12 - To Be a Wayland (Patreon)

Phoenix also managed to remember to give Madam Malik the bonus reward from defeating a swarm of flaywings that had also been collecting metaphorical dust in her collection to see if she could make anything useful out of it besides turning it into an augment that wouldn’t last her long.

Item: Crystal Eye

The preserved eye of a flaywing.

Caste: Crystal.

Availability: Rare.

Type: Material, ingredient.

Effect: Can be used as a material for crafting.

The merchant had agreed to ask around and would write to her when everything was finished. Phoenix also took that time to sell her usual surplus or monster ingredients that she got once in a while and nobody else desired. Mostly her looting power gave Mana Bits and ritual materials like Elemental Shards but even she, with all her fun at-home experimentation between contracts, wasn’t able to use up all of the more common ones and would convert a good portion of them into Bits when she could.

Madam Malik had been generous and easy to work with in this regard which made her a return customer. Now she was beginning to see the business logic in this when she came to the merchant for the more expensive custom work that she knew might cost her quite a bit.

Money wasn’t exactly something Phoenix struggled with since arriving in this world, which was a relief. She wasn’t sure she could have handled the anxiety of affording food and shelter on top of everything else she had been dealing with. However, based on the looks Dazien would often give her, she wasn’t sure she quite had an accurate grasp on the local economy either.

If she had enough Bits then she would get what she wanted and if she didn’t… well she wasn’t sure since that hadn’t really happened yet. Maybe just be patient and wait? Isn’t that what most people had to do? That was kind of how video games worked so it was basically the same thing. If she needed more money she just needed to go kill more monsters, easy peasy.

However, when Pati took her to the tailoring shop owned by House Teras the next day, she had begun to wonder if perhaps she would never need to worry about money again. When she saw the beautiful dresses that would have likely cost a couple of hundred dollars on earth, according to some of her older acquaintances complaining about missing prom at least, and saw the price was only a couple of [Crystal Mana Bits] her perspective shifted slightly.

“Hello, Noble Phoenix Wayland,” said what appeared to be a middle-aged woman who greeted them in a private fitting room, “I am BEL. I have been informed of your need for an outfit suitable for your Noble Reveal. Lord Teras offers his congratulations and assurance that I am at your disposal.”

Phoenix gave a respectful bow in the local style to the Sapphire Caste woman, “Thank you, um, BEL. Do you mind if I ask what your name stands for?”

“Ah, let us talk while BEL does her work,” Patricia interjected, “We don’t want to take up more time than needed with such a packed schedule that I’m sure we’re disrupting.”

The BEL nodded in acknowledgment and led her to a slightly raised dias surrounded by mirrors and requested, “Would you mind removing your outer layers for accurate measurements?”

She glanced back at Pati in worry, pointedly raising her right wrist in question of revealing her Oathbond or not. Paul had stressed the importance of keeping it hidden before but she wasn’t sure if she could reveal it now that people knew she was Favored.

“Paul says House Teras is trustworthy and that is enough for me,” the priestess answered. Phoenix nodded and with a silver sheen of her power, removed the covering dress she wore.

The BEL began taking her measurements with a floating tape that seemed to have a mind of its own, soaring around her and quickly sizing her up, as the tailor answered her questions, “BEL stands for Beautifully Efficient Liaison. The twenty of us were created by the last Obsidian Caster to live in the area and founded House Teras.”

“Founded it?” she asked curiously, trying to stay as still as possible to not interfere with the magical items encircling her, “How does someone create a noble House?”

“Through exceptional contributions to the city, or tundra, itself,” Pati answered for the tailor, “It was the very creation of the BELs that secured their place among the nobility.”

“Yes, we are golems,” the woman explained, pulling out ribbons of variously colored fabric from the belt around her waist to hold up to the back of her hand, “We don’t have natural souls like those born into a reality. Golems have a [Soul Seed] that gives us our autonomy.”

