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Leo

After having a satisfying breakfast, Leo and Elaria were relaxing at a table in the inn's eating area. Leo was flipping through his little magical booklet, skipping over full pages that discussed the importance of the words for spell initiation. As he passed over dozens of pages, Leo felt like the amount of money spent on it was far from worth it. Even all of the more ‘complex’ information seemed like something he could figure out after a few hours of experimenting.

[ Mana potions can be made by forcing mana out of your body into a pool of water. ]

[ Triggers can be set on spells for traps, complex interactions, or secondary spell input. ]

[ Spells can be augmented by timers. ]

[ Persistent spells need a large initial expenditure of mana, followed by being fed a smaller flow to sustain it for longer. ]

As Leo neared the end of the guide, he began to notice that there wasn't a single mention of runic magic. ‘Damn basic bitch booklet...’ He thought in frustration, while trying to suppress an eye twitch when he reached the end of the booklet.

Elaria smirked upon seeing Leo's irritated expression. “What's wrong, is magic still too easy?” She prodded, before eating some of her scrambled eggs.

Leo pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, not knowing how to properly explain how broken the system actually was. “Yeah, irritatingly so. I’ll have to pay you back for the waste of money.” He responded apologetically.

An impish smile played on Elarias lips. “Consider some of that debt paid after what you did to me all afternoon yesterday. You'll just have to work off the rest, after I can walk straight again.” She purred, while Leo faintly blushed as he recalled yesterday's physical ‘activities’.

Grinning at the prospect, Leo admired Elaria with a yearning look for the alluring woman. “If that's how I'm repaying you, then I might have to find a way to indebt myself further.” Leo jokingly teased.

Elaria chuckled, apparently finding the comment very amusing. “Well, you do need new clothes. No offense, but you look like you work in the fields.” She jabbed playfully.

Leo slumped back in his chair, and looked down at his clothes with a frown. “None taken, since I've essentially been walking around in my P-jays.” He remarked a little dejectedly, whilst taking a gulp from his water filled mug.

Elaria cocked her head. “Your what?” She questioned with confusion written across her face.

Leo groaned at the question, remembering that not all his words managed to be translated by the necklace.“Er, sleep clothes. Even though I feel fairly comfortable, I need something more durable. I already have a few small holes and tears from my trek through the forest that are widening.” He explained while he poked a finger into one of the holes in his shirt.

Elaria seemed lost in thought for a moment before speaking. “I know that I chose to drop the subject, but can you just answer something that's been bothering me about your trade? You don't look like you've ever done much physically demanding work, but the way you carry yourself is like you've seen all that the world has to offer.” She finished, as she set her empty plate to the side.

Leo pulled at his short facial hair as he took a moment to collect his thoughts. “Without going into too much detail, what I did involved a lot of world building. That means creating an entire fictional world, fabricating every detail that you could think of. The creatures, races, technology, governments, culture, laws, ethics, conflicts, nature, geography, history, and every other general aspect of the world I had to technically come up with from scratch. And to be able to do all of that, I needed to have a basic understanding of nearly all of those aspects in regard to my own world. So I researched, as well as taking inspiration from other mediums, such as stories, fables, myths and other world builders. All in an effort to make and share it with one another.” He paused to try and come up with a way to explain how a video game was made, but elected to just gloss over that can of worms.

“Besides creating a world, the way I went about sharing it was a little more complex than simply writing in a book. As well as being very irritating… But that side is irrelevant, and would take way too long to explain.” He finished his explanation as he downed the last of his water.

Elaria stared at Leo, mouth agape and seemingly overwhelmed by the information. “So you essentially play god…” She not so much asked, as stated to him.

Leo wanted to refute the statement, but it was a pretty spot on analogy, which kind of impressed him. “Well, yeah, I guess. I hope that doesn't seem heretical...” He sheepishly responded while rubbing the back of his neck.

Elaria barked a laugh, which initially alleviated Leo's fears. “As long as you don't tell that to any temple priests I think you'll be fine, you probably have more to worry about from the dragons.” She pointed out, much to his dismay.

“At least ‘they’ would just imprison me or something.” Leo remarked dejectedly.

“Nah, they would most likely send an assassin after you.” Elaria corrected.

An amused thought caused Leo to stifle a laugh. “Oh, that seems ‘much’ better. Let me guess, they dress in white hooded robes and have a hidden retractable blade.” He uttered jokingly.

“Those Assassins on your world too then?” Elaria questioned casually, while Leo thought ‘for fucks sake’ in response.

“Kind of… Anyway, what's the plan for today. I know I need new clothes, but I would like to ask around for how to start doing runic magic. This book had nothing on the subject, and that other side of my ‘trade’ is itching to learn. I would also like to experiment somewhere with my magic, preferably away from too many prying eyes.” Leo Inquired, while doing his best to finally start chewing through the unseasoned ham slices.

Elaria leaned forward onto the table, resting her head on her knuckles. “Then we should start by going to the market to get you something new to wear, maybe some people there know something about runes. Then we can head just outside the wall, the field we crossed the other day would be perfect, as long as you don't mind Glia watching, that's the guard you met on the way in. We don't need to rush though, since we have a full day ahead of us as well as a few weeks of off time, before I need to rejoin the guard.”

