Chapter 16

Transitioning between the gloom of the swamp in the dungeon below and the bright sun of the early autumn morning was quite shocking and took me a few seconds to adjust.

Theresa stood at the ready while I adjusted to the bright light. I glanced at her, confirming my suspicions, to which she nodded but remained silent. In the future that was another thing I needed to watch out for. Not just bandits and PvP hunters inside of the dungeons, but for ones waiting outside near the portal exit to ambush those who come out disoriented. Or wounded.

Something I never had to consider before in VR games.

“We need to wash up before I take you to meet Laine.” The Dutchess.

I didn’t even know that the city had public bath houses. The one that Theresa took me to wasn’t one in the Adventurer’s quarter. Those were too busy, she said.

I had the feeling that there was more to it than the lines, but didn’t ask. She closed up after saying that one remark about the nearby bath houses.

Instead, we crossed half the city to a large stone building right under the water tower. A great amount of water was diverted from a large river and siphoned off to be stored inside the tower. From that one single source, the city was provided more than enough water for its daily use. I didn’t have the time nor the inclination to question further, maybe at a later date I’d change my mind.

The Merchant’s Quarter’s upper bathhouse was similar to the old Roman bath houses that I had seen in documentaries. The large fire under the main pipes bent in a radiator configuration heated up the water decently. What was nice was that at this time of day there weren’t very many people inside.

The prices may have contributed to that too. But Theresa was paying, we were still living off the bandit’s money which she kept to herself. Not that I cared.

“Anything that I should know before I meet the Duchess?” I asked.

“Don’t kill her.”

“Nice ... since when have I killed anyone?”

“Cynn, just be yourself. I’m not sure what she wants you for, but I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

“Peachy. You know Baron Vestor didn’t leave a good impression with me.”

“Laine isn’t as manipulative as Vestor. She’s also one of the top ten mages in the city,” Theresa added.

“Noted.” A little bit later while drying off I asked, “Have you decided if we are teaming with a Clan or making our own team?”

“Marigold will ask to join us. She can’t adventure without her guards or someone respectable.”

“And your D- Rank is respectable enough to leave Sir Mustache outside?”

“I’m not sure. She will bring Sir Belle and maybe one other.” Theresa didn’t sound too pleased with that. I wasn’t sure I was either.

“Sir Belle seems alright. But if the whole party is comprised of her guards, then I’d rather not.” One person with a rod up their ass is okay, four, no. “The whole purpose of adventuring is to have fun. Her guards aren’t the fun sort.”

I wasn’t even sure if Princess Marigold was the fun sort, but Theresa liked her.

“Did I tell you that both Man-Bear and Rico offered me a place on one of their top teams?” I grinned at the memory.

“When did this happen?”

“The first morning.” I went on to report their offers and my response on the way to the Ducal Palace, which was easily five times the size, if not more, than Baron Vestor’s keep.

“I don’t know Rico from the Mavens well, but Mason is a good man.” Mason had to have been Man-Bear’s real name.

The guards at the Ducal Palace didn’t even pause to question either Theresa or myself. They just stood aside silently. Which I found odd. If we were imposters, wouldn’t it have been too easy to gain access to Duchess Laine’s residence and office?

I was led upstairs and through a couple corridors to a pair of double doors. “See you in an hour. Remember, be nice,” Theresa chastised with a grin.

“Wait, aren’t you coming?”

“Wasn’t invited.” She turned and hi-tailed it out of there, leaving me standing alone before the massively large and ornate doors.

I knocked once and waited.

A knight in mithril chain with a gold and white tabard opened the door, glanced me over, and stood aside. Apparently, I was more widely known than I expected.

I stepped in the room which contained seven others, all priests and priestesses, when the noise hit me. They had been speaking while I was outside of the room, but not until I entered the room did I pass through some invisible barrier that kept the sound from escaping.

Seven pairs of eyes sought me out as the room quieted, each and every one of them weighing me. Not that I guessed what they calculated, but that I looked younger than anyone else in the room by at least thirty years was very apparent.

Duchess Laine, being apparently in her mid-forties, was the next youngest. I did recognize Forgemaster Ren, but the rest of the occupants I could only guess at. That they weren’t entirely friendly was also easy to guess.

“Greetings Duchess, I’m Cynthia of Sune.” I nodded my head to the room, Duchess Laine specifically.

There was also a large offering of tiny pastries near the only remaining chair in the room. That was a job well done by Duchess Laine’s information gathers.

“Where’s Gretchen?” the Priestess, probably High Priestess, of Aune demanded.

