Chương 23: Chapter 22 - Enchanted Weapon

The next morning, she had a hearty breakfast before she made her way to the estate. As she entered the estate grounds, she was surprised to find quite a few people walking along the path from the gate up to the main house. Her surprise only deepened as she made her way in through the front door to find a line of people waiting patiently in the foyer.

The foyer had a central, grand staircase leading up to the second floor, directly across from the entry doors, with a large receiving room for guests to the right and a hallway to the left that led to the kitchens, dining area, and staff quarters. A pair of guards was stationed at the base of the stairway, and another pair prevented anyone from going down the hallway to the left. The line appeared to work its way into the guest receiving room to the right.

"Hey, the line starts back there!" One of the people called out as she walked past. She ignored them, and worked her way to the front of the line. Inside the large guest receiving room, the line ended at another pair of guards, who stopped her from entering further.

"Sorry ma'am, but you'll have to wait in line like everyone else."

"What is all this?" She asked as politely as she could, trying to mask the annoyance at being kept out of her own house. Then she had a sudden realization. Was it her house? If Dustin had indeed skipped town, then she might be intruding on someone else's property.

"Job interviews," the guard replied, "aren't you here for the listing?" Just then, a door opened at the end of the receiving room. A young woman exited, a nervous smile on her face. Dustin came out behind her, and called, "next!" The guards let the next person in line through, but gave Kiara a fierce glare when she tried to follow them. They held a hand up in her face to make it clear she wasn't meant to go past this point, and she stopped abruptly.

"Ah, Lady Shian!" Dustin called when he saw her. He rushed over.

"Alfred, Ned, this is Lady Shian, the lady of the house," he explained to the guards. They both blushed and bowed low.

"Sorry, ma'am, we had no idea!"

"Just doing our job ma'am, please forgive the oversight!" She rolled her eyes. Dustin tried to alleviate their fears, "No worries, gents, you're doing a wonderful job, keep it up." Pulling her by the arm, he gently guided her toward the room at the far end, where the next interview candidate was waiting for them.

"I assume you wish to help choose the estate staff?" Did she? Probably not, but she decided to sit through one interview, just to see how it worked. It was even more boring than she had imagined. Dustin went through a standard set of questions, designed to help understand the person's background, work experience, and pay expectations. It all seemed like a giant waste of time to her. After the candidate left, she spoke up.

"Well, that was…"

"Exciting, right?" Dustin chimed in with a smile on his face.

"Hmmm. If you say so… When can we discuss more important matters though?"

"This is important," Dustin countered.

"Tonight, let's talk about what our next steps are in regards to Lord Grivalt, but for now we need to focus on getting the estate running smoothly. We need to establish our house image here in Easton before we can do anything else." Kiara groaned.

"I'd literally rather do anything else right now, instead of what you're doing. Can you take care of this on your own? It looks like you have things under control." Dustin nodded.

"Of course! You're the lady of the house, I wouldn't expect you to do anything you don't wish to do." He secretly looked a bit disappointed that she didn't find this as fun as he did.

"Great!" she said, standing. He could be disappointed all he wanted, as long as he took care of… whatever this was.

"I'll be back after dinner. I'm going to take a look around Easton."

"Wait!" he called as she turned to leave. She turned back with a questioning look on her face.

"Take a pair of guards with you," he said.

"Uh… nah, I'm fine." He rolled his eyes.

"I know you're fine, that's not the point of the guards. It's a status symbol.

"We need to start presenting a specific image. Word spreads fast; I'm sure news of this estate being sold has already reached more ears than we'd like. Anytime we're seen in public from here on out, we are projecting an image, whether we want to or not. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"Someone of your station should travel with guards. And ideally with a carriage, but we don't have one of those yet. Speaking of which, why don't you buy a carriage while you're in town?" She considered what he was saying, then nodded.

"And leave the sword here," Dustin admonished.

"The guards should be enough of a presence to discourage anyone from messing with you, and a lady of a wealthy house doesn't generally carry a weapon in public." She pursed her lips in annoyance, but ultimately agreed to give it a shot. Dustin had a word with Alfred and Ned as they left the room, and Ned accompanied Kiara back to the foyer. One of the two guards from the stairs joined up with them, a middle aged woman named Jennifer.

As they walked from the estate grounds into the city proper, Ned and Jennifer explained that they were temporary mercenaries, hired for the day to help maintain order in the house. Kiara had been to Easton a few times growing up, but this was the first time she had the money to really explore the shops in earnest. She took Dustin's advice to heart, and started by finding a place that sold carriages. She ended up purchasing one of the nicer ones that appealed to her visually.

It was made of polished wood, and had gentle flowing decorative lines of silver on the edges. It really was a beautiful carriage, and large enough to hold four people. The carriage salesman also sold them a pair of horses and helped outfit them with everything they needed to pull the carriage. Jennifer drove them around for the rest of the day, while Ned accompanied Kiara into the other shops.

