The Saint Reaffirms his Goals

*Note from mattmallow before we begin: Hello folks, long time for both you and me. If you’re just joining there was a large gap between this chapter and the previous. I don’t take much in the way of notes. The only things I made note of was the money. It appears I was really invested in the economics of this story more than the story itself. Anyway, I’ve re-read what I wrote and I can kind of remember some of what I had in store… let’s treat this next part as a soft reboot in that if some of the continuity is a little wonky we’ll just forgive it, right? Thank you and I hope you enjoy the NEW continuing adventure of The New Saint!*

EPISODE 8.5: The Saint Reaffirms His Goal

They’d finally gotten their financial situation taken care of and could seal the deal on the Ghost Tower, or as Merlin liked to think of it, their new home!

After their talk with Mrs. Ruth and Carrolly last night they had a much deeper understanding of Cecilia’s circumstances. It was certain they would run into her again at some point. The most useful bits of information they gained were less about Cecilia and more about the surrounding countries.

To the west was Dugry, the desert country and the second largest out of the 18 others situated on this continent. Below Feivel and southeast of Dugry lies Qualley, equally dry but bordering the sea making it a thriving trading hub. To the north is Aurora the largest country on the continent. It’s also home to the largest concentration of beastfolk and one of only 4 countries that don’t use the common tongue. People also refer to it as Beast Country. Mrs. Carrolly also mentioned as nation of religious zealots on the western edge of the continent called Mortalis.

As for the story of Cecilia’s mother and her party… well, Merlin and company would have to ruminate on that for a bit longer, in the meantime they had a building to buy!

The very next morning, Merlin threw off his covers, got dressed and rushed out the door. He zig-zagged through the town as fast as he could which wasn’t actually his top speed, he didn’t want to take a chance of bumping into and injuring anyone.

He reached the guild just as they opened the doors. The guild locked it’s doors at 11:30 and opened at 6:30 when the sun was just rising over the buildings. However, it was common knowledge that there was always a staff member on-call at the guild even during their off-hours in case of emergency. It would still be rude arrive any earlier than opening as much as Merlin wanted to.

Time elapsed as Merlin stood outside the guild, the nighttime’s shadows were chased out as the sun rose into the sky. He knew he shouldn’t try and barge in as that would be rude, but he hoped to be back at the inn before Lila and Cate woke up. Another indeterminate amount of time passed by, other adventurers had started to gather, in fact it was the party who was having trouble choosing a name when Merlin first registered.

“This is strange isn’t it?” The one who appeared to be the leader whispered to his party mate.

“So this hasn’t happened before?” Merlin asked curiously.

“We grew up around here and this is the first time they’ve ever been more than five minutes late opening doors.”

“Mrs. Rashelle is always punctual when on duty and she should be there.” Said the party member.

“Do you think something’s happened?” Merlin gazed concerningly at the doors.

“Did you kids hear about the coup?” Asked an onlooker who had been listening in.

Merlin had been there when the news had broken, so he was aware. It was stupid of him to think that it wouldn’t impact guild business considering how intertwined they were with the government.

The adventurer party shook their heads.

“Lord Payne led an attack on King Fellhurst’s castle at the behest of his son. There’ll be a council of the Five Kings to debate his claim and in all likelihood induct the prince as one of the Five. Chances are the guild won’t be opening today.”

The onlooker went on his way.

“Shit! We finally decided on a name.”

“Awesome what is it?” Merlin was excited to know.

“Gingerbread”

Merlin was incredibly let down by the name, he wanted something epic, but it was their choice.

“Why?”

“Since you’re new, you probably don’t know the story but we’re actually pretty famous around these parts. I’m Hanson, the party leader, and this is my sister Greta, and our buddies Christopher, Otis, and Vel.”

Hanson went on to describe a harrowing adventure about a witch who was abducting children with magical potential in order to forcibly create a Grim Stone. She lured them in with illusion magic making them think they’d wandered into a wonderland of sweets presided over by a lovely old lady, but once the kids were contentedly asleep she’d drain them of their magic and collect their souls.

Greta and Vel had almost become victims, but Hanson who’d already found a Grim Stone was able to track them down and kill the witch.

“And the combined energy of the witch and the souls were collected by her grimoire and the grimoire chose my sister. The grim stone evolved and my sister ate it.”

Grimoire were alive in their own way and could home in on those most compatible with their power, but more importantly those who could hone it and make it even more powerful. Grimoires could also “die” and be born, but the exact circumstances that contributed to either of those scenarios was still unclear.

“That sounds like a harrowing tale. You all must have been scared. How long ago was this?”

“Four years ago. I was fifteen and my sister was thirteen.”

“Wow! So cool.”

“Yeah!” Hanson puffed out his chest with pride, “When we beat that witch, that moment we decided to become adventurers and beat down any evil-doers we came across.”

“How heroic!” Merlin was blown away by their tenacity, though Greta seemed less enthused than the rest. She kept her eyes fixed to the ground.

Merlin personally believed an adventurer should be in it for the adventure aspect but there were certainly bound to be far more who were in it for moral reasons, or money, or fame, and none of those were inherently bad as long as you had the steadfastness and strength to prove you were deserving of those things.

It was unclear exactly what power each of Gingerbread’s members possessed but he could judge who was the most powerful. He locked onto Greta. Hanson had some power but he was the 2nd weakest. Vel had no Grim Stone and he wasn’t sure Hanson did either, despite what he said. Otis and Christopher were about equal. In his short time and limited experience with Grim Stones he’d come to be able to distinguish the aura they gave off, and Greta’s aura was among the most potent he’d yet come across. Listing in order from strongest to weakest it would have been: Kelso, Isaiah, Greta, Rashelle, Renee, Ruth, Carrolly. Cecilia didn’t have a Grim Stone as she used the Water Dragon mana stone to create a similar effect. He also wasn’t sure Captain Phoenix had one despite Isaiah mentioning how strong he was.

There were many kinds of power in this world. There was no single route to becoming strong and all of them had their own pros and cons. Assimilating artifacts, ingesting potions, prayer, pacts, spells, blessings, and then there was Merlin the anomaly, or more accurately, he was an experiment. The church of Eden had been treating him with all of those things since he’d been born. It was common knowledge on the mainland that once you chose a path you could not abandon it for another but that common sense hadn’t made it to Eden and yet somehow he’d survived and even thrived. He’d gotten away from his stone prison met Lila and Cate and started the journey he’d always dreamed of. He would carry on the Story of Leopold and become the ideal adventurer that these people could look up to.