The Wanderer's Rebirth: Other Paths

Not having slept at all well, Myra finally decided to just get ready for the day. She washed her face, brushed her hair, then tied it back with a plain red ribbon. She chose her outfit, a standard cut for her [Miko] attire, then wandered into the kitchen.

There wasn’t much she could just grab, but one of the household staff was already there baking their daily bread.

“Good morning young miss,” Linette said, giving her a warm smile.

“Good morning, Linette,” she replied with her own smile. She’d always really liked Linette, even though she still insisted on calling her ‘young miss’.

She continued chatting idly with Linette as she put the bread in the oven, and was anticipating the fresh bread that would soon emerge. As they spoke, she glanced out the window at the back yard, then faltered.

“What’s wrong?” Linette asked, slightly concerned as she moved to see what she’d seen.

It wasn’t easy to see, for the glass wasn’t anywhere near as clear as what she’d seen at Joram’s house- making her realize that the “clear” glass in her home really wasn’t-, but Joram’s figure was hard to mistake, even through cloudy glass.

“Oh, its nothing. I just didn’t expect to see Mr Joram out back,” she said, waving off Linette’s concern.

The fiery redhead gave her a dubious look, but dropped the subject by changing it back to what they’d been talking about. Which, once more, reinforced her affection for the older woman who’d helped take care of her when she was younger.

But Myra didn’t bring up Joram after that, for she was still too… conflicted about him to want to speak about him with anyone else just yet. She was also still very angry at Asami Miki for having told Joram that she had feelings for him. Just how badly had that affected how he viewed her? Never mind that Asami Miki’s claim had been completely false.

No, her feelings for Joram were purely admiration for his intellect and determination. She’d known a few people over the years who’d lost a limb due to accident or combat, and none of them had taken their injury in stride like Joram had. It was pure admiration, that was all.

To think that she’d have feelings for Joram. Pshaw!

“Myra?” Linette said loudly, pulling her out of her ruminations. “Are you OK? Do you need to go back to bed for a bit more? It’s still quite early, after all,” Linette said, looking a bit worried about her.

“No, I was lost in thought, that’s all,” Myra said quickly, not wanting to worry her friend. “Besides, who would ever want to miss the chance at getting bread fresh from the oven?” she asked, practically drooling at the thought.

Linette nodded, understanding full-well just how wonderful fresh-baked bread was, but still didn’t believe her young friend.

* * *

“Teaaaaaaa~~~,” Asami drawled out as she plonked down on one of the cushions in the living room, letting the body pillow land beside her while she cradled the tea biscuits that Joram had left her in her other hand.

“My, Miss Miki, what are you wearing?” the redheaded baker asked, looking a bit scandalized at her attire as Myra followed her out of the kitchen.

“Oh, this?” she asked coyly as she leaned over so that she could sprawl onto the body pillow, plucking at her fabulous top. “Just something that Joram gave me last night,” she said, enjoying their looks.

Especially Myra’s. The ridiculously stubborn girl wasn’t nearly half as honest with herself as she thought she was.

Intrigued, they approached her and asked to feel the fabric, marvelling at how white it was.

Asami graciously allowed them to feel the heavenly fabric, eating up their astonishment and lavish praise of the material. She also quite enjoyed Myra’s warring thoughts surrounding Joram’s “gift” to her. Silly children should just be honest with themselves, and so any added drama-induced stress- and related emotional distress that came from it- was well deserved, in her opinion.

As they were gushing over her “pajamas”, the rest of the household arrived for breakfast. Young Kalduin’s reaction was hilarious, his face going red before quickly turning around to look at the wall. Nalun was more normal, just nodding politely before turning his head slightly so that he wouldn’t have to look at her directly. Celys, though, joined in on the praise of the fabric, eventually finding out that Joram had made it for her.

Which then ignited the woman’s business side, thoughts of incredible wealth flowing through her mind as she started planning how to get more of the fabric from Joram. Asami was even impressed with how much of a share she’d even allocate to Joram for his work, for it rose above her standard three parts in ten that she normally went with.

“Teaaaaaa~~~~,” she said, repeating her earlier need for the stuff so that she could fully enjoy her precious tea biscuits.

That snapped everyone out of their thoughts and delusions, and soon morning tea was prepared and served. She was first, of course. That was only right and proper seeing as how she was the most senior person present.

Happily sipping her tea and nibbling on the biscuits, she continued listening to the Manelle family, both their spoken words and unspoken.

They were truly an interesting bunch.

* * *

Joram came out of his meditation smiling, for he now understood more of what had changed in him. He couldn’t claim credit for everything, though, as Avi had also helped to provide some insights into his changes.

For one, he’d finally managed to fully unlock all of his Shaper “class features”. They weren’t sure what exactly had happened to cause their “release”, but he was nevertheless glad for it.

