Chapter 26: Chapter 26
Darius crossed the final 23 kilometers in about half a day without any other encounters. He wasn't too sure, but he guessed that it should be around 9 pm and he could already see the homestead in the distance.
Now, he was faced with a choice. Appear before the common folk at this time of the night and try to play a role to ingratiate himself with them, or wait until morning by sleeping out in the wild once more?
Darius didn't need the small Infoblock to know that appearing out of the blue during the night would set alarm bells off in anyone's head, especially in a world like this where superstitions were rampant, although more often than not also justified.
If he chose this option, he'd better think up a pretty good excuse for doing so, one where the situation justified the means and nobody would ask too many questions. A few options came to mind.
Darius considered using the 'injured hero' trope. He'd find some low-leveled beast or monster, allow it to rough him up for a bit before he killed it, then limp towards the homestead pretending to be on his last breath.
A kind farmer's daughter would then rescue him and take care of him, jumpstarting the plot of his journey... or at least that was how it had worked in all those animes he had been forced to watch.
Alternatively, he could use the 'abandoned child' trope. He looked 13 years old, so he could easily pass off as a naive youth who got separated from his noble family and needed lodging until he could make contact with them again.
Finally, he could use the 'revenge story intro' trope. He would claim to be a noble's son who had just witnessed his family murdered by bandits or assassins sent by political opponents, only managing to escape because he either ran away, was smuggled away by his darling mum, or had been let go by the killers because they couldn't be bothered to finish him off.
'Hm, the first one should be the most convenient. It doesn't require too far-fetched a story or too heavy acting that could backfire if it slips my mind for a second.'
However, Darius didn't fancy fighting at night, because it would be harder to control such a battle. The aim of the game would be to get beaten up and slightly bloody, but not really hurt. He wasn't a masochist that loved pain, obviously.
After pondering for a bit longer, Darius ultimately decided to wait the night out. He found himself slightly sleepy after that long jog with the occasional breaks. What he had to do now was find a secure place to rest, unlike last time where he had foolishly plopped to the ground out in the open.
Darius walked around and found a broken cart nearby. Lord, it was dirty and dusty, also smelled a bit funny, but was small enough that nothing predatory could creep in there without making enough noise first to wake him up.
Darius naturally removed his clothes once again and used them to cover his body so that they wouldn't be messed up by the muck. He also fetched some leaves to form a covering from the rotten wood to prevent himself from getting splinters or critters all over his body.
At this time, he was debating getting a water spell for situations like this, or at least some cleanse spell that could clean up stuff like this.
Alas, if the small fireball spell was like the cheapest thing available then it would mean even with all his shortcuts of making a book and an empty spell manual first to make it cheaper, each spell would still end up at around 10.9 Conversion Points, in other words, more than one day's worth.
Darius once more craved to reach a city, but there was a process to it.
Finally managing to make himself somewhat comfortable, Darius spent what little points he had left creating a few empty books. The cost to make an unused spell manual was 5.9 Conversion Points, so he'd have to wait for tomorrow.
Besides, he also had the Spearmanship skillbook to think about, which would cost him 4 more Conversion Points. The next day had not even begun and already all but 0.1 Conversion Points had been booked!
Darius was starting to feel the pressure. Having many skills did not get to him, but the limited amount of Conversion Points was different. The ability to transmute at will was just too versatile and too precious, yet it had been balanced in a way that it was not easy to abuse despite the loopholes he found.
While thinking about more ways how he could further perfect it, his eyelids got heavy, and he eventually succumbed to his fatigue, falling into a light slumber. The next time he cracked his eyelids open, it appeared to be barely dawn.
He could hear the roosters crowing to herald the coming of morning, as well as various sounds of human life as the simple folk of the farm woke up to begin their daily duties.
It was the norm for people like this to be up by 5 am and asleep by 8-9 pm. They were honest, hardworking people who represented the best of humankind.
At least, that's what Darius knew from the basic archetypes in similar settings. Whether these farm folk would be stereotypical or subversive was up in the air, but he was not interested in holing up within this rotten carriage anymore.
Taking his clothes and crawling out of the carriage carefully, he quickly dressed and did what he planned to do from yesterday, which was the transmutation.
[Would you like to change the empty book into a basic spear manual? This will cost 4 Conversion Points.]
[Would you like to change the empty book into an empty spell manual? This will cost 5.9 Conversion Points.]
At just like that, he nearly used up today's limit. However, the tradeoff was that his right hand held an empty spell manual while his left held a basic spear manual.
Putting the empty one into his Inventory, he immediately chose to learn the spear manual.
[Detected skillbook. Would you like to learn its contents?
Warning: The skillbook will be destroyed upon using this method! Continue?]
Darius felt a rush of knowledge enter his mind as he assented to the prompt. He no longer was a clueless rich boy who had never even swung a pole before, but now had the experience of a talented lancer who had received basic training, but forgot it all due to amnesia.
He took out his iron spear and swung it around deftly, twirling and flourishing it with ease. If someone were to see Darius now, they would swear to all the gods that the young lad must have had a spear put into his cradle and been taught spearmanship before even making his first steps.
[Basic Lancer Arts - Level 1 Skill
Cost: Stamina
Description: You have mastered the fundamental of the priceless Lancer Arts long lost to history. With your spear, you can stand above all others who dare to use your own choice of weapon against you. You deal 5% spear damage whenever you wield a pole weapon.]
