Singer Sailor Merchant Mage

Chapter 201: Coming Clean

“If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.”

Mark Twain

Life was going well; trade was continuing to grow between the three islands of Wester. Pearls, salt and purple were still our chief exports to the wider world through Mercurio, Kashif and the Church. But within our local islands, we were now producing enough staples and fruit that fish was no longer the sole meal everyone ate. We continued diversifying by developing our lines of wine and now spirits. As well as building up a stock of sugar and sea silk. The sugar was an internal product for now, lest we draw too much attention. Still, the easy energy it offered, along with a healthy and varied diet, had allowed the formerly enslaved to rebound from their captivity well and have the energy to work hard building their new lives and our town.

The town continued to grow from the influx of the formerly enslaved. They expanded the town’s walls and primarily worked for the Silversea family and our expanded clan, but nearly every house had taken on one or more workers. They were producing a surge in productivity across all the island’s industries. Not all of them were men, but with our recent acquisition of the slaver's ship, the numbers had certainly shifted in that direction. A few more Neriad had entered the lagoon, and they were predominantly female, seeking the safety of an internal sea. Hopefully, things would sort themselves out over time. But the disparity to Mercurio on his next visit would be worth mentioning. We might need to be more discerning in who we accept. Any freed person was a life saved from slavery, but still, we had not self-selected till now, only avoiding those enslaved for cardinal sins.

The few that had arrived with past transgressions either had been honest about their crimes or had been caught out by Arawn’s interrogations of every new visitor to the island. Depending on the severity of their crimes and their skills, they were funnelled into mining, logging or delving into the depths of the Lodestone. It was the least elegant of solutions to their arrival on our island but the most practical if we were to avoid executing people; we had no proper way of offering a fair trial. They might lie to themselves when they declared their innocence of the crimes they had been enslaved for, but if they believed it strongly enough or were outright delusional, it was possible to fool Arawn’s skill. The system was not infallible, or at least our human perception made it so.

At least the delves into the Lodestone were well organised and supported by our indentured adventurers, keen to buy out their forgiveness for their past transgressions. They were actively exploring, mining and farming the resources available there. Every day they delved a little deeper, charting and mapping the route ever downwards to the core of the world. It was not entirely without incident, injury, and the occasional death, but having a Bishop who could heal helped to prevent too many. The monster cores and parts they hauled upwards were creating a burgeoning industry that Mercurio and Kashif were only too eager to haggle over who could sell them on. They had even procured a few more species of fruit, vegetables and grains alongside the odd animal when they visited to expand the small genetic pool of the herds we were attempting to build.

. . .

All in all, life was going well. But if I were going to make my way around the world any time soon, I would need some help. Not to mention simply disappearing would completely freak out my entire family and clan. I liked to think that even our advisors would be sad to see me go. Furthermore, how would they react and respond?

I could see them searching the local area for me as far as the Wester Isles. But with the support of the Bishop and the Lodestar Church, they wouldn’t be limited to only the Ponentian Archipelago. My trip would hardly go any smoother if I had to spend my time avoiding being hunted as a wayward runaway lord and being returned to my family through the church or, worse, being held as a captive to blackmail my family into supporting whichever side of the House of Lords that found me first.

No, if I was going to do this right. I couldn’t just leave a note explaining my disappearance. And why they didn't need to come running after me. I would have to convince them of my sanity, rationality and reasoning for embarking on such a long and arduous journey. Sure, it would be less hazardous for me than for most due to my magic and skills, but it was not as if I could hop on a plane and go from airport to airport. No matter how you looked at it, I was also a little younger than your usual young adventurer.

This would take some significant planning in a medieval world, even one with magic.

Probably my first and best supporter in this endeavour were the clergymen of the Lodestar church. Bishop Bailie had already nearly completed his circumnavigation. I understood that he only had a quarter left to complete. He could certainly explain the risks and dangers of each place they had visited after their years travelling around the world. He would also probably be the best to support a god-given pilgrimage of the world, even if a goddess rather than a god gave it to me. Maybe he could even accompany me for some of it. After all, he had never completed his, and his presence on our isle was only at our family's request.

