118 A banquet invitation

After he went back to the road and summoned his horse, Jay threw the dead guard that got killed by Daphne Stillwell on the mount.

He then saddled up himself and rode on while waving to Kearnen, who was still standing under a fruit tree, goodbye.

The last miles went by quick and without a single halt, so Jay soon got stopped by the guards at the city gate. Seeing one of their companions thrown on the horse behind the saddle, they were about to let Jay ride on without much discussion.

But their leader regained his senses first and checked on the mans constitution as Jay had stated he wanted to get him to treatment as soon as possible.

With one glance the guard leader knew the man on the horse was dead and questioned Jay about it.

Telling the man had been alive not long ago, Jay got ordered to follow the leader to the duchess while the other two guards had to stay on watch. Taking not a single detour, the two arrived before the giant mansion in no time and the guard leader only left after he had told everything he knew to another guard at the mansion, who took Jay in his custody next.

Some other men took their dead companion from the horse that Jay secretly dismissed afterwards.

Getting led through the lobby and from there along some hallways, Jay got directly guided to Lady Brittany's office. He still wore the backpack with the shield he got from Daphne and threw it on the second chair in front of her desk, then sat down on the first one.

The duchess had not arrived yet, but the guard didn't leave Jay out of sight.

A few minutes later a visibly displeased Brittany came in and directly sat down on her comfy chair opposite to Jay. She eyed him top down with a raised brow and finally leaned back.

"So, what happened? My men told me you came back with one of their companions… dead…" B.

"I'm truly sorry My Lady! I rode as fast as I could and last time I checked on him he was still breathing." J.

"Then care to explain what happened?" B.

Hiding his grin as he knew at least the beginning of his plan was working, Jay took the shield from the second chair and laid it on the desk.

Eyeing the shield, then him and again the shield, the duchess asked what that thing was doing on her expensive desk.

She was getting even more displeased as Jay didn't answer directly, but he had to read and dismiss some new notification windows. The last one he had to read twice as it was something her really hadn't expected.

***

Quest:

'The proof of Defeat' cleared!

4100XP

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Level up!

You reached level 20

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Extended Menu Unlocked!

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He really had been tempted to check on that extended menu right then and there but feared he couldn't stain Lady Brittany's patience any more. Leaving checking that for later, Jay looked her directly into his eyes after he put a sorrowful expression on his face.

"This, my Lady, is that cursed Stillwell's shield… We… I would have loved to deliver you her head, but there was no chance." J.

"So you're telling me you single-handedly defeated her and expect me to believe you?" B.

"No, you're mistaken Lady Brittany! There's no way I could have done that alone…" J.

"Then tell the whole story, in detail please!" B.

"I rode towards the place you explained to me yesterday morning. Because the weather was nice I didn't hurry through the plantations and…" J.

"NOT THAT DETAILED!" B.

"Oh… okay… I took a break at the ruins I saw close to the crossroad later. As I finally arrived at that woman's hideout I heard sounds of a fight.

Had I known you already sent a group there I would have joined them of course!

Two of the soldiers were still engaging her, but one was severely wounded and for the other man, any hope was lost. I jumped from my horse and pulled the wounded man away from the fight…" J.

"Was that the man you brought back with you?" B.

"No, unfortunately not. As I couldn't help him any more than with some bandages I had on me, I joined the fight.

If I remember correctly the soldier with the big sword attacked first but had his weapon blocked, then I stepped in but had to dodge a slash from Stillwell. After…" J.

"I get you remember the fight and it surely must have been heroic. I would love to hear more of it, but I'm a bit short on time.

Tonight we have a small banquet and if you would come to visit, I would like you to tell me the rest of it, but what about the outcome for now?" B.

"As you wish, my Lady. The result was the one who attacked first fell first. If you know the location you can imagine how high the cliff there is.

As I was the last offensive fighter standing, your last man guarded me and after she attacked him with her shield again, he grabbed it and together we managed to defeat her. Unfortunately she fell down the cliff then, so I really couldn't bring back anymore proof other that her shield your man had been grabbing until the end." J.

"Hmm… What about the other man you saved?" B.

"The fight took long. Longer than expected and too long for him. As we left the place were we fought and checked on that man, he was already dead and it had gotten night when we left.

Though we hurried as much as possible, that was for naught as well…" J.

"So you rode back at night with my guard?" B.

"The whole night, yes my Lady…" J.

"I have to get ready now as I don't plan on having my guests waiting for me.

As for your reward, we'll talk about that later today. Dismissed!" B.

"Thank you for the invitation again!" J.

Jay had to suppress an evil grin as he rose from his chair and turned around to leave. While the duchess seemed not to believe him completely, he by then at least had gotten a bit closer to her and his goal to enter the mines.

Leaving the mansion through the front gate and passing a few confused looking guards, Jay crossed the big plaza and entered the inn. Without even thinking about getting some breakfast he went up and into his room. Kearnen was already waiting for him there like they had planned on their meeting in the plantation.

After he narrated the meeting with the duchess, they both came to the same conclusion:

Their bet was on her having to report the situation to the ones behind everything and receive orders what to do next. There was no other reason why she could have reacted that way.

Following a short discussion on how to go on, Kearnen stood up and was about to leave. She was planning to get herself an invitation to the banquet that night as well.

If trouble arose they would have more chances to leave there alive together.

"Hey, before you leave: Do you know where the hell Marley is?" J.

"Oh, that… I got rid of her!" K.

With wide open eyes and visibly shocked, Jay looked at the agent.

