16. Building for the Future

Novum felt his coin get warm and since it had been most if not all of a week since the incident it was probably the rider asking him to come and talk to the mayor and the priest. But he walked a short distance and put his hand on his bow just in case. There was not such thing as to paranoid in his opinion. When it was that there were three horses and four riders he was a little surprised. "Fang stable." He spoke just loud enough for the pup to hear and he did as he was told.

The mayor was in the front. "Good morning Novum. I heard that you had a little trouble while I was away."

"Unfortunately that was the case. I assume you are here to get my word under a truth candle."

"That would be correct. There is also one here that would like to ask you a favor."

The woman that was riding behind the guard jumped down from the horse and gave Novum a deep bow. "Sir, my idiot husband was one of the ones out here and the only thing we really had of any value was the horse that he was riding. I understand that under the law of the Duke it is your animal but is there any way that we can come to an agreement?"

"Once I am under the spell of the candle and cleared of this situation you will enter the area of the candle and tell me which horse is yours. When you do that you will be free to take the horse with you. And the guard has the list of stuff that was taken off of each man. You are more than welcome to take back everything that you husband was carrying. I have no desire to hurt anyone in this community. I understand the Duke's law and support it but I will not put a burden on a family for one person's bad choice."

The woman dropped to her knees and wept. Four pings told him that his reputation was changing with these four people. The priest climbed down from his horse and walked closer to him and lit a candle with glyphs written on the sides. It gave off a medicinal aroma but it was not overpowering. <Outside influence detected Willpower check succeeded candle has no affect on you.>

"Did you Novum do anything to incite the men that attacked you?"

"The pervert did not like me because I would not let him touch a little girl in my sight but I had never seen the other four in my life." The candle did not change.

"Novum did you run here hoping to get the men to follow you in order to kill them and take their belongings?"

"No."

"Novum do you know anything about the sixth man that was found recently?"

"I do not know who the sixth man is so I do not know how to answer the question."

"That is itself is an answer. Mayor the church rules in favor of Novum. He did nothing illegal or immoral."

"Thank you Brother Paul. Miss would you please step into the light and identify your family horse."

The woman stepped right up beside the candle and pointed towards the mare that was in heat. "That is my mare right there." The candle held strong.

"Ma'am there might be a small issue with her. Nothing bad." he held up his hand before she could freak out. "It just appears that she is in heat right now and my stallion Noctis may have had his way with her. I did not realize it until it was to late."

"I can't afford a colt."

"Then you have a couple of options. You can take one of the other mare's that is in as good of condition, you can take her and sell the colt when it is born, you can sell her to me right now for a fair price, I know that it is a lot to take in but I just listed a few."

"But who would buy a colt?" All four of the men raised their hands. She had a shocked look on her face.

"Ma'am you have a fine mare there and my Noctis is a prime animal. They should have an amazing colt together. But also keep in mind that winter is getting close and she is going to start eating a lot more for a spring colt."

"Oh I never thought about that. She was a good horse but if you don't mind one of the other mares would probably be better for us right now."

"That is fine. The little black one is quick and spirited and in great shape and the spotted one is a little more mellow and strong as all get out. The other two are not quite as good as yours but still good animals."

"Please I will take the spotted one. If she is more mellow she will be safer around the kids. Not that the black one is dangerous but more likely to have an accident."

"Of course." He looked at the guard. "Did you happen to bring the bridle and stuff for this one?"

"No sir I did not think about it."

"It is fine. Ma'am if you don't mind waiting until tomorrow I will bring it to town for you. The guards or the mayor will inform me of where you live and I will get the proper saddle and bridle for this one as well."

"You would really do that for me?"

"I need some more supplies anyways so I was going to come in the next day or so anyways so it is not even an extra time." Before she could stop herself she ran forward and threw her arms around Novum. She was crying into his chest. He wrapped his arms around her close enough to pat her on the back like an old friend. It was not easy to do since he did not even know her name.

The girl got herself under control and stepped back form him. She wiped her face off a little and then went back to get on the guards horse. The man pulled her up with ease. "Novum since you are coming into town tomorrow can you please stop by? I have a few other things I would like to discuss with you."

"I do not see an issue with that." The four people rode back towards the town without another word. He felt it through the coin when they left the property and he gave Fang a whistle. He tossed him some jerky, "you did a great job being quite Fang. I appreciate it." He was worried that he was spoiling the pup but the amount he was giving him was not enough to curb his appetite. Every time they went to the woods he was finding something to eat. The squirrels and chipmunks had started giving this area a wider birth than they used to. And even though it had only been a week his size looked like it had close to doubled.

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Novum fashioned a bridle out of some light rope that he found and used a heavy rope around her neck just to be safe and led the mare out of the stable with Noctis right beside her. "Fang, I am not going to put you in the house but you need to stay right in the area." He did not watch him he simply made sure the gate was locked and stepped up on the horse and headed for the village.

