Chp 29: Mo'Ladies, Mo'Problems (Patreon)

Looking at my contracts interface I still felt surprised when I checked the active tab. I’d expected Mira to agree to a partnership of some kind but not Hetcha. I’d at best hoped she’d soften her stance a little and agree to keep my secrets. Now she was the enthusiastic one while Mira was helplessly trying to be the cynic. It hadn’t worked particularly well and now they were both my employees.

It was nothing to complain about, I’d gotten a lot from the arrangement. Mira’s knowledge had filled the blanks about how magic worked for adventurers. Hetcha had provided a surprising amount of map data. Those hadn’t been the pairs only contributions, but they were the standouts.

The problem was that Hetcha was looking at the temple I’d built as a potential cultural center. A place where her people’s traditions could be revived. My little passion project had bloomed into something much more important for her. Something it wasn’t designed for, nor could it support.

At least not as it currently was.

I had to table that issue though as there was a slightly more immediate one to deal with. Mina and Andria had taken more time but ultimately made deals of their own. Mina agreed to a more limited version of employment with me. She was fine with buying things for me and sharing map data as she went along, but not in working on my projects. 

Her interest was fixed solely on finding a way home to her own world and her mother. It had been her goal in joining the hero’s party before the lily pendant had been used to control her. Now she was determined to make up for lost time. If our interests aligned she’d consider accepting a commission. If not, I was out of luck.

 Since I’d been hoping for much less was satisfied by the arrangement. An extra set of hands and map data was useful no matter how infrequently she helped.

Then there was Andrea.

I’d expected the least from her, yet she was the one giving me the biggest headache at present. At first, she’d been utterly repulsed by her situation and me for obvious reasons. Then she’d started to soften a little, becoming agreeable to a basic non-aggression pact. I felt like I’d gotten ahead of myself by assuming things would go well just because of that and trying to be friendly.

I wanted to treat Mina and Andrea better and felt confident it wouldn't cause trouble. I already had contracts with Mira and Hetcha. All I needed were some fairly minor assurances. I offered Mina and Andrea a deal. In exchange for basic secret-keeping, they could move into the farmhouse. 

After some discussion, I arranged for Mina and Andria to meet up with Mira and Hetcha. Anticipating an issue, I prepared (had Elim buy) sweets and wine. The reunion was timed to coincide with dinner and I felt like food made connecting easier. Or at least my understanding of family holidays suggested that to me. 

No one was surprised, they’d all known what was going to happen, but that didn’t make the reunion less awkward. Things had started tensely as they had no idea what to say to each other. Then Mina had broken under the stress of the silence. 

She started crying and apologizing to Hetcha. She even asked Hetcha to kick her as compensation. I’d monitored the matter closely, hoping they wouldn’t end up killing each other. Instead, I got to watch them cry and beg each other for forgiveness. 

My secondary reason for the meeting didn’t happen until after the first round of crying ended. Mira explained in depth about the lily pendants and the mind control magic used on them. Mina who’d apparently figured a little bit of it out wasn’t particularly shocked. Andrea however was deeply wounded. Reiner hadn’t given her the pendant, her father had.

They ate in-between rounds of crying and telling stories of times they’d shared. It had been touching but for all the good it had done on one hand; a new problem had been created. Andria had been minor nobility, her family had to consent for her to join the hero’s party. She stewed for several days about what she learned while the others made plans to leave the valley.

“I want to be stronger, strong enough to avenge myself,” Andria said, calling me in the middle of the night. I was in the middle of setting up a smithy when the call came in. 

“Ominous,” I muttered to myself.

“Give me a minute. I’m in the middle of something but I’ll be right back,” I said louder.

“It's fine Mistress,” Brun Shale Femur assured me, giving me a pat on the back that sent me sprawling on the ground. It was easy to bounce around and she felt amused but was polite enough not to laugh. Minus one to dungeon master’s dignity confirmed. I thought unkindly to myself.

“Thank you for understanding, I’ll reschedule our appointment. Feel free to ask for any kind of design changes or equipment you want,” I said. I felt bad rescheduling but needing to deal with whatever was up with Andria. 

“Alright, I’m back,” I said and heard a sleepy little grunt of surprise on the other end followed by a muffled voice.

