The trip through the portal was uneventful. I thought there would be some disorientation but there wasn’t. That kind of felt wrong to me. I mean travelling hundreds of miles in an instance should have some effect. It shouldn’t be like stepping through a door way, but it was. Magic is weird.
After we crossed, we were met by palace staff. Each party had staff members guide them to their chambers. Fabia, Gabriel and I were only there long enough to drop off our baggage. We had to meet Duke Donnert and go to the restaurant. Gabriel tried to stay behind and set up our room, but I insisted he accompany us.
The palace staff member guided us to the meeting place. It was a medium size room and we weren’t the first ones there. Brakford and company had been first. Next came Justinian and family, followed shortly by the duke. As soon as the duke arrived, we left.
Carriages took us to the restaurant. Each party had a separate carriage, but we all arrived together. As soon as we walked in, they led us to a private dining room.
The duke indicated for everyone to sit down. There were placards for each of us, so we knew where we could be seated. Duke Donnert at the head, Earl Justinian at his right side, Majora on his left. I sat next to Earl Justinian and Brakford sat next to his mom. The rest of the party sat in their designated seats. I don’t know how their order was set.
“Please put your titles aside for the remainder of lunch.” He didn’t mean everyone, he meant that the nobles could talk to each other without saying Lord this or Lord that. “I have already ordered the dishes and they should be here shortly. After lunch, everyone is free to do as they please until dinner. Please enjoy the meal.” Duke finished just as the first dish arrived.
I won’t go into who got served in what order. You can pretty much figure it out. What I will say is that there was quite an abundance and variety. I thoroughly enjoyed the lunch. There wasn’t much in the way of discussion during lunch. I think everyone was ready to go out and explore the capital. I know I was.
When lunch was finished, Duke Donnert said his goodbyes, reminding us to meet in the same meeting room at the palace for dinner. Then he and his party left. Earl Corville and his party were next. My party followed.
I had two places I wanted to go. First, the Temple of Death. I wanted to talk with the head priest and make sure everything was still okay. Second, and I expected to spend a lot of time there, was the Academy of Magic. I had a million questions, and needed to find a magical researcher to ask them. I let Fabia and Gabriel off until dinner. I am sure they had sights they wanted to see also.
There was a carriage dedicated to me, so I told the driver where I wanted to go. He took me straight to the temple. It was small in size compared to the other temples, but very ornate. The carriage driver would wait for me outside. For some reason, he didn’t want to go inside. I guess he didn’t want to get any closer to Death than he had to. Oh well.
As soon as I got inside, the High Priest was waiting for me.
“How may I help you Count Trevor of House Tierra?”, he said.
“I wanted to thank you for your timely letter. It relieved my worries immensely.” I replied.
“Of course. It was a regrettable situation, and my god had me rectify it immediately.”
“I hope I am still in good standing with your god.”
“That is understandable, and you are still in good standing,” a slight pause before he continued with a smile. “What happens in a Dungeon, stays in the Dungeon.”
Now that floored me. How did he know? It doesn’t matter. He said Death was okay with me, and I was ready to move on.
“Thank you for your kind words. May I make a donation for temple upkeep?”
“It would be appreciated.”
I gave him a small purse with 100 gold coins and then took my leave. One less worry to think about and now to the prize of the day. Magic Academy.
The carriage took me to the front gates. There were not allowed on the grounds. The Magic Academy consisted of several buildings inside the city and more outside. I found someone in the gate house to take me to the reception building.
When I arrived at the reception building, I was greeted by a small red head female dwarf. At least I think she was a dwarf. She was short, wide, definitely female, and had a beard. She introduced herself as Darla’an or House Grinder.
“I am Count Trevor of House Tierra. It is my pleasure to meet you.”
“What can we do for you, my Lord?”
“I would like to have a discussion with some knowledgeable in Magic research. I have quite a few questions and could use someone to help answer them.”
“Do you need someone with knowledge in a specific area or just general?”
“Let’s start with general and see where it goes from there.”