“That sounds like it would be extremely difficult to make,” the Wayfarer surmised, “Hence the creator being Obsidian?”

The tailor nodded again, short dark braids glinting in the light from the beads woven within, “Yes. Lady Teras was a master crafter who had been chasing the secrets to golems for many centuries before finally succeeding. Then she created us and bound our Soul Seeds to the city itself in offering. We cannot leave its boundary and we are sworn to protect and serve its citizens.”

“The BELs have been helping maintain at least a baseline of cost on certain things like clothing and tools, though they usually don’t handle mundane item requests,” Pati added, “However, while House Teras oversees their maintenance and supplies, they do not profit off them.”

“So even the stuff I order will, what? Be made at cost? Is that the right term?” Phoenix asked uncertainly.

“Not exactly,” the cinderen-looking golem corrected, “Most requests, or anything for the nobility, are charged at the current market rate, and then the profits are distributed in the form of a tax reimbursement for competing businesses.”

“Alright, you finally said the magic word for me to want to change the topic,” the Wayfarer said with a slight shudder, “Taxes and economics are not something I’ve ever been good at understanding.”

Patricia laughed, “Thus becoming an Adventurer?”

“If I’ve learned anything since having my body healed and arriving in this world, it’s that it’s much easier to stab monsters than fill out forms.”

“I believe most people would disagree with that,” the priestess pointed out, “Especially ones that don’t have magic powers.”

“Fair point,” the Wayfarer conceded. If she hadn’t had the natural immunity to, well, death, she wasn’t sure if she would have taken the monster-killing route either. Then again, she wouldn’t have lasted long enough to choose anything else.

“Now,” the BEL spoke up again, “What exactly do you want to wear, Noble Phoenix?”

She glanced over at her new aunt and said, “Well Pati wants me to show off my Soul Mark and I want to make sure my Oathbond remains hidden but other than that… I guess I just want to fit in with the other nobles?”

Both the priestess and the tailor gave her a reassuring smile as BEL said, “I think we can manage that.”

Patricia ended up ordering an entire wardrobe of outfits that Phoenix didn’t even know if she would ever have an occasion to wear. The fact that the noble priestess seemed to think she would, gave her a whole new sense of dread over accepting her new House.

Paul had warned her that his sister was the more politically savvy one, and she had already seen plenty of that, but the woman was as relentless with her words as the Paladin was with his sword. By the time it was all over, she felt like she needed to meditate to cultivate the experience of the battle she had just waged.

Once she got back to her room, finally alone, she used a quick cantrip with her [Wand of the Snow Queen] to light the hearth before collapsing onto the couch and just lying there. Only the crackle of the fireplace interrupted the calming silence.

She had been curious about the fuel it used being some sort of magical item made from wood, called a Lullog, that seemed to last for about a month and let off a pleasant spicy scent that reminded her of autumn back on Earth when every treat brought for the other kids was infused with nutmeg and pumpkin.

The warmth washed over her and she finally managed to roll herself over to stare at the ceiling contemplating recent events and having a slight panic attack about the upcoming party where she would be causing people to pay attention to her on purpose.

She shivered despite not being cold. The Wayfarer thought about going to bed early after the emotionally exhausting day but a knock at her door waylaid her as she called for the familiar aura on the other side to enter.

Paul gave her an apologetic look as he moved to join her on the couch and said, “I’m sorry about, Pati. She’s always been… driven like that, ever since we were kids. I think everyone realized early on that she would be the politician and I would be the Adventurer.”

“Did they know that you would both join a clergy?” she asked curiously.

Paul’s expression darkened only slightly but Phoenix noticed and quickly clarified, “Sorry. I know your experience with that the first time didn’t go so well. I just thought it interesting that you would both join a temple. It made me wonder if that was normal for nobility?”

The Paladin shrugged, “It’s as normal for nobility here as it is for anyone else. We don’t push anyone to join, so you don’t need to worry about that.”

