Fantasy World Creations

Location: Herr Klein's Estate - Minette's Study
Date: Day 4 - 6 PM

"Oh? Frau hero... you wanted to know about Klein's records? He had... a lot of things..." Minette said as she moved over to some stacks of paper. Like before she was wearing her coat, but she seemed to have been missing her pants. Her white underwear was plain to see, though, she either didn't seem to notice, or was unconcerned.

"I thought... you might have wanted to know. So... I made a report." She placed the papers on a desk, and started arranging them into neat stacks. Looking at them you realized they were a rather detailed accounting on Klein's assets. Or at least the ones he had. Altogether Klein was heavily involved with gathering and producing metals, though he sold the metal ingots to customers rather than using it himself. He also owned a money lending operation, and most of his goods were under the name 'Klein Company'. It seemed like Minette handled most of ther accounting and administrative work, while Klein provided a lot of the direction. Apparently there were others like Minette who handled the more finer details of each operation on the sites themselves.

Klein also seemed to have plans for expansion. There were plots of land that he had recently acquired, and he had planned to setup a lumberyard, oir perhaps another factory. It looked like the one with the summoning circle was also part of this new land. Apparently, according to the records, that area of land had suddenly appeared not too long ago, and Klein already had dealings with the government in order to purchase the land when it was available. It seemed to have been by chance that Klein stumbled upon a summoning circle.

QuoteMinette gives you all the information about it. Assume you can recall this information from memory with a DC 10 INT, or potentially applicable Knowledge check, or Autohypnosis check at DC 15 (for memorizing the entire thing). If you have the stacks of paper, or choose to keep a notebook for yourself, or have Minette on hand, you can skip the skill checks.

Assets
Two Mines
Rights to Access Mines (sold slots to other miners/slave owners)
Ore processing factory/smelter, equipment to process any kind of ore
One office for factory, not on site
Trade contracts with direct dealings with manufacturers or produced ingots
Shipment and fulfillment for products to clients
A small number of slaves/solders in various neighboring towns to handle bank transactions and money orders from clients/manufacturers
A money lending operation, under the name Klein Company
Deeds to large plots of land outside the city, the ruins you were summoned in.
Rights for lumber cutting and processing
Many other slaves and soldiers.

Unfinished business
Plans for a lumberyard, stocked with slaves
A plan with the government to provide housing or construction for the invaders, by supplying the necessary materials. Primarily stones and metals, but orders of wood would have been required.
Plans to purchase more slaves from slave owners.
Plans for buying a 3rd mine, or at least majority rights

"Oh... One more... last thing... When Klein found the summoning circle... Hired the Idorian mage to initiate the summoning ritual... He cancelled many of his next upcoming appointments... Usually... the other administrative assistants in the other sites handle the day-to-day... But... they do send mail on updates to the business... and he does meet monthly with them. But... there are other meetings coming up still... His next slave contact meeting is in a few days from now... Then one of our couriers from the next city over has completed the buying of one of the lands near there... He has a negotiation with outsourcing more of our mining rights coming up in a week too."

Minette continued to list a variety of upcoming meetings and negotiations. She even pointed out a calendar that Klein had kept. Having Sofia Leiningen, the Chief Executive of her own business, appear in order to make some business deals didn't seem to be as far-fetched anymore.

"I haven't yet cancelled all of the meetings coming up... If we are to try and spin the story of Klein's reclusiveness, other nobles might instead decide to visit... Especially if there's a specific deal they were most interested in making with the Klein Company. We might be able to send each of them letters to cancel anything we have pending though...

Lastly, a letter had come in this morning, with an invitation from Sofia Leiningen to Klein and his servants for a tour of their new facility, in hopes that they can create an 'agreement'."

QuoteIf you want any more detail on any of his assets or listings, or his upcoming schedule let me know.

Klein's assets were, extensive to say the least. She looked around the room for a minute searching for a little notebook or something that she could write the information down on.