“Yes, my Lord. Please come this way”, she said and led me to a conference room. “I will have one of our professors come soon. Would you like some tea?”
“Thank you and yes to the tea.”
Darla’an introduced Professor Rither when she arrived. Professor Rither was a tall lean woman, dressed in flowing robes, which seemed to be the style at the academy. She was the dean of the research department, and exuded an air of competence and authority.
“How may assist you, my Lord Trevor?”, she asked.
“I am interested in magical research. I am capable of using magic, and have created a few lower-level spells, but keep hitting a block when I try to create or even transcribe higher level spells. I was hoping that I could find someone to work with to help me overcome that block.” I replied.
“Sounds intriguing. What spells did you create, and were you able to transcribe them into tomes?”
“Close Wounds, Minor Life Regenerate, and Minor Heal. Yes, I have tomes for all of them.” I pulled out three tomes from my storage ring, then continued. “Close Wounds and Minor Life Regenerate I derived from my Heaven’s Heal spell. Minor Heal, that was created after the prior spells. Building on the knowledge gained.”
“May I?” Rither asked while reaching for the tomes.
“Please do. You may even learn one of the spells if you want.” She seemed a little shocked when I said that.
“She opened each book. She would study it for a moment, then move on to the next. When she reviewed all three, she selected Minor Heal. She sat down and leaned into the book. Obviously trying to learn the spell. A few minutes later, the tome glowed, letting me know she was successful.
“In order to test it, we need an injury.” I nicked my arm with my knife and walked over to her. “Now touch my arm and cast the spell.”
She did and the wound closed.
“Congratulations, you have learned the Minor Heal spell.”
“Wow. You created this spell? Actual healing magic.”
“Yes, all three, and I transcribed them into the tomes there. As you can see, the tomes are reusable.”
Professor Rither quickly looked back at the Minor Heal tome. The ink had not disappeared, which meant that the spell could be learned.
“That particular tome has been used three or four times. Four, with you being the fourth.” I reached out and retrieved my tomes. Professor Rither seemed reluctant to see them go.
“I have the Magic Researcher title, and Magic Sight skill. These allowed me to create the spells, but I have no formal training, and feel I am lacking in essential basic knowledge. Can you help?”
After taking a moment to gather herself, Professor Rither responded “Yes. Most definitely yes. I can arrange a class for you, and bring in our best researchers. How long do you plan on staying?”
“Before we discuss that, may I cast diagnose on you? It is a spell that allows me to see if you have any injuries or other maladies. If so, I can then cast Heaven’s Heal or Cure All. Both of which are high level healing spells.”
“Does Diagnose have any bad side effects?”
“None that I have experienced or any of the hundreds that I have cast it on. I run a magic healing store in Forest Glen and have cast it hundreds of times.”
“Okay, please go ahead.”
I cast Diagnose. She had a minor curse. It made the person clumsy. Nothing more than that, so I told her.
“Yes, I know. It is a family curse that started generations ago. One of the more magically inclined children cursed their sibling and it was strong enough to pass down the generations.”
“Do you want me to remove it?” I asked.
“If you think you can. The child turned into one of the most powerful Fire Mages in our history.”
I cast Cure All, put a little extra power in it, and the curse was removed.
“It’s gone. It wasn’t very powerful, so it wasn’t that hard to remove. Now do you have anyone that is truly injured that I can demonstrate the power of Heaven’s Heal? A missing limb or eye? An incurable disease? Maybe one of each.”
“I am sure we do, can you wait just one moment, my Lord.” I noticed the addition of ‘my Lord’. It probably had something to do with my removing the curse.
She stepped out of the room and then back in a minute or two later. She brought three additional professors. “Do you mind if these professors also watch the demonstration? Darla’an is going to bring a couple of people here for your demonstration, if you don’t mind.”
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“They can watch, and as long as it is only two patients, I don’t mind. I usually charge a lot for limb replacement. After all, I do run a business, not a charity.” I smiled as I said that.
