With the crisis currently abated, Lance dropped the magazine from his rifle and inserted a fresh full one. Slinging the rifle, he looked up to see the man and woman he assumed were the boy’s parents running toward them. Lance could envision the woman throwing herself on the boy in fear and relief, and without thought, intercepted her full on charge toward the boy and Lydia. Holding onto her as gently as he could, he tried to tell her that Lydia was a healer and the boy was in the best hands possible. Causing him to be jostled or moved right now could be detrimental to his health. The man laid a restraining hand on the woman’s arm, and Lance released her and turned toward Lydia and the boy.

  Lydia spoke up, stating that she had stabilized the boy and administered some healing. However, she was waiting for her magic to regenerate some in order to activate the skill once more to ensure there were no lingering effects. She told the couple that the boy had suffered a head trauma, abrasions and contusions, a dislocated shoulder, and a not inconsequential neck injury. It would probably be another 30 minutes before she could heal him again. The couple confirmed to Lydia that they were the boy’s parents, he was five years old, and generally in good health. Although they were anxious and wanted their boy up and about, Lydia’s personality and expert bedside manner had them calmed and waiting until she could finish treating the boy.

  As they waited, Lydia sent Lance a notification. This skill is what had drained most of her magic reserve, as her minor heal only used about 20 magic, apparently moderated in this context meant about 100 magic.

  New Profession Skill Gained - ‘ARTICLE 25’ -Passive. Pursuant to universal conventions, medical personnel not engaged in direct hostility are considered non-combatants. As such, when not engaged in direct hostile action, and while attending to or treating a patient or acting in a medical capacity, you, your patient, and defensive allies gain a nearly impenetrable shield. Moderate magic demand.

  She also let him know through party chat that she had gained 40 energy from the bull. She didn’t know how she had gained this profession skill without leveling. She suggested to Lance that perhaps the system was favoring them for some reason.

  Lance agreed with Lydia that there were some unexplained shenanigans going on with how the system awarded/rewarded them. And on the subject of reward, even though he hated putting the bull rhionox down, there was no way he wasn’t going to loot the creature and benefit from whatever it might leave. Placing his hand on the rhionox, he whispered loot. It disappeared amidst the expected maelstrom of colored light. In its place was an engraved stone about four inches by six inches shaped kind of like a bar of soap, and a pile of what appeared to be cured leather from rhionox hide. ‘Analyzing’ the stone first, Lance saw that it was a

  Baesteinn (bath-stone) - this stone contains a runic

  enchantment for cleaning. ? ? ? ?

  Lance could envision a lot of use out of the stone. Moving onto the hide, he analyzed it

  Rhionox Leather Topcoat - This stylish yet durable men’s jacket

  is nigh impervious to slicing and piercing, and is embroidered

  with an enchantment of comfort, leaving the wearer comfortable

  in almost any climate. ?????

  Picking the items up, Lance noticed that the coat had multiple pockets, and it came down about mid-thigh in length, and was the neutral off-gray of the rhionox. Throwing the coat over his shoulder, he turned back toward Lydia and the others. She was just finishing up using her Minor Heal on the boy again. He seemed to regain all of his faculties and Lydia helped him sit up. His mother dropped to her knees and wrapped him in a hug, while his father was profusely thanking both Lydia and Lance for saving their son. Lance humbly stated that it appeared Bj?rn, Grimble, and V?in? all had a hand in preventing the rhionox matriarch from attacking them.

  Lydia helped both mother and son stand up, and the small group headed back toward the carriage and wagons, flanked by the two guards from earlier. There they met up with Bj?rn, Grimble, V?in?, Viggr, Skyti, and Vilhelm. The caravaneers all bowed to the family as they arrived. Lance knew the carriage looked fairly classy, but was unsure who they now found himself entangled with.

  “Now, now, gentlemen, none of that nonsense”, the man said.

  “As you wish my lord”, Bj?rn replied.

  “Lord Merchant”, the man said. “Perhaps you could make introductions, seeing as you know everyone here?”

  “Of course, of course”, Bj?rn replied with a bit of a blush, but finally dropping the honorifics. “Jarl and Lady Dalbrekkr, I am pleased to introduce to you the Travelers, Sergeant First Class Lance Raven and Staff Sergeant Lydia Morales. Sergeants, please meet Jarl Ragnar Dalbrekkr the governor of this region, his wife Sigrid, and their young son Steffan. I believe all of you know the rest of these scoundrels here with me.”

  “Travelers you say? And Sergeants on top of that?”, the jarl replied. Bowing low he said, “Be welcome to Hearth, the nation of Skallheim, and especially welcome to our district of Vargheim. I can never thank you enough for saving my son’s life. What boon could I offer you?”

