Wild Era 4, Ch 2: Taren and Esla

Jesra wasn’t at the desk when Kelin arrived, but the clerk who was there gave him a stack of letters.

There was a report from Jesra on his academy and business matters, a letter from Taren and Esla, and a note from Serai and the others, as well as some updates on his apprentices from the guild trainers.

He read through them all quickly and a smile flickered across his lips.

It looked like Yao and Naomi were busy with a class and out of the city for a couple of days again, so he left them a message to meet him when they got back.

He was looking forward to catching up, but he didn't want to interrupt their training with the guild.

Maro, Galin, and Serai were also out of town raiding another dungeon, but they would be back soon enough.

He stored the messages away as he walked out of the building, heading for an address that had been mentioned.

Taren and Esla had found a place to stay in town and they’d asked him to come and visit as soon as he got back in order to thank him properly. 

Serai and the others had helped them find the place and get settled, but Taren and Esla had provided their own funding. 

They were wealthy merchants, which was why they’d been kidnapped in the first place, and now that they were back in Celadon, it wouldn’t have been hard for them to draw on their banks and other connections.

He wasn’t concerned about thanks, but he did want to check on them and make sure they were fine. Taren had been pretty badly injured when they were captured. 

Kelin had helped him on the ship and he’d given Esla plenty of healing talismans to follow up, but he wanted to see for himself. 

The guild should have stepped in if anything else was needed, but if not, then he would take care of it. 

While he was there, he could take a look at their security and help them set up a few wards. He doubted they’d been able to find anyone decent at that in the short time they’d been here

He took his time as he walked through the streets, stopping at street vendors for a cup of coffee, some fruits, snacks, small gifts, and other things. 

It was early morning and Highmist was bustling with life, which meant that there were vendors out on almost every corner.

It was a pleasant walk and it reminded him of when he’d walked through these streets with Sandren, trying everything they could find.

She had liked finding new snacks.

He wished she was still here, but it didn’t detract from his enjoyment. It only added a bittersweet overtone to his wandering, like a smoky caramel that underpinned things.

He stored some of the fruits and things away for himself, including a lot of drinks and meals that would be pleasant in a dungeon. It was always nice to take a break from dungeon running and to have supplies.

He collected some into a gift basket too. Before long, he had a decent selection of wines, coffee, teas, fruit, local delicacies, and other things. He also added some candies and chocolate for Taren and Esla’s kids, Petru and Yaslen.

A small gift to welcome them to Highmist, whether or not they stayed for long.

The house they’d acquired was located in the merchant’s quarter, but it was in one of the better areas and not far from the noble’s district.

Kelin had inherited a house or two over there with his title as Baron Verasun, but he rarely bothered to visit. If his memory had been worse, he would have needed directions to even find them.

When he found the house, it was a pleasant two-story construction with a wide yard, a garden and fountain, some sculptures, and various other adornments of the modest upper class.

By Highmist’s standards, it was notable, but not quite on the level that a nobleman would have wanted. 

Overall, it was just right for a wealthy trader, especially one that had no desire to be ostentatious.

When Kelin arrived at the gate, he was ushered through by a footman who was watching the entrance. The man must have been briefed rigorously on who to look out for, since he bowed as soon as he caught sight of Kelin.

A few moments later, a butler was leading him down a hallway when Taren and Esla appeared.

“Kelin!” Taren shouted boisterously. “At last!”

“Thanks the gods that you’re safe!” Esla’s words followed immediately, mixing her with husband’s. 

They rushed toward him with a laugh and he had to catch Esla as she hugged him, followed by Taren’s larger hug that followed.

“I’m glad to see you’re both fine,” Kelin said, chuckling as he extricated himself.

With that, they thanked him again as they led him into a parlor where Petru and Yaslen were playing.

Kelin set the gift basket off to the side, where they could find it later, and then he found a seat as he caught up with their events since the ship.

They also asked about all the details of the island and the pirates and both of them had grim expressions of satisfaction as he described how’d he’d dealt with everything.

It didn’t take too long for their conversation to settle down to more recent things and plans for the future.