A second later he felt rage well up in him and took a step in her direction. Kearnen saw his reaction and held up her hands and took a step back as she noticed he poorly chosen words.

"He-Hey… I should correct my words. I had sent her to sentinel with a letter to deliver to Stoutmantle.

I thought that was what you wanted." K.

"Then say it that way directly...geez!" J.

"Hehe… I think she'll be doing pretty good with the AI7 once I take her there with me, if you still want that." K.

"So you contacted them?" J.

"No way I did, but it shouldn't be a problem. Not a thing I can say about your clothes though…

You'll need something better for this night!" K.

"I was planning to keep my adventurer image…" J.

"No way! There's a tailor in this city and I advise you to go there.

Getting your measurement taken might help you later on, and you should try to give a better impression on yourself with fine and fitting clothes." K.

"How the hell will getting measures taken hel...p.. me?" J.

As he finished his reply the door had long shut behind Kearnen and the agent was gone. Looking down on himself, Jay noticed she was right with what she said.

There was no way he could go to a banquet with his simple clothes or the armor he was wearing. All the more without getting it thoroughly cleaned after his day of hunting bandits in the mountains.

Changing into his best clothes he had, a silken shirt and a fine leather pant, Jay left his room and went down to the dining hall. It was still to early for lunch, so he only asked the innkeeper for the location of the tailor.

The shop was at the main road and Jay must have passed it more than once until then without noticing.

Fineas' fine Robes was written on the signboard over the entrance. Entering without wait, Jay was greeted by a middle aged man wearing a suit and a frilly shirt.

With a harsh voice the man inquired what he wanted after looking at him top down.

Stating his wish to get a set of new clothes for tonights banquet, Fineas led him to the back of the store.

Jay had appraised the man while he got looked at and learned that he really had the tailor job and was even pretty good at it. Asking Jay to undo his shirt and pant, Fineas first used a small stool so he could take the measures of his upper body. Scribbling them into a notebook, he had Jay stand on a small pedestal to take the lower dimensions.

As he reached the ankles he looked up and Jay saw the man's eyes go round. He knew exactly where he was looking at and Jay was a bit vexed he didn't wore a tighter short but one with wide legs.

With his notes in hands, the tailor asked him to wait and vanished between some shelves and displays.

A few moments later he came back with a big stack of clothes in his arms. It took some time to put on and check the clothes, only to find out the second set was the only one at least partially fitting.

Looking at himself in the three mirrors surrounding him, Jay eyed his looks for this evening. The first thing was a light blue shirt with loose cut along the arms and only a high standing collar. He was glad it was at least not one with frills like Fineas wore.

Other than that, he wore a dark blue trouser with fine golden embroidery along the seams and a matching vest that was still pretty loose.

Jay would get the clothes delivered to the inn a few hours later that day as the tailor had to fit them first. Ten minutes after he learned this they were done marking out the set and went to the counter for payment.

A whopping six gold was what Fineas demanded for the set.

Without much choice Jay paid the hefty amount though he knew he was getting ripped off. He had seen the tailor had the matching skills for this kind of business beforehand but still ordered the clothes.

Leaving the shop he noted to himself to never again do business with someone who had higher haggling skills than him if possible.

Back at the inn, Jay finally got something to eat.

The early breakfast had been hours ago and he was quite hungry by then. During the lonely meal he at least had the chance to look at his systems menu and how it had changed.

There was no difference to how it looked, but the most prominent change were one of the two previously unreadable options was now visible.

Menu

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*Status*

*Inventory*

*Settings*

*???*

*Quest Log*

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A quest log was added and as he chose it, Jay got displayed all his pending quests in a list. Though it seemed helpful, it wasn't like he had too many Quests and lost the overview on them.

The displayed progress as he selected a quest though was a nice gimmick.

While eating his lunch, a bowl of stew similar to the one he himself made at Alexston's Farm back then but less tasty, Jay searched through the other options for changes.

He found a really useful one in the Settings after a while. It enabled him to have a mini map displayed in his field of view.

Selecting it and switching on the quick buttons and target selection, it really looked to him like some virtual reality game from his old life.

Just much more real…

Another change of note was the way his status was displayed. It had gotten separated to different pages he could choose by index tabs at the bottom. While the last one displayed his skills and abilities like before, something he had wished would have changed somehow, the first page had changed drastically.

It was the one showing his status and the items he wore currently. While the small picture of him in the middle had gotten a little clearer, his gear was displayed with small icons to its sides. Below that was a list of his status and the distribute-able status points left on the left side.

On the right was small button at the top and defense written next to it. Listed below was Jay's chance to dodge, parry or block an attack, as well as his armor. Though latter was close to zero, the other ratings were all at over 90% for opponents of his level.

The last tab in his status that was by far the most irritating though.

It was named Followers and as he clicked on it, Jay nearly spat the last spoon of stew over the table.

In the window displayed were a list of names he knew, as well as the type of connection they had:

Aidra - (Slave)

Mia - (Lover)

Alexis - (Lover)

Thalia - (Slave)

Aletta - (Devotee)

Lily - (Slave)

Kathariel - (???)

Sybill - (???)

Kylie - (Affair)

Sabina - (Slave)

Marley - (Slave)

Brynna - (Slave)

Haribelle - (Slave)

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Black Horse - (Mount)

Closing the screen and sorting his thoughts, Jay left the dining hall to rest a bit in his room. He dearly needed it after the last night and what he just read.

Especially the two women with the question marks irritated him. And of course the affair thing with Kylie...