We left the Trading Guild after they prepared a contract that I read before signing with Eleanor, so the contract went through the same ritual of being handed over to the God of Commerce so that it cannot be broken, each of us was left with a copy of the contract.
Eleanor said that she needs some time to gather everything, but that she could finish everything for me to pick up tomorrow afternoon, I said that she can meet me at the port and told me what my ship was.
The things I’m buying are going to be taken away from the storage items I’m buying which will make it easier to transport, Eleanor will be there in person for delivery and to collect payment.
I am now walking around the city to try to get an idea of ??what the city looked like before it was destroyed, I wanted to get a feel for the local culture and architecture.
There are many food stalls scattered around here, and all are full of people eating happily, we passed by some, and most of the food was good, but some were almost inedible, but the price of these was half of what was tasty.
What surprised me is when we were walking around the city was seeing the speed with which they were clearing the rubble, most of the cleaning had already been done by the place we passed earlier in the space of a few hours.
In addition, I saw many earth mages rebuilding streets and simple buildings, they were also destroying buildings that were so damaged that they could not be repaired so it would be easier to build a new one.
Sometimes I forget that this is a magical world, people in this world have better ways of doing things than people in my world, things like rebuilding a city that could take years in my world can take months in this world.
I look around paying more attention to using magic to close small holes, as spells in this world aren’t just for fighting, maybe I should learn more about other fields of magic besides combat.
With that kind of thinking, we went back to the ship in port, but Lilian asked permission to go and contact one of her former students who is a spy she noticed was in town, I allow it since I know I can trust her.
———-
Pov Lilian:
The Holy Son has shown more and more confidence in me, it seems that my efforts in recent months are paying off.
Priestess Vanessa said that if I continue like this she can accept me as her daughter, and it would be a great honor for me to be part of the lineage of the Holy Son.
I must demonstrate more of my abilities in serving the Blood Temple and the Holy Son to show that I am worthy of her favor.
Today I noticed my student watching us while we were talking to the local government trader, only one of my students would be able to do this, it must be horn 3.
I don’t know their real names and I’ve never tried to find out, they don’t know each other’s names either, all I know is that the Empire brought them to me because they have the potential for this kind of spy work.
After I’m separated from the Holy Son, I head straight for the spot where I imagine him to be, the tower of the old shop responsible for most of the city’s slave sales.
I pass by the window of the tower where the core of the isolation magic of this building was, I see that someone has partially reactivated that magic to cover only this tower.
“You always choose high points for your unique skill to have better effectiveness, this tower gives a very good vantage point for various places of interest.” (I)
“Leader, I’m glad to sail again.” (Horn 3)
Horn 3 comes out of the shadows where I was looking and kneels in front of me, he is a dark blue Demon with big horns following the contour of his head holding his long gray hair back, he looks like someone of 40 Human years which shows he’s doing pretty well for a 226 year old still keeping up the training the way his muscles are so big.
“How many times do I have to tell you to stop overdoing it with physical training, look at the size of those muscles.” (I)
“That’s completely disposable for our kind of work.” (I)
“I’m glad for your compliment, these beauties have been hard to keep up at my age.” (Horn 3)
“That wasn’t a compliment.” (I)
Sigh
This idiot has always had an obsession with muscle, no wonder he married an Orc Adventurer woman who is even more muscular than he is.
“I’m not going to ask about your mission as I’m not your leader anymore, I just wanted to know how you and the others did.” (I)
Horn 3 stands up with a kind smile on his face, he’s a whole head taller than I am, but his kind expression never really suited this kind of work.
“Everyone is fine, but the big sister is really sad that you didn’t say goodbye in person, she’ll probably look for you when she knows you’re around.” (Horn 3)
“You still call her big sister as usual.” (I)
“We are all brothers, we grew up together, trained together, and worked together since childhood.” (Horn 3)
“We may not share the same lineage, but we are all brothers, I’m just the only one who has the courage to say it in front of other people, others only talk about it when we’re alone.” (Horn 3)
“Now that you’re no longer our leader I can tell you how we’ve all been calling you behind your back all this time.” (Horn 3)
Horn 3 starts crying and gives me a big hug as he talks.
Tears
“You raised us, educated us, trained us, and took care of us when we were injured or sick.” (Horn 3)
“Whenever we needed you to be there for all of us, even when one of us was captured and orders were to abandon, I saw you storm an entire fortress with hundreds of enemies to rescue one of us without hesitation.” (Horn 3)
Tears
“I speak for everyone when I say that you have always been and always will be our mother…” (Horn 3)
“…” (I)
Tears
I already knew that, I always knew that, these kids were never able to hide anything from me, they were always more to me than just students, but in this kind of work I couldn’t let that kind of relationship be shown to everyone.
I couldn’t let the empire see that I cared so much about them or they’d think my judgment was compromised, I couldn’t leave them in the hands of anyone other than me.
Tears
I hugged Horn 3 as tightly as I could, I have nothing to say but I don’t need to say anything in this situation, he knows what I’m thinking, I don’t think I’ve ever been able to hide how I feel from them.
“We all prepared for years by training other units to replace us, so we waited for the moment when you finally agreed to retire or were forced to leave.” (Horn 3)
“We’re all carrying out our last orders before resigning to go after you.” (Horn 3)
“Those of us with family like me, we have everything ready to leave, my mission is over in a few weeks when this government consolidates, after that, I can finally stand by your side.” (Horn 3)
Tears .
“But the empire…” (I)
“Don’t worry, we’ve taken care of everything, we have people to replace us and we’re in a period of peace.” (Horn 3)
“After I’m done here I’ll let the others know and find you, Mom.” (Horn 3)
After that we spent a few hours talking, this was one of the most exciting days of my life.