Chapter 23 - Meet my Dad

Nate started walking through the field toward what he thought looked like a road leading to the town. He had only taken a few steps when he realised Kiri wasn’t with him. Glancing back at her he saw she had a thoughtful look on her face. He watched as she bit her lip, clearly unsure about something. He opened his mouth to ask her what was going on when she beat him to the punch.

“Nate… you don’t want people knowing right? About your storage?” she asked.

“It would make me a target, if people knew, wouldn’t it?” he asked, answering a question with a question.

“Yeah. It would. I’ve never had to deal with thieves but I am sure there are a few in Helmfirth. Dad always says if there isn’t a criminal element then you’re just not looking hard enough. Come on, I’ve got an idea,” she waved to him and instead of heading towards the road, started crossing the field, keeping parallel to the tree line.

Nate’s feet stayed still for a moment, long enough for his mind to run through his options. The town was right there. At the same time Kiri had been nothing but forthcoming with him and seemed happy to lend him a hand. So ultimately it came down to trust. That, in the end, made the decision easier. He’d always had a very simple rule when it came to trust. Give it freely till it was betrayed. Life was too short to walk around assuming everyone was harbouring dark motives, just using you for ‘something’.

With a small smile on his face he started following Kiri. Same as the rest of the day he supposed. At least his ribs were hurting a little less. No change in his wrist that he could tell though. That made him wonder how hard a healing Rune would be. Given the nature of the human body he doubted it would be simple to put someone back together. A future project then. After all, what was life without a challenge or two to keep you on your toes?

In the meantime, he might as well enjoy the sights, sounds and smells. The fields looked cleanly laid. The red and green wheat-like plant swayed in the breeze, creating a gentle rustle that soothed the senses. The sun looked similar to the one on Earth. He had half expected it to be a bit different, given all the variations of stars, but it seemed roughly the same from what he could tell without staring at it directly. It lit the field making it appear like it was a lake of green with floating red flowers on the surface. It was beautiful. If he kept racking up new artworks at this rate he was never going to get anything done in terms of his development. Maybe he could take a Class like that as his Tertiary Class. Something dedicated to creating art. He liked the sound of that and the thought made him smile.

It didn’t take them much longer following the treeline before Nate saw where they were headed. A large wooden cottage stood ahead, abutting the treeline. Smoke drifted out of the top of a chimney and a small wall of stone enclosed a garden that looked well tended and full of vibrant colours. There was a small stone pathway down the middle of the garden that led to the door and unless Nate’s eyes were betraying him, it looked like the cottage had at least two glass windows. He wondered if that would be expensive in this world. Magic might simplify the process and a Class for glasswork would be pretty useful. But were they common enough to make windows cheap? Just one more question to ask.

Kiri made a beeline for the door but before they had even made it to the stone wall a deep voice called out.

“Kiri, that you? Who’s your friend?”

A moment later, walking around the side of the house came a large and rugged man. He was taller than Nate, and he guessed he must’ve had at least ten centimetres on him. He had the same brown hair and blue eyes as Kiri and sported a full build. Dressed in what Nate was coming to think of as hunting leathers, he had a bow strung over his back and a hatchet hanging on his hip.

“Hey Dad!” Kiri called out. “This is Nate and we need a favour!”

The man's eyes flicked to Nate, and he felt like his entire measure had been taken in that glance, from his clothing to his injuries. There was a pressure and presence to the gaze that Nate had not felt before and he was wondering if there was more to it than the simple glare of a father.

“Nate is it? I’m Jorge,” Jorge said before his eyes flicked back to Kiri and Nate could see them light up, a little amusement in them. “What sort of favour, oh daughter of mine?”

Kiri nudged Nate’s right shoulder very gently, thankfully sparing his wrist, before pointedly nodding at the ground. Nate got the hint and a moment later the corpse of the Razorlash thumped onto the ground, flattening the grass as it landed.