"What a headache..." she finally said looking it all over again. "We are going to need to cancel or postpone some of these meetings at least. There's no way we can keep up the appearance the Klein is still alive if he's got someone coming by constantly. Can you give me the approximate amounts of income from each of these dealings, and the costs for the upcoming purchases he planned on making? Also, do yo know how much money he has in currency and liquid assets, as well as if it's kept in a bank or here at the estate? Things like jewelry or art that can be sold quickly."

The management of Klein's wealth was shaping up to be a nightmare, but it was something that needed to be done. His busy upcoming schedule was even more of an issue. Not everyone that had a meeting with him was going to be as sympathetic as Sofia, and simply detaining everyone that came by the estate wasn't a viable option. Minette was right as well, you couldn't simply cancel all of his meetings either because that would look suspicious for someone so well landed.

Fortunately Sofia had extended an invitation to meet with her about making an 'agreement', whatever that really meant. To Hanako though, it was going to be an attempt to offload some of the bulk of Klein's holdings while still taking a cut of the profits. She hoped too that she would be able to get some of the slaves that worked in those mines and factories freed.

"Klein's assets... And his income... Yes." She said slowly as she leafed out another stack of papers. On it were various numbers and tables, along with long lists of items.

"Most... are kept in the bank under his account, though, he has authorized slaves that proceed with the transactions for him, as long as there's a written note with his signature." She conveniently pointed to a slip of paper and handed to you. On it looked to be Klein's signature.

QuoteYou can mimic Klein's signature with a Linguistics check, using Forgery. However, since this is potentially a lot of secret rolls on my end, I'll waive this requirement if you go through a new Training: Klein's Signature, DC 10, Successful Training Required: 4. Before that Training, I'll go ahead and do a secret roll on a daily basis using your Linguistics skill for success/failures for the Forgery attempts that day, and will keep track of any transactions that are done then.

"For his liquid assets... he has... this much." She pointed to a total number on the stack of papers.

"We haven't gone through the things he keeps in his estate though... Such as the art and other valuables. We can task the soldiers and the others to collect the valuables... Maybe it will take a day to go through it and estimate... I would like... the help of one of the slaves at the foundry offices... She has an eye for appraisals. Though, I would suggest we keep furnished any public areas in case there are visitors."

Minette eventually showed you the calendar as well.

Hanako looked over the list of properties and tried to get a general idea of the monetary and strategic value of all of Klein's property and businesses. With Minette's help she started to get a clearer picture of where things stood, though she still had some questions.

"Do we have a list of the individuals or businesses that we sell ore and processed materials to? I think I also need to see who Klein lent money to through his money-lending company. Lastly, I should probably see a list of who has mining rights at the mines we already own."

Life as a "hero" was beginning to look a lot like working at a corporate entity back on earth, starkly in contrast with her long held desire to live an easy life. I knew this wasn't going to be easy, but this is getting out of hand. Was I really sent here to become a salaryman? Aren't heroes supposed to go out and have adventures and stuff?

Hanako sighed, the numbers were making her head spin. "Go ahead and get the girl you mentioned from the foundry office to come here and help asses how much money we have sitting around as art and whatnot. I don't think we'll end up selling any of it right away but it's a good idea to know what we can turn into quick cash if we need it."

She stood back and folded her arms across her chest, and looked at the floor with a furrowed brow. "Also send Leiningen a response telling her that 'Klein' would be happy to visit but due to illness he will be sending an envoy in his stead. Now I think I need to go talk to Trudy about coming up with a disguise or something for when we leave the estate."

When she was finally finished giving directions she unconsciously brought a hand up and placed it on Minette's head, patting it absentmindedly. "Thank you for all your hard work. I don't think I'd be able to make this work without it."

Minette then pulled out another stack of papers, on it was a list of clients that Klein had worked with. He had apparently inherited contacts from the Klein family's networks. The list included small smiths, but with bigger ones as well. You noted that the Birkensen Trading Company was among one of those contacts that bought a lot of metal ingots that Klein's company produced. Apart from that, there were orders from the government itself, along with to a couple of the neighboring towns. However there was no contacts outside of the Refedoria kingdom.

