Chương 4: Chapter 3

Falling snowflakes continued to land on my face as the cool night air blew them about us in a flurry. If it wasn't for the swaddling wrapping me up like a butterfly in its cocoon, I would be freezing. Well, that and the body heat of whomever's chest I was strapped to. But I didn't have time for them or the snowflakes. My mind was consumed with an inconsistency, an irregularity, an anomaly. Some might have found the state of affairs vexing, but not me.

An irregularity meant evidence and since it was related to the Myriad Paths, an opportunity to develop my theory of how the Paths worked. It wasn't like I could just ask someone to answer my many questions after all. Firstly, baby babble was entirely incomprehensible, even to me, an actual baby. Secondly, I didn't speak the language, even if I could make the correct sounds. Finally, telling people I had the Talented Attribute didn't seem wise. People kept secrets for a reason.

You never knew if the person you were talking to was in fact a psychotic demon cultist who would hold a blade to a baby's throat! Yes, I was still mad about that. To calm myself I looked over the notification again. My Achievement had netted me an extra thousand steps on a Basic Stamina Path. For me, that was the Path of Endurance. The extra steps in Stamina were more than welcome. I loved when my numbers went up after all. But the first interesting point was the exact wording. Basic Path.

I knew my Path of Exceptionalism was different, as it jumped to a hundred steps after completing the first Tier, compared with how my Path of Basic Numeracy went to twenty-five steps after the first Tier was completed. Different types of Paths had different thresholds for completion. Made sense to me. It was also the lesser of my two discoveries. Instead of receiving a thousand steps as a reward, I had received exactly one-thousand-two-hundred-and-eighteen. That was a very specific number. Not just a little extra.

Not a flat, rounded number. I'd spent an hour on it before I had finally found the clue. Now, I wasn't certain, but if you divided my Talented Attribute by five, you got exactly twenty-one point eight. Which just so happened to be the exact percentage that my reward had increased by. Coincidence? I think not. It did beg the question, was Talented increasing all of my Path improvements by that same percentage? By all that was good and precious in this world, I hoped so!

The final piece of the puzzle, and this was still a hypothesis, was why my Stats all seemed so high. They had all started at exactly one-hundred, which at face-value seemed impressive, unless of course they represented percentages. Because if I was right, they were spot on. A hundred percent of a baby's strength was honestly not a lot. That was assuming it was even a flat representation.

It could be like my Talented Attribute where a one-hundred percent Talented Attribute represented a twenty-percent increase in Path development speed. I didn't know what I didn't know, but I'd bet I was onto something. With the questions I had answered, and my resistance to sleep crumbling, I once more lapsed into darkness. The next day or so felt like more of the same. Telling the time of day was hard when you couldn't see very far away and the light was constantly dimmed.

I assumed that was due to the clouds above dumping snow down upon us. I woke, they fed me, dripping something that might have been milk onto my lips. Then I endured the embarrassment of them checking my swaddling to see if I had soiled myself. As of yet, I hadn't but it was only a matter of time. Then I was wrapped back up and we were off again. There was almost no talk between my carriers and so little opportunity to improve my Path of Eavesdropping.

I continued to resist sleep, forcing myself to remain awake for longer until that sweet point in my Path of Endurance appeared. Only then would I let the darkness claim me. During my few waking moments, I tried to think of other ideas to pursue for Paths. It would be months before I had the muscles to roll over or crawl, and I was not about to waste that time. As of yet, nothing had worked.

Thankfully, forcing myself to remain awake seemed to be slowly progressing my Path of Willpower, so at least my time wasn't being completely wasted. I would've loved to try and take in more of the world I found myself in, but alas, my terrible baby eyes couldn't see anything. I could barely even move my neck. I knew I was complaining a lot, but though I was born into a new body, my memories of a previous life made the entire thing seem like one long sequence of events.

I had gone from being hale, healthy, and independent to trapped inside this tiny body. Only the numbers going up helped me to keep myself sane. Any time my lack of autonomy started to claw at my mind, I would turn to my Status and look at all the improvements I had made in such a short time. Then, without fuss or fanfare, my surroundings changed. The sense of bouncing movement had stopped; the bite of frigid air against my face and whistling of the wind vanished.

They were replaced by warmth and the muted sound of a breeze rattling some wood. I fought against the drowsiness that inundated me. Fought and failed, drifting into dreams once more.

Halkur walked up the solid wooden steps, his heavy boots muted by the snowdrifts all around him. No one had come out to collect the horses and Halkur had instead tied them up himself inside the shed next to the large building he was now marching into.

"I didn't even know there was an outpost here," Melody whispered, her eyes on the baby as it looked about, blinking slowly. Halkur waited a moment to answer the unspoken question as he pushed open the doors, letting themselves into the warm confines of the building. Two fireplaces roared off to the right, one on either side of a room that looked an awful lot like an inn's floor, with tables and seating enough for thirty people. A stocked bar waited at the back of the room with no one manning it.

"This is the pass used by those who don't want to pay the toll for the southern pass or pay to travel by ship between Ajinport and Helenica. Still, most prefer the main pass or the coastal route, since this one is snowed in for half the year and not nearly as well patrolled. Probably why that cult holed up out here. Doesn't see a lot of traffic. Must've thought they wouldn't get noticed. That said, Ajinport still funds a Warden outpost out here in case of Rift breaks.

