aloud for Mr. Knight’s sake.
“I see, would you like me to fetch you a mount? I could help you pull it if you—” The knight offers as I walk in front of the cart, where it’s normally hooked up to an animal, but stumbles when I grab the railings and start pulling it as easily as a wheelbarrow.
“No, but thanks for the offer. See you around,” I tell him politely as I begin to drag the cart out of Pacore’s camp and towards the village.
“Until next we meet, Lady Aaliyah,” Mr. Knight bows deeply to me one last time, prompting me to wave goodbye to him as I disappear through my village’s front gate.
While awkward at times, I don’t think that was a bad interaction. I would’ve preferred to be treated like any other person, but I have Pacore to thank for that.
It’s weird, but for a country supposedly obsessed with strength and levels, the people of Scholl aren’t half bad. They have their quirks, but I’d be throwing stones in a glass house if I complained about something like that.
I still don’t know how I feel about having authority over people I’ve just met, but I have a feeling I’ll have to get over that little tidbit sooner rather than later. Either way, I’m going to try to hit Pacore twice as hard tomorrow for not talking to me about it first.
Speaking of the devil, I can sense him and Tabitha making their way back to the front of the village now, so I'd better get going before we run into each other.
As I pull the cart home, I think about the next few days.
Tomorrow was going to be another busy day. There wasn’t much I could do to prepare for our fight, but I’ll worry about that later. For now, with the sun beginning to go down, all I was thinking about was going home and spending some much-needed time having fun with my friends and family.
This was supposed to be my rest day after all.
So much for that, I guess.
I complain, but today was important, and I’m glad Mom dragged me out of bed this morning.
Overall, I learned Tabitha had my back with Pacore and that I could at least trust him on this issue. We all learned that Pacore was leaving in two days and was allowing Tabitha and me to stay until Sandra’s baby was born, which was a huge weight off my shoulders.
Now I’ve secured the materials I was leaving with Sandra and Del, and most importantly, I’ve gotten everybody to accept the money I wanted to give them.
This was quite a jam-packed lazy day, if I do say so myself.
And it wasn’t over just yet, but family time first. After that, I can worry about kicking Pacore’s old ass tomorrow, because if he thought this was going to be like last time we fought, then he was in for a rude awakening, and my hammer was the alarm clock….
Okay, that was a little cringeworthy. I’m glad no one can hear my thoughts. Though.... I look up at the moon, which is slowly growing more visible in the afternoon sky.
You never know.
If the gods were watching, then I hope they were enjoying the show, because I was, and that’s why I reached my house with a smile on my face, where I made my way inside to hug my mom and help her with dinner.
I was home and alive.
For all its ups and downs, life was good.
**********
5,200 words
Sorry, this chapter took me forever; you might have read in the post chapter notes on Royal Road chapter 121.3, but I’ve been sick the last week and have only just now begun to feel better.
I’m starting on Chapter 125.1 tomorrow, so hopefully the next chapter comes out a lot sooner than this one.
Thanks for reading, and as always, stay safe.