  Lance and Lydia talked over each other, trying to convey to the jarl that they needed no reward. They had only done what was right in protecting and healing young Steffan. Lance additionally tried to deflect again, saying that Bj?rn, Grimble, and V?in? had to have played a role in the encounter.

  The jarl wouldn’t entertain accepting their refusal of reward. He said that he knew the assistance that the others had contributed, and that he was well acquainted with all three’s skillsets. As the jarl continued to insist that he could not in good conscience or honor not reward the two, Grimble tugged on Lance’s arm. When Lance leaned down to Grimble, he whispered something in his ear.

  Standing back upright, as the jarl finished speaking, Lance said, “My friend and advisor here has just informed me that there are two adjoining parcels of uninhabited land that I would not be out of place requesting to hold title to jointly, in mine and Sergeant Morales’ names. If that is not too presumptuous a request, we shall be satisfied with that reward.”

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  “Splendid”, he said. “You shall be given a writ naming you both Hersir, a title of minor nobility equivalent to a chieftain or travelling warrior, and granting you both the right to the lands 2 mil in any direction from the center of these tracts, and any other lands lying between them. Your writ will also authorize you to construct a village in one tract and another village or a town in the other.”

  Having already exhausted his arguments and acquiesced to the jarls demands of reward, Lance couldn’t even bring himself to try to deny said rewards. The concept of a mil that Omniglot was giving him meant that they were going to own two pieces of land that had a radius of just over 22 km, or about 14 miles, each. If his mental arithmetic was correct, that was almost 800,000 acres.

  Lance quickly gave Lydia the mathematical rundown, and his position of just giving up and accepting it. The lands weren’t inhabited, so there was no reason to turn them down. Lance figured they could at least get some leveling energy from all the creatures in the mine, even if there was no ore or stones left to mine.

  Smiling, they both turned toward the jarl, bowed, and said “As you wish, my lord”.

  “No! Not you two, also!” He huffed. “Travelers have historically been persons of prestige, held in high esteem across the lands. You must address me as Ragnar. Besides, with the two of you saving my son’s life, you are practically family.”

  Chuckling, Lance said, “Very well, Ragnar. We humbly thank you for your generous rewards. Now, unless I miss my guess, the caravan would like to be clear from the possibility of more rhionox woes before it gets dark. May we have your leave to return to the wagons and venture on to a campsite a little more distant from the river?”

  Ragnar agreed that was a wise decision, and they all loaded into their respective transport. An hour farther down the road, they came upon a turnoff into a well established stone walled clearing. Lance later found out that this was one of the caravan’s regular stops and so they had established a permanent campsite available to any travelers on the road. They followed the procession of wagons in, with the Dalbrekkr’s carriage pulling in behind them. Once everyone was parked and settled and the camp chores were finished, Bj?rn called everyone to the center of the camp where another fire pit was ringed with stone benches.

  As Bj?rn stood in front of the fire, with the entirety of the caravan in front of him, Jarl Dalbrekkr and his wife and son walked up and stood beside him. Bj?rn shouted out, “Sergeant First Class Raven, Staff Sergeant Morales, You Have Been Summoned!”

  Acting out of ingrained instinct, Lance and Lydia shot to their feet and marched to stand at attention in front of the jarl, snapping off a crisp salute. Lance saw Ragnar’s lips twitch and could see the smile reach his eyes. Ragnar in turn, brought his right fist to his left shoulder, then began speaking. “Free Traders of Skallheim, I stand before you tonight to recognize the valor and heroism of these two Travelers whom you have welcomed into your company. Acting without regard to their own safety, willing to sacrifice for the life of a stranger, they saved the life of an innocent boy while mitigating damage to the environment and its denizens as much as was feasibly possible. It is with great pleasure that I, by the power vested in me by the King of Skallheim, do name these two persons Hersir and friends, and affix this badge of office.” He stepped forward, winked, and whispered to Lance, “This is where you can bow and I won’t stop you.” He then pinned a bronze badge to the shoulder board on Lance’s uniform that was a depiction of three interlocked triangles, sidestepped and repeated the procedure for Lydia. Stepping back, he spoke loudly, “Stand tall Hersir Raven, Hersir Morales, may the gods favor you!”

  Standing back to attention, Lance and Lydia were directed to stand next to Sigrid and Steffan, as the jarl called Bj?rn, Viggr, and V?in? to stand in front of him. He spoke quietly and warmly to each and handed them each a rolled up parchment. When they were directed off to stand to the side, the jarl raised his hands and shouted, “Now we celebrate!”