“I was with Mina, so I had to move,” Andria said, sheepish but still angry.

“Okay. So, you wanted power enough to get your revenge?” I asked. The question restating the main and less than encouraging points of her call so far.

“Yes. I’ll sell you my soul for it,” Andria replied flatly. It seemed like she was leaning toward assuming I was a demon based on that comment. She straight up didn’t seem to give a damn about what I wanted from her. Something that ought to have been helpful but was dangerous if you put more than ten seconds of thought into it. 

The hitch laid in the fact that she was emotionally unstable despite the veneer of calm. People in a rational state of mind didn’t sell bits of themselves. Telling her that wasn’t going to help anything however, so I didn’t bother.

“I’ve got no use for a soul, but I’m willing to discuss employment,” I countered. Giving up on her own life to destroy another’s, a classic cutting off your nose to spite your face move. I couldn’t trust her to be patient and prioritize my orders over whatever impulse seized her. Even so, I didn’t want to give up and turn her loose on the world to see what happened. 

“Fine, send me a contract,” Andria said much too quickly. I didn’t think Andria was in a state of mind to look out for her own best interest. That left me considering an option that I wouldn’t have otherwise. The terms of a contract were a magical bond, if she agreed to restrictions on her behavior, she’d have to abide by them. 

It was slavery. Distinct from what happened before because it wouldn’t change her thoughts. That wouldn’t stop it from re-modeling her behavior over time though. I looked at the draft I’d written and hated it on principle but couldn’t think of anything better.

“Read it fully please, particularly the conduct section,” I said, hoping that it would cause her to cool off a bit. It was a cheap move. Still, if something was going to scare her straight, it was trading one flavor of slavery for another. 

“It includes an obedience clause,” I added so she’d understand the severity. I needed time to come up with a better plan but couldn’t afford to respond to her now. If I put it off, she’d just leave in search of an alternative. Andria seemed mature for her age now that the mind control wasn’t making her a flirty ill-tempered priss. 

“What’s this training period about?” Andria asked me after a few minutes of reading. Even skimming she couldn’t have read even half the contract. She’d probably only been searching for and obvious agreement to her revenge scheme.

“The kind of power I can offer you is considerable and I’m not going to give it up cheaply. You get what you wanted but in exchange for a three-year contract. One year of training, mostly here, two of actual service, then you're free to seek your revenge,” I explained. None of the others had been treated to such strict terms but I was mostly looking to buy time with her. She needed to cool down and get her head together or she was going to get herself killed. Or worse. Normally death was my ‘or worse’. Dealing with Stomholt made me unfortunately certain that it wasn’t this time.

“Fine,” Came the clipped response from Andria. I waited, expecting a rejection. A few minutes later the contract was approved. My orbs flickered as I looked at the confirmation. 

“Shiiiiiit!” I hissed at nothing as I ran my hands through my hair. I’d meant to scare her out of selling trying to sell herself to someone else, not actually gain control. It was several minutes before I was calm enough to think rationally again. If I wanted to, I could cancel the contract since I’d given myself the option to quit at any time.

I didn’t even open the contract interface. I could cancel it but doing so wouldn’t have the desired result. Andria would probably just run off looking for a new ‘benefactor’ to sell bits of herself to. That she was insane enough in her rage to sell herself to me was a lucky break for her and an inconvenience for me. She was my responsibility now and I would have to look after her on top of everything else going on.

“Fuck,” I said flatly, giving up on worrying about it for the moment. The refresh was coming up and I’d promised in the contract to reset her levels and a couple other things. As she was bound by the terms of the contract, so was I, and there was no sense in dawdling.

Looking her over I found she had a higher level than the rest of her party. She had five levels of warrior, one of fighter, and one of chevalier. Adjusting the NPC classes to be roughly equal to a hero class meant dividing. She was level four or five depending on if you rounded up or down. 

It was impressive, she'd worked hard even before joining the party. She wouldn't have reached her first-class change and then specialized otherwise. It had also likely been brutally difficult to keep up with her NPC levels in the hero’s party.

I knew what I could do to increase her power but hesitated. Instead of using the communication stone I called her using the interface. It was time I started treating her like I would a dungeon denizen or Elim.