Darla’an brought two people. One young male human and an older looking male dwarf. At least the dwarf had gray in his beard. The male dwarf turned out to be blind, so I decided to treat him first. I had done this before, so I pulled a blindfold out of my storage and wrapped it around his head. I then cast Diagnose. He was blind, because a poison had been thrown in his eyes and destroyed his ability to see. I cast Cure All to remove any traces of poison. I then cast Heaven’s Heal. I had to cast it twice, once for each eye because the damage was old and extensive.
“Okay, please close the curtains, since his eyes will take a minute to adjust.” I slowly unwrapped the blindfold. I could tell the dwarf could see, because he kept squinting his eyes.
“Oh Lord of Song, I can see. I CAN SEE. Thank you, my Lord, thank you.”, and then he broke down and cried. That happened a lot with people that regained their sight. They had no hope, and then are overcome when their sight is returned. Darla’an went over and hugged the dwarf. Turns out he was her father.
“Okay, next.” I had the young man sit in a chair, then cast Diagnose. He was missing his right hand. In its place there was a hook contraption. So, I took the hook off and cast Heaven’s Heal. I put extra mana into it because the wound was old and I had to overcome the resistance. Darla’an and Rither gasped as they saw the hand begin to regrow. Then a minute later the hand was fully regrown. Very pale, but completely functional.
“Now, as you can see, these spells would be very useful, but I can’t transcribe them nor can I teach them. This is why I need more information and help about magical research and spell creation. Unfortunately, I will be leaving in two or three days back to Forest Glen. I also have a full calendar tomorrow. The only opening I have will be on the morning of the third day.”
Darla’an and Rither were still recovering from watching the young man’s hand grow. But Rither said “My Lord, we will get our finest researcher together and determine the best way we can help you. If you would return on the morning three days hence, we can provide you with a plan. Is that acceptable, my Lord?”
“That would be more that acceptable, Professor Rither. I look forward to it. I will return in three days,” I said.
With that, Darla’an led me out of the academy. I had the carriage driver take me back to the palace.
When I got back to the palace, I was jumped by Fabia and Gabriel. Yes, they ganged up on me and started in on the etiquette lessons. Oh, the agony.
For tomorrow’s breakfast, they went over what I could expect. Since I was a landed noble (I owned a Murken Fruit orchard), I would report to the Crown Prince. Report was the key word. My fealty was to the King and the Kingdom. Justinian reported to the Crown Prince technically, but was tasked by the King when needed. He had been sent to Forest Glen by the King. I suspected I would be in a similar situation.
Ruberm came by and joined in forcing me to learn about noble etiquette. His emphasis was on what I could expect to happen in tomorrow’s meeting. He thought the Crowned Prince would want some demonstration of my healing powers by tasking me to heal some of his retainers. After breakfast, I was to attend a meeting where I would be taught the responsibilities of the nobility. Yes, they had a class for that. Apparently, I wasn’t the only commoner to ever be raised up. Of course, most were raised to Knight or Baron rank. Going straight to count rank was very, very unusual.
I understood the need for the lessons, but the actual learning was boring. The real problem was that Fabia and Gabriel knew me well enough that when I started to drift off and they called me out.
Finally, it was time for dinner. Never had I ever looked forward to dinner so much. It wasn’t the food as much as it was escaping etiquette lessons.
*--------------*
Dinner itself was uneventful. We went as a group, ate and left. It was enjoyable, mainly because there weren’t any etiquette lessons. Earl Corville asked to speak with me privately after the dinner. We agreed to walk back together. Letting our guests take the carriages back.
“I wanted to speak with you about what to expect after the investiture.” Justinian started. “First, the Duke will leave Forest Glen. Whether he moves to Toverville or some ducal seat is up to the King. If he goes to a ducal seat, then he will inherit the ducal property. If he moves to Toverville, then he will get some other property the King owns. Either way, I expect that I will be placed in charge of Forest Glen and Renovolt county.” He paused waiting to see if I had any questions. I didn’t.
