Chapter 27: CompromiseWe came to one of the random doors and Gosr knocked, “Your Grace? It’s a matter of some importance.”

  “Come in Gosr,” could be heard from the other side of the door.

  Gosr enters the room and speaks to someone behind a desk. Rutina and I waited in the hall and I only just noticed that Rolf wasn’t with us.

  I quietly ask Rutina, “Who’s that?”

  “That’s my uncle, the Duke of Harz.”

  Better check:

  [Duke of Harz][Brocken Nordbrun Anhalt][Male, Age: 35][Holy Knight: 14]

  “Ah crap.”

  “Lord Moreau?!”

  “Sorry. All this politeness is tiresome. I’m not used to having to be so careful.”

  “Well, I hope you can continue a bit longer.”

  “By the way, you were an excellent party leader, Lady Rutina.”

  “Huh? Ah, thank you, Lord Moreau.”

  In the original story, the duke acted all buddy-buddy with the protagonist. That was probably a good strategy since that guy seemed rather nervous and uncertain. The old protagonist and I have a simir powers, but I might look like a threat, especially since I openly identify as a Mage. Therefore, the duke might take a different approach to manipute me. On the other hand, maybe he would just see us as commoners and he only has one approach to anyone so far beneath him.

  Gosr is more cautious and may see me as a potential threat, which he certainly should. I am an unknown Mage with a hint of aristocracy. I’ve somehow weaseled my way into a position where the count’s heir depends on me. I’m somehow experienced enough to teach and fight brigands. It’ll be bad if the cims are false and possibly worse if they’re true. Gosr should push to either recruit or kill me. My vote would be neither.

  Who do I need to pretend to be to avoid an unpleasant result? I’m Rutina’s savior… as well as the one who put her into danger — best to steer away from that lose-lose direction. I evidently syed notorious brigands. This was all good when they were just some random, high-level bad guys. Now it could look suspicious or that I’m too dangerous to be allowed run around free.

  I somehow need to convince them that there’s some benefit to allowing me to roam free and that any aggression is squarely pointed in a different direction. The simplest ploy is to appear to be a righteous warrior against evil-doers or the byrinths or, better yet, both. Thankfully, this won’t be much of a stretch since I seem to have vented quite a lot of rage against brigands and fighting the byrinths is profitable, fun and an easy way to help people.

  I would rather have avoided nobles or at least deyed the inevitable till my levels were much higher (i.e., till I’m nearly invulnerable), but coming in with accomplishments is much better than being brought before them on criminal charges or begging for their help.

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  The duke finally calls us in, “Rutina, Lord Moreau, please come in. Have a seat. Cassia told me you were here, Rutina, but I didn’t know the circumstances were quite so dire. I’m so very sorry for all you’ve had to endure.”

  “I’m actually perfectly fine, Uncle. I’m not nearly as frail as others seem to believe.”

  “Oh, that’s good too hear. Rutina, what were you doing so far from the castle to come under attack? Does it involve this man, Lord Moreau?”

  “Yes, Uncle, as a matter of fact, it does. Lord Moreau has been helping me practice magic — I’m a Mage now.”

  “Gosr, why didn’t you tell me? No, the important part is your accomplishment, Rutina. Congratutions.”

  “Thanks, Uncle, and to answer your question, we were ambushed coming out of a byrinth.”

  “Oh, Rutina, you’ve been inside a byrinth?”

  “Actually, more than one and I’ve been fighting monsters both with a spear and magic.”

  “And you have done all this with Lord Moreau?”

  “Yes, along with his two vanguard fighters, a hired Adventurer, and Brunhild… who ter betrayed us.”

  “Hmm, I’m a bit surprised your father allowed this. He must have great faith in Lord Moreau.”

  “Um, maybe more like I hope it will be a pleasant surprise that I am now a Mage and have experienced the byrinths.”

  “Oh. Rutina, I’d like to speak with Lord Moreau and wouldn’t want to bore you with the details.”