If I were going to do this, I would start with him.

Or maybe not . . .

How do I explain the goddess of luck interfering or rescuing me from my untimely demise? Was the goddess Fortuna part of the church but just hidden from weekly worship? No, it would probably be safer to start closer to home. I would start with my family and get their opinion on involving him before I attempted to involve anyone else.

But how to tell them and what to say to them? I had been through this before when I had crippled myself due to excessive self-improvement to the point of crippling myself through my clarity. It had gone well enough last time, meaning they hadn’t abandoned me but accepted my unusual stats. I had practised doing this before I could do it again. But I had only done so through necessity and a little force. This time I would choose to do so without an immediate reason or compulsion. Did this mean I might be growing up a little? They were used to the unexpected with me by now. This would be no different. The only difference being my secrets were not being pulled from me but freely given. I had to admit that I perversely enjoyed knowing something others did not. But it was time to let that go. They loved me, they accepted me it would be okay.

. . .

That evening, I wondered whether I could go through with this. But I had called everyone together. It was time. I sat down for the family meeting; I called to facilitate the discussion. I wondered once more whether the fact that I had decided to talk this through with them before being forced meant I was developing my character. Was I finally becoming more trusting of the ones who loved me, faults and all?

Stop fretting and get on with it, I told myself once more.

“Thank you for joining me,” I anxiously nodded at Father, Mother, Aleera and Arawn. I had decided to talk this through with them first. We were meeting in our luncheon room rather than the large hall. No servants save ourselves. “We have some things to discuss.”

“What is it now?” Aleera asked. “Business is going well, production is increasing, and products are diversifying; the formerly enslaved people are settling in, there have been no breakouts from the depths of the Lodestone, the town continues to expand, our citadel continues to be carved from the mountain, the Silversea fleet is continuing to grow, we have our neutrality with the House of lords, and the Neriad are settling in nicely, and their former city continues to be uncovered. We have our Silversea court and our lessons. You have your personal magic projects you are working on with Lady Acacia, your clerical studies with Bishop Bailie, and your martial training with Arawn, Namir and Sir Jacques. Isn’t that enough plates to keep spinning in the air? Can you afford to add any more?” She asked, exasperated.

Most times, I had gathered us all it was to add another project to our to-do list, and when she listed it out like that, it did seem a lot. Luckily Nyx took that moment to pounce on her portion of the snacks I had provided for our family meeting. The little comedic moment broke the escalating tension. Father and Mother said nothing, only waiting for me to let them know what I wanted to tell them. They had always been incredibly patient with me. Something I suddenly appreciated all the more when I had the epiphany of realising it. “Mother, Father?” I asked to see if they had anything to add.

“When you are ready.” They gave me the space to frame my words properly rather than attempt to rush through them to defend or deflect my sibling's accusations. At the same time, Arawn knew more than most. His silence seemed to support my decision to come clean.

“To escape the mercenary slaver, Sinbad, there was a cost.” I started. I decided to start with the most recent evasion of the truth and work my way backwards.

“A cost?” Mother asked, concerned.

“As we fled for our lives from the slaver’s ship. I prayed.” Father nodded as he remembered the final moments of our flight from the mercenary merchants before I slipped into the sea. “To put it simply, my prayers were answered.”

There was a shocked gasp as I gave them space to understand what I was saying. “By the gods?” Aleera whispered, worried. Our little island had its struggles, but they were all relatively small compared to the wheeling and dealing of the countries, noble races, gods and their champions on the compass continent defending it from the base races of the Lodestone. Lady Acacia informed us of the continent's history and, when the merchants arrived, the most recent calamities and crises. But much like the news in my former world, it was all so far away as to have little impact on how we lived our lives.

While rather than asking the obvious mother focused on how this might affect me now.

“Your prayers were answered.” Mother questioned. “ How?”

“Father saw my escape from the ship. Through a hole in its side, still, mana bound and blindfolded, I was able to dance through the sky.” I stated without arrogance, just honesty. They all nodded as they had heard all of this before. Though I had always glossed over the success of my escape before saying I had gotten lucky, now I would be going into more detail.