Likewise for Klein's money-lending, he didn't have a specific preference on who he catered towards. His was a relatively small lending-company though, so it was primarily used by small-time individuals. With his ranking as a noble, he could always strong-arm the poorer, or even have the defaulters arrested then enslaved.

Lastly, for the mining rights, Klein seemed to sell most of those rights to another competing mining company. They were in leases, which was set to expire in the next five weeks before a negotiated renewal.

QuoteIf you have specific plans for the list of contacts, let me know

"Numbers aren't too bad.. they're always there... never changing... And you can understand them too." Minette said smiling softly as she reached to take your to comfort you. She let go shortly after.

"I'll send one of our couriers to bring her with us... But... No one else outside of this mansion knows we killed Klein. We haven't told any of the other slaves or soldiers on the other sites... The less people that knew, the better... We figured you would decide once you were able to."

She marked something the calendar when you mentioned Sofia Leiningen, Minette nodded as well.

When you patted her head absentmindedly, Minette seemed to blush slightly, but she kept her eyes on you.

"Thank you... for saving us." Minette finally said.

Hanako smiled weakly, it wasn't that she didn't like being thanked but rather the weight of that thanks was almost oppressive. "People aren't property is all. Plus, we aren't really out of the woods yet but I'm trying to get a plan together. You were right to keep the information under wraps, I think the phrase another country from my world used to use was: 'Loose lips sink ships'. I would like to get as many of those people out though, so they'll learn about it eventually."

There was still so much to do, and too much of it hinged on the meeting she was going to have with Sofia. She dared to hope that her sympathies were more than simple self preservation, but the way the woman appeared to treat her slaves implied there was something more there.

"Okay" she said after a moment of silence. "I'm gonna go see Trudy about some things but I'll see you later tonight assuming you're still standing guard. I want to go over my ideas with the two of you as well."

With that, she said her see-you-laters and left the room to find Trudy. While she wandered the halls looking for her, Hanako couldn't help but think about how insanely lucky she was to have the help that Trudy and Minette had supplied. This would have been so awful otherwise.

---

You found Trudy on the first floor, talking with one of the slaves. It was an elf, the same one who had first talked to you down in the dungeon.


"Hero! Frau hero." She said, correcting herself. The elf was no longer wearing rags, like most of the slaves, they had gone through the estate looking for any sort of clothes. Eventually there were a few who decided to go through Klein's room as well, though, there were a few of the slaves who refused to touch any of the clothing in there.

"When you have some free time... I need to make a request."

Hanako waved the formality away. "Just Hanako please, and certainly. I need to have a quick meeting with Trudy here but afterwards I'd be happy to listen."

For a moment while she was speaking to the woman she had to struggle not to stare at her ears. A real elf, I guess this is a 'fantasy' world after all...

"Hanako! You needed to see me?" Trudy asked. "You know I'd always make time for you..." She continued with her cheeks turning a slight red, but she smiled right after.

"How can I help?"

Hanako returned the smile. Cute.

"You may or may not know that 'Klein' has received an invitation from Sofia Leiningen to tour some new facility of hers and strike a deal or something of the sort. It's likely that she wants to meet with me because she wants something. I plan on going, with you and Minette as well as one or two others to meet with her because I have an agreement of my own I'd like to propose. However, there is a small problem." She made a sweeping gesture over her body, indicating that she was in fact the problem mentioned.

"It's plain to anyone with eyes that I'm not from here, and that's bound to draw attention. There's not a great deal of options as far as I'm aware to disguise this fact so I'm looking for what choices we actually have available. I could probably put on a wig or bleach my hair or something, but if anyone takes a closer look they're going to know I'm not from around here. Second to that, I probably don't have the mannerisms or speech of one of your countrymen."

She scratched her head. "I guess what I'm saying is that I'd like to hear what you think and we can compare that to what I've been thinking..."

"Well... You do stand out a bit... But your kind of hair and looks are similar to the people in one of our neighboring countries in this New World. You might have heard or seen Isikawa when you were looking at the records with Minette? I haven't seen many of them... But the demons are still at war with that country, and unlike us who surrendered, they are still fighting.