Chapter 27: Chapter 27
Darius was silent for a bit before he facepalmed. It seemed he had failed to account for the fact that his ability was elitist, so naturally the quality of the spearmanship skill it would grant him would be the best in all of Faust.
From that skill description alone, Darius could tell that even the basic version of these Lancer Arts might be far better than the master version of other spearmanship schools.
No wonder he felt so connected with his weapon, and that he could move it around with ease. He could even visualize multiple ways in which he could have ended that Grey Bear, those Laughing Hyenas, and even those Plain Lions without suffering any damage.
Darius put away the spear and walked into the homestead as he was. Since it was no longer nighttime, he didn't need to think up some elaborate story. His noble's attire alone should suffice. It might be slightly roughed up after the night, but then again it would be even stranger if that was not the case in the wilderness.
When he came closer, Darius could examine the homestead properly. In fact, it was more of a small village with somewhere between 50-70 cottages and one big farmhouse in the center. Around the homestead, on the other side, were miles of tilled land that were being worked on at this very moment.
There were very few of the villagers not at work, mostly the old and the young. As such, it wasn't long before Darius was spotted by some residents.
Instead of coming up to him, they quickly rushed away to tell the others who were at work, probably the adults and decision-makers. As he walked along what passed for a road to the main farmhouse, Darius could see the ones working taking a long pause as they shuffled towards his location.
Rubbing his chin, he wondered how they would receive him and made some plans and counter-plans based on the circumstances. By the time he reached the door of the large and well-maintained farmhouse, he saw the various adults of this place standing there, waiting for him to do something.
There were about 200 adults at the least, with more than that number of children around their parents. As for the old, they numbered slightly less than that. This was actually quite large for a village from what he knew from the infoblock.
Darius stopped in front of them and maintained a purposefully lax demeanor, not like a young boy being eyed warily by many onlookers, but a master returning to his home.
"Who is the chief here?" Darius asked in a slightly imperious manner.
A tall man with slightly reddish skin and orange hair stood out from the group. "That would be me. You can call me Shanks."
He had a thick mustache and an even thicker beard. A hoe was slung over his shoulder, and his beefy body proved his good work ethic on this farm. He certainly did look like someone qualified to lead.
But it wasn't only that which Darius noticed. It was the fact that Shanks wore blue overalls that were embossed with a fading logo on the breast pocket. That logo had been added to his Database, informing him that Shanks must have had some ties to the royal family.
Judging by Shanks' accent, which was free of any of the typical countryfolk augmentations, it was safe to assume he used to be a cityslicker who probably retired out here to start a new and peaceful life.
'Ex-military. Discharged with high honors and a good sum in savings or reward, which he used to start up this homestead. It would explain why it could be so large yet so secluded.' Darius analyzed him in his mind with the experience of a businessman.
There were no signs of wear on the buildings, meaning that they should have been built relatively recently, within about 2-5 years. There were also no signs of fighting from bandit raids, which, according to the infoblock, should be a frequent problem for the general populace outside the cities, so this reinforced the point that this Shanks fellow was someone of means.
But at the end of the day, this was all speculation and deduction. Darius found a simpler way to confirm his assumptions.
"You… your accent and your bearing…? You're from the Royal City, no?" Darius asked with a surprised expression.
Shanks immediately narrowed his eyes, inspecting the newcomer even more carefully, his hoe shifting about a bit unruly, but he didn't shrink back. "I am. So you should understand what that means."
Darius nodded. "I do. Allow me to assure you that I've not come here to cause you or your peasants any trouble, Sir Shanks. I just wanted to find a place to lay my head until I finish my experiments."
Shanks visibly relaxed when Darius called him 'Sir' after all his concessions. Even if he hadn't been an ex-knight, any military man of a kingdom like this would find such an exalted title pleasant to the ear as it showed respect.
"In that case, there should be no problem with you staying here. We here at Poleria's Homestead welcome any travelers. We have yet to build a tavern or inn, so I hope you don't mind staying in my farmhouse?" Shanks offered with a curious smile.
"Poleria's Homestead… what a lovely name, Sir Shanks. Does it have a special meaning?" Darius asked.
"That's right, Young Sir. It was the name of my beloved wife who passed a few years ago. I decided to resign from all the unnecessary fighting and settle down like she always wanted me to and have named the place after her. Makes me feel like she's here with us, you know?" Shanks confessed and let out a heavy sigh.
Darius smiled. He had successfully turned himself from a questionable youth of unknown origin to a respectful and thoughtful noble scion who was just passing through.
Not just Shanks, but the others around him became relaxed as relief flooded them. Shanks might be special, but they were common peasants. Andrato Kingdom had a typical medieval class society not unlike medieval Europe on Earth.
If a noble told a peasant to jump, they were required socially and by law to ask how high. There was no such thing as human rights or freedoms, and the majority of laws were basically used to secure the interests of the nobles, as well as serve as weapons for them to fight each other civilly.
That was why they had hurriedly called over Shanks, the only one among them who could deal with someone from a noble family thanks to his previous status. Now that this noble boy had proven himself to be quite amiable and declared he was not here to do anything to them, they had let down their guards.
Although Darius would love to believe that things going smoothly was all due to his own eloquence, which allowed him to be socially adept in all situations, in his heart he knew that his above-average Charisma had to have played a role in it, affecting him passively and actively.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
27 Power
stone 
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