81. The Manor House 17

Even though they left with the sun apparently the caravan had used up all of its luck on one of the other trips. They had barely started moving when the first wheel gave out and even though they had extra the wagon was one of the heavy ones and had to be unloaded first. Then after the wheel was replaced they had to load it back up. Even with all of the bandits gladly lending their help it still took longer than Novum would have liked.

Without driving the caravan all night there was not way that they would be able to not stop for the night somewhere. He was not worried about it just annoyed. They pushed along and after a short break to rest the animals and let the kids run around they started back as hard as they could push. They had not been back on the trail for long when one of the men with the cattle came riding up.

"Baron one of the cows is giving birth and while she does not appear to be having any trouble that can still effect her in her travels and a calf cannot keep up with us."

"Melissa stop the caravan for a few moments while I try and sort this out." Novum had an idea but he was not sure that it would work. He rode over to Berry and Erica. "Do either of you have a hole?"

They both gave a positive response at the same time. It was hard to make out the words but he knew that they both had one and that was all that mattered.

"I have a cow that is giving birth and I need a portable hole."

Berry looked at him in shock. "Baron there is only a few minutes of air inside of a hole."

"I want to take the goods off of one of the wagons and put them in a hole and then put the two into the wagon for the rest of the trip."

"How are you going to get them in the wagon? I know that you are strong but that is pushing it."

"I am going to lead her into my hole and have someone close it and then put on the wagon and I will lead her out."

"That will cut down on you air by a lot."

"Berry, how long am I going to need to be in there, a few seconds? I could hold my breath that long. I will park the wagon beside the cow open the hole and led her in and then close the hole and someone opens it on the wagon and I lead her out. It will probably take me longer to turn her around that it will to get the hole back open."

"That is true I guess. Who are you going to have using the hole?"

"I figured that it would be you, Crystal or Melissa. I want Erica to have her offensive magic ready in case someone tries something stupid while I am in the hole."

Erica gave him a smile that said that she was ready. But then asked. "what about the knight?"

"I have known him like three days. We have all fought together and Melissa is of a different mindset than most as I am her boss and a noble. She would never knowingly put me in any danger."

Erica gave him a confused look. "But he is a knight?"

"Just because he is a knight does not make him a good person. My very first visit to the capitol I came across a priest that was trying to coerce sex out of a young priestess in order for her to get the assignment that she wanted and a knight was protecting him while he did it. I beat the shit out of both of them and went on about my day."

"Oh, that was you. We heard about that but there was never a name given. Man the church must really hate you."

About that time Crystal walked up. "Actually the church is quite thankful to the Baron for his outing of several corrupted individuals within the church hierarchy. They are also looking into the few higher level priests that were supposed to go and provide religious teachings to the orphans and did not report their conditions. Likely there is going to be a purge of clergy soon. That is not something that a god known as the Protector will tolerate from his followers. But he will allow us to be tested by them."

"So, the higher ups in the church think that the Protector sent Novum to help clean out the bad parts of the church?"

"No, Erica. It is more like he was sent as a reminder that we are not perfect and have no way to know the hearts and minds of our companions. To stay vigilante and protect the people even from the church if necessary."

"Okay, back on topic. Can I use your holes to hold the stuff off the wagon?"

Both of them pulled out their holes and handed them to him without hesitation. He picked one and headed to the wagon and had all of the men that were not on guard to start moving the stuff into the hole and then when the first one was full he opened the second one and they filled it almost all the way as well. It was a good thing that they had the extras or this would have been a lot harder trip.

Novum lit a torch and got the hole ready. The cow was easily being led up to the edge of the hole and then tried to dig her feet in to stop from going into the hole. Two men moved forward to give her a push but before they could Novum gave her a pull and she could not resist his strength in her weakened condition and went into the hole.

Crystal and Berry quickly closed the hole enough that they could move it without issue and put it in the back of the wagon. One of the bandits that were still bound saw the opportunity to get away in that moment and then out of the corner of his eye he saw a flash of fire.

Erica saw the look in the man's eye as he was deciding that he could take a chance to run or try and kill Novum by trapping him in the hole and pulled up her magical energy and created a small ball of fire in the hand so that the man could see it. She raised an eyebrow at him and saw the fear and realization on his face. His shoulders slumped in defeat and his spirit sank a little lower as in that moment his hopes had been as the highest since he was captured. Erica let her magic drain back into the ground and only committed a small amount of her energy to the group.

Berry and Crystal opened up the hole and after another ten second Novum led the cow out of the hole. Once she was in the wagon the hole was closed and Novum jumped out and fasted the walls around her. They would not be enough to stop her if she decided that she really wanted out but they were enough to dissuade her from trying in her current state.

"Okay lets get back on the trail again." He caravan set off at a little slower pace than before but it made slow and steady progress. It was a lot faster than if they had to deal with a birthing cow or a calf so they endured.

They were still half a day from Three Mines when they set up camp again. Given that they were stopping Novum pulled the cow out of the wagon and let her walk around. Within a few minutes the birth was starting. He invited over all of the orphans kids to watch the process if they wanted. A few of them ran over in excitement and a few stayed back thinking it would be disgusting.

It did not take long and the baby calf was out and being liked by the mom. Novum who grew up on a farm in his old life and a few of the hands that dealt with the cattle answered quite a few questions from the kids and a few of them seemed to get even more excited. One young man saw all of the blood and stuff from the birth and went to the side and threw up. A few of the other boys were about to make fun of him when Novum froze them with a look.

Novum put out a few extra guards given the fact that there was fresh blood in the camp and it might attract danger. They all were on high alert but nothing happened during the night. They were all getting up with the sun the next morning when a yell from a guard caught all their attention. "WOLF!"

The guards all went on high alert and the reserves ran towards the yell, this included Novum. Three of the guards were moving towards the wolf that had yet to show any signs of aggression, when a yell stop them. "WAIT!"

Novum walked out in front of them. "Fang, what are you doing here? Huh, buddy. What are you doing all the way down here? Is that part of your morning run now or were you waiting on me? I told you to look after the kids." Fang dropped his head. "Okay, okay it is not a big deal. Let's head back now. It is okay everyone. This is Fang a friend of mine. He slipped out of the manor to wait on me." Everyone looked at the huge wolf in fear even if it was his friend it was still terrifying.

By mid-day the caravan was in the main part of Three Mines and there were several wagons sitting around the area that were not always there. Peter came out. "Baron, you might want to hurry. A noble from the other region came in yesterday looking for someone and reports say that he found them on your manor and it does not look good. None of use could stand up to his title and the men that he brought with him are a lot stronger than normal villagers."

"Thanks Peter. I will take care of it." He just wanted a nap, was that to much to ask.