He generally waited outside each shop she went inside, and only stepped inside one time, when a pair of burly men entered the shop ahead of them. Kiara appreciated the thought, but wondered how effective Ned would be at protecting her, should the need arise. She didn't expect the two burly men to do anything, she just felt a bit exposed without her sword slung across her back. Now that she'd got used to wearing it for the past month, and had trained with it so often, she missed having it.

As she watched the other wealthy clientele in the shops she visited, most of the gentlemen carried a shortsword on their waist, while most of the ladies appeared unarmed. However, some of the ladies did carry a dagger or large knife on their waist. She wondered at the discrepancy, but figured carrying a dagger in public would suit her just fine. She decided to find the nearest artifact shop, and see what kinds of enchanted weapons they had for sale.

As she entered the shop, she noticed that Ned came inside this one as well, even though there wasn't anyone else inside. For the first time that day, his focus drifted away from her well-being, and onto the weapons instead. She smirked. She couldn't blame him. As usual, there were no price tags, and no descriptions of any of the items on the shelves, which was becoming a pet peeve of hers. How was she supposed to shop if she didn't know what she was looking at? She made her way to the clerk at the counter.

"What kinds of enchanted weapons do you carry? I'm especially interested in a dagger or large knife that would be suitable for a lady of some standing to carry in public." The clerk nodded knowingly. He had a large hooked nose, blue eyes, and a full head of hair. A rather impressive amount of hair, now that Kiara paid more attention to it. She wondered how he kept it so immaculately styled. The clerk led her to the wall of enchanted blades, and pulled down a small knife, only a few inches in length.

"Something discreet like this?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. Kiara shook her head and pointed to a sword about the same length as the one she already owned.

"I've only trained with a sword this size before, so longer is probably better. Maybe a dagger of some kind?" Ned perked up from where he was looking at weapons nearby at the mention of her sword training. The clerk nodded and pulled down a dagger with a twelve inch blade. It had a definite feminine look to it, with a sleek and slender blade, and gentle curves on the crossguard. The sheath was ornate, rendering the dagger as much a fashion piece as it was a weapon.

"This is a wise choice in that case, my lady. We do carry longer blades, obviously, but anything longer than this might draw undue attention for a lady of your standing." She took the dagger and moved her arm around to get a feel for it. It was much smaller and lighter than she was used to, but would do in a pinch.

"What are the enchantments on this particular dagger?"

"Standard durability and sharpness enchantments," the clerk replied, as he pointed to some runes engraved along the length of the flat part of the blade.

"We also offer custom blade designs and enchantments of your choosing, if you wish." She furrowed her eyebrows as she studied the runes on the blade. They looked like nonsense to her.

"How do durability and sharpness enchantments work, exactly?"

"Well," the clerk explained, "any force that would normally be applied to the blade itself will instead be absorbed by the enchantments that protect the blade. They keep your blade in pristine condition, removing the need to sharpen the blade, and ensuring it won't break under normal use. We also offer recharging services here if needed, once the mana fueling the enchantments runs low." She nodded in appreciation.

"How long does it last in between recharges?" She knew her ring only lasted 3 months.

"It depends on usage," the clerk responded helpfully.

"The runes maintain the enchantment at a very low maintenance cost, and the real drain only happens when the blade is placed under stress. Assuming the blade is never used, the enchantment can last for years in between recharges."

"How much does it cost to purchase it?" she asked.

"We offer this same dagger with different levels of mana imbuement, as it is a popular choice. We have options for 8 gold, 16 gold, and 32 gold. And of course, as stated, we can do any kind of custom enchantment that your ladyship wishes." Kiara wasn't really sure how good of a deal any of those options were, but she liked the dagger. It was beautiful, and it felt nice in her hand.

"I'll take one of the 32 gold options," she declared after a moment of thought.

"I'd also like one of these," she said, pointing to a sword about the size of the one she had trained with so far.

"Do these come in 32 gold options?" The clerk smiled and nodded.

"Of course, my lady. That sword shares the same durability and sharpness enchantments as the dagger you've selected, and we do offer the 32 gold option. Is there anything else you'd like to see?"

"I'd like to buy a larger storage ring," she said, looking down at the one she was wearing.

"This one is too small. I'd actually like to buy two, as large as they come. One can be flashy, but the other should be a simple silver band to avoid drawing attention. Also, do you have any orbs that light up at night?" The clerk's smile widened the more she spoke.

"We can get two custom storage rings designed to your specifications, and they should be ready within a month. And yes, we do have light orbs here, ma'am!" Her eyes lit up as she turned from the wall of weapons to the other items in the store.

"Also, tell me about a few of these other things! What are the coolest items you carry?"