“How are the other people doing?” Esla asked. “Are they still heading back on the second ship? I felt terrible leaving them all there, but we only had the one teleport scroll that you gave us.”

“It’s for the best that you left when you did,” Kelin replied. “The necromancer attacked the ship not long after that. I dealt with him, but some people were injured. As for the other survivors, my Sage Soul clone is watching over the ship on the way to Stormhill. I’ll have to switch places with him later today and resummon my elemental to push the ship a bit faster.”

The Spirit of the Dark Ocean elemental was a great advantage for the ship, since it was protecting it from pirates and storms and speeding up the journey.

With its help, the ship would land in Stormhill in a day and the rest of the people the pirates had captured could return to their lives.

The guild there would help to sort things out and provide travel and accommodations. They would also help to distribute the money he’d left for them.

He’d left orders to that effect at the desk.

“What will you do now?” he asked as he looked between them. “If you’ve decided, I’ll help as much as I can.”

“We’re thinking of working more closely with the guild in the future,” Esla said. “Our trading interests are widespread, but the guild is even larger. Thanks to you, we’ve made some connections that will smooth out the transition. It might be good for us.”

“We’re thinking of staying in Highmist,” Taren added. “Or at least splitting our time between here and Stormhill. We do a lot of trade on the Ocean of Storms and around the shore, including with the gemstones that come from there, and we don’t want to let it go too quickly, but moving more inland could be promising for us.”

He paused for a moment and looked at his wife before turning back to Kelin.

“However,” he said, “if there’s anything you need, you let us know and we’ll take care of it as best we can. We owe you more than we can repay.”

Kelin turned thoughtful for a moment.

“I have plenty of funding,” he said, “but if you’re willing, I could use some help setting up trade and other networks for the academy I’m building outside of Highmist. I only have one head administrator at the moment and I’ve borrowed her from the guild.”

“You mean Jesra?” Esla asked, smiling. “She was very helpful to us. She told me about your academy. We have already been thinking of ways to help. It does seem like you need more administration and business contacts for it. An academy is a massive operation if it’s done properly.”

“We’d be happy to help you set up a trading arm for it, and to help with some general administration,” Taren said, nodding. “An academy is going to need to support itself. Even with funding, there will still be dungeon products, raw materials, supplies, and other things going in and out. I’m sure you could use the guild channels, but having some of your own might be more efficient and then you could cut out the middleman and maybe turn a profit.”

Kelin nodded, smiling.

“If it’s run properly, an adventurer’s academy generates an enormous amount of trade,” he agreed. “If you two are willing, then let’s make it official. I’ll appoint you as the logistical and trading administrators, but don’t harm yourselves in helping. I’ll make sure it’s worth your time.”

“This will benefit our business too,” Esla said, smiling. “An academy has a lot of demand for things and we’ll be able to sell directly to you for a fair price on both sides. If it gets big enough, Highmist might become our main headquarters for real.”

“We’ll need some students and faculty there first,” Kelin said, chuckling. “Right now, it’s a bunch of former adventuring teams who are acting as guards. They used to be the old Baron Verasun’s people who ran his dungeons before they retired. You can start organizing the trade routes with them and they can also double as security for you. Only a few are at the academy so far, but more will come if they find out that there’s a need and a good position.”

He didn’t pay much attention to the smaller details yet, but he would help to adjust things in time, once he saw their suggestions and how things were going at the academy.

“I’m going to head out there after this to set up the wards,” he said. “The buildings are already underway. If you ask Jesra about the construction materials and how those are being organized, it might be a good place to start.”

Taren nodded firmly, his eyes hardening for a moment.

“I’m sure she tried her best,” he said, “but she’s not a trader. With your permission, I’ll look through her contracts and try to get you a better deal, whether it’s in raw materials or the manpower itself.”

“And I’ll handle sourcing new and better materials, as well as finding the right people to put into positions there to make sure it runs efficiently,” Esla added. “I’m sure you need some more staff and I have a good eye for talent.”

“Perfect,” Kelin said, grinning. “Let me know if any of the nobles cause trouble or if there are any other conflicts. I’ll take care of them for you. The same offer applies to your other trade. I won’t allow anyone to threaten you or to try and pressure you with their status.”

