Chương 35: Chapter Thirty-Four

I went back to my room after breakfast and started looking through the books I had bought. I picked up the one about spell runes and moved to sit down. I had barely sat when a knock brought my attention to my door. Narith was already moving, so I didn't get up. At least until she stepped out of the way and a woman in a city guard uniform stepped in, helmet under her arm. When I stood up, she kneeled. Why did she kneel? Am I supposed to kneel back? Is it a city thing? No. That can't be right.

"Lady Toordor. I have come to inform you of the conclusion of our investigation into your stolen property." Huh? What stolen property.

"Uhm… okay. Well, stand please. That can't be comfortable." I said trying to end the weirdness as quickly as possible.

"What investigation?"

"Into your farm in Hindor." I blink in surprise as the guard stood. I was to stunned to even breathe as she handed a scroll to me. Narith took it for me after I failed to move, then the pouch that followed it.

"The conclusion is that Bret Collenstar stole your rightful property. The summary fine was for eight years or rent, plus twenty percent of the estimated crop yield for that period. The price of the property was added to that, as the Mayor had change of ownership paperwork but no corresponding receipt for the sale. The total came to seven gold. We rounded down."

"Okay…" They made Bret pay? Seven gold?

"How could he afford that?" I asked to myself glancing at the pouch Narith held. The guard cleared her throat.

"He couldn't. Neither could he pay for his taxes." A small smirk played across the guards face for a moment.

"A tax-collector accompanied the guard to the city. Bret Collenstar and his family have been taken into custody and will be sold into slavery to make up for his missing taxes, and the fine for stealing your property." I fidgeted and thought, chewing on my lip. Slavery… I didn't care what happened to Bret. Or his two-faced wife. But their son? He didn't do anything. My shoulders dipped as I thought about the only path I could take to try and make things right. I would have to write Mom and Dad.

"Was their anything else?" Narith asked since my thoughts were clearly elsewhere.

"No. I simply wished to bring this to completion." I jolted out of my thoughts. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

"Oh! Thank you. I'm sorry for the trouble." I said in a rush. The guard chuckled before bowing.

"It was no trouble. Have a good day Lady Toordor." The guard woman exited and I turned to Narith.

"Why were they investigating?" That was the first question. Why. I didn't report anything. I didn't care. I escaped. That was enough for me.

"If you didn't report it, then someone must have." My face scrunched up as I tried to think. Neera. But she was supposed to report the new dungeon. She never said anything about reporting Bret steeling my parents' home. Why does it even matter now? I'm never going back.

"I guess it doesn't matter." I said, mostly to myself. But Narith was nodding as though I was speaking to her.

"I need to write my parents. Can you see that the letter is delivered?"

"Of course." She had a rather smug smile on her face.

"I told you the stationary would come in handy." I stopped myself… No. I won't lie. I rolled my eyes. Then went to the desk and had Narith help me find the bits I needed to write a letter after she arranged things. It didn't take long to write the letter, though Narith had to show me how to seal it. She even handed me a seal that she claimed was 'mine'. I never owned a seal, and it had the Toordor symbol on it. So, it was probably just hers that she was letting me use.

Afterwards, she disappeared and I was left alone. To read. Which meant I was thinking about Bret's son. I didn't even know his name, not having wanted to have anything to do with his parents. And now here I was. Asking Mom and Dad to help save the son of someone I despised from slavery. I swear the world had a sense of humor. And for some reason I was always the punch line. I started flipping through the book, not looking for anything specific. Just trying to get my mind to switch topics.

A lot of the spells seemed like spells that would be useful around the house. Like clean. There was one to light candles. One to open and close doors, even if they were stuck. And an even more specialized one to open jars. Why would anyone ever need that? I was about twenty pages into it when I found something that caught my attention. A spell to make the bed. I looked over at where my bed would be if I could see through walls and thought about the hassle it was every morning to make. This spell would be perfect!

And it's only four runes surrounding a control rune. No sentences. And more importantly, no grammar! I started reading the details of the spell, the guard, scroll, and pouch of gold forgotten. Narith came back to find me in my room, the bed a disaster, as I tried to copy the runes with my mana. I tried to hold the book up, then trace the runes but that didn't work. What if the book is wrong? I would never know. I could fail the spell forever because I had a bad copy!

"What are you doing?" She asked, looking at the bed.

"Trying to cast the make bed spell." Narith looked at me. Then held up her hand, and with a small burst of mana, the blankets righted themselves and the bed was made perfectly.

"You know the spell." I stated.

"It's my job." I frowned at her, and her expression shifted to what I saw in the book store the other day when Stella saw me holding everything while Narith stood there with nothing but a list in her hands. My eyes narrowed further.

"Then why did I make my bed this morning?" She blinked at me. I'm not sure I believe the innocence that she was portraying.

"To be nice."

"To be nice." I repeated. I huffed, then turned back to the couch. Perhaps I'll find a spell to pour icy water down someone's back. The thought of Nariith jumping after getting dosed had me smiling. It's worth a look. I thought as I started flipping through the pages again. The day went on, and I got lost in my pages. By the time evening rolled around Stella was glowing at the table, a funny smile on her face and I had a solid understanding of what spells they were going to teach us this year.

And only two of them had any grammar at all!