Chương 142: Book 3 Chapter 20 - Returning To Portish

Kiara didn't mention the warp gates to any of the new hires, but she did show them to the new house they'd purchased in Lakeshire, and told them that she'd be spending some time in Lakeshire occasionally. Stellen would remain in the Lakeshire house, and be responsible for keeping an eye on things, while Ben and Lily would return with them to Portish. They hired a maid and a gardener to come by the house once per week to clean and maintain the property.

They had one of the rooms outfitted with new locks, where Kiara deployed the last warp gate. They informed Stellen and the servants that that door was to remain locked at all times, and no one was allowed inside. A week after meeting with the duke, they had everything organized for the new house in Lakeshire, and they made their way back to the port. The ferry ride back was mostly uneventful, although a sea monster was spotted in the far distance at one point.

Rovinald apparently rotated out with at least one other admiral on watching the ferry route, because the tier 5 protecting the ships that day wasn't someone Kiara had seen before. Moments after the beast was spotted, the sky near the monster lit up with bright flashes of orange and white. The show only lasted a few seconds, and the monster must have either died or retreated, because they didn't see it after that. It was all rather anticlimactic, which Kiara was honestly grateful for.

Once they reached land, they joined up with a travelling caravan making its way south. When they disclosed that their party of five included three tier 3 mages, the captain of the mercenary unit that had been hired to protect the caravan was thrilled to have them aboard, and offered them free passage. It wasn't often that mages travelled with a merchant caravan, and the extra protection that their presence provided allowed the mercenary unit to sleep a bit easier at night.

Anytime the scouts spotted any signs of bandits nearby, Zoey or one of the other new house retainers would send off some showy spells into the sky to scare any potential threats off. From what Kiara had learned, bandit groups rarely had a tier 3 or higher in them, since at that level there were easier ways for a mage to make good money, all of which involved considerably less risk. It took about a month to get back to Portish.

The journey was slow, but Kiara did her best to simply enjoy everyone's company and get to know Ben and Lily as well as she could. When they got within a day's journey of Portish, Kiara ensured that the others would be okay without her, then jogged the rest of the way back, stretching her legs a bit. It felt good to finally be moving at a more respectable pace again. It was early morning when she arrived, and the gate to the estate was closed.

Unexpectedly, she was unable to open the gate or enter, which was quite confusing. It looked and felt similar to hitting a mana shield every time she tried touching the gate. Anywhere she touched, the mana shield dissolved. She could tell because the familiar fizzling effect gave away what was happening. Even so, the entire shield didn't give out like with what happened for most mages' shields that she touched. Instead, the shield simply regenerated around her hand, anywhere that she wasn't actively touching.

Curious, she activated [Artifact Compass], which, quite surprisingly, claimed that her entire estate as a massive artifact now. Or rather, the wall of her estate was. [Artifact Sage 3] gave her the sense that the walls and gate now had protective wards on them, preventing unwanted entry or destruction. She was able to push her arm through the shield, but not far enough to reach the latch holding the gate shut.

She realized she could probably just climb the gate, since the mana shield didn't restrict her movement at all, but it would be easier to simply wait for the next guard patrol to pass by. When they did, she called out to them, and they rushed over to open the gate for her.

"My lady, welcome back," one of them said, bowing.

"Apologies for the gate situation, we didn't know you were waiting out there." Had something happened while she was gone, and Janice had to requisition an artificer to come out and ward the estate? Once inside, she glanced at the inside of the wall, and sure enough, intricate runes now decorated the entirety of the wall, top to bottom. She inspected the gate itself, and found runes etched onto the inside surface of the metal gate, too.

The handiwork was precise, and she had a sneaking suspicion that she knew who had done this. Not that she was complaining, obviously. This felt like a very expensive upgrade to the property, something that probably very few places in Portish could match. Even if some other places in Portish did have defensive wards on the property, she doubted they were as thorough or intricate as these.

She had arrived early in the morning, so she waited for the estate to start stirring, then made a quick visit with Janice to let her know that she was back, and that Dustin would be here by the afternoon. Janice nor any of the other staff knew where the protective wards on the walls and gate had come from, they'd simply appeared one morning. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

After her meeting with Janice, Kiara made her way into Portish and headed for Victor's shop. As she approached the shop, the door opened of its own accord, and Victor gave her a little wave.

"Welcome back, Shian." She returned his wave.

"Hey, Victor! It's good to be back." She stepped inside and the door closed behind her.

"I stopped by the estate before coming here, was that your handiwork on the walls and the gate?" He smiled smugly.