When he rode up to the gate the guard there stopped him. "We have the bridle and saddle for that horse. We can go ahead and put them on and you can drop the horse off. One of the guards coming off shift lives close and will show you the way. That would be much appreciated." The guards were really quick and he followed the guard quite a way. He figured that this was considered the bad part of the city but he said nothing. The guard was young and probably did not have the money to move out yet.

"Sir, if you head down this alley about half way down there is a broom leaning on the door that is her house."

"Thank you." Novum turned and headed towards the house with the saddled horse right behind him. He was just climbing down when the young woman came out. She gave out a little scream of surprise. "I am sorry. I know it is early but I wanted you to have this as soon as possible."

"Thank you so much sir. You have no idea what this means to us. Can't you wait right here for just a second." Without waiting for an answer she slipped back in the house and came out with a small package. "I know that this isn't a lot but it is a special dagger that my granddaddy had. I hid it from my husband but I want you to have it as a thank you. And I know that you are going to try and say no but please, it is a pride thing."

"Then I will gladly take it and put it to good use. If you don't mind where were you headed this early?"

"Oh I am going to gather up some of the young ones and do lessons."

"That is amazing. Does Three Mines not have a school?"

"A few of us mom's do it. There is a couple in each neighborhood. It is only letters and numbers but it is a start."

"I agree with you all the way. I think it is great. Did you happen to get the rest of the stuff from the mayor yesterday?"

"Yes sir, he gave it to me on the way home. Again thank you for that."

"As long as you got back what was yours I am happy with that. Now I have a lot of things on my plate this morning so I will leave the teaching to you." With a bow of his head he climbed up on Noctis and headed for city hall. There was a new young man standing outside of the mayor's office and he raised an eyebrow when Novum just walked in. "The mayor wanted to see me today. I am Novum."

"Oh Mr. Novum I apologize please come right this way." He opened the door and showed him right in. He slipped back out and before Novum was all the way seated there was a coffee pot and pastries being brought in. "Please take you pick sir. And do you take sugar in your coffee?"

"Easy there. I am more than capable of making my own coffee. I appreciate the offer though." He stood and made his way to the cart and picked something that looked like a donut and made his coffee with a little cream and sugar. "I haven't seen you here before are you new?"

"Oh yes sir. I was hired by the mayor to replace the last book keeper. I am still trying to get some of his methods sorted out."

"You don't have to hide anything from Novum, Peter. He is the one that recommended that I bring in someone else because he was dirty. It appears that you were right about Jim. Apparently he has been shifting the money from multiple city accounts back and forth so much that no one knows how much is missing from where. We know it is missing we are just not sure what. That is one of the reasons that I wanted to talk to you this morning. I have taken the assets from all of the men but one and I am sure you know why that one. And I have frozen the assets of Jim as well. That means until we get everything sorted out I cannot release any of his belongings to you. I am sorry."

"That makes since to me and I am not that concerned about it. When this gets sorted out if there is anything left will that come to me?"

"If there is anything left it will come to you. Now keep in mind that I may have to even sell the house to get back everything he owes or I may be able to just pull it out of his account and all that stuff will be left. I am just not sure."

"If it gets to the point that you have to sell the house and it is not the full value of the house that is needed is there any way that I could pay you the difference and then keep the house?" The mayor looked at his new aid.

"As far as I am to understand in a case like this it is fully up to the adjudicator how things are handled. This would be the most efficient way to settle things. You could auction the house and then give the remaining funds to Mr. Novum so this would only remove a step that you did not feel was necessary, provided that the funds are available."

"So the short answer is yes. If it comes to that we can do it that way. We will have to get to that point but we will see."

"Then could I ask to see the property. If I have no use for it then there is no reason from me to bother and I like to make informed decisions."

"Peter I am going to show Novum to the house please continue with the books and let anyone that shows up know that I will be back shortly."

"You know it was a generous thing you did for that girl and her family. I know of some that would be pushing for me to kick them out of the house and leave them with nothing. But you are not like that are you."

"I believe that everyone is responsible for their own actions and not everyone needs to be painted with the same brush."

"You are a good man Novum." They spent the rest of the walk in silence and finally came up to a very large house, maybe even bigger than city hall but it was all one floor. "This is it. I have the key so lets head on in." When they entered the place was lavishly decorated stuff was there for people to simply look at and given what he had seen of this town it made Novum a little sick and a lot angry.

"You know that this stuff is not going to bring any money here. You will need to box it up and take it to the capitol to sell to make any of the cities money back."

"You may be right but another thing to take into consideration is that if the money in his account is enough then you will have all of this."

"Then I will be boxing it up and taking it to the capitol to sell. I mean I would keep a few pieces and maybe let a few of the locals buy things before I took them but I have no need for the stuff but I want the building."

"May I ask why?"

"How do you feel about a school?"