"By the way, why is everyone bowing to me?"

Roddick says "Preparations for the party have started and rumors have started to spread because of it."

"What kind of rumors?"

Roddick says "Surprisingly, mostly true rumors about you and your accomplishments."

"How would they know anything about me?"

Roddick says "Did you forget that refugees you saved came here from the rebel camp? Besides that, word travels fast, especially when a hero is roaming around."

"I am not a hero. I just do what needs to be done to ensure my safety and that of those I care about."

Roddick says "Yet the number of people you care about is so large that you may as well be a hero. Ah, here we are."

Roddick stops in front of an ornate double door, above the door is a plaque that says artifact storage. I do remember him saying that the twins were the best in the guild at dealing with artifacts, it makes sense for them to be here. When we enter I am relieved to see that it is a pair of male and female twins, that makes it easy to tell them apart.

Roddick says "Ash, this is Rei and her brother Ray. They are the ones you need to talk to. Now if you will excuse me I have other matters to attend to."

"Sure. Thank you, Roddick."

Rei says "Hello, Lord Ash. It is a pleasure to meet you!"

"Hello, Rei and Ray. Roddick tells me you've been working on my medallion."

Rei says "Yes, we have, and I must say it is quite fascinating!"

"Oh, how so?"

Rei says "Well, summoning items in general are fairly rare, but a summoning item linked to a specific entity is even more rare."

"Ah, it is a contract item."

Rei says "That makes sense! No wonder it is so difficult to work with!"

"So, there has been no progress?"

Rei says "No, we have made some progress. It is naturally healing itself so it doesn't exactly need to be repaired. Instead we have been focusing on how to speed up the repair process."

"And you have succeeded?"

Rei says "Somewhat, if you look here you can see that it is sitting in a mana gathering circle. This acts to feed mana to it faster than it was absorbing it on its own."

"So, what kind of time frame are we talking about?"

Rei says "We have managed to cut it down from years to months. Probably about six months."

"That's longer than I was hoping for. Is there anything we can do to speed that up?"

Rei says "Unfortunately, no, fire mana would make it faster, but neither my brother or I are fire mages. There is a fire mage in the guild but his control isn't good enough, he would likely damage the medallion."

"I don't know any fire mages either, but does it have to be a mage? What about items that use fire mana?"

Rei says "It would be possible if you had a fire based item, but such items are rare and expensive. Also the item would be destroyed in the process."

"But it would speed up the process, yes?"

Rei says "Yes, definitely. How much would depend on the amount of mana in the item."

Suddenly feeling hopeful I reach into my pouch, as soon as Rei mentioned fire mana I remembered the everburning torches I found in the pit. I haven't needed them since I gained the ability to see in the dark, but maybe they can be of use now. So I pull all ten out of my pouch and set them on a table next to the twins.

"These are everburning torches from the ancient empire. Will they work to feed the medallion?"

The twins spend a few minutes examining the torches, once they have them all lit they arrange them in a circle. They place them over the magic circle with the flames pointing inward and then move them in until all ten flames merge into one. Then they set up a tripod and suspend the medallion from it so that it is hanging in the flames.

Ray says "Works."

Rei says "You'll have to forgive my brother, he doesn't speak much. What he means to say is that yes the torches will work. These are not only precious items but they are valuable antiques, are you sure you are okay with them being destroyed? You could sell them for a fortune, using them like this will speed up the process but is it really worth it?"

"How much will it speed things up?"

Rei says "Well, the torches are old so they only have so much mana left in them. As near as I can guess, with all ten torches, the medallion should be fixed in a month, maybe less."

"That's worth it, do it please."

Rei says "Alright, it is your money to waste, my lord."

"The being tied to the medallion is named Ruby, and she is far more important than a few magical trinkets."

Rei says "My apologies if I offended you, Lord Ash."

"I'm not offended, but don't make the mistake of thinking I am a typical noble."

Rei says "I will keep that in mind. We will continue working on the medallion."

"Alright, thank you. Please send word to the inn once it is repaired."

Rei says "We will."

As I turn and walk out of the guild, I am glad to now have a definite time frame for Ruby's return. I will do my best to destroy the temple and be back in a month so that I can be here when Ruby comes back to us. Although, it is a fairly safe bet that she is going to be very mad at me, I am going to get hit at least once.

That however is a worry for later, my growling stomach is telling me my immediate worry is food. Since the best food in town is waiting for me back at the inn I hurry my pace and head that way. Once I enter my street my steps slow, something is different but I can't tell what right away.

It takes me a minute to realize what is different, the sun is down and normally the street would be mostly dark, but not tonight. As I look around I see that all the stores are lit up, and the street has a feeling of life that it normally doesn't.

It is a good thing to see, and I am finding it hard to believe that it is my influence that has caused this. I have been setting all these plans in motion and only looking at the end goal, I didn't stop to think how it would affect the people around me. Thinking about it now I don't see any negative effects, but I will have to be more aware as I plan in the future.