“You said you were lucky,” Aleera answered for all of them as if attempting to ameliorate the support of the Compass Kingdom Gods.

“I was. Luck gave me the opportunity and guided my feet in their escape.” I paused here for my statement to sink in.

“Luck?” Mother asked. “Not the Southern God of the Beastkin or the Western God of the Pixies?”

“No, Luck or rather Fortuna held my hand and guided my steps.” Recalling the glowing golden lines of fortune, I had danced along to avoid the teeth of the tangle of sea monsters.

“How?” she asked, not disbelieving, simply trying to wrap her head around what she had thought she understood of my momentary capture by the slavers. “I thought you used your magic, your trait supporting your quick recovery.”

“My trait, Source of Mana, did indeed wake me up from being unconscious with pain as my mana cores were formed under the suppression of being mana bound, but before my bonds were broken, my mana was still sealed. I could not use it to escape, and its use would have only called more of the monsters to me. No . . . as I lay bound and feeling quite the idiot . . .” I paused to admit, if only to myself, how terribly it could have gone. “I prayed once more, and this time my prayer was answered.”

The family sat still in silence, absorbing a mortal’s tale of his brush with the gods of the compass kingdoms. The silence was broken by Aleera’s demanding tone, “And then?”

“I appeared in the hall of the gods. Just like the church of the Lodestar describes. The Anemoi were seated around a compass and were discussing my fate.”

“They are real?” Mother asked my story conflicting with her anger at the church for failing her in her time of need.

“They are,” I replied as Father hugged her. He had never doubted their existence being the more religious of the family.

“The sea cares not for those who sail its surface. It simply is.” He commented. “What drew their attention?”

“One felt that I would make a good champion for them after their former champion’s demise,” I explained Feng Po Po’s interest. “But my balanced stats meant I could represent any of the eight Anemoi of the Compass Kingdoms.” I was careful not to disparage their discussion. Who knew who might be listening to our conversation despite the precautions I had taken in soundproofing the room we were meeting and eating in? They had not seemed all-knowing, but they had seemed all-powerful compared to us.

“A champion?” Aleera asked, and I was able to explain, having quizzed Bishop Bailie since my safe return.

“Each God is allowed a mortal to act on the compass continent to defend the realm against the base races and save the people in the face of calamity,” I explained what I had taken from his explanations. “Seven are spread throughout the compass continent between the eight kingdoms, and I could have replaced the eighth one that perished.”

“Could have?” Mother jumped in, recognising that my wording implied I was not one of their champions after all.

“There was a hidden ninth goddess there watching. The Goddess of luck, Fortuna. While they discussed my fate and future, she offered me another option, a favour for a favour.”

“What was the favour?” Arawn asked, leaning forward, fully invested in my reveal. It had probably gone in a completely different direction than he had expected.

“My escape from the hold, but there were a few steps to do that. First, she released my locked points. And assigned them for me equally across my ten stats. “

“She assigned your points!” Aleera exclaimed. “How is that fair at all!” She was understandably upset, losing her lead on me overnight without realising it. The only thing holding me back from surpassing her was my age and the fact that the system was supposed to be locked until I hit my majority.

I grinned, enjoying the fact that she now knew the fact that I was stronger than her. I hadn’t hidden it on purpose, but I had held back to prevent too many questions.

“How high?” She demanded unrepenting of breaking the social norms of how rude it was to question another about their stats, especially in front of others.

“She kept me balanced, but my average stat hit 163 across the board when I unlocked my mage metier.” I smiled, “She called me her lucky prime.”

“You saw the goddess again?” asked Mother.

“Yes, the shard of the lodestar seemed to open up a channel for us to talk,” I explained my reasoning.

“We can come back to that later.” Arawn interrupted. “Stop jumping around in your storytelling.” He commanded before recapping the events. “You prayed, appeared in the hall of the gods, met the goddess Fortuna who offered a favour for a favour, then unlocked and assigned your stats. What happened next?!” Arawn resented the interruptions my sister had caused and preferred the questions to arrive at the end of the story, not in the middle of it.

“Well, once she had assigned me equally across the ball ten of my stats, she gave my luck one more which meant that when we returned to the hall of the gods, her words took precedence over the others. I am now nominally her champion, although she refers to me as her lucky prime.”

