Unlike last night, my back did not lock up today. Did my improved strength and constitution from yesterday's training allow me to endure the equally rigorous training this afternoon? Or was it the relaxing bath at the bathhouse that soothed my aching body and allowed me to completely recover? Regardless, I predict that I will be a frequent visitor to the bathhouse—if my business deals come to fruition.

I decided to stay in the common room for my evening meal. I sat at my usual table in the back of the room. I took the seat that my bodyguard had taken during lunch. When I saw that I had a decent view of almost the entire room, I became appreciative of how Sister Maisen watched my back during lunch. I quickly checked my pop-up message, which read, “Magic detection SUCCESSFUL. +50 XP.” The check was from examining Captain Li’s armor.

Once I dismissed the message, I looked around the room and saw a few furtive glances in my direction. I tried to make eye contact with the more adventurous common folk but alas, none dared to meet my eyes or attempted to engage me in a friendly manner. Well, that wasn't quite correct . . .

My angel suddenly appeared before me with a worried expression on her face. "Milord, I heard you were summoned to appear as a witness for the trial of Ebenthal tomorrow morning. Unfortunately, my duties at The Noble Lady prevent me from coming with you," Amelica said and grabbed my left hand for a reassuring squeeze. "Please promise me that your bodyguard will attend the trial with you," she requested.

I squeezed her hand firmly and smiled. "Yes, Maisen will be there and Kalistra, too. The cat girl did intervene in my street fight with Ebenthal and she will be a witness for the trial," I reminded Amelica gently.

The beautiful maid breathed a sigh of relief at the reminder. With the best swordswoman in town appearing at the trial, Amelica had no doubt that I will be well protected if anything happens tomorrow. She cleared her throat and put on her professional face. "Milord, what would you like for dinner?" she asked.

I tilted my head for a moment. The chicken was burned last night and I wasn't interested in eating it again. "What's on the menu for tonight?" I asked.

"Tonight the chef is offering half-chicken, mutton stew, or meat pie with a side of wild rice and carrot, cole slaw, or mashed potato with gravy," Amelica quickly recited the menu.

"I'm in the mood for something new. So, I'll try the meat pie with cole slaw, please," I ordered.

"And your drink, sir?" the maid asked.

"I think honey mead will be fine," I replied.

Amelica nodded and walked back into the kitchen to place my order with the chef.

Suddenly, someone took the seat across from me on the table. I looked at my new dinner companion and saw a familiar, pretty human face with light freckles, dazzling green eyes, and fiery red hair. She wore a dark gray robe and an oak wood staff was placed on the table to her left.

"Do you remember me?" the newcomer asked shyly.

"Yes, you're Rijana from lunch yesterday," I smiled.

Rijana's face lit up with delight. "Look, I heard about your street fight with Ebenthal yesterday. I just want you to know that I am NOT friends with that scoundrel. Nor are those twin elves who sat with us," she explained. "Ebenthal happened to join our table a few minutes before you did. If we knew that he was a robber, we would have left the table immediately. You see, we're travelers and just passing through Tregome," she added as her face lined with worry.

I held up my right hand. She was worried about her reputation. If I accused the trio of being part of Ebenthal’s gang, they would be declared outlaws by the Watch. Fortunately, I believed her, not because she was pretty (and she was) but because Rijana seemed sincere when she gave her explanation. "I don't think ill of you or those elves. I'm new in town myself and I was looking to make friends, too. I don't think you harbor ill will toward me and vice versa," I said calmly.

Rijana breathed a sigh of relief when she realized that she wasn't under suspicion from me of being the condemned's collaborator.

Before I could continue, Amelica placed my platter of food on the table. As she placed my honey mead down as well, she deftly leaned her upper body over the table so that my line of sight to Rijana was broken. "Be careful," she breathed and quickly got back up.

"Thank you," I smiled at Amelica as she stared deep into my eyes.

"Please let me know if you require anything else," she said and then turned her face toward my companion. "Milady, what would you like?" she asked.

