Chapter 69 – The Varsen Estate

Sophia’s carriage pulled to a stop at a pair of fancy iron gates, the metal of which was woven into an intricate pattern of flowers and swords. Several guards in armour matching those that stood guard outside the back of the Red Den stood at the sides of the gates keeping watch and immediately jumped into action to open said gates at the sight of the carriage.

Once the gates were opened, the carriage was slowly pulled past them, down a short gravel path that led to a large brick house surrounded by several ancillary buildings, including a stable where the carriage would no doubt be kept whenever it wasn’t in use. The house itself, though, was very clearly the main attraction, as much of the surrounding garden and grass were landscaped in such a way as to accent it.

At a glance, it was clear that the brick building was quite old and although much of its construction was quite faded and worn from time, there were signs of some parts of the brickwork being newer than others, but only relatively so. At first, I wondered if they had done some renovations to the manor at the heart of their estate a few years ago, but then I remembered what happened to Damien and Sophia’s father a couple of decades ago. Instead of renovation, the newer brickwork had the look of repairs, as if their home had taken significant damage during Damien’s fight with the reaper that killed his father.

As I came to this realisation, stepping out of the carriage and following after Sophia, I inwardly gave thanks that I didn’t ask about the newer brickwork in my ignorance. No doubt, that subject wasn’t one this family was not very fond of talking about. That said, talking about things tangentially related to that was actually why we came here.

Speaking of which, it was to that end that Sophia led us towards the manor house, away from the carriage. Before we could get in the door, though, several maids and butlers came out and fussed over all of us. Several of the women gave me and the ill-fitting clothes that I was wearing odd looks but didn’t say anything directly to me. Instead, they just whispered something to Sophia, to which she nodded and gave them discreet directions before turning back to us.

"Unless you have any other plans for your time in the city, I would love it if you stayed here on the estate grounds with me, where I can keep you all protected."

"Yeah, that sounds good to me. I hope we won’t be too much of a burden on you." I responded more out of politeness than actual worry about being a burden, since given how wealthy she was, I doubled our presence wouldn't be much of a strain on her.

"And this is the best place to wait for Dad to find us since it's probably the first place he will look," Vel added in, showing her agreement with the idea.

"Fantastic!" Sophia beamed a big happy smile. "Then my staff will take your belongings to your rooms and send for some more suitable clothes for someone of your status and association."

Even if we wanted to argue and resist, which I didn’t since the idea of better-fitting clothing was absolutely amazing to me, the maids kicked into action before we could say a word, taking the backpack away from us, along with Vel’s staff and my dagger. The dagger was what I was more hesitant to part with, as without it I had no way of defending myself, but that concern was quickly put to the side when Saph let out a gurgle of confusion.

All of us turned our attention to the blue slime beside us, who was wobbling definitely, as one of the made was trying to grab onto one of their tentacles and lead them away like one would lead a small child.

"What is she doing with Saph?" Vel spoke up defensively.

"My apologies I probably should have mentioned that first, but there is no need for you or Saph to worry." Sophia bowed her head apologetic towards both the young elven woman and her slime. "The estate houses a small pen for monsters at the back of the grounds, which is tended to by a few high level monster carers. Both my husband and son have bonded monsters that reside there, and Saph will be shown just as much care and support as them."

"Is Saph to be restricted to these monster pens, or can they freely leave?" Vel asked with a hint of disgust in her voice at the idea of penning up her friend.

"As long as Saph is with you, they can freely come and go anywhere around the estate, but it is a general policy in the city to not let bonded monsters roam freely. Although they tend to be smarter than their unruly counterparts, bonded monsters can still get into a bit of trouble if they accidentally wander into places and situations they shouldn’t be in." Sophia tactfully explained.

After a slight moment of pause and contemplation, Vel knelt down in front of Saph and ran a hand across their gelatinous body. "Don’t worry, they are going to take good care of you and, once we're settled in, I’ll come and get you."

