Several days had passed since I had spoke with Loralie on the tower top. In that time, I had decided to stop some of my experiments. The pits outside my tower were not going to provide results before the Pestilence arrived, and most of the monsters within were useless to me otherwise.

At Eni’s request, I allowed Philipe the opportunity to go towards Lark to solicit volunteers so that the wolves had the opportunity to continue living. I had taken some of my anger and hurt out on the snakes using magics far beyond what was needed to kill them that day I spoke with Loralie. While I had planned to introduce them to the bog to hunt the lampreys, my water elemental had already done most of the culling.

The flame boars I gifted to one of Kine’s villagers under the direction that they should continue breeding them for taste, a gift that went over well enough to cause an impromptu festival there. Even Chelsea joined in the festival with a barrel of the sweet molasses while I watched them from the top of my tower.

My emotions, despite the anger being released, were still in turmoil. I hadn’t craved the calming effects of the Asrid Flower tea in some time, but now more than ever I salivated at the thought of it. More than once I had one of the servants prepare a cup for me, only for me to stare at it in self-loathing and toss it away. I had considered the matter thoroughly, and came to believe I was angrier about the difficulty controlling my emotions than the emotions themselves.

Three new guards had arrived, and I met them only briefly to take their oaths and threaten them with the deaths of their minds, body, and soul should they betray their word. Two men and a woman, shouting an oath on quivering legs does wonders for my entertainment. While I had no means magical or otherwise of enforcing their oaths, unless one counted a good smiting, the event still served as a good short distraction to me for half a day.

Today, though, might be even worse. I had two guests set to arrive and no clear idea of their purpose. Baroness Nix had sent a missive stating she would be by, and that missive also included information about a certain dwarf widow who had brought her child with her to see me.

I hadn’t spoken to or written Ram’s wife since the day of his death. Her words that day sometimes still haunted me at night, but I had taken them to heart. She told me quite clearly that she never wanted to see me again, and I had vowed to accept her decision and all that entailed. It was the least I could do for Ram. I wasn’t sure why the woman would seek me out now, but I was certain I would likely bend to any reasonable request she asked of me.

I was standing atop my tower in the early afternoon, just past lunch, when they arrived. I had spent the morning watching my assistants practice their earth manipulation by filling in some of the empty pits and completing the spellcraft needed to raise a plateau. I was almost done with it and would need to test it soon, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t look it over a fourth or fifth time to ensure that all the pieces were in place.

Baroness Nix’s white carriage was a pretentious thing with flapping banners and jingling bells. It made its way down the road slowly, as if on parade from victory. I could only sigh at the unneeded pomp that traveling with the woman entailed and hope that didn’t mean she expected any unnecessary ceremony on my part.

I made my way down the stairwell to assume my seat at my table on the first floor only to notice the food that Chelsea had set out. Unlike the normal platters served, she had fruit cut into an array of animal shapes that looked just as tasty as it did interesting. The influence of my new seneschal, no doubt.

While I didn’t see the woman anywhere nearby, he gave me a silent nod as he waited by the door. Fentworth Aide had done much to improve the functions of those in my tower, from clarifying duties to training formality. Improvements that I very much appreciated but hadn’t taken the time to invest my own efforts towards.

When he opened the door to announce my guest, he did so with such grace I imagine court administrators would be jealous.

“My lord, presenting the fourth-tier adventurer, hero of Stalled Woods and Gray’s Canyon, Baroness Nix of the Nix Barony, first of her name,” he announced with the customary bow.

The woman who entered, while clothed in the excesses of nobility could never be misconstrued as gentle. While she had a pleasant enough face for a woman in her forties, her black hair was tied back in a ponytail instead of formally styled and her demeanor spoke more of readied vigilance than of courtly acumen. Her eyes darted around the room, looking for possible dangers before feigning interest in my décor.

I stood and offered a smaller bow and waved at the seat before me, “Welcome Baroness, please join me.”

She offered a bow back, which was graceful if obviously not well practiced, and spoke as she walked forward, “Good day to you, grand Wizard Fargus.”

I sat and watched her as she took the seat before me, and then immediately shifted her waist in discomfort. I spared a glance at the door, but Fentworth had already closed it. It would just be the two of us then. “Good day to you as well, Baroness. I hope your travels were safe.”

She snorted before answering, “Safe enough.” Then she did something simply outrageous. The woman reached into her blouse, straight from the neckline, and withdrew an entire book. Granted, the book was only two handspans wide, but the manner in which it was kept left some room for etiquette. I politely looked away while she was doing so, and dismissed my seneschal. He shouldn’t have to see this kind of behavior even if I did.

With a light sound, she carelessly slapped the tome on the table and slid it across. I almost dismissed it out of hand, glancing at it and then at her, before the cover drew my eyes back. An elaborate symbol marked the cover of a design I had never seen. When I looked back at her she simply raised an eyebrow. So, I did what any researcher would do, and reached to touch the book, which was a mistake.

Immediately, my soul scroll appeared in my vision and began flashing in a turquoise color I hadn’t seen before. Bewildered, I allowed it to open, and it moved of its own accord to my quest list. My quest list was something I hadn’t looked at more than a handful of times in my entire life, as it rarely benefitted me. I certainly knew others who used it to good effect, keeping track of their daily duties and such, but I felt that was something I didn’t need it for.