“Donnert will hand over his property in Forest Glen. He may keep one or two buildings, but the land will come to me. Luckily, my wife is very good at managing our estate, so I don’t have to worry about it. Covern House is yours, but you will need additional lands near Forest Glen. I will talk to the King about granting you the land you wanted for the dungeon. You will be responsible for managing it. This includes building a road from there to Forest Glen.”
He waited again for questions, but I couldn’t really think of any. It was all a surprise to me.
“But the real reason I wanted to talk to you is that as a count, you can expect other nobles to start throwing their daughters your way. Marriage is a responsibility for nobles. You can expect many to try and advance their fortunes by marrying their daughter to you. Arranged marriages are normal within the nobility. Especially the landed and hereditary nobility, of which you are both. Marriage can be a trap or a blessing. The King and Crown Prince will not force you to marry a specific person, but they will force you to marry. You have a few years, but you can expect the machinations to begin right after the investiture.”
“Wow. I was married before, but she is gone now. I am not really interested in another marriage at this time. In a few years after I am established, I may change my mind. Thank you for the information. I truly never even considered it.”
“You do have time. I expect you to have at least two years before the King requests you to start looking for a bride. But that won’t stop others. Just be prepared and try not to insult those looking to marry you off. My wife may be among those.”, he chuckled at that last part.
“Nobles get many privileges, money, and fame. However, there is a cost for that. Nobles cannot run from a fight. This includes fathers, mothers, sons and daughters. If an invading army comes looking for a fight. It is the nobles in the vanguard. When monsters come to ravage a town, it is the nobles who defend it. Yes, we have the Adventurers, but they are more mercenary. They don’t do it for love of the people, but for money. The worst that will happen to them is to get kick out of the Guild. A noble can be hanged for deserting their post. All nobles are taught to fight and get a martial class. The class noble, which you will get at your investiture, actually forces us to be that way. By the way what is the motto of your House? “
“My House motto is ‘We don’t look for violence, but we don’t run from it either,” I answered. I used to say ‘we don’t look for trouble, but we don’t run from it’, but the translation always replaced trouble with violence. I finally gave up and just accepted it as is.
“That is a good motto. My House motto is ‘Always vigilant, always prepared, and always ready to go” Justinian said just as we got to the gate of the palace.
“It was nice talking to you, my Lord Earl. I hope we can continue to have these conversations after the investiture.” I said as we each left for our rooms.
*------------------*
Breakfast with the Crown Prince. I bet people would kill for it. I, on the other hand, dreaded it. I was sure I would make some etiquette mistake and destroy any chance to make a good impression for House Tierra. I think that Gabriel and Fabia were privately thinking the same thing, no matter how many compliments they gave me.
We all sat in our assigned seat waiting on the Crown Prince to arrive. I was aware that I should expect him to be at least 5 minutes late, and he didn’t disappoint. We all stood up when he came in, until he gestured for us to sit.
The Crown Prince had a speech prepared and gave it to us. “Welcome to our castle. I am very glad to meet you on this happy occasion. During the breakfast, we will drop the formal address for each other.” By this he meant, the nobles could talk to him. “Decharte is blessed to have loyal citizens as brave and daring as you.” Again, talking to the nobles. “And I am delighted you accepted our invitation to join us for this lovely breakfast.” Acceptance was the only acceptable response. “Finally, I hope you all enjoy the meal our cook has prepared. He is the finest cook in the country.” Of course he may be the best cook, but House Tierra has the best chef in the country. “Please begin the service.”
With that the servants brought each person a plate. We all started to eat after the Crown prince. The food was very good and there was plenty of it. I only ate one plate though. The rules of etiquette prevent me asking for seconds.
There was some minor conversation between the Crown Prince and Duke Donnert, but nothing of importance or even interest to me. But near the end of the breakfast, the Crown Prince asked “Trevor, can you tell me a little bit about yourself? You are an unknown quantity here in the capital. Just anything you wish to share.”
“Your Grace, I came to Forest Glen from far away. I didn’t even know of the Decharte Kingdom then. I was quickly welcomed by the city and made to feel at home. I am a magical healer by profession and believe I have helped a lot of people there.” I responded.