  “Of course, Uncle, as you wish. I need to get back home to speak with my father anyway.”

  What a damn farce. The duke obviously knew where Rutina had been and that she hadn’t gotten daddy’s permission. He’s got little Rutina puffing out her chest to show how she’s doing grown-up things. Of course, this st part could just be the kindness of an uncle allowing his niece to brag — not every manipution needs to be sinister. This looked pretty bad though.

  Alright, my general attitude should be that I have no ambition to climb the social dder — another easy task since it’s true.

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  “Lord Moreau, let’s have a nice, open discussion.”

  “Yes, Your Grace.”

  “Come now, David, let’s not be so formal.”

  What’s ‘less formal’ for a duke? I’m guessing ‘Yo dude’ is too far and I certainly can’t use his real name since I’m not supposed to know it. His use of my first name might just be a way to ignore that I have a st name. Shouldn’t the duke have a steward to brief visitors on protocol? Oh well, I’ll just try dropping down one level, or at least to the next one I know.

  “Yes, My Lord, as you wish.”

  “What is the nature of your retionship with our dear, young Rutina?”

  “I was paid as an instructor. Today would be my st day.”

  “It seems that during this instruction, you took Rutina to some dangerous pces.”

  “No, My Lord. Lady Rutina has lead us, the party, to just the first floors of some byrinths.”

  “So how do you expin yesterday’s dangerous encounter?”

  “This was an incident in which me and my men defended Lady Rutina against some brigands.”

  “Is that all is was?”

  “I’m not sure I understand.”

  “You cim that these were just some brigands?”

  “Absolutely. In my view, brigands are just brigands. These brigands, in particur, attacked my patron so, in my view, they deserve no special consideration.”

  “David, I need you to expin how you managed to fight your way through a prepared ambush. How was this accomplished?”

  “With superior combat skills.”

  “Are you suggesting that your party is better than the brigands who had wiped out most of Selmer’s order of knights?”

  “My Lord, I don’t know the history of these particur brigands. I don’t know if there were some special circumstances. Perhaps they just had a bad day. What I do know is that the brigands I fought are now dead.”

  “A bit stubborn, aren’t you?”

  “If you say so, My Lord.”

  “Let’s leave this matter for now.”

  I sound like a zealot who goes after brigands on a daily basis — exactly as intended. I also appear reckless with no patience for politics so I’m not worth the trouble of keeping close. Let this dog hunt. Give me my money so I get get back to my properly focused mania.

  “Thank you, My Lord. Have I alyed your suspicions enough for me to be allowed to receive the bounties?”

  “David, what are you talking about?”

  “Captain Gosr took the reward money, told me to follow him and then I was questioned. Am I not in trouble for fighting the special brigands?”

  “What? No, of course not. Gosr!”

  Yes, I finally got it. Now, what can I say to get out of here as quickly as possible? Seriously, what else could the duke need to know? I’m starting to lose my patience with all this crap. Maybe I can simply ask to leave.

  “Thank you, My Lord. Do you have more questions for me?”

  “Wait, wait, David, aren’t we having a pleasant conversation?”

  “Yes, My Lord, of course.”

  “Hmm, fine, just one st question. Did you happen to recover a ring from the brigands?”

  “Possibly. I haven’t gone through the valuables yet.”

  “That ring would certainly support your version of the events.”

  “Oh? Well then, I promise not to return without it.”

  “Very clever, David. Come back here either way. We still have more to discuss.”

  “OK, then I’ll get right on it. Good day, My Lord, Captain Gosr.”

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  Back home, everyone’s gardening outside in the notably better weather than Elven Territory.

  “Hello everybody, sorry it took me so long.”

  “David, what happened? You look exhausted.”

  “The captain of the knights questioned us for a while. When he heard who we fought, he absolutely freaked and dragged us to the duke.”

  “Who did you fight?”

  “I think their names were Simon and Heinz.”

  Alina excims, “Wow, even I’ve heard of them. The duke must be happy with you.”