[Summoner’s Call], [Ectoplasmic Protection], [Maestro of Ectoplasm], and [Astral Ally] had all fully unlocked. What was curious, though, were the changes to what they did compared to what he’d “known” from his gaming days.

For one, the durations of each of those abilities had significantly increased, at least doubling from what they’d been. In others, the durations had changed from “rounds” to tens of minutes, or even hours. Then there was the volume of what he could produce. That had multiplied by at least two from what he could figure out.

Not only that, but the times he could activate limited use abilities like [Ectoplasmic Protection], had increased many times. He suspected that it was tied to his Spirit Attribute, as his current listed modifier matched the “times per day” that he felt he could use that ability.

Not only that, but the number of [Astral Ally]s he could designate had increased to match his Intellect modifier. He also felt that they would be even more… real, if that was the right word for it. Either way, he could have more bodyguards running around, so that was a huge bonus to him.

Feeling more than pretty good, he stretched and then gave the purple vixen a few pets before standing up. He stretched again, then noticed that the six-tailed fox had practically teleported onto his vacated cushion, so he left it there.

Weighing the pros and cons of going back inside, he ultimately decided that doing so would be less of a hassle than not. So, off he went, enjoying the cool morning air as the sun peeked over the horizon, illuminating the tops of the buildings nearby with its morning pastels.

Once inside, he heard everyone talking, so went and joined them in the dining room.

“Good morning,” he said, greeting them as a group instead of trying to do so one person at a time.

“Morn’n,” was the general response as they turned to look at him, though Asami just idly waved in his general direction as she nibbled on her biscuit.

Then the room stopped dead, everyone staring at his right leg. Several heartbeats passed where the only sound to be heard was Asami’s quiet nibbling. Then all hell broke loose.

“What-that-what?!”

“How?!”

“Am I seeing things?”

“…”

The last one was Myra, who was too stunned to speak as she could only stare at his leg, then back up at his face, then his leg, so on and so forth.

It took almost ten minutes to calm them all down, then another twenty to explain things. He didn’t go into detail, for that would have taken months of translations, creating new words for them, and instructions on the basics of anatomy, never mind how long it would have taken to teach them the more advanced stuff.

As it was, he just had to leave it at “because of my innate abilities”.

Asami, though, had probably read his thoughts on his leg long before, so didn’t react the same was as the rest. Instead, she seemed to be happier at the thought of him not needing both arms to walk around. Which, in her head, translated to “Yay! We can now hold hands while walking together!”.

Which got them both a death glare form Myra, and a solid “No” from him. From the minimal reaction of just pouting at him, he suspected that her comment had been more flippant than not, but also aimed at nettling Myra.

He didn’t understand why Asami was picking on the poor girl, but decided to keep out of it. If what Asami had said yesterday was true, then Myra would need to sort things out for herself before he’d even go near that topic with her.

After that, breakfast was had. Once again, it was what he’d call a traditional North American breakfast. Bacon, eggs, bread, sausages, and a fruit spread. Feeling much better, he decided to have more than a token serving, loading up on all of the above.

Once breakfast was finished and the dishes cleared away, Celys brought up her business idea to him.

“If we can get enough of that fabric, it would provide a major boost to Kirkwall’s economy,” she finished, eyes alight with excitement and thoughts of piles of gold.

“I wouldn’t mind helping,” he said, finally able to get a word in edgewise. “But. What I can create is only temporary. They’ll vanish in a day or two. So, sorry to burst your bubble,” he said, glancing over at Asami as she continued snacking on tea and tea biscuits.

Just where does it all go? He wondered in amazement, which got him a glare from Asami.

“Oh,” Celys said, ears physically drooping to show just how sad that made her.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure that the economy will pick up sooner or later,” he said, trying to console the despondent woman.

Surprisingly, it seemed to work, as a few moments later she perked up again.

“Of course,” she said, nodding. “Kirkwall has a lot to offer. We just have to make sure the traders realize that too,” she finished, nodding one more.

After that, he excused himself and headed for the west-side wall again. Asami, though, chose to follow him right away, eliciting several scandalized comments from the Manelle family. Which then resulted in a red jacket being found then put on Asami.

Joram nodded, appreciating the jacket’s ability to fully cover Asami’s assets. It would also reduce the amount of attention he’d get when she followed him around.

Then he was off to the wall, then at the wall, then past the gate and new set of guards, and looking at the looming forest in front of him.

Not wanting to risk being attacked unprepared, he manifested [Inertial ArmourA], then set out to inspect his land.

He was pleased to see that it was as picturesque as he’d hoped. The massive redwoods kept smaller trees from growing under their canopy, but still allowed for a lot of underbrush like grasses and ferns. Mostly ferns, though. That said, there were several different kinds of bushes, some even bearing fruit.

He also noticed that there were a lot of boulders and stones to be seen. It would have certainly made farming here a pain. But for him? It made things easier as he wouldn’t have to source any stone as there was plenty to be had in his four-hundred square acre plot of land.

