Omen: 6, 14

  Adam had traded his loot with the others, before he passed the kurabara ptes to the porters, who thanked him profusely.

  “There’s o thank me for this,” Adam said, chug. ‘Man, I wonder how they’ll respond once I hand them a magical on.’

  Ohey were gone, Adam wondered what they should do. There was a lot of time until the noonval festival, they had a few weeks before they’d really o make their way back to the Iyr.

  “Should we head ba a few days?” Adam asked his panions over lunch. They were all taking it easy after they had spent so long on the road.

  “It is best to rest for a week before we return,” Sir Vonda said.

  “We’ve worked hard so give us a break!” Jaygak pined. “You’re always so eager to work.”

  “Hey! I said a few days, so a week is fine!” Adam grumbled back at the Devilkin. “Sheesh. What’s wrong with me wanting to return back to the Iyr? I just miss my Lanababy so much! I bet she’s even cuter now.”

  “We have brought much to the Iyr,” Jurot said. “I am gd.”

  “Speaking of which…” Adam eyed up the magical daggers which he passed to Brittany. ‘No, no. It’s best that she keep them for now. It’s not like the rest of us hem.’

  Brittany reached for the daggers to return them back to Adam. They hadn’t been useful for her during the Outbreak, so she assumed she o return them now that the danger had passed.

  “Just keep them on you for now,” Adam said, waving his hand dismissively. “I wonder what I should do today…” His eyes fell to Nobby’s rge form. “How about I go pay a visit to your family, see how they’re doing? I’ll tell them all about how heroic you were!”

  Nobby flushed slightly. He didn’t feel he was heroic, but he certainly had felt he had grown stronger.

  “Nobby rages well,” Jurot said. “He possesses the rage of the Rot family now.”

  “Really?” Adam looked to Nobby. It hadn’t been that long, but he supposed Jurot had learnt the Level 3 ability of the Barbariay quickly ohey started adventuring. “Nice! Good job, Nobby!” Adam pat the boy’s arm. “It won’t be long now until you’re an Expert!”

  Nobby flushed deeper. “Yes, mister boss.”

  Ohey had fiheir breakfast, Adam followed Nobby back to his home. A thin woman with long dark hair opehe door, before she smiled at Nobby, and then gnced cautiously towards Adam.

  “Good m, Annie,” Adam greeted. “I hope I’m not b you.”

  “No, not at all,” Nobby’s mother replied, before quickly inviting them in.

  Adam gnced aside to see the young girl peeking from the other room, only seeing her forehead and eyes.

  “Would you like some milk?” Annie asked.

  “Oh, no thank you,” Adam replied. “I just came here to check up on you and tell you how great Nobby was.”

  “Nobby’s told us a little about the Outbreak,” Annie said, pausing. She decided against asking for more.

  “Nobby was brilliant. He’s such a big, strong d. He did really well, proteg another of ours, with his axe and shield. Slew a bear with two heads all by himself.”

  Nobby’s nostrils fred and he smiled, before it disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.

  “Oh my!”

  “He’s doing really well, actually. Jurot says that he’s mao learn the ways ing properly, so he even handle a bit of fire now.”

  “Fire?” Annie asked. “You ’t be walking into fires, Nobby.”

  Adam chuckled. “When he’s angry, he shrug it off properly, ’t you Nobby?”

  “Yes,” Nobby said, havied it the m under Kitool’s guidanbsp;

  “He beat some kurabaras back, lizard like creatures with backs made of stone,” Adam said, before beginning to speak Nobby’s tale, rather quickly as he didn’t want to overstay his wele.

  “Nobby, you didn’t tell us any of that.” Annie rubbed her boy’s back. “Anne, did you hear?”

  “Yes,” the girl replied with her tiny voice, peeking her head out further, staring at Adam in his puthral breastpte.

  “I’ll try a him his own magical on or shield soon,” Adam said. “Nobby brought back fifty gold as part of his bonus, and I’ll send aen gold monthly for this year. I think the Guild has everything sorted until the end of the year, but since he’s doing so well, I’ll double it up for this year. At the end of the year, he may very well be an Expert at the rate we’re w.”