  “You’d think so. Instead, he doubted practically every detail.”

  “What a jerk.”

  “Yeah, it was a complete shit-show. Fortunately, I eventually got the bounty. Let’s see, wow, no wonder they hesitated. We got over 863 thousand Nars.[1]”

  I opened up my Item Box and poured the gold and silver coins into avaible slots. I’m not really using this skill for much more than a piggy bank.

  “That’s terrific! What a huge amount just for two brigands.”

  “Well, it’s actually for ten in Nordselm and two left-over cards from Vale.”

  “What do you mean ten? Like all in one fight? You fought against them when they were prepared and waiting in an ambush? How could just the three of you even survive let alone win?”

  “Hmm, maybe the duke’s doubt was justified. I guess that does sound weird.”

  Marcus points out, “Actually, Boss got most of them by himself. I got injured at the start and Theo stayed back to protect me. Boss hit some of them with magic and the rest with his sword.”

  “It’s a bit misleading to say it like that. This would have been way too hard to do alone. I had the guys to guard the byrinth entrance so they wouldn’t get Rutina. Oh yeah, and Rolf did a good job guarding her inside the byrinth from the monsters. Anyway, the duke wants something from the loot we gathered. Could someone stay back and make a quick lunch?”

  Marcus and I went upstairs to dig through the pile. Despite the brigands’ high levels and notoriety, they left a rather unremarkable collection of weapons and armor. Maybe having good stuff would be too risky around the other murderous fiends. Still, we got a bit better set of hardened leather for Alina and Theo might like one of the short swords.

  “None of their equipment was special. Let’s keep this junk for a while in case anything else comes up. No hurry on getting it cleaned up.”

  Marcus says, “We threw all the small stuff into this bag. The only thing special might be this ring.”

  Looks a bit bashed up, let’s see:

  [Ring of Determination]

  Oh, I remember getting one of these in the barn along with Durandal. Doesn’t seem all that great so maybe it has nostalgic value.

  “Thanks, Marcus, this should probably be what the duke wants. I don’t have the energy to go back now and it might even look better if it seemed to take a long time to find it.”

  The bag also held an impressive amount of fungible assets in the form of gold coins and magic crystals including a yellow, a couple greens and several blues. Combined with the coins, we got almost 300k if I sold the crystals now. I pushed the low-value crystals into my current green and decided to save the rest till I can catch them right after a color change — no need to be wasteful.

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  We went downstairs for lunch.

  “Since we’re done with teaching the little noble, let’s talk about your jobs. Marcus, are you still good as a Warrior working towards becoming a Knight?”

  “Absolutely, Boss. It feels like the best pn for me.”

  “Great. Theo, what job would you like?”

  “Even if it was weird at first, I like being an Explorer and it would be great if I could eventually become an Adventurer. I’d like to keep it like this, if it’s alright with you.”

  “Sure, sounds like a good pn. Explorer will be useful while you’re in this party and even better ter on. Just tell me if you change your mind. Same for Marcus, of course. Now, the hardest decision is for Alina.”

  “I still don’t know. I’ve been a servant since early childhood and I’ve only been to the byrinths a few times. What do you think I should do?”

  “Well, since your level is still rather low, it’s fine for you to stay here as a housekeeper — sorry, guys, but I need your experience as vanguards so this option is only for her. That said, it would be a bit wasteful to keep you in a domestic role — you’re young, strong and brave. I feel that the byrinths would be a better choice for you now and for your future.”

  “Yes, David. I’ll do my best with you in the byrinths.”

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  [1] The old WN reports 395k for Heinz, a high-level Thief (Bruno?) and six small fries. The fan-transted LN says 595k, but the individual amounts in the description don’t add up. The LN amount is probably a typo. In this story, Heinz and the Thief are there (with slightly lower levels), some stronger allies repce the small fries (who were just byrinth bait), Simon doesn’t get vaporized (i.e., now can be collected) and two mid-level thugs from Vale are thrown in.