"You could tell?" She nodded.

"The intricacy and detail were incredible. Flawless runes, a sense of depth that I normally only get from your artifacts, and the pure size of the project all pointed in your direction." His smile deepened.

"I'm honored by your compliments. I take great pride in my work."

"It shows," she replied.

"I've only ever seen more intricate runes once before." He raised an eyebrow, his smile faltering.

"Oh. Really? Where at?" She was referring to the warp gates, but realized she probably shouldn't have said anything. Those weren't something she could show Victor. He was a friend, but she didn't yet trust him to the same extent that she did Dustin and Zoey. She changed the subject instead.

"I appreciate the upgrades to the estate's defenses, but what prompted it?" He looked a bit disappointed that she wasn't willing to tell him where he'd seen artificing better than his own, but he got over it quickly.

"The Silver Serpent Clan sent a team here while you were gone. They intended to kill some guards and tear the place up. I think Elsa Undril was quite displeased when she found out that you killed Kane." She looked at him.

"And you set up the wards before they could do anything? How did you know they were going to attack us?"

"Ah," he said, clearing his throat.

"I simply happened to be passing by when they attacked the first time, so I put up some manual mana shields to prevent them from entering. I set the enchantments up after they left, to prevent any future attacks in my absence." Kiara realized just how closely they'd skated by. She was suddenly kicking herself for not warping back to Portish once they got the warp gate set up in Lakeshire. She had been gone for too long. It was lucky that Victor had noticed the attackers and been willing to help.

She smiled at him fondly. It sounded like he'd decided to help them out after all.

"I thought you didn't want to get involved?" she asked. He chuckled nervously.

"Yes, that is correct. I would prefer it if Miss Undril never found out about my involvement." That gave Kiara pause. Her danger sense confirmed that Victor was so far above her own strength that she didn't stand a chance against him. If he was afraid of Kane's boss, she probably should be too.

"Has she sent more people to attack the estate since that first time?" Victor shook his head.

"I don't believe so. I've been stopping by your estate occasionally to check the enchantments, and see if they need any recharging, but so far it doesn't appear as if they've been used."

"How long ago did the attack happen?"

"About a month ago," he replied. Kiara mused on that for a moment. That would have been around the time she reached Lakeshire. Why hadn't they sent another team to attack since then? What were they waiting for? If they came back, what should she do? Would killing them in defense of her estate just make Elsa even angrier?

"Hmm. Thanks, Victor, I owe you big for helping us out like that. And thanks for the wards on the estate, can I reimburse you for them?" He shook his head.

"It was my pleasure, Shian." He glanced at the bracelet on her wrist.

"How was your visit with the Duke and the Duchess?" She looked at the bracelet too.

"Honestly, it went great. They both seem very nice. Duchess Esborne did show an inordinate amount of interest in this bracelet, though. Thank you for that, by the way." His face lit up with another smug smile.

"She noticed it?" Kiara snorted out a laugh.

"She more than noticed it. She couldn't take her eyes off it. It was basically the only thing she looked at the whole time we were there."

"Good. Then it did its job." She eyed him.

"Which was?"

"To avoid you receiving any unwanted or unnecessary attention during your trip. Large waves are easily seen from a distance, and you've already made enough of a splash down here as it is, I didn't want…" She narrowed her eyes at him, and he trailed off when he saw her face.

"The duke used almost that exact same phrase about large waves being seen easily from a distance," she said, a bit questioningly. Victor's face paled.

"Ah, did he? Well, uh… it's a fairly common phrase, I guess." He chuckled, trying to sweep it under the rug as a mere coincidence. Kiara could tell he was omitting something, but could also tell that didn't want to talk about it, so she didn't press him.

"Well, thanks anyways," she said. He smiled appreciatively at her having gone along with his obviously-fake cover up explanation, then gave her a small bow.

"My pleasure, Lady Yountal." His use of her formal title revealed that the topic had made him uncomfortable for some reason. She decided to change the subject.

"I promised Jaden that once I got back I'd bring him by to see you. Would you be open to giving him some personalized guidance about his advancement to tier 4? He's been stuck at tier 3 for years now. He feels like he should be able to break through, but hasn't had any success with it." Victor raised his eyebrows.

"Interesting. Yes, bring him by, I'd love to run some tests on him."

"Tests?" she asked hesitantly. He waved his hand to dispel her worries.

"Nothing to worry about. They should shed some light on his situation, maybe give us a clue as to what his roadblocks might be." Kiara shrugged. She would leave it up to Jaden if he wanted to do the 'tests' or not.