Saph let out a reluctant but accepting gurgle before being taken away by the maid, around the back of the estate. Once that was done, Sophia led us inside the manor house, the interior of which was just as old-fashioned as the outside and even more lavishly decorated. What could only be priceless paintings and sculptures lined and decorated various walls, alongside complex tapestries and well-kept pot plants?

After making our way through a foyer and several other rooms, we arrived at a small courtyard completely hemmed in inside the building but open to the sky. It was here, on the verdant green grass, that we made a slight detour to greet two of our hosts that had been mentioned earlier, Nicholas and Caiden.

The two men were in the process of sparring with wooden swords as the father gave the son a lesson or two in the art of swordsmanship, something which they stopped as soon as they noticed our presence. Both men looked like the spitting images of each other, blonde-haired, blue-eyed, and well-built. Of course, one was obviously much older than the other and had a more rugged appearance than the other’s, more youthful looks.

That said, as well built as their bodies were, which I could get a really good look at since both of them were currently topless and quite sweaty from their previous exertion, neither of them was as bulky and muscular as Damien. While Damien’s strength was focused more on brute force, I had a feeling these two men were more focused on strength paired with deft speed. But I didn’t know for certain with just a look, at least not until I got an identifying skill of my own.

"Nicholas, Caiden, we will be having some guests stay with us for the foreseeable future," Sophia said as she turned and gestured to Vel and me. "This is Velyna Varsen, Damien and Kehlana’s daughter. And this is Evelyn… I’m sorry I never asked whether you had a family name or if you came from a more common background."

"Evelyn Hart." I introduced myself as I gave the incredibly attractive, shirtless, blonde-haired young man a flirtatious smile, something that caused him to blush and avoid eye contact with me.

Oh, teasing him is going to be so much fun. Just looking at him is getting my pussy all raring to go.

"Hart?" Sophia mused to herself as she tapped her finger on her chin. "I’ve never heard of the Hart family. Is it from out of the kingdom?"

"Ah…" I hesitated, realising that the distraction in the form of the beautiful young man had caused me to slip.

Sophia had pretty much just said that most commoners didn’t have last names and, thus, those that did have them either came from nobility or wealthy families, even minor ones. By telling her my full name, I admitted to something that wasn’t really true, without realising it.

Thinking fast to come up with a believable lie, I decided that blending the truth with a lie was the best option. After all, the best lies always had a hint of truth to them. "I don’t actually know where in this world the Hart family name comes from. Evelyn Hart is just what my status screen says my name is."

"I’m sorry to hear that. If you want any help reaching out and trying to find them, I’d be more than happy to help." Sophia kindly offered, misunderstanding what I had said just like I wanted her to. Although I didn’t outright lie, the fact that I didn’t know where my family name came from would imply that I was either an orphan or otherwise disconnected from my family at a young age.

Turning back to the matter at hand, Sophia went on to say. "But, we should leave my husband and son to their training. I only wanted to introduce you to each other since you will likely see more of each other later."

Just as quickly as we had arrived and met the two men, we were off again. This time, Sophia led us deep into the manor, to the second story, where we found ourselves heading into an office that was kept locked. The key to which was kept solely in the woman’s possession.

Although I said "office," the room was actually pretty bare bones. There were a couple of desks and a few bookshelves with various scrolls, tomes, and pieces of paper on them, but most of the space was empty. What was most notable was that where there was once a window, there was now a bricked-up wall, which, like the rest of the walls, was marked with a series of intricate golden lines, reminding me of the box Sophia had given Vel earlier and the silver coin we discovered in the backpack a few days ago.

As Sophia closed and locked the door behind us, said golden lines were visible all the way across the back of the door we entered through, which was reinforced with steel on the backside. As soon as the door was shut, all the lines around the room momentarily flared to life with a golden light for a split second before returning to normal.

"Alright, it's safe now. This room is enchanted to stop anyone from being able to scry or eavesdrop on what is said or done inside. Anything we say inside here is completely between us." Sophia explained as she took a set of chairs in the mostly empty room. "And now would also be a good time for you, Velyna, to bind to the box and put your amulet inside."

