33. Me?

"I, Rurik Anvilbreaker, offer you my life. Please allow me to accompany you wherever you may go."

<Rurik Anvilbreaker has offer to become your cohort, do you accept.>

"Master dwarf please stand up. And let's talk before we move forward. I am not saying no but I want you to know a little about me before you make a life debt."

"Of course sir. You are right and you should know about me before you make that kind of decision. I am a fighter through and through. I am also proficient in all dwarven crafting arts. As to how I ended up in this situation I was poisoned and knocked out."

"I should make sure that you know that I am not from the capitol. I have a small piece of land in a small town called Three Mines that is a few days from here. I may have some opportunities for you in the area but given your abilities I doubt that you are going to have much of a challenge. Are you still interested?"

"I will follow you to the ends of the realm if you but asked sir."

"Okay then Rurik Anvilbreaker I will accept your offer." When that happened Novum saw a new tab appear on his notification screen and it was the character sheet for Rurik who was now considered his cohort. There was a round of applause from the room and the color quickly rose in Novum's cheeks. Novum jerked his head and the dwarf followed right behind him. He bowed to the Duke. "Your Grace. I apologize for the scene in your hall and I am here as you requested."

"No apologies necessary. This hall was designed for things just like that. And actually that is one of the things that I wanted to talk to you about. Would you please step forward and stand beside Sir Lions." Novum walked up and stood beside Sir Lions right in front of the Duke. "Sir Lions, given your loyal service to me and the capitol and your current holdings it is my pleasure to promote you to the rank of Earl with all responsibilities and privileges with that roll, with the full backing of the king. "

Sir Lions dropped to his knee. "It is an honor to accept this your Grace and I will continue to serve to the best of my abilities for the betterment of the city, region and the kingdom." The clasp that was on his cloak glowed for a few minutes and when the glow stopped it was larger and more ornate.

"Novum, given recent events in this region and your significant contributions it is my honor to award the title of Baron upon you and all responsibilities and privileges that come with that roll with the full backing of the king."

Novum looked at he Duke. "Me?"

Laughter burst out from the group around him. The Duke looked at him. "Novum you have done more for this city in a few days than any of the current barons have done in years. Why is it that Earl Lions jumped all of the current barons and went straight to Earl, he earned it."

"Your Grace I don't even live in the city. I have no idea what a baron is even supposed to do."

"You live in the region and that is enough and as far as the title goes the only thing that is expected of you is the protect and defend the people of the region in times of crisis."

"Then I humbly accept the offer that you have so graciously provided me."

"Okay then please kneel before me, Novum, um what is your surname?"

Novum had never put one on his character sheet and had to think fast. "Astrum sir."

"Then kneel before me Novum Astrum and arise as Baron Novum Astrum and congratulations."

Novum felt the clasp of his cloak getting a little warm and when it cooled off he looed down and realized that it had changed. Once the change was complete he stood to his full height. "Thank you. I will serve the people of this region and this kingdom to the best of my abilities." There was another round of applause and a little color rose to his cheeks again.

The Duke came down off of his dais. "Now that the formalities are over I thought I should come over in person and shake your hand. You saved my land and this region from a very bad situation. I know that you obviously do not care about money since from what I heard you are building a school in your town but I thought that this could help with the burden." Novum looked in the pouch and was surprised to see pieces of paper. "Those are promissory notes. The actual amount of coins in any one city is limited and these can work in place of those. Take them to the bank one or two at a time and they will get you that amount of coin."

"Thank you your Grace."

"There is also one small coin in there. You mentioned not having a place in the city so I think this will work out. This is the deed to a small property with a house and stable maybe big enough for a wagon. It is just enough that you have a place to stay when you come to visit. I have also arranged for the taxes on it for the next year."

"It is too, much. I only did what was right."

"Be that as it may it is still yours. Now that we have sorted that out I am going to go have a long discussion with my nervous mage over there. It appears that you two found something that I need to know about."

Novum gave the Duke a deep bow of his head and then headed over to talk to Earl Lions. "Lord Lions, congratulations."

"And to you as well Baron. I have a small gift for you as well."

"I don't need anything. I was simply doing the right thing."

"And we appreciate it very much. But we still found something that we think you will have a use for." He pulled a set of armor out of a bag and showed it to him. "The armor that you are wearing is good but I feel that this one will be better. And it has a matching shield. The armor has the invulnerable and moderate fire resistance enchantment on them and the shield has the third level spell resistance and the moderate lightning resistance. I think that those two items will be a vast improvement over what you are currently using."

"Lord Lions it is to much."

