It was dinner time now - Katiana had shopped all day with six of mother's combat maids as guards, so there were no kidnappings, this time.
My wife was wearing a new scent again - it reminded me of fresh mown green hay... no, more like trampled due dropped clover, actually.
"So mother had the idea of using swords as throwing... darts?"
"Yes - she said her father taught her that, sort of as a joke she thinks - he called it 'drunken sword'. She's used it a few times, it is really good at surprising enemies who think you are weak." [Katiana]
"Strange, she never showed that to me..."
"Oh I asked her if you also practiced this art, and big-sis said she didn't bother teaching you, because you have no sense of humor when it comes to fighting, and you don't appreciate slap-stick either. Now that I come to think of it, your commanders also don't seem to think fighting should be fun - they were both very... exasperated, I guess, when I started tossing my swords." [Katiana]
"Well, it is an impractical form - you'd need a whole wagon full of swords at hand at all times... that said, those swords you were using, they don't look to be any of the estates. All of them looked quite in disrepair."
"Oh, those are all the leftovers I had from drop-selling. I was going to sell them in bulk to a smelter, but I first need to find a smith to remove the non-metal parts - and I haven't gotten around to that yet." [Katiana]
"Fine, but how are you going to carry so many around? Have a cart follow you everywhere? Or do you have an item bag?"
"Eh? Oh not a bag, per se, but I do have an item pouch, see?" [Katiana]
She opened the pouch she had at her waist.
"The opening is not large, so I can't put shields or anything large like that into it, but long things like swords or even spears are no problem at all!" [Katiana]
With that she poked her hand into the pouch and pulled out a long... broom.
"Eh, oops - this used to be my mothers pouch and I kept my cleaning equipment in it when I served as a maid at the Baron's estate... Old habits die hard, I guess... Oh, I forgot to pack the swords after training - I'll need to go get them." [Katiana]
Seeing the broom, I inadvertently frowned thinking of Katiana's troubled past - but she insisted she needed no retribution, and her happy laugh and smiling face here and now softened my heart again.
"I see - so that is how you had Bear-Grim with you the other day. I was wondering about that..."
"Eh? Sure sure, right, let's go with that... I had it in my pouch here, yes, yes." [Katiana]
While she was saying that, she looked away from me to search among the dishes for a tasty nugget to feed to Nozomi.
"That said, item bags and pouches are quite rare, and some item bags even slow down time, so make sure no-one steals yours."
Katiana looked up again at me with wide eyes.
"They are rare? But I've got a whole bun... ah... so what do these sell for? Just asking for a friend..." [Katiana]
"The one you have there, depending on its actual volume, between the cost of a commoner' house up to a Baron's mansion."
"Eeeeeh? That much? Are they so hard to make?" [Katiana]
"Other than my little sister, there are maybe at the moment three other people in the whole Empire that can make medium item bags that can hold a small house's worth of things - you need a great affinity to space magic, after all. Mostly the large item bags can be found as drops from higher dungeon bosses. Smaller item bags that are made commercially - like the one I have here - only have about two square feet of space - I use it for emergency rations and some coinage."
I patted the palm sized pouch I always had strapped to my arm.
"Your sister sounds like a magic genius - the cool box bear, the hologram credit card, and now even item bags! I'm starting to get a bit jealous of her skills, even." [Katiana]
"Hmm? I see no need for jealousy - compared to your many practical ideas and inventions to help the Dukedom that will help thousands of people, her inventions are mostly on the level of one off curios."
"But that cooling bear box of hers is amazing - that could help a lot of people be able to keep food longer without spoiling, and reduce sickness from eating spoiled food! And imagine if you could make warehouses running on the same principle - you could store food much longer, and have less wastage and be able to bridge over bad harvests. Oh - the cooling warehouses could even rent out space at a reasonable low cost, for those that can't afford their own cool box bear!" [Katiana]
"See? Your ideas benefit the masses -my sister just made a few of those boxes on a whim and mostly for her own use."
"Ah... My idea is flawed - your sister might be the only one who can make those cold stones? I didn't think of that..." [Katiana]
"No, no... anyone with the right training and water magic affinity could enchant magic stones like that - maybe not as powerful as my sister, but I suspect one could just use more than one stone for the same effect. You should talk to my sister when she visits, and maybe you two could start a new business - the steward can help source mages with water affinity. The Dukedom can bankroll things, to start."
"Water magic - wait, so you can enchant cooling stones, too, then! That is one of your affinities!" [Katiana]
"Err... yes, actually I could, now that you mention it. Why?"
I was getting a bad feeling about this - Katiana started rummaging in her item pouch and muttering.
"One sec, I had a few here somewhere... sheesh, I need to clean this up, no, no, not that, that feels like the right shape!" [Katiana]
She pulled out a small melon.
"Oh, nope you aren't what I want at all, grrrr - the good thing is this pouch has a lot of space..." [Katina]
"How big is that item pouch of yours?"