If Jorge was surprised, he didn’t show it. Instead he approached the corpse and did a quick circuit of it, looking over the beast with a critical eye. He paused by where the tails had once been, lifting the remains of the tail near the creature's rear. Nate thought he might be inspecting the cuts but couldn’t be certain. Jorge finally finished his review at the beast’s head, checking both sides of the hole where the arrow passed through.

“Your shot Kiri?” he asked.

Kiri beamed at him and nodded, and Nate was pretty confident he could see that she was hoping for a fathers approval. Jorge didn’t keep his daughter waiting and grinned, the smile half hidden by his beard.

“A clean kill. Excellent shot. Looks like you even managed to leave a reasonable amount of the brain intact. Looks like a Juvenile. What level?” he asked as he went back to looking over the corpse.

“Sixteen!” Kiri said with a bit too much energy. She looked like she was veritably vibrating with her fathers approval.

“Not bad at all. You’re getting better. Did you do it alone?” Jorge asked, glancing at Nate pointedly.

Before Nate could say anything words poured out of Kiri’s mouth.

“It was mostly just me, dad. Nate showed up mid fight but only defended himself. I guess the Razorlash got a bit desperate with the potential of two opponents and put itself airborne for longer than it had up until that point, committing both its tails to try and take me down. So I had a gap where it couldn’t use its Defensive Lash Skill!”

Jorge nodded and then grinned, stepping forward and folding his daughter into a bear hug. Kiri was no slouch in the height department but being bundled up by her father made her seem small by comparison. Or the man was just a giant. Either way Nate stood awkwardly looking on. After a moment Jorge released his daughter and then looked from the corpse to Nate, before back to his daughter.

“I’ll get the cart,” was all he said before he disappeared back around the edge of the wooden house.

Nate had expected Frick to say something but his Familiar was oddly quiet. Less than a minute later Nate heard the sound of something rolling across the ground before Jorge came around the house pulling a handcart. It was just a slab of wood on an axle and a pair of wheels. Jorge wheeled it over to the corpse, before putting the cart down and dragging the dead Razorlash up onto it. Nate goggled as the man effortlessly manhandled the horse sized corpse. As Jorge grabbed the handles and started to pull the cart, a sweet voice called out from inside the house.

“Don’t you two be late for dinner you hear? And Jorge, be nice to Kiri’s new friend. No scaring him off or I’ll give you an earful!”

Jorge looked at Nate and an evil smirk crossed his lips, “Oh don’t worry my lady love, my sweet songbird. I’ll make sure he feels right at home!”

Kiri took that moment to punch her father from the other side of the cart. Not that it did anything. The big bastard didn’t even react and Nate gave him an awkward smile which just caused Jorge to burst out laughing as they started walking.

“Stop looking like I am going to eat you kid. Now, your storage, anyone but Kiri know about it?” he asked.

Nate shook his head and Jorge nodded, clearly satisfied.

“Good. Keep it that way. Now my little Kiri likes to pick up strays. You sticking around for a bit or you out of Helmfirth as soon as you get yourself sorted?”

“Umm, I was planning to stick around for a little while, err, sir. Kiri said she’d help me get signed up with the Guild,” he responded, sounding unsure.

“Did she now? Right helpful lass is my Kiri. Well if you’re sticking around for a bit you better come over for dinner tomorrow night.”

It hadn’t sounded like a question so Nate just responded with a “Yes, sir.”

“Good. The wife will be happy about that. Now, if you’re going to be working with my Kiri at all, I’d like to know a bit about you. He tell you his Class Kiri?” Jorge asked, his face betraying nothing as he turned his head to face his daughter, the cart trundling behind them as they made their way towards another road that Nate hadn’t seen.

“Of course not Dad. You know how rude it is to ask that!” Kiri growled back at her father.

Jorge looked forward, chewing his lip. Like father like daughter Nate supposed. He was clearly thinking through something. Jorge looked back at Nate after a few minutes. “Anyone looking for you kid? Don’t lie to me. I’ll be able to tell.”

“No…err I mean, no sir,” Nate responded.

“Anyone else know?” The look Jorge gave Nate was pointed and Nate realised that the man could see his Class. He knew that specialised Identification Skills would give extra information but hadn’t expected to run into someone who could do so so quickly. He could see Kiri peering around her father curiously.