Aureus moved towards him. "This is the reward for saving my life, are you saying that my life is not worth this much?"

"Lady that is playing dirty and you know that I don't think that. I feel that I was just doing what anyone should have done. That is why I think it is to much." He saw the puppy dog eyes on her face and knew that he was defeated. "Fine Lady I will take them. But this is still not fair. Rurik let's go and check out the property that I was awarded and we can talk while we are there."

"Sir." The dwarf gave him a short bow of his head and moved towards the door to open it for him.

"Baron would you and you associate please join us for dinner tonight? I understand that you plan on leaving in the morning."

"Can I bring two guests? I have another associate that I am escorting to Three Mines and would like to keep her close so that I do not have to go looking for her in the morning."

"That is fine Baron. And the young lady is?" He could tell they were fishing for more information about him and his personal life so he wanted to run.

"A recent graduate of the church and the fiancé of my town's clerk. I am just making sure she gets back safely." Luckily that was all Rachael was or it would have made his life more complicated. If the rumor got out that Rachael was his type every prominent person in this city with a daughter like that would be coming to his door. He had been through a marriage in his old life and he was not looking for another one any time soon. "Thank you for the invite. Will it be at the old house or the new house?"

"We are still transitioning to the new house so it will be at the old house. We will see you this evening."

As they left the building Novum pulled out the new coin as well as a dagger and sliced it across his finger quick and clean. The coin soaked up the blood and he felt the warm energy as the bond formed. "Rurik I am not sure where this property is so we are going to have to meander a bit."

"Lead the way sir." Rurik was right behind him as they walked. As they walked Novum noticed that this area was a lot closer to the Earl's manor that he realized. The coin started getting a little warmer and Novum knew that the Duke had suckered him and the property was going to be way bigger then he realized. Sure enough to came up to a manor house that looked big enough to have a family of a dozen living in it. And the stable had a full training yard with it. It was way bigger than he had a use for at this time.

"This is going to be a pain in the ass." Novum rolled a cigarette and headed for the house. Since he was smoking he shifted towards the stable and he would look at it first. It was big enough that he could start a breeding stable. He shook his head and moved towards the main house. He snuffed his smoke and walked through the front door. The foyer was bigger than his house in the north. The place was even furnished. It was not decorated but it was furnished.

"Okay now that it is just the two of us let me give you a rundown of the house to the north. The area is probably a little bigger than this but the house is tiny compared to this. We will get something worked out for you once we are back. Now the thing that no one but me and the previous owner that died there know is there is a mine on the property. I have not done a full exploration yet since I was just trying to get it livable."

"When we get back hopefully things will have slowed down a little and we can get started on that. So the afternoon before we leave I need you to come with me to the marketplace or anywhere in the city that we need to go and buy enough stuff for a smelter as well as a forge for each of us. I know that you are going to be better at it than I am but I won't get better without practice. Do you brew, ale or spirits?"

"I know how to do both."

"Then get what you need to do both. We do not have to run it all the time but a batch here and there would be great. Especially since all the alcohol comes from the capitol here."

"Stuff here is okay."

"But okay is not good enough for us. I have a wagon already and we can load it up and if I need to I will buy another wagon. I planned on building my own but there is no hurry for that now. Any questions?"

"How are your mining tools?"

"They are high quality but if you know of a place to get something that you think we might need then by all means lead the way. We just need to go by the temple of Joer'ct before we tonight so she is ready to go in the morning. And I would like to slip by the city administrative offices as well. Tell you what you go and pick up what we need and have it delivered to stall twenty and if it can't be delivered we can pick it up in the morning." He handed Rurik a bag of platinum coins. "If you need more let me know."

"I will not disappoint you sir."

"Do not forget that we are having dinner with the Earl tonight."

"I will be there sir."

Novum headed straight for the temple to talk to Rachael. Unlike last time the guard on the door snapped to attention when he walked in. He thought it was a little weird but he quickly pushed it out of his mind. He entered a little further into the temple and a few of the younger priests stopped and gave him a bow. "Excuse me could you please let Rachael know that Novum is here to see her."

"Of course Baron." Novum then realized what the difference was. He needed to find a way to hide the clasp on his cloak. He had a feeling that just changing the clasp or the cloak would not be enough. In no time at all Rachael was coming out. She gave him a bow.

"That is going to get old quick. Rachael we will be leaving in the morning and you are invited to attend dinner with the Earl and his family tonight. If you would like you can go ahead and pack up and come with me now and I will put you up in the inn that I am staying at. My treat of course."

"I am packed and ready Baron. Let me get my bag and I will be ready to go."