"This one has about the space of, oh, three large warehouses I guess? Sadly, this one also doesn't stop time, so I can only keep preserved or longer lasting food in it - hmmm... if it could stop time, bet I could buy a whole palace with it, haha." [Katiana]
"Not just a palace, probably a small country."
"Nice! But... well, I don't need a country. Aha! Here take this!" [Katiana]
She held out an uneven magic crystal the size of the cantaloupe melon she had retrieved a moment before.
"Now the bad thing is, anyone can use this pouch - no lock or anything - so I don't really keep anything valuable in it." [Katiana]
I checked my wife's face to see if she was maybe joking, as the crystal she held in her hand could feed and house a small army for a year - but she had her normal deadpan look.
To be fair, in relation to the worth of the three warehouse spaced item pouch she took the crystal out of, I suppose a large magic crystal is worth comparatively nothing.
"Ah... you want me to use cooling magic on this crystal, I assume?
I took the offered crystal.
"Yes, yes! I want to see how much this medium sized crystal can hold at maximum load! Just put everything you got into it!" [Katina]
"Everything? Well, I've never tried this, so... give me a moment."
I balanced the crystal in one hand and concentrated - a faint blue glow became visible in the crystal's center and rapidly expanded to shine brightly into the dining room.
"Wait wait, stop stop - it's freezing us all!" [Katiana]
The glass windows had frosted over, and even the wine was frozen - Katiana was shivering in her chair, her lips slowly going blue.
Small specks of ice even floated in the air.
"Whoops - went overboard there a bit..."
I conjured up an earth box around the crystal, and the temperature slowly rose again, now that the cooling crystal was insulated.
Three of the kitchen staff also immediately started heating the room with their fire magic - an affinity I myself was poor at.
"Brrrr.... that was unexpected... that wasn't your full power yet, even, was it?" [Katina]
"I'm sorry - that is correct, I only just started - and a crystal this size can hold even more."
One of the staff brought in a fuzzy blanket and draped it over Katiana's shoulders, another one brought her a warm beverage.
"My Lord, my Lady, this whole section of the manor is frozen - there is ice even three rooms away - maybe you want to retire to another section until we can thaw things out?" [Kitchen staff]
"Wife, how about the office? There is a fireplace there."
We relocated to the office - and I noticed that neither my kitchen staff who all had fire affinity and thus could warm themselves easily - nor Nozomi the slime - were really bothered by the cold.
Once Katiana was settled down on the couch, wrapped up in her fuzzy blanket and sipping her hot chocolate, she started speaking again.
"So, that one single crystal could cool {shiver} a whole warehouse all on its own, even in this reduced state - wow... how long {shiver} would it last? Do you need to top it up periodically?" [Katiana]
"I think my sister mentioned one charge of hers would last a decade or more. She has a very high affinity to all elements and non-elements, but I think mine is a bit higher - so if I charge up a large crystal to the max... maybe a century?"
"And that... cocoon thing you put around the crystal - it seems to have extreme insulation properties... I don't feel any cold from the stone now at all. Could you coat walls with that?" [Katiana]
"Oh, this? It is an earth magic I learned from my little sister - the same material she uses to make the bear cool boxes - it can withstand the heat of a volcano, and the coolness of deep space - or so she claimed. Yes, one could make a room insulated with this."
Katiana's eyes shone and I swear I could make out little gold coins floating in her pupils - well I probably was just imagining that.
"Ka-ching! When we get back, you, dear husband, and I, will start the Ducal Cool House project! No intermediary! We will offer cheap cooling to anyone that wants it! I think we will start at the harbor, and also buy a few smaller shops all around town - let's start the cool room revolution! Seeing what that stone could do in the dining room - we'll even offer freezer space! Money, here I come!" [Katiana]
"You sound very mercenary, there. The dukedom has more than enough money - in fact we are a major taxpayer already."
"Cough... sorry - I grew up with nothing, so I get carried away with business opportunities. But if we offer the cooling house services at very affordable prices, won't that let commoners use it easier?" [Katiana]
"True - I guess the main cost is the land, the crystals, and a bit of staff... probably could go down to a few coppers per month per square foot of space? Well, first we have a mission to find the first Empress and the first prince. We can discuss this once we return."
"Fair enough... I'm still not warmed up - brrr... I never was good with the cold... I'll go have a warm bath and then retire for the night." [Katiana]
After she left a thought crossed my mind - I never asked Katiana what magic affinities she had, if any - taking today's incident into consideration, fire was probably not one of them, at any rate.
The next morning was a bustle of activity - the elites and their commanders had come to the estate.
Each of the training grounds had a small barrack and stables attached, so there was more than enough space for all 100 elites, so the few squads that arrived today had their pick of rooms.
During the morning I visited the elites - some were busy packing and sorting through needed equipment, others were doing some light training.
I walked to the center of the training ground - a circle just about as wide as a normal door had already been scratched into the earth.