He left the rest unsaid, but he knew they understood. The proof of what had just happened to the pirates was self-evident. 

If anyone threatened them or used underhanded tactics, he would take care of it.

Swiftly and permanently.

He spent a while longer chatting about more casual things, including random places around Highmist that the kids might like, and then he spent a couple of hours working on a set of wards  for their house.

He’d have to come back to do a more permanent job, but it was long enough for him to set up a ward system that far surpassed the average in Highmist.

It would hold for a little while against a Second Evolution enemy and indefinitely against anyone weaker.

The house had some basic enchantments and wards, but he destroyed and replaced most of them with better ones, which didn’t take him very long.

In the middle of it, one thing he found did make him pause, which was a scrying spell he found embedded in the old wards.

It was marked as having been placed there by one of the city’s standard enchanting workshops, but it was clearly designed to allow an outside force to snoop on the house.

On a closer inspection, he found several duplicates in different sections of the wards around the house, which made it clear they’d been placed there deliberately to keep track of the inhabitants, no matter where they went inside.

He destroyed the key runes with a flick of his finger, burning them out with a golden flame that left nothing but clean stone behind.

He debated not mentioning it to Taren and Esla, but eventually he decided to and showed them where the spells had been.

“I’ve heard of that type of thing,” Taren said, frowning as he looked down at where one of the runes had been in a private study. “I wouldn’t put it past the city lord to have ordered it personally. A lot of those enchanting workshops work for him.”

“Letro Arcolen?” Kelin asked. “Interesting. I didn’t think he would stoop quite so low.”

“He has a reputation for being crafty and conniving,” Esla said, “at least among merchants. It was actually one of the reasons we were hesitant to settle down here at first, but we decided it would be worth it.”

“And if not him, then I bet the nobles who back those shops do the same thing,” Taren agreed. “This is no surprise at all and complaining about it would be pointless. I’m just glad you found them and got rid of them. There shouldn’t be any trouble from that, since no one will officially approve of things like this. It’s just something that’s going to be accepted in the background. But now I know to avoid hiring those workshops in the future.”

“That does make it hard to find a good enchanter for little things though,” Esla said, sighing. “Those marks are the three best-known shops in the city, the ones that work for most of the upper-class merchants and some of the nobility. Now we can’t trust them.”

“I’ll take care of most of what you need, if I’m around,” Kelin offered. “You can also call on the guild enchanters or put up a contract for adventurers to do it. Independent mages are less likely to do this sort of thing. But I’ll set up a general anti-scrying ward for you and I’ll scan over any new work if you ask me to.”

That way, even if someone put a scrying spell in place, his ward would block it. While it might not work for every scenario, it was easy enough to set up a ward that would alert them if it was overwhelmed or disabled.

The major thing he took away was that he would have to double-check the construction work at his academy and burn out any similar snooping spells.

It might be par for the course around here, but it wasn’t something he was going to allow.

It also warned him that Arcolen was a crafty figure and someone he needed to keep an eye on.

As things went, however, it was mostly a minor inconvenience and not something he was going to get too worked up about.

He spent a little while longer fixing things up for them both and then he promised to drop by again soon.

He headed back out into the town and spent a little while wandering, feeling the energy of life and bustle, before he found a pleasant cafe and sat down for lunch.

He ordered a tangy ale that was touched with a light citrus burst and a bowl of the local spicy noodles with bits of vegetables and braised meat inside. 

Some time later, after relaxing for a while, he headed out of the city toward the location of his academy.

Jesra had given him updates on the construction efforts over the past couple of months that he’d been gone, and he knew that a number of the central buildings were complete, as well as some of the outer and inner walls.

It was time to set up the ward cores that would protect it.

He had the twelve cores in his spatial pocket and plenty of crystals, so he was going to get started on that and then set up his own private sanctum at the center.

That would be his personal workshop and domain, where no one else was allowed without his permission.

Every archmage needed a private retreat, a place where he could focus all of his efforts and return if he was ever in danger.

It was time to create his.