"Oh, I'm not really hungry. I'll have a mug of honey mead, too," Rijana replied.

Amelica nodded and quickly walked toward the bar. She returned with the drink in less than a minute. After putting it down, she slowly sauntered back to the kitchen.

Rijana looked at the retreating figure with her eyebrows raised but kept silent for a moment. Finally, she turned her attention back to me. "Anyway, my companions and I are staying in town for another day or two to hunt game and make some coins before we continue heading east. We usually hunt in the small forest just outside the town wall. If you're interested, you could join us tomorrow after the trial," she offered.

I politely shook my head. "I just enrolled in The Butterfly School of Swordsmanship. After the trial tomorrow morning, I will need to return to the school to continue my training," I replied.

"Oh." Rijana sounded disappointed by my answer.

I shrugged helplessly and began eating my meat pie before it turned cold.

My lovely companion finished her drink and left a few copper coins. "I'll see you at the trial tomorrow." She smiled and left my table.

A moment later, Amelica came over to take away the mug and coins. "You made the right decision, milord," she said quietly.

"I only told her the truth," I replied. I didn't realize the conversation could be heard across the room. No wonder the common folk was conversing so quietly. I made a mental note and continued to enjoy my meal. After I cleaned my plate, I decided to go back to my room. As I walked past the bar table, Amelica stuck her head out of the kitchen and said, “I’ll see you tonight.”

I smiled and walked up the staircase. I pulled my room key out of my waist pouch and unlocked the door. I entered my room and walked over to the window. I peered down at the street below and watched the common folk walking under my window. After some time had passed, my street watching was interrupted by a knock on the door.

When I opened the door, I saw a young girl standing before me. She had dark brown hair tied into pigtails behind her ears. She had matching brown eyes, a nose that was small but pointy looking, and a tiny mouth that seemed to sneer at me. She stood two heads shorter than me and wore a dreary brown dress with a dirty apron over it. She was holding a package wrapped in paper and tied with a red string. I looked at the caption and it read, “Name: Briopa, Level: ?, Disposition: Guarded.”

“Good evening, milord,” Briopa curtsied. “This package just came for you. It’s from Siune the cloth merchant,” she said and passed the package over to me.

“Thank you!” Honestly, I didn't expect the rest of my clothes to arrive so soon! I quickly fished out a copper piece and gave it to her as a tip. “Are you Gendun’s replacement?” I asked.

“Yes, milord,” she bobbed her head.

“My name is Lawrence Eugene Mulligan,” I introduced myself, “and I’ll be staying here for at least a week. It’s a pleasure meeting you.”

Briopa curtsied again and closed the door.

I pulled out my small dagger and carefully cut the string. I unwrapped the package and saw my three new sets of clothes plus my dirty clothes. I took the dirty clothes over to the table next to my bed. I washed my face with the clean water in the bowl left on the table. Then I started washing my dirty clothes and tried my best to get the mud stains out. I checked for clothes pins in the drawer but alas, I didn’t find any. With no other choice, I laid my washed clothes flat on the ground instead.

Seeing the sun disappearing over the horizon, I lit up my lamp to illuminate my room. I then changed into my set of white cotton bed clothes. I was surprised to find a matching white cap but decided to put it on, anyway. I was glad there wasn’t a mirror in the room, or else I would be laughing at myself for my outfit.

Suddenly, the church bell tolled seven times. I sat on the chair next to the night stand. Since it was still a tad too early to go to bed, I decided to spend some time contemplating the day’s events and plan my next move. I was very happy that I managed to complete my conditioning sessions to qualify to enroll in the dojo. I wasn’t sure when I would be allowed to carry one of those butterfly-adorned scabbards at my waist, but I wanted to qualify for that before I switched my profession over to mage. And speaking of mage, I will probably take up Maisen’s offer to ask her brother, Maisel, to become my teacher in magic.