“It is not for me to ask, Priestess. I was summoned in her place. If you have issues with that, then please address them to our hostess,” I replied sweetly. Using a voice that would have made Theresa cringe.

“I did invite Cynthia, Olga. Thank you for attending, Priestess. Before we get down to the reason I called you here, I believe that introductions are in order,” Duchess Laine suggested.

“Father Paul,” she gestured at the High Priest of Bane, “Mother Olga,” of Aune, “Tactician Clara,” High Priestess of War, not just in the city but in the whole Kingdom; I had heard she held the highest ranking. “Forgemaster Ren,” who responded with a twinkle in his eye and a grin. “Shepherd Glenn,” of Ola, “Warden Anoly,” of Tyr, “Eldest Marian,” of Yur, “and Sister Cynthia of Sune, who is standing in for Gretchen today. Would you please take a seat and we can begin?”

I wasn’t sure of the seating arrangement, with Laine at the head and me at the foot of the table that seated eight perfectly. There had to have been a message somewhere, but I wasn’t sure what it was. Perhaps it was that Sune’s Temple had the least influence right now and that was where she believed that we belonged.

Maybe.

Or maybe this chair had been vacant for so long that the placement of Sune’s representatives had no other place.

Time would tell.

“I don’t see why you changed the allocation of resources, Laine. Sune’s Temple isn’t even rebuilt and their attendance is the lowest of the Gods,” opened Eldest Marian of Yur, the goddess of Merchants.

“Maybe because she believes that the suppression of one church to the benefit of another at this time would not be good for the royal family’s image,” I replied between bites of the delicious pastry placed before me.

The wine looked thick and would probably be better than anything that I had ever had before too. I’d have to be careful in tasting that. I wouldn’t want anyone to know of my immunity to poisons, of which alcohol was classified as one.

My voice cut through the words that the others were about to say like a knife. There wasn’t one person who was brave enough to counter argue that point. The Gods’ displeasure was made VERY clear to everyone in the capital and throughout the clergy continent-wide.

Forgemaster Ren chuckled aloud, breaking the ice for the rest of them to input their opinions. I received a grim look from the High Priestess of Yur, but that was expected. They weren’t on my side and, at her age, she wasn’t likely to be swayed, unless I brought along a mountain of gold to barter with.

The only one not speaking was Tactician Clara. She gave off the same feeling as the old men in Belfast. One of waiting and preparing for a long campaign. WAR.

Sorry Clara, I wasn’t going to be your Joan d’Arc.

Even if I already faced a fate worse than the bonfire.

After ten minutes of useless infighting, Laine put a stop to it. “The allocation has been decided on as our King required. It is not just in this city, but in every city Kingdom wide, that the allocation has changed. From now on, each temple will receive the same amount of support, both monetarily and physically.

“Whether or not they chose to accept that support is entirely up to them, you. Next item, is there any word regarding the Dragon?”

“She hasn’t left the vicinity,” Tactician Clara suddenly spoke up. Even though her eyes weren’t on anyone or anything in particular, she had her focus upon me.

“What makes you say that?” Father Paul asked with his raspy and aged voice.

“I see no sign that that Dragon has left the dutchy,” Clara clarified.

“Why do you think the Dragon was a she? Is she pregnant?” Mother Olga asked.

I thought that Olga was more concerned over the possibility of a pregnancy than the dragon itself.

“I do not know if she is with child. Unless I examined her personally, I could not say,” Tactician Clara responded.

“But you are positive it is a female dragon?” Warden Anoly asked.

“As sure as you are a man,” Clara responded with no humor.

“Last time I checked, I was.” The aged forester in greens and browns smiled.

“If there is a dragon in my duchy, then we need to locate it. If we can discover its purpose, then maybe we can rest easier.” Laine hardened at the thought.

“Anoly, can you and yours see if you can locate this dragon and ask what it seeks?” Duchess Laine asked the high priest of the hunt.

“We can try, Laine.” He shrugged. “But if this dragon doesn’t wish to be found, her magic will be too strong for us to penetrate.”

“Try is all I can ask. Thank you.” Laine turned to me, “Cynthia, what is this I hear about you forming a school for adventurers?”

And thus, the real reason I was invited surfaced.

“I was disgusted at the lack of training the children receive before entering the dungeons. After personally witnessing six post-pubescent children fight the zombie in the Relic, I decided that once was enough.

“A school needs to be implemented to save lives, if for no other reason. If any of you do need other reasons for establishing a school, let’s take the Daughters of Yur first.”