“Okay, I can start by resetting your levels. Once I do, I should be able to reassign you with only heroic class levels. The catch is I don’t know if this will have any side effects so-”

“Just do it,” Andria said flatly. With that disturbing level of disinterest in her wellbeing established I decided to proceed anyway. I’d been holding off on doing a level reset for Elim but didn’t have the same level of affection for her. I opened a window so I could see her as well as her tab. I kept an eye on her condition than did the reset half an hour before the reset.

“Okay, do you want to be a chevalier again?” I asked, uncertain of when she’d made the decision or how she felt about it now. Even so, I was still texting Henry for advice about how to get her ready for it.

“Yes. I don’t regret that even though I wasn’t in my right mind at the time,” she said, and I flinched a little. She’d been under the influence of the pendant for a long time.

“Okay,” I said tightly. I wanted to add that she could be reset again but didn’t. People were happier when they stuck to a first choice than if they were allowed to change their minds. I’d bring it up again if she struggled or was unhappy, but I wasn’t going to undermine her choice now.

“Do you want me to assign your stats or-” I stopped as Andria’s expression hardened.

“Make me as strong as you can, I don’t care how,” She said. I felt disheartened but accepted her choice. Henry texted me back asking if I wanted him to come over to help out and after a slight hesitation, I agreed. It would be better to have him on hand than texting and I could use the company at the moment.

“Get some sleep then, if you don’t want me to consult you,” I said and felt cheap for the little jab at the end. She wasn’t in her right mind, but I couldn’t help feeling unhappy. Unused to calling she nodded before hanging up. Not realizing that I could only see her answer for unrelated reasons. When Henry arrived, I got him up to speed on what had happened right away because I was still upset.

“I-I c-can under-understand h-her feelings a l-l-little, but but t-that is is d-distressing t-to h-hear,” Henry said gently, a hand on my shoulder. I looked at him, not sure what to say for a few moments. He could understand?

“Do you… can you remember your life before?” I asked finally. Henry looked at me for a moment then a moment later looked away. I received a text from him shortly after.

“Remember wouldn’t be the right word. It’s like a story I know, but not a terribly interesting one. What I do remember are things like places or certain sensations. Rain on my skin, a particular lake in summer,” Henry wrote. As I read it, I could hear his voice, his tone soothing and calm. 

“I don’t mind the way you talk, but if you want to text that’s fine…Hold on,” I said and fished a pen and blank book from my inventory. Having him stare into the middle distance while composing felt weird, but with this, I’d know when he was writing. It also felt a little nostalgic though I had no idea if I’d exchanged a notebook with anyone before.

“O-Okay!” Henry said, sounding amused by the idea. I raised a pair of stone blocks, one as a desk and one as a seat for him. For my own part, I rested my arms on the desk, not needing a seat of my own.

“So, you can empathize with her, because of that story?” I asked, my words coming out clumsily. I didn’t mean to sound harsh, I wasn’t upset, just confused.

“Yes. It feels distant now, but I was once seized by a madness that destroyed my life as much as what I hated. You’ve never felt that, yes?” Henry wrote. Feeling like he had an unfair advantage I used my interface pen to answer.

“Not like you’ve described. I feel like there are things I’d destroy if I had the power and opportunity, but I’m not really obsessed,” I wrote. There were a couple murderous to do’s on my list but it wasn’t like they got more time on my mind than was necessary. What Henry was describing was more intimate and destructive.

“T-thought s-so,” Henry said and laughed.

“You seem desperate on the girl’s behalf but confused. I think she’s lucky you care for her so much, and I hope you can help her see reason,” He added in text.

“I’ll try, but that parts up to her… We should start working on her stats,” I said, and he nodded. He drew a line with a flourish in the center under our earlier exchanges. My handwriting looked childish next to his. I wondered if calligraphy had been a hobby of his in life or a new acquisition in death but didn't ask.

As an actual Chevalier Henry made most of the decisions about how to optimize Andria’s build. He only needed a little time and a few re-watches of how she’d fought in the dungeon to make his choices. Where we both started to dawdle was in assigning stat points. Agility was key, but intelligence and charisma could not be neglected. 