“You’re a champion?” Aleera asked, unafraid of Arawn’s disproving stare

“I suppose,” I answered. I did not feel like a champion, and the way she had phrased it as a favour for a favour made it feel somehow less imposing.

“One of the eight champions?” She kept drilling.

“No, I guess I am the hidden ninth?” I answered, unsure whether there was also a hidden tenth god of magic and a corresponding hidden champion for them.

“Aleera, stop interrupting. What happened next?” Arawn attempted to redirect the conversation back to the tale I had started.

“The gods challenged her claim, but when they inspected me, they found it true. Also, their inspection levelled my block status skill until it hit 100. Then I received another called enigma.” I smiled, proud of my progress, even if it had been divinely inspired. It had not been easy holding my skill up against them, even if it did ultimately do little to stop their inspection.

“Hah, the child with a locked system has somehow achieved an evolved skill,” Arawn smirked, finally giving up upon restraining questions and comments for the end of the story.

“An evolved skill?” Aleera chimed in, and this time Arawn answered instead of me.

“An evolved skill happens when you manage to level a skill to 100. Not something that normally happens until you are decades older, and one of the benefits of keeping your skills separate rather than consolidating them up to a higher tier.”

I winced internally, but with the hundreds of skills I had, merging and consolidating them was a far quicker and more practical method to reach higher-tiered skills for me.

“Then what happened?” Father took over the role of keeping us going on track.

“Well, the other gods left, and then we danced.” I winced, realising how ridiculous this story sounded, fully anticipating Aleera’s criticism.

“Danced?” she sounded somewhat sceptical.

“Yes, we danced together with my eyes closed following a golden thread and levelled my dancing skill up to 100.” No more dance lessons were needed for me.

“Two evolved skills?” Arawn focused on skill progression.

“I gained Air stepping,” I confirmed, although I didn’t remember the system stating it was evolving.

“Well, Lady Acacia should be happy about that, at least.” Mother added, seeing as we were all adding our opinions now.

“And then?” Father continued.

“Then I was returned to the ship’s hold,” I answered.

“Did you ever leave, though?” Arawn asked. “If a god could take you and return you anywhere, why not return you safely aboard your father’s boat.”

“Real or not, I returned to my body, just as my chains were broken by my mana cores forming along with the side of the boat I was chained to. I followed the golden thread out of the hall in the wall and danced blindfolded to my father across the backs of sea monsters.” I explained what had happened next.

“When you described this,” Mother looked pointedly at Father, “It didn’t sound nearly so dangerous.” Before turning her ire on me, “And the cost? What is the favour you need to repay?”

“Well, the second time we met when I gained my new metier mage. . .” I started.

“We didn’t see anything.” Aleera objected. “And we were there.”

“That proves it, then. His human form remains in the mortal world while his spirit ascends to the hall of gods.” Arawn seemed happy to have his point proven.

“I didn’t go back to the Hall of the Gods, though I did get a new view of my soul and status,” I replied, remembering my external view of myself.

“That is when she asked for the favour to be returned?” Mother questioned. “What is it?” she asked, worried.

“For me to go on a pilgrimage, to circumnavigate the compass kingdoms,” I answered anxiously. How would my family take the news? It hadn’t seemed too bad a favour to ask for my freedom from enslavement.

“Do you have to leave now?” Aleera asked while my parents sat in silence, digesting the news.

“Not straight away, but when I turn ten,” I answered, facing my parents and waiting for a response to my announcement.

“Ten? But that is only three years away. You would be barely out of childhood.” Mother seemed shocked and saddened that it would be so soon.

“It’s the day my childhood ends, and honestly, with my a hundred skills and stats already above 150, can you still consider me a child even now?” I asked.

“No, I suppose not.” She smiled sadly. “I’m delighted that you survived and that you escaped. But why you? Why did she choose you to be a champion? Couldn’t she have just saved your life without asking for a favour? It seems like a rather large request for someone so young.”

“Maybe, who knows? But I think I was chosen because I remember another life . . . a life on a different planet . . . a planet called Earth.”