A eventful return

The next morning it was Kearnen that woke up alone. Jay had already left the tent and prepared a small breakfast.

While warming the stew again, he had time to check on his gains form the last night. Those, other than the fun he had with the small woman that was still silently snoring in the - by then a bit messy - tent.

In the first line he read in his log, Jay learned [Dagger] went up from level 4 to 5, even though hers was only on level four as well. The [Sniping LVL 3] he integrated from Kearnen pushed his own up to the same third level though.

Then he found [Hide] with level 2 that he got from her, but he already had it himself on a higher level. This way it was no surprise his own got not boosted to the next level.

What followed as he scrolled up his log, was [Stalking LVL 2] he got from her, rising his own skill to the same level. The skills description changed a bit to that as Jay checked it, but that didn't matter to him at that point.

That was because of the first skill he integrated from Kearnen:

It was a special skill she had, that showed how very special she herself had been and explained why she was so proud of her sneaking abilities.

It simply was called [Sneak].

The skill boosted the movement speed while using any kind of camouflaging skill or spell. By how much wasn't mentioned, but Jay had a feeling it was a lot.

Done with checking, he closed his system screen just at the moment when he heard movement inside the tent. A couple of seconds later Kearnen came out and slowly walked towards him.

Embracing him from behind, she first tried to peek over his shoulder, but even through standing on a small log, she didn't reach up. The small agent then looked around at the side and into the pot Jay was cooking with.

After they ate their simple but tasty breakfast, some stew and leftover food in the camp, they looked around once more and picked up anything that seemed useful. Kearnen was completely okay with plundering the defeated and told that was something crucial on missions behind enemies lines.

Jay stored it all in his inventory and then summoned his horse.

Once they sat up, he heard her hissing sharply, only to receive an angry glare once he inquired. After her stating that she was sore down there because of a certain someone, he kept quiet and had his mount slowly leave the camp.

It didn't take them long to get back onto the road and only ten minutes later they came across two tents on the wayside. It was the people they freed and as they passed them, they all seemed well.

The soldier on guard duty even waved at them and so they rode on without halting.

The rest of the trip was event-less aside from a little flirting and Kearnen leaning back on Jay for a while. Due to the riding speed slowed down not to hurt her, the trip back took a bit longer than the day before, but around noon they reached the gate of Millshire.

Once they got to the plaza, they hadn't even reached the mansion when they saw Daphne Stillwell run out of the front gate and over towards them. The moment she reached them she started to hastily explain what was up.

It was about Arya.

She had apparently lost consciousness the evening before and they laid her to rest in her bed. But since then she hadn't woken back up and her breathing was as shallow like the moment she passed out.

Even healing magic or potions wouldn't help and she looked more dead than alive.

Kearnen and Jay jumped down from the horse instantly and he rushed inside with both women following him. He directly went to her room and once there, asked them both to wait outside so he could try something without getting interrupted.

As he saw her lying there without any movement, even her breathing invisible, he felt bad not having thought about what might happen when she got transferred. He walked over to her bed and without wait bared her chest.

Different to previously, there was an intricate design directly under her breasts and reaching a bit between them. Jay reached out and first only touched it.

When nothing happened he poured some mana into the tattoo like Klaven had told him and suddenly something like a loading screen appeared before his eyes.

It took a couple of second until the screen changed to an interface in the same design like his System. Looking a bit more precisely he saw it really was his own System and the screen displayed was a sub level of his own character sheet in the status.

Clicking the small tab with his name he landed on his own but switched back to Arya's.

Other than hers, there was no other tab what irritated Jay at first, due to having a couple of slaves by then. But contrary to her, none of them had been an eternal one. Putting those thoughts aside, Jay looked through the options available.

Aside from her displayed Status and skills, even the spells she knew, there were a number of slave-settings.

Though the type line had written eternal slave in it with a small arrow next to it, the whole line was greyed out and couldn't be changed. The same was true for a line further down called transfer slave.

In between there were some settings like preferred language and conversation rights Jay ignored for the time being. He directly scrolled down until he found a line that could have been what he had beenlooking for:

There simply stood -Standby- written in the last line.