The scroll moving through the list and new writing began to appear under a quest I had only discussed after a fashion and never truly endeavored to complete.

You have received a high elven tome that may contain the place Ansolia, the Goddess of Knowledge, lay enchained. Translate this work and free her to gain the Blessings of the Goddess.

I dismissed the scroll from my vision and turned to look at Baroness Nix, only for it to begin flashing again. When I selected it, the quest was the same but the rewards had changed.

You have received a high elven tome that may contain the place Ansolia, the Goddess of Knowledge, lay enchained. Translate this work and free her to gain the Blessings of the Goddess and be named a [Priest] of Ansolia.

Much to the Baroness’s amusement, twice more I dismissed and reopened the quest to see the reward increased from [Priest] to [High Priest] and then to [Prophet]. While I certainly had sympathy for the goddess, I had too many things to consider at the moment than to chase down a quest that would require months or years of effort to translate this tome. She had already waited countless centuries, and a few more years to ensure I survived the Pestilence would not change matters.

With a complicated look to the Baroness, I slipped the tome into the sleeve of my robe. I considered casting a cleaning spell on it first, but hadn’t the opportunity to see how such a spell might interact with a high elven tome.

“Thank you for this, Baroness,” I said with a forced smile and a small nod of my head.

The Baroness looked pleased, and tapped a single finger on the table as she spoke, “I am glad you appreciate my efforts. Between sharing knowledge, the gems and supplies, and that book, I had hoped to make a good impression on you. Now I would like to discuss payment.”

She said it in such a confident tone, it was hard to believe she had ever provided these things under the guise of a gift. “Payment?” I asked, not because I wasn’t open to negotiation but because I wanted to clarify our starting positions.

“Yes, payment. The way I see it is that when this Ocean of Pestilence that Froom talks about all day gets here, my gold and secrets won’t mean a single thing,” She pressed her lips together as if the idea behind the words she spoke was an insult to herself.

“So, you seek to spend it now, and believe you can purchase something from me?” I asked, more to get her to continue than any real desire to know. It would be interesting, though, to see what she thought I could do.

She held up two fingers, “Two things I ask of you, small things really. The first should be easy. You see, I don’t think you will fall before this Pestilence. So, wherever you go, or however you escape, I want to come with you.”

With the lines on her face and the scars on her hands, I could tell she hadn’t lived an easy life. Not a surprise given her class, but it led me to estimate that she had maybe fifteen years of life left. Maybe twenty. Even if she were more annoyingly talkative than Chelsea, I believed I could tolerate her presence for that length of time. That this was an easy answer meant that her second request would likely be a tougher decision.

“Go on,” I answered.

“The second is more personal. I was born noble, you see. Nix is my first name, my family name is Rim.” She said these words slowly and carefully, as if unveiling an enormous secret. Which, it may have been for her, but meant next to nothing to me.

There was an awkward moment where she watched me to see if her family name brought any shock or surprise to my face before her mouth twisted as if she had bitten something bitter, “House Rim was a Barony under Count Lahal here in Eiston. My family was killed so they could install a distant cousin into the seat under the family name Pulk. A hundred years of loyalty gone in a night.”

I stroked my beard in thought. While it seemed by her words she was asking for assistance in enacting her revenge, I didn’t know exactly if that were true and what that entailed. I also didn’t see the point in involving me. As a fourth-tier rogue, she should be able to easily assassinate many of the new baron’s house and likely a good part of the count’s before she was caught.

“And what would you ask of me for my part in this?” I inquired.

She gave me a malicious grin, “In the revenge? Nothing. But should they discover who committed the revenge, I want asylum.”

That was an interesting request. I could easily offer asylum from any count level nobility. It wasn’t as if their forces would be redirected from fighting Mirktal now or the Pestilence later. I already set defenses against thieves and assassins. I could think of no other mage that could possibly break through my wards, even in a cadre of ten.

A high-tier [Priest] or [Paladin] might have luck, though. I couldn’t help but frown at the thought. It meant that I would need to install a permanent chapel in or near my tower. Maybe as yet another tower along my wall. I nodded as I made the decision to install the chapel along the wall, and then paused to look at the Baroness again.

“I can agree under two conditions,” I said, holding up two fingers to mirror what she had done before, “The first is that your revenge not take place until the kingdom realizes the threat of the Pestilence.”

She snorted in response, “And the second?”

“No children killed,” I said firmly.

That’s when the baroness snarled at me. Snarled! If she were to stay in my tower for a decade or so, I’d require she learn etiquette. It was such a shame to see a noblewoman behave so poorly, even if her lands were similarly placed to the Larks. Still, after some fruitless growling and mutters, she acquiesced.

“Then the deal is struck,” she claimed before spitting in her hand and offering it to me to shake. I had just taken a piece of fruit from the platter to snack on, and that type of handshake was the kind of tactless behavior that I would have expected from a Tervan savage.

Yet, I set my food down to shake her disgusting hand and immediately used a cleaning spell afterwards. I chose a very flashy cleaning spell that would demonstrate the full breadth of my distaste.

We made smalltalk for a few minutes afterwards until she departed. I didn’t offer her to stay the night as I had no rooms to accommodate someone of her title. After I finished nibbling on some more fruit, I returned to the top of my tower to await my next visitor. My dead friend's wife and son concerned me more than any of the nobility.