Only one Warden at a time though, so that's why the Adventurer's Society has an outpost here as well. One Warden isn't enough to deal with most Rifts out this way. So instead they post the job back in Ajinport and some Guild or another will take it up and send a team. Though, it's been a while… I don't remember the outpost being this big." This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"That would be because it was rebuilt after the fire four years ago," answered a young feminine voice. Next to him, Melody turned away, rocking the baby gently and shielding him from sight. Halkur turned to face the new voice, finding a blue-eyed brunette of average height walking into the main entrance from a side room and taking up residence behind a large standing desk. While the woman's height might have been average, she was anything but.

Halkur had never encountered a nymph, but the young woman before him surely rivalled their famed beauty. One look at her angelic face and he could see how it had all gone so wrong for her. Sometimes, he supposed, beauty truly was a curse.

"You must be Penelope," he greeted, an awkward smile on his face.

"Mind calling for Cornelius? Tell him an old friend has come to visit." Penelope was clearly uncertain, glancing between Halkur and Melody for a few seconds before giving a curt nod. Halkur noted the comfort and quality of the woman's brown boots as she hurried off to find his old friend. He didn't have to wait long before he heard the voice of the man who had once been his mentor.

"What do you mean an old friend? I don't have any friends left, Penny…" Halkur smiled genuinely as the old man entered the foyer and paused. It had been years since he had seen his former mentor and there was more grey now in his black beard than there had been when they had last spoken in Helenica. Still, the old man looked as lively as ever, dressed in warm dark woolen pants and a fur coat that would've served him well up here in these cold and remote mountains.

The thing that struck Halkur the most though was Cornelius's eyes. They were strikingly deep blue and as sharp cut ice.

"You're starting to show your age, old man," Halkur said, greeting Cornelius with open arms.

"And you're meant to be in the far east, delving into the Deeping Caverns. What in the blazes are you doing in the Horndale Mountains, Halkur?" Cornelius replied as he accepted the hug with good grace.

"The Shining Light pulled out at the last minute. Risks were too high and the client wasn't paying enough. We were heading for Helenica when we got asked to handle a priority job. A cult of demon worshippers hiding on the lower slopes of the Horndale." Cornelius nodded, running a hand through his salt and pepper beard, his blue eyes alight with interest.

"And you found what you sought?"

"We did. And more besides." Halkur motioned to Melody who turned around, showing off the bundled up sleeping baby.

"From the cult?" Cornelius asked, surprise in his voice.

"Are you sure it's a baby?"

"I sense no demonic taint on it. Whatever they intended for the child, they failed, or we interrupted them."

"And the cult?" Cornelius demanded, a fire burning in his eyes.

"Cleansed."

"Good. Good…" Cornelius muttered almost as if to himself.

"How old is he?" Halkur, Melody, and Cornelius turned to look at Penelope, who was still waiting by her desk, her blue eyes intent on the baby. Halkur, unsure how to answer, turned to Melody.

"I would venture he's less than a week old, though we can't be certain," answered the Life Mage. Halkur looked from the baby to Cornelius.

"I hate to impose, but I was wondering if you could find a home for the child. I know the community here is small, but I thought perhaps that you might be able to place the baby with one of the families that live here." Cornelius looked uncertain, glancing at the wooden walls with the kind of vacant stare that told Halkur the old man wasn't looking at the walls themselves, but what lay beyond them.

The dozen or so families that chose to live out here in the middle of nowhere, a village so distant that even Dinalby's tax collectors didn't bother visiting.

"Perhaps…perhaps…" Cornelius muttered. Halkur could tell that the old man didn't notice when his daughter slipped out from behind the desk. It was only when Penelope took the swaddled up baby in her arms that the old man finally seemed to become aware. Halkur could see how the old man's eyes softened when he saw his daughter rocking the baby back and forth and staring down at it with big blue eyes.

"Is it a boy or girl?" she asked quietly.

"Boy," Melody answered.

"Does he have a name?"

"None that we know of, and we didn't stop to ask," Halkur said, watching the way the young woman looked at the newborn. Penelope was smiling down at the little baby, the upturn of her lips transforming her from beautiful to radiant.

"You have such beautiful copper hair, little one. I am going to call you…Sebastian," she whispered. Halkur saw how Cornelius's shoulders slumped, the old man accepting the inevitable.

"Yes, my old pupil. I suppose I can help find the boy a home here in the mountains. Especially where I can keep an eye on him and confirm what you have already told me. That he's just an innocent child and not some demonspawn."

"My Skill hasn't failed me yet, old man."

"Are you staying for a bit?" Cornelius asked. Halkur shook his head, focusing on Cornelius as he saw Melody giving Penelope instructions to aid the baby's - no - Sebastian's, recovery from losing so much blood.

"We can't. We only came here because it was the closest settlement nearby and the boy needed care and warmth. We'll spend the next five days riding hard to catch up with the rest of the thrown together team before they reach the gates of Dinalby. Then on to Ajinport." Cornelius nodded.

"Well, if you're in the vicinity again, do drop in. It's nice to know not all my friends and students have deserted me." Halkur nodded, placing a gauntleted hand on the old man's shoulder.

"Between you and me, I would've done the same. While the Adventurer's Society must bow to politics, the Guilds get to keep their integrity, for those that have it. You did the world a favour when you burnt that bastard to a crisp. I'll try to visit on the way to Helenica, but I make no promises." Cornelius nodded again.

"This old man will take what he can get." Halkur followed Cornelius's gaze towards the man's daughter as the woman continued to have eyes only for the child. Then he turned to the door, motioning to Melody. He'd done his part, and the innocent was spared. The notification in the corner of his vision showed that his actions had progressed at least one of his Paths. That was enough to confirm he'd done the right thing. Now the child's life was in the old man and his beautiful daughter's hands.