A Soldier's Life - 362 - Spreading the Wealth (edited 3-20-25 for clarity +150 words)

Chapter 362: Spreading teh Wealth

“It’s in Elvish!” Ignis lamented as she scanned the heavy paper. I had copied her three pages and thought my artistic renderings were passable, but her furrowed brow indicated otherwise. My steady hand and excellent memory had made me a much better sketch artist than I thought I was.

“I can translate as I go,” I offered. “It took me ten hours for these three pages.”

Her eyes widened in realization, and she softened upon hearing that I had put a lot of effort into these pages. “Well, for these pages, you can translate for me now.” Her tone indicated that I didn’t have a choice. For the next two hours, as I translated, she asked question after question that I couldn’t answer. She was getting a little frustrated with her inability to understand the Elven translation as it applied to smithing techniques. Although I could translate well enough, smiths had their own terminology.

Ignis sat back, reflecting after we had covered the three pages. “Don’t translate the pages. The masters’ intent might get lost from Elvish to Telhian.” She let out a long sigh. “I’m too old for it, but I must learn Elvish.” I was shocked she would go that far, but I didn’t object. It would give me more time to translate without feeling pressured by her.

I offered her some advice. “Talk to Ambassador Elaro Morlamin. He can help find you someone who can teach you, but just…” 

“I’m not a fool, Eryk. If I told anyone about the manual, a thousand elven smiths would be knocking on my door—most none too politely.” Ignis rose and began to wash her face in a bowl. I offered to take her to Elaro, but she had met him with Castile, Viridia, and Selena a few times over the past year. I should have realized she would be part of their coven against the Empire. Ignis left the forge to meet Elaro.

I spent my afternoon leasing a building across the street from Adrian’s Rest. It had once been a furniture crafters’ shop specializing in chairs. It had a modest showroom at the street and large workshop in the back. About four months ago, he left his wife for a strange woman, and they left the city. I had some cynical thoughts on what the woman was. His wife was desperate for some income, so I got an excellent deal on the lease if I promised to store all the tools in the basement for when he son came of age. She didn’t realize it yet, but she was probably a widow with a young son to support, so I was happy to help.

When the transaction was logged with the city’s bureaucracy, I sent Benito to bring Mateo to my new shop. An hour later, Mateo arrived with three children in tow while I was packing up the workshop. Mateo had a big smile, and Benito had a grin of victory for a mission accomplished. The three children looked around in awe and confusion at the dusty furniture shop as Mateo and I shook wrists, “What do you need, Eryk? I am watching the crew but will help however I can.”

“I wanted to offer you a job of running my shop,” I opened my arms wide. Mateo looked confused as he spun, looking at half finished chairs, jigs, stocks of spindles and wood and tools for making furniture.

“You are opening a furniture shop?” He asked, confused. “I have no skill…”

“No, the widow sold everything of value except some tools. We will store it in the seller for when her son comes of age to learn his father’s trade, but for now, I am going to practice some alchemy in this workshop. I just wanted to use the show room to sell some things I picked up on my travels.” I winked at the children hiding behind Mateo and produced an ornate chest in my outstretched hands.

The boy gasped, and the two young girls’ eyes bulged in their heads. I winked as I gingerly opened the chest to reveal three golden figs. I had to stop giving these away as my resupply was six thousand miles away. I knew the decadent figs would win over Mabel, Anna, and Oliver. Benito reached for one of the figs, and I frowned at him, and he withdrew his hand, disappointed.

Oliver was the bravest, taking one first and soon had the juices running down his cheeks as he made sucking sounds. The young girls followed, devouring the dungeon fruit. Mateo, Benito and I watched amused as they finished the offering. The eldest girl, Anna, got the courage to speak, “I thought he would be bigger.”

I turned and looked behind me, “My goliath friend didn’t come with me. Now, he is a big person.” I said with a wink.

“No! You!” the younger, slender girl giggled. “Mayo said you can slay dragons, hunt werewolves, and rescued the entire nation of goliaths from the orcs! You look—normal.” She sounded disappointed.

Mateo looked a bit sheepish as Mabel rebuked me. He had told me at the party that he had talked me up a bit to the kids he had essentially adopted, but I never thought it was that serious. I chuckled slightly. “Well, I’ve never killed a dragon—or even seen one. Mateo and Benito both helped me in the Caliphate with freeing the goliaths from the orcs—so I didn’t do that alone. As for the werewolves—I guess I could take some credit for that.”

Mabel seemed disappointed that I was not everything that Mateo had said I was. I sighed as they needed to see a few more tricks to be impressed with Uncle Eryk. I stepped up into the air and was suspended there as I stood on the invisible air shield. I got a kick out of their eyes widening. I twirled my hands in the air, and the fire bear cloak appeared, the red fur rippling in the light of the glowstone. I spun it overhead like a matador and settled it on my shoulders. I did a forward flip and landed softly on the floor in front of the trio with a wink. “I do know some tricks to get me out of tricky situations.”

Sufficiently impressed, Benito took the children across the street to Adrian’s Rest for lunch. I was fairly certain Gilda wouldn’t poison them. Mateo was slightly concerned as they left. Mabel had seen her mother almost killed in front of her there, but the young girl was in high spirits after my display and showed courage. After they left, I talked with Mateo.