I had started working toward my ultimate goal to pursue the crown so that I could eventually leave this gaming world. Getting the dojo’s support for my bid was a surprise but I doubt that other people will be as easy to convince. I had to continue elevating my Reputation, and participating in the next Melee Tournament was a possible way to add to my Reputation if I can advance through the rounds. Of course, I was under no illusion that I would win the tournament outright since I won’t have the years of training and experience that many fighters will have. Hopefully, the Butterfly School of Swordsmanship can teach me some sword skills to use at the tournament.

With my near future plans set, I finally called up my player status screen. A picture of my player avatar was on the left column and right above that read: “Title: Pursuer of the Crown, Title: Liege of the Butterfly School of Swordsmanship.”

The middle column read: "Name: Lawrence Eugene Mulligan, Race: Human, Alignment: Neutral, Special Condition: Kissed by Lady Luck (Expiration 6:10:24), Profession: Swordsman (Amateur), Level: 1, Experience: 10,150/1,000, Reputation: 3,560, Attack: 27, Damage: 5-7 (Unarmed), 6-10 (Dagger), Critical Attack: 3%, Critical Damage: 250%."

On the right side of the screen, my player attributes were listed vertically: "Health: 30, Stamina: 16, Mana: 27, Strength: 15, Intelligence: 17, Wisdom: 8, Dexterity: 15, Constitution: 16, Charisma: 8. Abilities: Navigation-Sense (Level 1), Magic Sense (Level 1), Immunity to Electricity (Level 1), Negotiation (Level 1)."

I had to admit that I was very impressed by how my player screen looked compared to the previous night. It was as if I was lean and scrawny yesterday and turned into a bodybuilder today. In particular, I was very surprised at the fact that I had gained over 9,000 experience points in just one day. If this gaming world followed the Dungeons & Dragons leveling table, I should be at either level three or four right now if not higher.

I quickly counted my coins in my waist pouch; the tally came out to thirteen gold, sixty-three silver, and nineteen copper pieces. I also held another four platinum coins in my left shoe. My finances will take another hit tomorrow when I prepay the sign maker for my wholesale order. I will need to figure out how to sell the signs, though. Normally, the wholesaler would find a retailer who then sells the product to the consumer. Tomorrow, I will have to find a general goods merchant and convince the shopkeeper to carry my signs even if it meant on a consignment basis.

However, if Roen was the one guy in town selling signs then he may seek to keep his monopoly on signs by serving as my retailer, too. That would be an interesting business arrangement. The problem, though, was how to keep Roen honest in his accounting of his sales of my signs because he could easily make more signs on the side, sell those, and truthfully claim that my signs didn't sell. As I pondered this potential issue of Roen bypassing my wholesale operation, my mind turned back to the moment where I suggested memorializing the wholesale arrangement on a written contract. The half-elf was squirming in discomfort when I brought it up.

Aha! The truth stone will keep my trading partner honest if I make a SECOND arrangement, in writing, for Roen to act as my retailer. The key clause in this new agreement would require Roen to sell my signs first; in other words, I would demand a preference for Roen to sell my signs if similar products became available from whatever source. And here was the nail in the coffin: In the event that my wholesale signs were sold out, I would require Roen, acting as the supplier, to automatically replenish the supply of signs; the funds for this new pre-order would come from proceeds from the sales of the signs. I could also modify the replenish arrangement by requiring Roen to keep a minimum number of signs in his inventory, say two dozen.

The net effect of these business deals would be a self-perpetuating wholesale operation with the supplier acting as the retailer. Ah, this was capitalism at work! Under these two business agreements, I would become a hands-off investor in this business enterprise. Of course, there was a strong possibility that Roen would refuse the second deal to act as my retailer; it really depended on how much the half-elf valued his monopoly over signs in Tregome. In other words, it came down to a matter of Roen’s ego. Would the half-elf allow another person in town to sell signs? Or will Roen keep his monopoly intact by partnering with me? Frankly, I didn't know the half-elf well enough to guess his decision.

When the church bell tolled again, I finally went to bed.