Then he wondered just how he would know the exact boundaries for his land.

‘Townhall likely has a land surveyor for just that purpose,’ Avi said from beside him.

“Oh, that makes sense,” he agreed, taking in the sight of her again, which got him a huff of annoyance from Asami.

‘Best not look too closely,’ Avi said, winking at him mischievously.

Joram suppressed both a sigh and a blush, turning to studiously inspect a boulder nearby. Then, ignoring both women’s comments, he formed his N7-90, took aim, and shot.

He then approached the boulder and inspected the chipped-off shard, then the boulder.

“I think that moss stone might be more abundant than Celys thinks,” he said, showing the shard to both Asami and Avi.

‘That would certainly help improve the economy here,’ Avi agreed while Asami just shrugged, not particularly invested in economics.

Then, wondering if he could use the stuff for construction, he retrieved his hunting knife and tried to scratch the smooth section of boulder he’d created with his shot. The knife didn’t so much as leave a mark on it, which meant that it was at least harder than steel.

Nodding, he looked around again, this time taking note of how many large boulders he could see. Then he continued his inspection, keeping track of the resources that he could make use of.

He was done just over an hour later, back at the edge of the forest near the western gate, thinking. He could probably use the abundant stone in the area to create his walls and the foundations of any buildings he’d want to make. Heck, he might even be able to build the structures completely out of stone, making them much more resistant to damage. Like from goblins.

He would also need some lumber to at least make the frame for his new house, and for any other building he planned to make. So, he went back to Kirkwall, Asami and skulk in tow. The guards gave him another weird look, but he was getting used to those, so he ignored them and proceeded to the bank.

This time he got even more extreme reactions. The tellers that he’d met before all exclaimed when they saw Asami following along behind him with her skulk. Then they made noise about his “new” leg. After they’d calmed down enough to work, he got to business. Specifically exchanging eight of his Grade C cores so that he could finally buy those last four plots of land.

It still took longer than he would have liked, but he couldn’t bring himself to just up and leave when people were genuinely expressing how glad they were that he was once again whole. It was just hard, as he’d never been used to anyone, let alone a group of people, being so kind to him.

But he eventually escaped by telling them that he needed to go to townhall to finish buying his land.

At townhall, he received similar attention from the staff there. After they’d calmed sufficiently, he presented four gold coins, intent on paying for his reserved lots.

“Thank you for your prompt payment,” the clerk said, smiling. “And because you paid for the reserved lots within a week, you’ll be refunded your reservation fee,” he finished as he swapped the four gold coins out for four silver ones.

Pleasantly surprised at that, Joram tucked away the coins before receiving his new land titles, shaking the man’s hand, then wishing him a great day.

Once outside, Joram heaved a sigh of relief. This was, well not counting his first purchase, the first time he’d owned land. His family back on Earth had owned land, but not him. He’d been too… unreliable to actually go out and buy a place of his own.

Now? He was probably still considered unreliable, but at least he owned his own land now. And given how easy it was to earn money here as compared to back on Earth, he wouldn’t have to worry about getting a nine-to-five job.

Though, he was still interested in learning from the various crafters that Celys had introduced him to when he’d first arrived… just a few days ago. Man, time passed so quickly, but at the same time also felt longer than it had been.

Then he remembered his lumber needs and went back into townhall to see if they guy- he still hadn’t gotten his name!- knew where he could get some.

Which led him to the north side of town, specifically the outside of it. There, he found a smallish lumber yard. Well, small compared to what he was used to seeing back on Earth. Here, it was probably a respectable size when you took into account the size of the community it serviced.

As he approached, he took in deep breaths of the wonderful smell of cut and processed wood. It was different from what he was used to, smelling mostly like cedar instead of spruce or pine. But it was still nice, as it brought back memories of simpler times.

Once inside their office-like store, he met with the foreman and was promptly given a tour of the place as he was also shown the various products that they produced there. There was anything from decorative trim all the way to twelve-by-twelve beams for structural support. That said, there were only two types of wood available, the red stuff from the giant trees, and a dark teak-like wood from the smaller ones they also harvested.

Both were considered hardwoods and fit for structural support. After a bit more questioning, he found out that both woods would darken as they aged. The redwood would deepen in colour until it was a dark wine colour, while the teak-like wood would darken to a very deep and rich brown.

Then the prices came, and he was a bit less happy. For sufficient wood to do what he wanted, it would cost him three gold and twenty-seven silver. Coins, thank goodness.

He thanked the man, assuring him that when he needed to buy, he’d be back to speak with him personally. He then left, seriously contemplating brushing up on [Modify Matter, Greater] to see if he could just get the stuff himself.

Then a thought occurred to him, so he made a slight detour and picked up a few of the teak-like wood shavings and stuffed them into his pocket. All the while smiling like a bandit who’d gotten way with a trunk full of gold.