As he clicked on it, Jay got only one other option to choose and that was -Active-. The moment he did, the menu closed and Arya inhaled so deep her whole upper body arched back.

Next her eyes opened wide and the first thing she did was scan her surroundings.

When Jay came into her view, she swiftly rose up and embraced him. But he couldn't answer her emotions for the time being. Not before he explained the situation to her and apologized for not being able to free her.

As she noticed his reaction, Arya knew that there was something amiss and inquired.

To that Jay told her everything he learned in the tower and asked for her forgiveness. But she only chuckled to this and stated that if this was all and he wouldn't hinder her in anything, she was completely okay with it as she had already fallen for him.

He then explained that there had been some options and he could hide her slave tattoo if she wanted to, but she declined. Arya stated this was something like a memento, and at least for the time being she wanted to keep it as long as he was gone.

They looked through the other options together, and while Jay read them aloud he saw her face twitch here and there as some of them were too harsh. She didn't bother hiding her chest or asking about him reading the lines, showing how much she came to trust him in those few days.

As for his displayed system sheet, Jay's guess was that normally one had to concentrate on the slave options to get something like an idea in their mind. Even Mortwake had looked like it was really hard imagining what he wanted and then processing it.

For Jay, it was only a simple click.

Done with the settings though not really having changed anything, Jay helped her out of the bed. While she dressed herself properly, he promised to try and install her completely, then visit her again some time in the future once done.

She teased him a bit with his promises, but when she noticed that had really hurt him, she soothed Jay that it was a joke. Arya explained that she somehow had known she couldn't be freed and the outcome was way more than she could have hoped for.

She then leaned to his ear and whispered if they had time left for a little thank you gift.

Jay couldn't hep but laugh to this, and even if there was some reaction in his pants to her offer, they really didn't have the time to.

And that was even ignoring the fact that once they would have started it wouldn't have been a matter of minutes but hours...

As they reached the door of her room, about to leave together, Arya stopped and stated that she wouldn't forget to thank him properly for all he did and would put in some interest depending on how long she had to wait.

As Jay knew what she meant and she had that mischievous expression of hers, the two of them laughed together at that moment. This kept up even as Jay opened the door and the two of them left, completely stunning the people waiting outside.

By that time, Stoutmantle had arrived with his aides and kept waiting as well. After explaining the circumstances, they all left together and went into the main hall.

It was time for Jay to leave the city as his report was awaited in Arathor.

Stoutmantle explained that the captives would get transported later and asked Jay to deliver an order to Sentinel, installing Lieutenant Fiona as commanding officer. He complied though he originally wanted to use a portal once done.

But that gave him another option and told Gyran he would take Marley himself, as well as the other captive.

While he said his goodbyes to the other men, Stoutmantle quickly wrote another order and handed it to Jay.

The farewell with Arya at the front door was a bit more emotional and after he gave her one last short kiss, he whispered something into her ear.

"I'm really sorry, but I have one order to make things easier for you:

Do keep quiet about everything considering the deep part of the mine." J.

He noticed her tense up in the beginning, but as he leaned back he saw Arya wore beaming smile. She knew he only was considerate and did it so she couldn't be questioned.

Done with their goodbyes, Kearnen and Jay left towards the inn. She wanted to accompany him fetch his belongings, even though in Jay's case those were fake. On their way over, Jay joked she had blushed the moment he kissed Arya, to what the agent played pouting.

A bit of truth had been in that though.

Once done they left the inn together and went towards the city gate. It was only there that Kearnen explained she would stay for a few day's longer to see that the transfer of captives went by smooth, so he would have to deliver her report.

Knowing what she really wanted, Jay embraced her as well and planted a deep kiss on those sweet lips of hers. With an honest grin, she said farewell.

But as he had saddled up and barely rode a few yards, Kearnen shouted from behind that once he would go to Therashore Island, he should ask for a letter in the garrison.

Though he had no idea where that place was or when he would go there, Jay understood that this was his way to get in contact with her again.

Shouting back that he would surely do, Jay sped up his horse and got out of sight within a couple of seconds. The trip would take him quite some time, so he directly went full throttle as to reach the gates of Sentinel in daylight if possible.