Marian’s steady eyes told me that I had her interest, she wanted to hear what I had to say. “For instance, if you take one hundred wannabe adventurers all of the age of 13, group them up and send them in the dungeon to make a living, how do you think they will do in comparison to the same with six months or a year of training?” I didn’t give her a chance to respond and continued.

“Not very well, will they? But you ask, what does that have to do with you?

“Plenty. Ask yourself who you make the most money from, the As or the Cs? Now, of those two groups of children, ones with training and the ones without, who is more likely to field a dozen C-Ranked adventurers?

“The question you are asking yourself right now is, how much will you have to pay upfront compared to the return? It’s not very much if others assist the school, is it? You can probably crunch those number much better than I can.

“Tactician, how about your temple? Who is more likely to aid your cause in the time of need? The ones with training or the ones without? For you, the answer is even easier.

“Ren, who will buy your better creations? Certainly not the As who can barely eke out a living in this expensive city.

“Shepherd Glenn, if these children die, how will they realize that they aren’t cut out for this life and return to farming?

“Or to the forest, for those that have the inclination to learn the skills, Warden Anoly?

“And you, Mother Olga, you should be first in line to aid these children. Imagine their poor parents who learn that their children are lost inside of a dungeon, never to be seen again.

“Duchess, imagine the delight of seeing the Captain of your guard come personally to teach shield work to those interested. The mithril armor alone will capture those kids’ attention, and the knowledge that you sent your best to aid them when they were first learning the ropes will stay with them for the rest of their lives.

“Will they always be loyal for that boon? Maybe a few will. Will some come to you later seeking a position? Maybe a few will. But will those children feel affinity to your soldiers and guards who defend the city and stand by them when trouble comes? I think we all know the answer to that.

“Plus, dead adventurers don’t pay taxes.”

“And what about Bane, young Priestess?” the eldest of the assembled church leaders asked me with his voice sounding as if it was dragged through brittle leaves.

I breathed in. I wanted to say, ‘I got nothing’, but that wouldn’t fly here.

“The stronger the individual, the stronger the soul - is that not right, Father?” There was no way in hell I was calling him by his first name.

“Very well, I shall contribute out of my personal funds,” Father Paul spoke without hesitation. He also meant that his church wouldn’t back the school, but he personally would.

“Are you planning on heading up this school, Cynthia?” Mother Olga of Aune asked, not so innocently.

“No. I found an experienced older adventurer who can do a better job than I will. Besides, I have been Tasked by my Goddess and have an unknown time left in this city.”

“What is your Task, Cynthia?” Marian the merchant asked, hoping to get something out of me for free.

“I may not reveal that, Marian. Only that I am following Sune’s directives. When she decides that I need to move on, then I shall.”

“Who did you appoint then as the head of your school, Cynthia?” Laine asked. Something that they all wanted to know.

“He’s a high C-Rank Adventurer called Norton from the Blood Mavens.” From Theresa, I had discovered that the C-Tier was filled with adventurers who were wimpy to those who could be labeled into the early D- range.

Stupid system.

“I’ve heard of this Norton,” said Ren. They all had. It seemed that the cowardly bastard had made a name for himself with those exceptional skills of a Royal knight of his.

For the rest of the scheduled hour, we, they mostly, discussed my proposed school. The only other person here who committed to the school was Tactician Clara, but even she wasn’t fully behind my proposal. At least for now.

Originally, I wanted Norton to do the drum beating, but I was cornered and this was too good of an opportunity to pass up.

From there, the subject diverged to the state of the city and anything that the individual temple heads wanted to bring up. From the simple one-hour meeting that I had been told to expect, the meeting lasted a little longer than three and a half hours until I brought up something that had been on my mind.

A late lunch around 13:00 was served, but that lunch was more of a lunchmeat on salt-less butter cracker type snack with some sort of oily nut butter for flavor than anything else. Served with the best wine I had ever tasted. And the first decent beverage I had, other than water, since arriving to this world.

Since the meeting was catered to serious matters, and I was still new here, I didn’t have much input after the first hour regarding the proposed school, yet I did bring up one thing that had bothered me since arriving to Danbury.

“The price difference between here and Belfast is considerable. In every shop, restaurant, and street vendor I have been to, the prices are here are at least 30% higher and in some cases double.

“I don’t believe that the higher prices are from taxes, are they from shortage?” I asked to an unhappy table.

Shepherd Glenn responded first, which I felt was out of character. “Taxes have been raised to help repair the Capital. The damage from the Gods’ Just Retribution was significant, Cynthia. The whole kingdom is being asked to help shoulder the cost of the repairs. It’s not just here but, if you were to return to Belfast, you would notice higher prices there also on everything, including grain, of which they have an overabundance of.”