Nate shook his head quickly at the question.

“Got coin?” Jorge asked.

“Not coin, sir. But, I have some gold,” he responded in a rush. He hadn’t planned to admit that but he was so thrown off by realising that Jorge could see, at the very least, his Class name. But given the questions he was pretty confident he could see the class tier as well.

Jorge stopped, setting the cart down gently as though it weighed nothing to him. He held out his hand. “Show me.”

Nate didn’t see a way around it and so extracted one of the gold bars from his storage. He could hear Kiri gasp when she saw it. Jorge took it from him and Nate didn’t dream of fighting the older man. Jorge looked the gold bar over for a second before tapping it.

“Decent amount of mana density to the bar. You steal this?” Jorge asked.

Nate shook his head again and he thought he saw Jorge’s lips tilt up in an amused smile as he looked back at the gold bar.

“Dungeon reward then probably. Anyway this will be enough. Kiri, pull the cart lass. I’ll be back soon.”

As he finished, Nate felt more than saw the man leave. He was a blur as he moved across the grass and he had vanished from sight within moments. The wind that had buffeted him had been enough for Nate to tell he was gone. Kiri grumbled next to him and picked up the cart slowly. Nate made to help her but she shook her head at him.

“Dad wants me to build up my muscles. Says I need to stop neglecting my strength stat. He’d be annoyed with me if I let you help,” she paused for a moment, not looking at him as they slowly trudged forward in silence, finally broken as she couldn’t hold back her comment anymore. “Must be a good Class… I hope one day you trust me enough to tell me.”

Nate smiled a little and put a Barrier underneath the handles, controlling it with his intent to carry some of the load. “Promise,” was all he said though.

As he made his promise he heard Frick’s voice, “You better keep that promise, boss man. Because I am pretty sure her father is over Level 60. That man could fold us up into a ball and kick us around these fields. Gods that would be so goblin!”

Nate stared forward down the road. A little concerned with his Familiar’s love of violence. Thankfully he was quickly distracted as Kiri got a mischievous grin on her face and picked up the pace, with some assistance from his barrier now carrying a portion of the load. He could feel how gravity was pressing down on his barrier, causing his mana to drain quicker. But it wasn’t enough to make him stop. They kept on like that, the cart rumbling over the compressed dirt road with the wooden walls of Helmfirth growing closer and closer with every step.

They were less than a hundred metres from the walls when Jorge returned with a whoosh of wind and a cloud of dust. Nate shielded his eyes but he figured Kiri must’ve expected him, maybe even seen him coming, because her eyes were squeezed shut and she was blowing the air out of her lungs in a constant stream. Good way to avoid swallowing dust Nate thought with a cough that exacerbated the pain in his chest.

Jorge held out an amulet for Nate. It was a silver circle half the size of his hand with a blue gem in its centre. Nate couldn’t tell in the light but he thought maybe he had seen a sigil in the gem.

“This should do while you’re in Helmfirth. I don’t care what lies you tell people but you don’t let my Kiri get in over her head without telling her the truth. Got it?” Jorge asked, though it didn’t sound like much of a question.

“Of course sir,” Nate responded quietly.

Jorge didn’t wait and dropped the amulet over his head before he could move and Nate tucked it into his robe to hide it. He would examine it properly later, but he had a pretty good idea what it was. Something to hide his Class from Identification. Before he could mull over that some more, Jorge shoved a pouch at him.

“Your change. Minus my cut for services rendered,” Jorge said with a wide smile, two golden coins dancing over his fingers before vanishing with what he assumed was sleight of hand. Or maybe just Jorges natural speed. The man was a monster.

Watching the sleight of hand gave him an idea though. Taking the pouch with his left hand he tucked it into his robe before sending it into his storage. Jorge watched him do it before barking out a laugh and grabbing the handles of the cart off of Kiri.

“Not bad, kid. Keep working on it though. Takes more than that to fool some of the eyes around these parts. Now drop that spell and let's get you two to the Guild. Welcome to Helmfirth!”