“Yes, I have heard of your abilities. They seem almost too good to be true, but Mikael swears by them. Do you think you could, perchance, provide a demonstration?”
“I would gladly do so, if someone needs healing, your Grace.”
The Crown Prince clapped his hands twice, and an older gentleman entered the room. He had a noticeable limp. He was stooped over and seemed about to fall over. I got up and went over to the man. I cast Diagnose on him. He had scarring on his left leg, pneumonia, advance arthritis, kyphosis, and a few other age-related ailments. I cast Cure All, which took care of the arthritis and pneumonia, then Heaven’s Heal. Heaven’s Heal fixed his leg, the damage to his lungs and other minor ailments. I cast Diagnose again, just in case I missed something. Nothing.
“The patient had arthritis, kyphosis, pneumonia, damage to his leg, and lungs. All is now repaired. Unfortunately, I cannot heal old age, but congratulation, you are healed.” I said to the room.
The man stood straight up. He took several deep breaths without coughing. He twisted around, did knee bends, and walked around in a little circle.
“It is as he said your Grace. My leg is healed. I don’t have a cough, nor any pain in my joints. I can even stand up straight. It is a miracle.”
The Crown Prince started to applaud, and everyone joined him. I went back to my seat and sat down.
“Truly amazing Trevor. The Kingdom has never had a magical healer before. We are better off now that you are here. We may need your services for a while, for there are many nobles that have been injured in defending the Kingdom.”
Extending my time in the city wasn’t really something I wanted, but I knew enough to not say that. I just smiled and let the conversation move forward.
“I do have a few people that I would like to send to you. Is today good?”
“Your Grace, I would gladly see those you wish, but I did promise Countess Majora of House Templar to visit their compound today. It should only take this morning, so I can make myself available this afternoon,” I said. The Countess and I had already arranged me to heal quite a few of her House while we were here.
Majora quickly interjected “If need be, I will gladly cede my appointment to you, your Grace. It may save me several hundred gold. Trevor isn’t cheap.” Laughter erupted all around.
“You don’t need to cede your time, if Trevor can accommodate my request this afternoon.”
“I am sure I can your Grace. I will have Fabia reschedule any other meetings for later in the evening.” My day just filled up. No sightseeing for me, or Fabia.
Majora seemed relieved that her House would still get the healing we agreed to.
After breakfast, Fabia and I accompanied Majora and Brakford to their carriage and their compound. There was quite a bit of healing needed. Mostly diseases cured and muscle scaring repaired, but a few limbs needed replacing also. It was mildly taxing, but my mana recovered by the time we finished lunch.
After lunch, Majora’s carriage took us back to the palace. There we were met by the Crown Prince’s retainer. He led us to a room where they were several people. These turned out to be the patients the Crown Prince wanted healed. Fabia asked the retainer who would get the bill for the healing. The retainer acted dumb, but Fabia didn’t let it go. She gave him the cost for curing diseases, healing muscles, and replacing limbs. She had the retainer accompany her as she went through each patients’ ailments.
I looked at the list of ailments. It looked as if these patients all had different problems. I suspect the Crown Prince wanted to gauge what I could and could not heal. Regardless, I cured and healed as needed, there was nothing beyond my ability in this group of patients.
Fabia being frustrated by the retainer, gave him the final tally and asked to be paid by the end of the day. He really was trying to get the healing for free, and we just don’t do that. Crown Prince or no, healing is how I pay my bills, so it isn’t free. At least for the nobles, but I won’t tell them that.
When I was done, I went back to my room. Gabriel was there with a stack of invitation for dinner. Many people wanted to meet the newest Count apparently. I told him to reply that we were already engaged and unfortunately would be unable to attend. I then asked him to get food sent to my room. He and Fabia could go out for dinner at any restaurant they wanted, my treat, but I was too tired mentally to go out.
My dinner arrived; I ate and then went to sleep. Tomorrow promised to be exhausting. Stupid investiture.
