Chapter 20: TrainingDay 18
So, now I’ve progressed from sleeping with my former sve to sleeping with my new employee. I’m pretty sure this qualifies as a compromising situation. The fact that she was willing, or even initiated the affair, isn’t much of a defense. Just because it doesn’t feel wrong doesn’t make it right. Even if it’s completely legal here, it still might be wrong.
Of greater significance than mere morality, Alina’s tail didn’t bother me. Well, maybe a little. The way it moved on its own was sort of creepy. I just tried to imagine that she had an extreme cospy fetish… or that I did. Anyway, I know my tail-phobia seems a bit racist — or, um speciesist… wait, that can’t be a real word… maybe ‘humanist’. After all, humane treatment now sounds a bit suspect.
As I walked downstairs, Marcus called out, “Congratutions.”
“Oh, you heard? Sorry, it was a bit unexpected.”
“Maybe to you…”, Alina mumbles.
Pretending not to hear that, I went to check on my experiment. The little sage clump had plenty of small, opaque alum crystals clung to it. I guess wine would have looked better but the mead still provides a bit of color and aroma. This should be ready tomorrow.
OK, I need Monk for healing but it’d be good to have Alchemist for shielding. For safety, it’d be good to have both so I should try to set a fifth job. Not going to sacrifice Durandal but since Mage is now at level 32, I might have enough bonus points. Yep, when I drop the junk skills, I now have:
[Mage: 32, Explorer: 33, Hero: 31, Monk: 10, Alchemist: 1]
Really don’t know if I’ll also need to teach theory but the magic system in this world is really simple. What else will she need to know? Right, almost forgot, “Alina, what does Rutina know about byrinths? Do nobles get some formal education about them or about magic theory?”
“Going by the stories she’s told me, whatever she thinks she knows will be all wrong. I’ve never heard her tutors even mention the existence of byrinths. Not much about monsters or magic either. She rarely leaves the castle and that’s always with chaperones for shopping or visiting retives.”
“Good to know, thanks.”
It’ll actually be good to have enough to talk about over the five days anyway. It’d be nice to have some charts and diagrams but just telling her bit-by-bit while hunting might even be better.
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Munch, munch.
As we ate breakfast, I mentioned Rutina’s deception regarding getting approval.
Marcus continued to eat as before, and simply responded with, “Yep.”
I added, “It was Alina who told me this.”
Theo responded with encouragement, “Oh, that’s nice. Very good, Alina.”
Alina asked in confusion, “Why do you seem happy about this?”
“Nah, we expected Rutina to lie but it’s good you confided in us.”
“Were you testing me?”
“…The count’s position is so high that a sneak attack seems unlikely and this house isn’t easy to find anyway. Of course, we must defend ourselves if attacked but do your best not to kill any of them unnecessarily. Alina, what can you tell us about the count?”
“I’ve only seen him a few times because he rarely leaves the throne room or his private chambers. Hardly anyone is granted audience and even Rutina needs permission to enter.”
“How long has he been ill?”
“He doesn’t exactly look healthy but I haven’t heard anything special.”
“So, he’s a shut-in who’s letting his territory go to ruin.”
“David, what would you like me to do for the next few days?”
“It sort of depends on what you know how to do and would like to try. You could check the small field near the house and maybe pnt some herbs or simple vegetables like cabbage. Otherwise, we haven’t cleared out all of the rooms and we have some mending to do. But one good thing to do would be to go to the vilge square to look around. Maybe do some shopping.”
“OK, I can do that.”
“By the way, the vilgers of Nordselm had some specific requests. I tried to write them down um, something like ‘k-neevahs’ and ‘mayolo’.”
Alina answered, “The first means ‘knives’ and the second is probably ‘flour’.”
“Yes, the guy pointed to the bread when he said that.”
“This is really nice of you, David.”
“They probably don’t get many merchants out there and the vilge is on my way… so, anyway, we’ll probably spend most of the day with Rutina. Hopefully back before it gets dark.”
I warped the three of us to a spot in the forest near Selmer’s Castle. I’ll just make up some bogus story about using a shy Adventurer if they ask. As the castle came into view, we could see that Rutina’s entourage was already waiting for us. Hope she doesn’t compin about having to wait.
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“Good morning, My Lady. Hope you haven’t been waiting long.”
“In public, you shall address me as Lady Rutina and I’ll call you Lord Moreau, since that is traditional for a Mage. Anyway, let’s get out of this rain and be on our way.”
“Hello, Rolf. Have you been to Vale?”
“Hmm? Oh, it’s you, never would have guessed. Yes, I’ve been to the adventurers guild there.”
We joined Rolf’s party, and he opened an authentic Field Walker portal.
The guild building here is rather small and too loud at this hour so we went out to some nearby benches.
“Good morning everyone. Brunhild, I recognize you as the marshal for my duel. Rolf we know from being transported to Selmer. Marcus and Theo will be our vanguard. Now that we know each other, let’s make sure everyone knows their role in this party. I am the party leader and am thus in charge. Social rank is secondary to this.”
As expected of a Knight, Brunhild objects, “That’s ridiculous.”
Rutina ignores her, “Yes, of course, Lord Moreau.”
“Lady Rutina, it is unwise to use formal titles in the byrinth, especially while you are just a beginner. First names would of course be improper, so I suggest that we are ‘Student’ and ‘Teacher’. Do you accept this?”
“I expected even worse so this is fine.”
“The others should also avoid using your title but I leave the details to you. Maybe something in Elvish. Brunhild, your primary duty is obviously to protect Lady Rutina as a rear guard but you will otherwise be expected to follow my orders. Do you understand?”