She nodded in acknowledgement then asked hesitantly, “Do you think I should join one? I’m not sure why you decided to join the Purifier in the first place or chose to go through that all again with the Avenger, but from what I’ve gathered it’s not a choice someone does on a whim. Especially when the gods will actually show up in front of you.”

Paul watched her for a moment then leaned back and summarized for her, “When I was just a newly ascended Sapphire Caster, I was sent on a mission leading a group of Crystals to respond to a request from one of the smaller villages to the southeast. There was a worry that some rogue Caster was experimenting on people that were going missing.

“When we arrived we found not just a Caster with banned Aspects, but a whole underground sect that had made a temple to the Necromancer. They weren’t just experimenting on people but turning them into Corrupted undead.”

He paused, frowning at the memories, then continued softly, “Only I managed to escape to get reinforcements. The others that had been in my care all died because I wasn’t strong enough to protect them from the tainting Banes of the undead… My youngest sister was one of those Adventurers.

“After that, I returned and helped wipe out the remaining necromancers and joined the Church of the Purifier in my dedication to make sure something like that never happened again,” he finished forlornly.

Phoenix was stricken by the information. She hadn’t even known that Paul had another sibling let alone witnessed their death, and probably still harbored guilt over it by the sound of things. She didn’t know what to say. If there even was anything to say.

Instead, she took a page out of Saiya’s book this time, holding his hand, and leaned against his large shoulder to simply let her presence be known and that she was here for him. Words simply seemed both insufficient and unnecessary at that moment.

Once Paul returned to the present, he squeezed her hand and said, “There are many reasons one might join a clergy. That doesn’t always mean one should. You do what is right for you and don’t let anyone push you into the decision, especially not one of the gods themselves. They all have their own agendas and it’s up to you to determine if your goals align with theirs.”

She didn’t say anything but tilted her head in acknowledgment against his arm. Then her mentor reached into the dimensional pouch at his side and pulled out a rectangular object wrapped in green waxy paper with a leather cord tied around it, “I meant to give you this earlier before my sister absconded with you,” he said with a slight smile as he handed her the package, “It’s my ‘welcome to the family’ gift. I know you don’t like me buying things for you, so I didn’t and this was something I thought was required to be a Wayland.”

Phoenix straightened as she took the item. Once it was in her hand, she easily recognized the weight and feel of a book and she carefully unwrapped it, not wanting to potentially damage the cover she expected to find underneath.

The book cover was made of smooth emerald leather but was untitled and adorned with a simple pale blue flower on the front that vaguely reminded her of a pansy. When she opened it to peer inside at the first page, she saw flowing script that her [Astral Traveler] talent translated as “The Lands of the Wayfarers: A Collection of Tales From Our World and Beyond”. Below that was the name of the author who had compiled the anthology, Peder Wayland.

When she glanced up at Paul, he smiled affectionately at her, “The very first Wayland. He was also a Wayfarer that loved books,” he explained then gestured towards the green leather and explained, “This book has been passed down through my family for hundreds, if not thousands, of generations. My mother used to read me to sleep with this very copy. I know you’re a bit old for children's fables, but I figured that maybe you could read it to your own kids someday… in the far far future.”

Phoenix was speechless as she stared at the thoughtful gift. She remembered how her own mother had often read to her as well, instilling her love of books early on. All the magical places her mind could visit no matter how weak her body was. The joy and sense of freedom they had brought her, along with the connection they gave her to the person she loved most in the world, had saved her life more times than she could recount.

Paul frowned slightly and gently wiped the tears from her cheek that she hadn’t even noticed were falling as she whispered, “It’s perfect,” then carefully set the book in her lap and wrapped her arms around Paul’s waist to bury her face into the soft fabric of his shirt, filling her lungs with his reassuring scent of a cedar bonfire that was smokier than the hearth, “Thank you, Paul.”

He patted her head gently and said, “You’re family now. To own a copy of that book is only right for a Wayland.”

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