"My Lord, good morning - can we do 'that' again for a bit?" [Torino of Chainwall]
"Sure. I can use the warm up."
I entered the circle unarmed - there was just enough space for me to change my stance, but that was about it.
"Listen up, same deal as always, if you can land a hit on our Lordship, you get a bag of gold. Time limit three minutes or until you hit the ground! I'll go first, here's the timer." [Torino of Chainwall]
Torino threw a three minute hour-glass at one of the elites nearby, who gave a thumbs up and started the timer.
"Got it!" [Elite with timer]
"Oh, spear today, is it?"
"Hah, well, I've been practicing!" [Torino of Chainwall]
Torino swung the wooden training spear at my left shoulder with speed - without moving my feet I very slightly twisted my upper body and the wooden spearhead passed by a palms width away.
"I'll get serious now!" [Torino of Chainwall]
With that Torino spun around and jabbed at me in quick succession - of course I either evaded or slapped the spear shaft away.
At one point I pulled on the spear that had almost grazed my face and Torino was sent flying - sadly he landed gracefully on both feet, so not an 'out' yet.
Sweat was by now streaming down Torino's face as he continued his attacks.
"Time!" [Elite with timer]
"Not bad footwork, Torino - but you need to stop trying to hit me and just let your mind go. I can see your target each time just before you strike, so it is easy for me to evade."
Torino put his hands on his knees trying to catch his breath.
"Huh, that's the 'no-mind' art you {huff} keep trying to get us to use {huff} - boss, I think {huff} you are more a monk {huff} than a spoiled Duke at times... well, I'll try some more of that 'meditation' thing you taught us, but I'm still not sure how to do it right..." [Torino of Chainwall]
"Keep at it - that is not something you can learn quickly - it can take years, but once you understand 'no-mind', you might be able to finally land a hit on me."
"Heh, I will... next victi... ah, next challenger!" [Torino of Chainwall]
A few elites attempted to land a hit on me, but of course none of them could.
The last challenger was a small girl holding two straight edged short wooden practice swords - one of the newest members to join the elites.
What was her name again?
Oh yes.
"Ah Quania, this would be the first time you challenge me, correct?"
"Yes my Lord - please take care of me." [Quania]
Without waiting for an answer back she launched herself at my face, but before she reached the boundaries of the circle I was standing in, she dropped to her knees and using momentum, slid past me, swiping at my leading leg with her swords.
Not bad - high feint with low attack - but of course too slow.
Simply lifting my leg and standing down again while turning my whole body to face Quania again, was all the evasion I needed.
Without looking to see if she had landed a blow, Quania rolled to her feet, and threw herself again at me, this time aiming for my midriff.
Ah, not a feint this time - without moving my feet I simply bent sideways a bit - which meant that Quania now was behind me.
She leapt up this time and attempted to skewer my shoulders from behind.
Nice move - and the leap was impressive!
But useless.
I bent backwards and grabbed her lower arms, then bent forwards again, guiding her flying body over my head before letting go.
She flipped midair and twisted, landing lightly while facing me, huffing a bit.
I grinned - Quania had a lot of potential to grow as one of the strongest elites - perhaps even as a commander, one day.
"Still good? There's still a minute left."
"Yes, my Lord..." [Quania]
This time she got close and threw one of her practice swords at my chest, just as she ran by me.
I caught the sword before it hit me, and lent to the side at the same time, to avoid her second blade that was aimed for my ribs - I felt the sword pull my loose shirt a bit.
"Close hit."
A cheer from the spectating elites rose up - Quania had been the first today to graze even my clothes.
Even after passing me, her movement did not stop and she dropped again, attempting a slash on my lower legs from behind me.
I jumped and spun midair before landing perfectly in my circle.
"Time!" [Elite with timer]
"Wow Quania - that was amazing, you actually got the drop on the boss there!" [Torino of Chainwall]
"Yes, very good work. Torino, give her half the reward - she deserves it."
Quania bowed at me.
"Thank you my Lord - would... would you also have any tips for me on what I could do better?" [Quania]
For some reason the petite and freckled Bella the cheeky combat maid came to mind... the one with an iron punch.
"Hmmm.. how would you like to have a few training sessions with one of the "Wings of the Goddess"? I know one of them that has a similar style as you - she would be delighted to train with you."
Quania's eyes went wide and her mouth made a small Oh.
"Really? I'm a big fan of 'Wings of the Goddess'! To think I could train with one of them!" [Quania]
"Fine, Bella is coming along with us, too, so I will inform her to contact you whenever there is a break. By the way, you are originally from Troll Ring, aren't you?"
"Yes my Lord, my parents and siblings live there." [Quania]
"We will be passing by there - I've always wanted to have a look at the ring, so we'll stop there on the way back. Alright everyone, continue on with packing - we will be leaving tomorrow noon."
With that I left the training grounds to check up on what Katiana was up to, today.