Unfortunately, Andrea’s unmodified stats left something to be desired. Her constitution was low and that complicated the decisions we needed to make. No matter what was key for her Chevalier build, constitution was basic to survival. It would determine her hit points so I went looking for a cause.

Digging through her profile I found a negative traits list. It was a first and stated she had a compromised constitution and low spirit affinity. Unlike a curse, these were not bestowed by the gods as some form of punishment. To me, they looked like hereditary issues. 

On the bright side, despite the suffering they had certainly caused her, they were also cheap to get rid of. Doing so brought up her constitution score to a normal level immediately. That made assigning stats easier. I went with Henry's suggestion for assigning them. 

My only input was bumping her intelligence to increase her skill points which he agreed with. She needed to be strong and flexible if she was going to survive in an RPG world. Her skill points per level from her now pure heroic classes gave her a much larger pool than before.

This time Henry and I went back and forth a bit on our options. 

"She should have at least one rank in sewing, arms, and armor. So she can maintain her equipment," Henry started writing. 

"Cooking and riding too," I put in as we started composing a list. 

"All the athletic skills," He wrote before adding them.

"More in climb, her strengths too low to ignore it," I pointed at the skill after I wrote. It was pleasant to communicate through physical writing. Like we were playing a game. After a while, we had a comprehensive list and only a few skill points left.

"Anything else?" I wrote. I was having fun but we didn't have much left to do.

"A rank or two in cooking should be all," Henry put down after some consideration. He tapped the end of his pen as he though, causing little ink spatters on the page. 

"She could use a hobby," He added. I turned thoughtful as well, wondering what would go with Andrea's character.

"Let's leave the last points unspent. We can use them when she shows an interest in something," I offered as a compromise. I felt a mischievous desire to give her something odd but refrained. Having the skills didn't mean she'd use them and a hobby was supposed to be fun. Henry nodded and our fun with her skills came to a close.

That left taking a look at her potential blessings. Opening the list up I found she had a lot of options. Thirty in all from minor to major and they all had the same price which struck, only it wasn’t a hundred mana. This time it was fifty and I felt my orbs flicker. It might have been because of the interface upgrades but I doubted that. 

It was more likely tied to my change in alignment. The fact that I could organize them by power, alphabetically, and newest to oldest was likely the upgrade at work.

“T-This one!” Henry said suddenly, pointing a finger at one of the options.

Dark Spirits Blessing

Having gained the blessing of those who dwell in shadows the recipient is welcomed by darkness. 

Affinity with Shadow Magic

All shadows offer them protection. So long as they fit within one, they are concealed.

Three times per day they may create a 10x20x20 foot zone of darkness

At will, they may move between one shadow large enough to conceal them and any other of sufficient size within their field of view.

At will, they may extinguish any natural source of light aside from sunlight and dim magical ones

It was an excellent blessing, for an assassin. I looked at Henry questioningly but then started to look through Andrea’s list of blessings. Most of them were combat-related and useful. Unfortunately, none of them had as much utility as the 'Dark Spirits Blessing'. If I was going to keep my word and the conditions of the compact, then it was the best choice. I bought it moments before the refresh.

“I feel like I’m going to regret this,” I wrote in the book rather than speak. I didn’t trust my mouth and didn’t want Henry to think I was upset with him. 

As per usual I was the architect of my own misery. Even so, I didn't have any immediate regrets but an impending sense of doom. If I couldn't reign in Andrea's grudge she was going to be a powerhouse, but not invincible. 

“Children are like cats with thumbs,” Henry started to write back, and I gave him a bewildered look.

“You see her as a child, so accept that she’ll bring you troubles just the same,” He finished and laughed at my surprise. We’d been shoulder to shoulder for a little while at the desk I’d made so I gave him a nudge with mine. More accurately I tried and bounced off of him before I had to laugh at myself.

“Thank you for coming to help Henry, I appreciate it,” I said with a smile. One that I hoped he couldn't see given how I knew it looked.

“It-it w-was my my pl-pleasure,” Henry said before getting up to give me a simple bow. Laughing I curtsied to him in return. He left and I found myself still snickering.

“A cat with thumbs?” I muttered to myself..