[Riwall, I think we shouldn't sleep tonight. There are a few hours until sunrise, let's go to the forge and craft a few of the things we were planning to. In case we need to flee from here, it would be better to have some supplies ready.]

{Haven't we agreed to do the crafting just a few months before the journey? Is everything ok?} He couldn't help but furrow his brows and take her suggestion into consideration. It was not like her to act worried about their safety.

[I fear we may not have enough time in the future. For now, I have dozens of theories and only a handful of circ.u.mstantial signs of problems.] She let some of the uneasiness she was feeling to flow through their connection.

Now, Riwall got worried. He pestered her a little more about her worries, but she did not elaborate further on the subject.

As soon as Riwall arrived at the forge, he smiled at the shelves full of pieces of cloth and leather, Theodas made good of his promise and supplied him with whatever he asked, even things that were not directly related to smithing.

He grabbed some pieces of leather and made three reinforced backpacks in just one hour, spending another one to enchant them with effects that would help in the wilderness.

While unsupervised, Riwall could make full use of Friday's a.s.sistance and craft using only magic. If someone were to be spectating his crafting process, they would be shocked to the core, for Riwall did not even move a finger to craft the backpacks, he stood like a statue while tools and materials were magically moving on its own.

--------------------------

-Name: Reinforced Elk Leather Backpack

-Rank: D

-Physical Crafting Quality: Perfect

-Mana Pathways Quality: Perfect

----Special Effects----

-Weatherproof (Grade E)

-Self-Repair (Grade E)

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-Weight Reduction (Grade D)

-Scentless (Grade D)

----Special Description----

-NONE

--------------------------

Unfortunately, the material could not withstand stronger or more varied enchantments, but this much already was something only masters would be able to craft.

He did not even spare a second to admire his work before getting to the second most important thing he wanted to have on hand, quite literally in fact. Storage rings.

Just like he did with the backpacks, he moved one small gold bar using earth magic and then heated it up using fire magic. Such was his degree of control now that he had no need for any smithing tool to work with weaker metals anymore, gold being among them.

It took him just half an hour to have a dozen gold rings, but as enchantments on rings were too small, he had to use a needle to draw them manually on the inside part of the band.

--------------------------

-Name: Simple Golden Ring

-Rank: D

-Physical Crafting Quality: Perfect

-Mana Pathways Quality: Perfect

----Special Effects----

-Storage (Grade D)

-Self-Repair (Grade E)

-Weight Reduction (Grade D)

----Special Description----

-NONE

--------------------------

By the time the sun was about to rise on the horizon, he had enchanted only 5 of the 12 rings. Just out of precaution, he decided to store some crafting materials inside one of them. Then, he hid all the rings in his backpack.

Fortunately, nothing happened on that day, he even had the time to store his books in the rings just to be safe.

Friday was still restless, he could feel her anxiety growing and leaking through their connection day by day. Sometimes Edward would say something seemingly irrelevant, only for her to have a spike of anxiety. Even the fact that Eleanor seemed a little tired before one of their training worried her for some reason.

Lila was of no help; she spent almost all of her time in her room at the barracks creating new enchantments and working on her side project. Riwall tried fis.h.i.+ng for information about the outside, but she was out of the loop and new nothing.

He made use of any time alone to craft a wide a.s.sortment of things they might need outside, he made tents with camouflaging enchantments, cooking pots, axes, daggers of all kinds, small bags for carrying herbs around, ropes, blankets, sleeping bags, etcetera.

The last things he planned to craft was their armors and weapons, they already had some standard weapons made by Theodas and Hobbs, and he knew that most adventurers would die because of unpreparedness, not in fights against monsters. He missed his old smithing master, the elf had a knack for making him relax with his jokes, and he could use hearing a joke now.

Every moment of rest was either spent crafting or running battle simulations in scenarios where his party was ambushed by other people. Friday's uneasiness finally spread over to Riwall, and he too was starting to see shadows at every corner. He shared his worries with Greg and Anna, but both just shrugged and said he was imagining things. They felt safe around their masters and had no reason to think otherwise.

On the fifth day, something unusual finally happened. The three kids got called to Eleanor's office, which she used so spa.r.s.ely that Riwall could count how many times it happened in one hand over the last four years.

"Kids, we were betrayed, and now the other n.o.bles know all about you and the plan of having you fight on behalf of the Marsastors in the upcoming tournament. Some felt very offended by seeing how our Lord would rather send a party of commoners than relying on the n.o.ble's young members. The last few days have been chaotic. Hector tried to intervene as a representant of the Adventurer's Guild, but his testimony about your potential ended up making things even worse. I won't bother you with all the details, but they forced the Lord's hand, and things will not go so smoothly from now on."