Of course this goal had been set a bit too high, and the sun already started to set a short time after Jay passed the crossing to Sentinel. He didn't even take a break, only slowed his magic mount to eat something and then sped up again.

But Sentinel didn't even get into view before darkness fell and so Jay had to rely on his (Night Vision) to proceed. In between he thought that he one day really had to learn a bit about summon-able mounts as his own already fascinated him.

If he could find a way to strengthen it, he would try whatever he could to do so.

Late at night he finally reached the closed gates of Sentinel and greeted the soldiers on guard duty. Even though one of them recognized him, they still needed to check his ID and once done he finally could enter the city.

Without stopping, Jay directly went towards the garrison as he had still a couple of things to do this night: First was to meet up with Marley and tell her about his new plans for her.

That happened to pose absolutely no problem as the moment he passed the garrisons gate she came out from he barracks.

After they said hello o each other she explained the soldiers had notified her, so she came to greet him. They then went into the tower where Jay gave the two letters he had on him to the second Lieutenant in charge. The man excused himself and asked if the captive would be fetched the next day as it was night time by then.

After Jay agreed and stated that Marley would pick her up in his stead the man agreed and then escorted them both out.

He had to then check on the orders and send a courier to notify Lieutenant Fiona.

With this done, Jay and Marley left the garrison while latter eyed him curious. The moment they gained some distance to the garrison and he was sure no one eavesdropped, Jay explained to her what was going on.

He offered her to go back to Millshire, better said the mines, and then join Vanessa as she still needs a crew.

The other option was still to join AI:7, but as he thought her to be so free spirited he had wanted to give her that option as it presented itself.

A bit curious as to what might have happened, Marley knew better than to ask him and stated she would think about that.

They had walked towards the Inn during their talk and once close to there, Jay ordered her to find out where his slaves sent to Sentinel had hidden.

He could have simply asked her, but ordering her was to show what would possibly await her if she decided to go to Arathor. Not that he was manipulative…

She demanded about twenty minutes for her search and promised to meet up with him in front of the inn once the time was up. Then she turned around and hurried back up to the garrison.

That speed of hers was nothing to scoff at.

Just for the fun of it and with nothing else to do, Jay went inside the Inn to get a drink. It wasn't that full anymore as it had gotten quite late, so he directly went to the bar.

During a beer there he learned that some of the farmers from the north had already gone back to their respective farms and Sentinel has gotten a bit more quiet again.

In no time the twenty minutes were up and Jay went out of the Inn. He was just in time to see three beautiful figures of completely different size and build walking over to him:

It was Haribelle and Brynna followed by Marley who had found them just like she had promised.

After the two had jumped on him in joy and to say hello, Marley explained the soldiers had noticed them a while ago as they stick out pretty much however they tried to blend in. She then only needed to ask them where they last saw those two and brought them over.

Nodding to her methods, Jay had to ask since when she was so good with the soldiers of the army.

She countered with a sly smile if Jay was envious, but after some seconds with no answer from him she explained that she simply had thought it necessary to get acquainted.

He then turned to Haribelle and Brynna that still held tight to his sides and asked why they so willingly went with her. They answered that she posed no threat and mentioned his name and order, so there was no risk looking if it really was him.

As they finally let go of him, Jay turned to Brynna and told her he had a request. She didn't wait a second to accept it without even knowing what it was.

Jay then took out his completely worn out Wingblade and presented it to her.

After she inspected the blade for some seconds, she stated it was not much of a problem. But for that she needed a smithy and either some Fine Steele to repair it or even Iridium to boost the blade.

Jay then surprised her with asking if she preferred ores or bars, while at the same time Marley stated the smithy was no problem.

With an open mouth, the small but pretty dwarf watched as Jay asked Marley to show her to the smithy after asking if it was the one in the garrison.

Brynna managed press out that she would welcome bars but couldn't even finish her sentence when Jay held two Iridium bars towards her.

She fetched one and stated that it was way more than enough as Marley asked her friendly to follow.

Jay was only able to ask how long it would take and hear at least four hours until the two of them got out of reach. Haribelle then leaned onto his shoulder from the back and whispered smiling into his ear.

"And what are we going to do in the meantime?" H.