  The rest of the caravaneers let out cheers and whoops of excitement! Everyone went and grabbed a bowl and passed by the fire dipping out a large ladle full of stew. Lance quickly ran back to his camper and duplicated a 30 pack of beer, and grabbed a bottle of rum. Returning to the fire, he placed the beer down on one of the benches, opened the bottle of rum, and started pouring shots into cups and drinking horns. When he had poured some rum for everyone who wanted it, one of Ragnar’s guards approached and told him that Ragnar would like his and Lydia’s company at his carriage. Lance assented and went to get Lydia.

  Walking up to Lydia, who was chatting with various members of the caravan, he took her arm in his and asked, “Wouldest the fair lady accompany me to see our lordship?”

  Blushing, Lydia responded, “Twould be our pleasure, Hersir.”

  When the two arrived at the Dalbrekkr’s carriage, they found a small table and some chairs had been set up by Ragnar’s retainers. Joining them at the table, Lance offered some rum. Ragnar agreed, and pushed a cup across the table. When the jarl and family had finished their stew, Sigrid sent Steffan into the carriage with one of the servants to get put to bed. Ragnar broke the silence, telling Lance and Lydia that, as much as they would like to continue their travel with the caravan, they would be travelling on ahead much faster with their carriage. He had a moot to attend, and reports to present to the king. Because of that, he was going to be writing out the writs of nobility and land deeds this evening.

  He laid out two elegant pieces of parchment, and asked Lance and Lydia to place a drop of blood on the upper left and lower right corners of one each. He then placed a spot of his blood in the opposing corners, and began writing with some type of stylus that required no inkwell. The stylus appeared to be burning like a laser etcher would. As the jarl wrote, Lance suspected there was more magic involved. The writing was neat, precise, and perfectly spaced, and it took only a matter of minutes for Ragnar to complete both pages. When he was finished writing, he placed his hands on both parchments, and Lance could see colorful world energy swirl around his hands and into the parchment. As the light show cleared, Lance could feel some kind of connection snap into place in his being. Ragnar lifted his hands, and where they had been was now a complex seal of an imposing wolf’s head with runes and axes surrounding it, and encircled by a braided rope.

  Seeing the look of concern on Lance’s face, Ragnar spoke up. “You no doubt felt the bond take place. Do not be concerned, it only links you and your individual magic signature to the document. There are no servile demands placed upon your soul or anything of that nature. There are, however, other skills and magics that could do so. I must caution you, though in hindsight I should have done so before we completed the writs, to not enter into blood magics uninformed. Now, Sigrid is a Notary by Profession, very convenient for a lot of my work, and she will officially transcribe and witness these writs into my official ledger which is propagated to all relevant entities.”

  The remaining servant stepped forward with a large leather-bound tome, and placed it on the table. Sigrid placed one hand on the ledger and the other on one of the parchments, and the energy light show happened once again. When she finished with the second one, Ragnar stated, “That completes the process. You are now registered in all government offices across the nation as Hersir, and your land-holdings are official with both mine and the king’s offices.”

  Allowing the servant to remove the leger, Sigrid stood and moved to Lydia and embraced her. She spoke softly saying, “We cannot thank you enough for saving our precious boy. Please know that you are welcome in our home at any time, and if you ever have need of anything do not hesitate to ask.”

  Ragnar stood and Lance did the same. They grasped forearms and Ragnar said, “Just as Sigrid said, we owe you a great debt. Please do not be strangers, and let us know if there is ever anything you need.” He then turned to shake Lydia’s hand as Sigrid gave Lance a quick hug.

  Ragnar rolled up and handed them each their respective writs, and Sigrid passed them a piece of leather thong to tie them with. Pocketing them, the two new Vargheim knights, for lack of a better translation, bid the nobles a good evening and retired to the camper.

  Lance stored their writs in the gunsafe while Lydia was cleaning up and changing. When Lydia came out, Lance took the baesteinn that he had looted from the rhionox, and focused trying to push some magic energy into it. It flowed almost intuitively, and Lance felt the stone activate and an almost electric tingle wash across his body. Every bit of dirt, dust, and sweat salt disappeared from his body and clothing as if it had evaporated. Lydia whispered, “Show-off!” and grabbed it from him, activating it as he stepped into the bathroom. She apparently pushed a fair bit more energy into it, because he could feel it wash across the entire camper. Suddenly his little bathroom in the camper was cleaner than it had ever been. Calcium and rust stains just disappeared. Lance decided that some testing would be in order in the near future. If the stone worked like he was thinking, they wouldn’t have to make nightly treks into the trees to relieve themselves. They would be able to use the porta-potty in the camper and just activate the stone to eliminate the waste in the tank.

  Exiting the bathroom, Lydia had already climbed up into bed. She was holding the covers up, and said, “Come on then. This is our new life now, and there is no one to complain about fraternization.” Lance smiled, reached over and duplicated the duffel bag containing his “sin tax” trade goods, and then turned out the lights and climbed into bed.