  “Thank you, mister Adam,” Annie replied, awkwardly. “Nobby, thank the good mister.”

  “Thank you, mister boss,” Nobby said.

  “o mention it. Why don’t you stay here with your family and show off to them for a bit. We’ll be leaving in a few days back to the Iyr, but I want you to enjoy your time with your family until then, alright?”

  “Okay, mister boss.”

  “Anne,” Adam called, reag into his pouch. “e here.”

  Anne walked to him, staring up at her refle in his breastpte.

  “Hold out your hand.” The girl held it out, and Adam pced a gold into it. “What do you say when some does something nice for you?”

  “Thank you,” the girl said, quietly.

  Adam smiled. “There we go. Remember, this gold is yold, so no one else spend it, okay?”

  The girl nodded her head. “Okay.”

  The woman wondered if she should speak with Adam, as Remy, her cousin, had said.

  “How old are you?” Adam asked.

  The girl held up her hand.

  “She’s seven,” Annie said.

  “I hear education is ten gold a month?” Adam said.

  “It’s about that much,” Annie firmed.

  “When she begin learning?”

  “There’s a new css beginning each month.” She had heard it from the other mothers.

  “How long will she stay in education before she’s finished?” Adam asked.

  “It’s a year for basic education.”

  “What about for beyond basic education?” Adam asked.

  “I think… I think it’s five years before she learn a proper job.”

  ‘Proper job?’ Adam thought. “Five years. So what, that’s six hundred and fifty gold for the entire education?” Adam tilted his head. “One hundred and thirty for basic, though. If I put her through basic education, will you allow her to work for me for my business?”

  “Your business, mister? I don’t think she’s suited for adventuring.”

  “No, not that business,” Adam said. “It’s a business iure that I’ll be doing. I may need someone who is good with numbers aers, so if I put her through education, I’d like to hire her first.”

  Annie swallowed. “I’ll…” Annie wondered if she o speak with her husband about the matter, but then she recalled her versation with Remy the day before. “As long as she doesn’t go out on dangerous requests like Nobby, then please…”

  “Alright,” Adam said, smiling. “I’ll go to the Guild and they write up the tract. I’ll let them handle everything, if you don’t mind.”

  “N-no, thank you so much,” Annie said. “I’ll tell Ted the good news.”

  “I’ll have the gold and tract ready, so please tell him about it and if you’re both happy with the tract, then please sign it,” Adam said, before making to leave. “Hmm. Though, we might be leaving tomorrow back to the Iyr now that I think about it. Nobby, stay here for today, a us at the Guild tomorrow m, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  Adam returo the Guild to have them mediate with the tract, paying the gold to them. He pced down the gold for the rest of the year, as well as the gold required for a year’s worth of education. The tract was simple, about as simple as Nobby’s tract.

  He’d pay for Anne’s education for a year, and he’d have the ce to hire her first at a disted rate of a wage to pay for the price of education.

  ‘Nobby’s lucky he’s built like a damn auroch, otherwise we wouldn’t have picked up him and showered him in our favour,’ Adam thought. It was mostly due to Jurot’s excitement to train Nobby that he really picked Nobby up, though he supposed he would have eventually tried to cim the young man.

  ‘Now to vince everyoo return to the Iyr so I see my little Lanababy and make tons of gold.’

  When they all met in the evening, Adam gnced between them all. “So…”

  “You want to return back to the Iyr?” Jaygak asked.

  “How did you know?”

  Jaygak smirked. “As if you’d give up so easily at the ce of seeing your little sister.”

  “Please,” Adam said. “I’m poor, so I o make money.”

  “How are you poor?” Jaygak asked. “What did you spend yold on this time?”

  “I paid Nobby’s family a bonus, and I also decided to put his little sister through basic education,” Adam said.

  Jaygak frowned. How was she meant to make fun of that?

  “If you wish to return, we ,” Vonda said.

  “Okay,” Jurot said. He had wished for the extra week, but since Adam wao return so badly, then he’d just hope everything worked properly. ‘I will o speak with Kitool.’

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