With a raised brow, Leo recalled the amount of money spent on the room. “Off time? I thought you were clear for at least two months.”

Elaria deflated at his question, folding her arms while slumping her head into them. “ I was healed so I have to return, but I have about three weeks off by law. Since it is so expensive to get healed, the very wealthy or very injured are the most likely to buy such a service. This created a situation that said injured soldiers would need time to recover mentally, and the wealthy use it as a vacation.” She explained with mild irritation.

The more Leo learned about how the selarin military functioned, the more he questioned why there hasn't been some revolution by now. ‘The whole kicking people out naked would cause the army alone to attempt a coup, so the fuck kind of balancing act of power are they managing to be able to keep things together....’

“I'm guessing you can't just quit then?” Leo probed, wanting to see if he could help her with a way out.

Elaria sighed. “Not without having a small bounty placed on your head, and slavers having the go ahead to capture you.”

‘Ah...That's one fucked up weight on the scale I guess, turns deserters and bandits into targets.’ Leo reflected bitterly.

“Or pay a gold coin to leave service.” She continued.

‘And that's one more strike against those with power. The fuck?’ Leo thought with abject confusion, noting that an out like that would piss off everyone who wasn't rich, which would be a ‘very’ large portion of the military.

“I assume you don't want to continue service then, I would imagine most people don't like how the military's run.” Leo questioned, fully inclined to assist in getting her discharged.

Elaria’s visage darkened as she sat up. “Yeah, and that's an understatement. Most people join to avoid going hungry, or doing exhausting physical labor. Field work, mining, quarries, logging, the work can often kill.”

“Why hasn't there been a rebellion?” Leo reflexively asked, as his irritation with Selaria continued to grow.

Elaria scoffed, but a slightly pained expression crossed her face. “There have been, every few generations one pops up and gets squashed. Whether it's a town that declares independence or a peasant uprising, a few dozen mages from the academy can clean up just about anything .” She ended with a resigned sigh.

“Oh….” Leo said, finally finding a very important piece of the puzzle. ‘Control the magic, control the population. Not much someone with a pitch fork can do against a fireball to the face.’ He finally realized.

Now that Leo had a very important question answered, he decided to press her on her willingness to leave the guard. “So what if I managed to pay off your service? I'm sure I can make something out of runic magic to sell, gotta learn ho-- ” He was cut off by Elaria practically slamming into him, hugging him tightly as she kissed him deeply.

Pulling away from the kiss, Elaria leaned in closer to him. “I think ‘if’ you manage that, then I would have to start ‘paying off’ said debt for a ‘long’ time.” She whispered seductively into his ear.

Leo’s heart skipped a beat at her words, and an unrestrained smile spread across his face. “Right then, I think I should get started. But before we head out, let me go ask Kesl about the runes used in the inn, it is my first lead.”

Elaria grinned wide. “Well hurry up. I don't think I'll be able to walk well on my own for another hour or so, and just like with the ankle it's all your fault.” She jabbed playfully.

Leo rolled his eyes, but couldn't suppress a self satisfied smirk as he walked over to Kesl. As he walked over, he noticed that all the eyes of the rest of the inn were solely directed at him, and the intensity was many times what it was previously.

“Morning Kesl. Thanks for helping us out yesterday.” Leo greeted the large selarin warmly, genuinely grateful for his help the previous morning.

Kesl smiled down at Leo, making him feel a little more at ease around the visually intimidating man. “Morning, Leo, was it? You don't have to thank me for tossing garbage out of my inn. Besides, between the way you looked at her and what you did to her hand, you definitely didn't ‘need’ my help.”

Leo was going to ask about the inn's showers, but he couldn't shake the feeling he got from the intense stares. “Right, um. I wanted to ask you a question.” He paused to look around at most of the fixated onlookers. “But now I've got two.”

Kesl let out a snort. “Listen, the walls of the inn are dense enough to block out anything. The door though, pretty light wood. The halls can also carry the sound of a yell for quite the distance.” He told him while failing to suppress a smirk.

Leo’s eyes shot wide open, and his face turned red as the information sunk in. He could also start to hear giggling from the tables within earshot, which didn't help his growing embarrassment. ‘Note to self, set up a magical sound barrier next time.’ Leo mentally engraved into his mind, certain that he wouldn't forget this embarrassing experience again.

“Well, since that's answered... I want to learn runic magic, and I'd like to know who gave you the ones for your inn.” Leo asked awkwardly, while trying his hardest to ignore the lustful stares that were still drilling into the back of his head.

Kesl looked Leo over. “Hmph, yeah, figured you were a mage. Sorry but I got the work done from a traveling mage, so he could be anywhere on the continent for all I know. But there is someone in town that I pay when one of them stops working, or goes fucky. Don't think she'll be much help though, she's a real stuck up bitch from the academy, expensive too. Now what was her name...” He trailed off, cupping a hand around his chin while he searched his thoughts.

‘Gonna have to fake being a novice, don't want to repeat what happened at the clinic.’ Leo mentally planned.

“Allis something, she's a healer that runs the town's clinic.” Kesl remarked casually.

‘fuck’

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