“I have a number of these chests, some simple alchemical brews, quite a few manticore cloaks and pouches that Maveith and his father made, some shadow hunter pelts they prepared, a large number of giant goat horns that are great for carving, and hundreds of different color glowstones.” To make my point, a pile of violet, blue, red, and yellow glowstones appeared on the table to my right. 

Mateo’s jaw dropped for a moment. “And you want me to sell all these things?” He held up his hands. “I’m not qualified. Most of these items are luxuries, Eryk! I have no idea of their value, and the first savvy merchant who walks through the door will take advantage of me!”

I patted my friend on his shoulder, “You will do your best. Take a few days to walk the higher-end shops in the upper city to get an idea of their value before opening up. Benito can be your security, but you should make this place more secure. There is a sizable basement that you can turn into a storeroom. The second floor has two unused rooms for apprentices that you can use. I am staying at my room at Adrian’s Rest.”

From Mateo’s eyes, I could see him warming to the idea. “What is your shop going to be called?” I waved my hand like it didn’t matter. I just wanted to try and profit from all the crap I had collected and clean out my space some. “Eryk’s Curiosities,” he suggested. I shrugged, and he looked hard to be thinking of a name I would like. Seeing him sold on the idea, I walked away. “I am going to talk with Konstantin.”

Mateo yelled after me, “He’s at Viridia’s place. I heard you could stable Ginger in her stables—do you still...” He let the question hang. I nodded, and we laughed together. “You should have her appear in front of the crew, but I get that you need to keep a low profile. Thanks for what you did; they’ll be bragging to their friends that they know a powerful mage now.”

“Calling me a mage is an insult to mage everywhere!” I said on my way out.

Before heading to the villa, I walked out of the city and brought Ginger out. It took her a little time to adjust to the new setting, but soon, I was riding her back into the city through a different gate. Once she was settled in Viridia’s stables, reassured I was coming back, I gave her a rubdown and a fig. She needed a long rest outside my space and seemed interested in trying to socialize with the workhorses.

I found Konstantin sparring shirtless with Marius in the courtyard while Castile and Viridia looked on. When had Konstantin ever sparred without a shirt before? It was obvious he was trying to show off his physique to the women, and for his age, it wasn’t bad. I watched from a distance, and surprisingly, he was even patient with the boy, Marius. What had gotten into him? My eyes drifted to the babe in Viridia’s arms, suckling a meal. Was that all it took to tame the man? A beautiful woman and a child?

I walked toward the group, waving as I approached, and sat with Castile and Viridia to watch. “Eryk, you are welcome to use the stables,” Viridia said carefully as she pulled the sleeping babe away from her, trying not to wake him.

“Thank you. I brought my mount by this afternoon and stabled her there. I came to see Konstantin and what he needed from me for the inn.” I poured myself a glass of fruit juice at Viridia’s insistence. It was pulpy-white and tasted like apple-pear.

Castile was settled into her seat but had a life in her eyes that told me she would regain her full capacity to cast soon. Castile motioned to Viridia, “I sold my share of the inn to Viridia, and Konstantin has taken on Lirkin’s share. You still hold a third.”

I nodded, not asking why Castile needed coin. Maybe she planned to help tie Viridia to Konstantin. I was not going to meddle. Konstantin approached us, as the weapons practice paused. He was glistening with sweat and looked—happy? It felt like I was in an alternate dimension. Marius looked fatigued and content as well from the lesson. I was never happy after a lesson with Konstantin. 

“He will be a good swordsman one day,” Konstantin offered to Viridia while taking a long pull on a glass that must be his. He turned his attention to me, “Eryk, are you here to train?”

“Not today.” The black chalice appeared in my hand, and Castile’s eyes instantly recognized it. “I wanted to lend you this. I had a revelation scroll used on it.”

Konstantin appeared to remember it from the Shimmering Labyrinth. “What kind of liquid does it transmute?”

“Water into elven ambrosia. That is an elven whiskey.” By Konstantin’s astonished look, he knew what ambrosia was. “It takes a full day to recharge, but the quality is top shelf. I ask you to keep it safe and set aside one in four bottles for my—personal use.” I was not a heavy drinker, but I think Elaro—and other elves I knew might appreciate the golden liquid. Excellent alcohol was always worth a favor or two.

Konstantin was not as happy as I thought he would be, “Eryk, when are you going to let others balance the scales? I have never known anyone so annoyingly generous.”

“It is a loan, Konstantin,” I muttered. “If you don’t think it would be an asset for the inn, I can always hold on to it.” 

A flicker of the old man appeared but quickly faded. “No, I appreciate and accept your offer.” He picked up the black jade chalice, studying it momentarily before filling it with water and activating it. The scent of sweet alcohol instantly filled the air. He sniffed it and sipped the golden liquid, a look of appreciation on his face as he passed it to Viridia, who took a larger drink before handing it to Castile. Just then, Dominic woke up and began to wail, and I took it as my cue to leave.

When I returned to Adrian’s Rest, I was surprised to find Ignis and Elaro in the common room. Although the tavern had reopened, there were no customers, and the staff was not present. Ignis looked too eager as I walked in, and I sensed something urgent was on her mind. Elaro had a skeptical look on his face as I approached and sat with them.

Ignis had a twinkle in her eye as she spoke, “The elf knows how to get someone without aether control to be able to use an artifact that requires it!” By Elaro’s confused expression, Ignis had not yet told him what the artifact was. Damn it, if this got out, Mateo would want to use the dreamscape amulet too.

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