The way she spoke made clear how serious was this situation. Her eyes were always darting around the room as if searching for something, while one hand was always resting on the pommel of her sword. In Riwall's opinion, the best a.n.a.logy to describe her behavior was to say that she looked like a bow with its string pulled to the limit, all the tension pressuring the body while being only one move away from unleas.h.i.+ng all the force in the target's direction.

"Things will get hectic soon. In two days, you will have to fight in a tournament for the right of representing the Marsastor's in the dwarven lands. The fights will be held at a small arena on the castle grounds; all n.o.ble families and wealthy merchants of the area will be present. Some will even have their members taking part in the tournament as well. The Farsteels pushed with all their might for rules limiting parties to 3 members, but as the tournament in the dwarven lands will follow the rule of 4 members per party, we failed. The fights will be until one party either gives up or dies."

By the end of her words, Eleanor's rage was palpable.

[There is more, Riwall. Otherwise, she would not be so agitated as she is now.]

Friday was right. Eleanor started speaking again while clutching the pommel of her sword with so much strength that it started cracking.

"Some of these n.o.ble families previously had strong ties to the Lord's family before the Farsteels were raised to the n.o.bility. Their prejudice against commoners knows no bounds, they live by the creed of being a superior race. Yesterday, they invoked some ancient and long-forgotten laws to declare war against the Farsteels. Before we could even understand what was happening, they hit us hard." Her words were full of rage and sadness. "Very hard."

"Six members of our family were ambushed and killed yesterday." She looked at Riwall and could not avoid letting a tear escape an eye.

"Theodas was among them. He went to the village to discuss something with your mother, they got ambushed by a.s.sa.s.sins, and he held the ground for long enough for her to escape. Your aunt was not around at the time, we are still searching for her."

Riwall's mind blanked. He just stood there, not moving a muscle, in a complete state of shock.

Eleanor was not over yet. She looked at the other two kids and could not hold her tears back any longer. Even after years leading Marsastor's forces against all different threats, never she felt so powerless to face a situation.

"Gregory, Anna, Your families were targeted as well, we could not save them, I'm sorry, I failed you!" She bowed deeply, not just out of respect for the kids, but of the shame she felt for failing them.

No one moved or dared to break the silence with words for minutes. Anna was the first of the three to snap out of the daze.

"Master, what is the name of the family that declared war on us?" Her voice was calm, but not the calm you experience after a good night of sleep or after filling your belly with food after a tiring day. It was the calm that preceded natural disasters.

"There are three families that declared war on us, but the ones that lead the attacks are the Sunvalors."

"Will they take part in the tournament?" Friday could detect small specs of dark mana escaping her body.

"Yes, they will."

"Good." Anna just turned around and left, she did not let a single tear fall.

"Master." Greg was the one speaking right now. "Did my mom suffer? Did they hurt her before giving the killing blow?"

Eleanor bit her lips. She was torn between telling the truth that Greg had the right to hear or hiding it to prevent unnecessary suffering. But it was too late, her hesitation was answer enough.

"Excuse me, Master. I need to rest." He too left before she could utter a word. Differently from Anna, however, tears ran down his face. Yet, they were not out of sadness but of rage.

Riwall and Eleanor stayed in silence for well over an hour. The Commander dared not move or speak before the boy. It was her oversights and hubris that led to this situation. In her mind, it was inconceivable that the n.o.bles, after noticing how they could not hurt the commoner kids who made them feel ashamed, would choose to kill their relatives instead.

"Six." He finally broke the silence.

"What?"

"You said six of ours got killed. Theodas, Greg's mother, and Anna's parents. That's four, who were the other two?"

"They were the guards escorting Greg's mother and Anna's parents."

{It's as I suspect.}

"Theodas was not there to just talk to my mother, right?"

Eleanor did not let the same thing happen where Gregory guessed the answer before she made her mind about telling the truth or not.

"No. Somehow he found out that an order was sent to dismiss the guard escorting her and connected the dots. He called for help, but it would take some time to a.s.semble the soldiers. He made his mind, got on a horse, and went straight to her house, he got there and immediately engaged the ambushers in a fight. h.e.l.len ran and found shelter at the Adventurer's Guild. By the time our forces got to the scene, he was already dead."

"Who gave the order to the guard protecting my mother to leave?"

"It was... Joshua. He is the one that betrayed us."

Riwall looked directly into his Master's eyes before speaking again.

"Push for the fights to be held at the biggest arena around. I want everybody to see what will happen."

Eleanor felt reluctant but nodded, it was the least she could do for them now.

"And Master, don't let my mother watch the fights. I don't want her to think I'm a monster."

He left the room with the same determination displayed by Anna and Greg.

[Are you sure, Riwall? They are kids.]

{So am I Friday, but childhood is officially over. Time to wrap things up and leave this s.h.i.+thole.}