As she said that last part, Sophia held out her hand, revealing a small dagger that I hadn’t noticed her retrieve from wherever it was kept, of which there were notably few options given the skimpy and tight nature of her crimson red dress. With a word of thanks, Vel took the dagger and did as suggested, pricking her thumb with the point of its blade and letting a drop of her blood fall on the stone box's surface.

Much like the lines on the walls flared with magic the moment the door was shut, the lines on the box flared once they had been bound to the young elven woman through her blood. With that done, Vel returned the dagger to Sophia and slid off her amulet, which she placed inside the box before shutting it. I could tell with just a glance that she was reluctant to take off her amulet since it was the only thing she had of her mother’s, but the fear of having someone take it or come after her for it was more pressing.

"So, a reaper attacked Damien and you wherever it was that he and Kehlana went off." Sophia began by summarising what she had gathered from the bits and pieces of what we had said. "He told you to flee. To use the Crossroads to come and find me in the city so that I could protect you until he could find you again. I take it he has explained everything he knew about the keys to you?"

"As far as we are aware, yes," I said before explaining everything that he had told us, including that he didn’t originally share this information with Vel and her knowledge of it was only a relatively new thing.

"I must say, I’m a little surprised he was so willing to share this information with you, Eve. Trust isn’t all that is important. Although I trust Nicholas and Caiden explicitly, they don’t know anything about all of this. Knowing about the keys could put them in danger, and I would much appreciate it if they stayed in the dark." Sophia paused here, waiting for both Vel and me to show that we understood what she was saying before she went on.

"What was more surprising is that he has been hiding in the Great Forest of Artellan for all these years. It’s not actually all that far away, only a month or so by horse. I fully expected him to be on the other side of the continent, if not on some random island in the middle of the ocean. Oh, and there is also the question of why the reaper found him again after nearly two decades of hiding."

"You mentioned tracking magic before and scrying," Vel said as she gestured to the box containing her amulet. "Couldn’t they have used that to find us?"

"Although I am no expert in such a field, what I know of magic would indicate that it's not that simple. Advanced tracking spells could find the amulet across the entire continent if need be, but the spellcaster would have had to have seen and held the amulet before using such a spell to track it. On the other hand, simpler tracking spells that don’t have such a requirement instead have a greatly reduced range and no real way to differentiate your amulet from more mundane ones." Sophia explained what she knew about the subject, while I was doing my best to go over the events of the past few days and look for anything that stood out, and then it hit me.

"The mercenaries!" I shouted out the moment the light switch went off in my head.

Both Vel and Sophia turned to look at me, waiting for me to explain. "There was a group of mercenaries pretending to be bandits in the forest that had a run-in with me and Vel. When Damien found out and rescued me, he hunted them all down and killed them, but he took some of their possessions back with him. In the backpack of their leader, we found a really sparkly silver coin. We didn’t know what it was worth at the time, as it didn’t look like any coins Vel or I had seen, but the markings on it looked like those adorning the box you gave her and the lines around this room."

"Oh, yeah. I forgot all about that coin." Vel gasped.

"Interesting…" Sophia paused to gather her thoughts for a few seconds before explaining what she knew. "Those lines you speak of are the mana pathways inlay when something is enchanted. Although it's technically possible to hide them during the process of enchanting, most don't, as the possession of a magical item is seen as a show of wealth and power."

"An enchanted coin could be used as a way to track someone, but from what you told me, that would seem to indicate that mercenaries weren’t actively looking for you, but were being tracked by the people that hired them. The fact that a reaper showed up looking for the coin would mean that it was just happenstance that the mercenaries were working for the people that killed my father, or some other hidden force with necromancers powerful enough to raise a tier 3 undead monster. Something, which is obviously not all that common."

"If they weren’t looking for the amulet or Dad, what could the mercenaries be looking for?" Vel asked.