With a nod from Rutina, Brunhild grunts in vague affirmation. I don’t really expect her to do much anyway, as long as she doesn’t get in the way.
“Rolf, you will usually stay outside the byrinth. If we don’t come back on time, it is your responsibility to seek help, not to look for us on your own.”
Rolf shrugs.
“There are many things to expin about magic and byrinths but it’s better to get started as soon as possible. If there are no questions, let’s go.”
As we walked to Vale’s Labyrinth, I took the opportunity to take a closer look at our new party members. [1]
[Brunhild][Female, Age: 38][Knight: 5]
Hmm, this is interesting. In addition to the expected Vilger, Swordsman and Warrior jobs, it seems that this Knight has a dark past as a former Thief. Good to see that she isn’t a Bandit, but her Thief level is five. It could still be that she just took some old shoes but she had the job for a while. Well, she was trusted enough to be given a job change.
[Rolf][Male, Age: 51][Adventurer: 12]
Rolf is like a mildly racist taxi driver who has the professionalism to accept any customer who pays. I get the impression that he’s served Rutina before and seems to like her… in a non-creepy way. Rolf has a clean record with just the expected jobs leading to Adventurer.
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Arriving at the entrance, we agree to meet Rolf around noon — maybe I could introduce the concept of lunch to noble society. If I were really worried, Rolf should remain here in case of emergency. Of course, if it got that bad, I’d just warp us out directly.
“Do you have a Magic Crystal?”
“Huh?”
“Here, I’ll give you one of mine. Keep it with you whenever you’re in the byrinths.”
“What does it do?”
(Geez, what a noob.)
“It will accumute the power from the monsters you sy. It can eventually be sold or used to power some particur items.”
“Oh, I know about those.”
“Good. Let’s go in now.”
“Um, Teacher, shouldn’t you expin what to expect in there before we start?”
“That would certainly be wise before entering a dangerous pce, but it’s safe here, so that’s completely unnecessary.”
“But still…”
“Let’s just go in now. If it feels too dangerous, we’ll turn around and walk right back out.”
“Alright.”
I’ll never admit how scared I was the first time, but jumping in really is the best thing to do here. She’ll either see that it’s really OK or decide against becoming a Mage. If I could treat Rutina like a regur person, Alina could join in both as a comfort and to have them practice together. It’s probably good that I can’t because I’d want to prioritize Alina’s safety over Rutina’s.
“We’re on the first floor so only one monster will approach at a time. They are easy to see and slow-moving. How are you feeling so far?”
“I’m OK. How far do you lights reach?”
“Is it all lit up like this? I expected it to be dark in here. Even the floors and walls are clean.”
Soon, a tree was kind enough to participate in the lesson by falling before our dependable vanguard. Rutina looked on in total fascination — this was probably her very first time seeing anything like this. I cast Pting on her and we continued down the hall to the next demonstration.
After a few of these, the lesson proceeded in much the same way as Alina’s. Rutina dutifully poked at a tree till it went ‘poof’. We repeated this many more times with Rutina working silently. She wore a serious look on her face like she didn’t want to miss a single moment of the experience. How diligent.
After a couple hours, Rutina stopped to ask, “Teacher, am I doing well?”
“Yes, Student, you are doing very well. This is valuable experience which will help fuel your Mage Core.”
“Mage Core?”
“Yes, it’s what allows nobles, and a few commoners, to use magic. It might have a different name here.”
“Oh, the special potion that we drink when young. Is that what makes a Mage Core?”
“Exactly. If you continue to make good progress, it should awaken soon, maybe even tomorrow.”
“Are you sure about this? I’ve never heard anyone talk about it this way.”
“I can’t guarantee that it will work for you, but we will know soon. Even if it doesn’t work, you will have lost nothing but a little time. If nothing else, you have gained the experience of fighting in the byrinth. By the way, take a look at your magic crystal.”
“Oh, it’s red now.”
“As you know, red isn’t very powerful yet but it is getting stronger — exactly like you will.”
Hope that was a reasonable bance between encouraging and patronizing but I am both her elder and her teacher. I guess it was good because Rutina went back to work with renewed vigor. Of course mage core was just a term I’d read in a light novel — one that I will never get to finish — but I thought that a cool name might help. Other than the name, most of what I said was basically true.
Rutina needs to reach Vilger level five to qualify for the Mage job and what she’s doing is the way to make that happen. Of course, I’m just assuming that she was given the special potion as a child but even the ck of a guarantee was true.
“It’s time to take a break and to check in with Rolf.”
I switched Theo to Explorer and had him take us near the entrance. When we walked out, Rolf was nearby, as promised. We walked towards town till we found a bench, which just happened to be near a food stand. Me, the guys and even Rolf had some but the women just sat there looking a bit repulsed… until Rutina sent Brunhild to buy a couple for them.
Rutina asked, “Are all byrinths like this?”
“They all look the same but the monsters can appear in a different order.”
Noticing that wasn’t enough, I continued.
“Every floor of a byrinth is home to a specific type of monster, but the monsters from earlier floors can show up too. The exact same set of monsters can be found in the first eleven floors of every byrinth but these might be in a different order. It’s on the first floor Needlewood here but Kobold on the first floor of Curatar, etc.”
“Is that the only difference?”
“Another notable difference is with the people who are exploring that byrinth. Some are too crowded and others may even be home to brigands. We started in Vale because it’s young and calm.”
“What’s an old byrinth like?”
“An older byrinth can be safe as long as it’s taken care of. Otherwise, it can be very dangerous.”
“Have you ever seen one of these bad byrinths?”
“Yes. Nordselm.”
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[1] Neither of them appear in the LN.