If the demons don't kill them outright, they torture them, but sometimes they give them as slaves to the humans in our country that please them... Maybe... Maybe you could pass off as one of them? What do you think?"

"Isikawa huh... The name even sounds similar to a prefecture in Japan. That... that might work. We'll have to do the collar thing again, but that was a given anyway. Do the slave soldiers in this country have military ranks? I would imagine it would look odd for a foreigner to be leading a bunch of other slaves."

The existence of a country that sounded like a pseudo Japan had some promise to it, and Hanako considered that she might need to adjust her plan. She'd run it all by Trudy and Minette later and get their input, and hopefully it wouldn't seem too impossible to pull off. The linchpin would still be Sofia though, and there wasn't any assurance that she would help.

"Not official ranks no... That's usually decided by the owner who's in charge of who. But for us soldiers, we still try to be respectful towards others who were of a higher rank than us while we were still in the military. Rank means nothing these days to everyone else, except for maybe deciding which of us would make a good fit for leading if it came to defending ourselves or our owner."

"An Isikawan slave wearing a soldier's uniform might normally be strange too... But dressing up in different clothes for the owner..." Trudy didn't continue that line of thought though.

"What do you think?"

Hanako scratched her chin thoughtfully for a moment before speaking. "Yeah, that makes the most sense really. Lets see if we can find some plain clothes I can wear instead to avoid standing out. If we can't find anything already made, maybe we can ask someone to sew. While were in public, you guys are probably gonna have to treat me like I'm beneath you since I'm a captured foreigner."

She took a minute to think if there was something else she might need to ask before going off to find the elf. "I think that's it for that part of the plan... I've got some stuff I want to discuss with you and Minette later tonight though. Thank you for working so hard, I don't think we would have made it this far without all you've done."

"We'll find something! There's a couple of slaves who are good with sewing, and some of them have begun making clothes for everyone using some fabrics they found in one of the rooms. Likewise, a few of us can go down to the clothing store and pick some things out."

QuoteAssume you're able to get any kind of clothing that's reasonable and fitting for the style and dress code of the people here.

---

Location: Herr Klein's Estate - Random room with a table
Date: Day 4 - 6 PM

You found the elf sitting a room away, she had pulled out what looked to be a letter since and it was in front of her on the table. She noticed your presence.

"Hanako. It is strange... to be calling a hero simply by their name, Trudy seems to say it freely, but I figured you had already spoken to her. She's always been the most devout among us all." The elf smiled.

"My name is Amarille Lassetaure..." She hesitated as she glanced at you waiting for a reaction, but a moment later she continued. "I'm sorry, I haven't used my real name ever since I was captured... I'm from the elvish kingdom of Lassetaure. And..." She pushed the letter in front of her towards you.

"I'd like to be able to send this letter to my father... to let him know I'm still alive."

Hanako thanked Trudy for the help, and reiterated she would prefer an outfit with pants if possible before heading off to find the elf woman.

---

"I've just never been one to stand on ceremony really. It's a pleasure to re-acquaint myself with you Amarille, or Ms. Lassetaure if you prefer. Naturally I'd love to help make sure this gets where it needs to go" she said, picking up the letter. "Though I have to admit, since I'm somewhat new to this place I don't exactly know where Lassetaure is."

"Lassetaure, or Leaf Wood, is found to the north... It's a forest kingdom that stretches from the coast all the way, wrapped around by the Antwarch Dragon Knight Kingdom. At least, it used to be... The demons first appeared a bit over a hundred years ago, I remember when it had happened... The humans fought valiantly of course, but it was a losing battle, and we've lost land after land. The arrival of the newer countries that have suddenly appeared here, the process that they're now calling the 'Shifting', actually helped us out, giving some reprieve."

"But in the end, even with the arrival of the other countries, the flow of demons was just too much... They managed to make it to our capital..."

"It's been years since I've admitted this... But I'm the princess of my people. My mother and father, the king and queen, evacuated first, of course. I stayed behind to rally the troops... But..." She looked somberly as she remembered the memory.

"The demons slayed the guards, but they kept me alive... And then I found myself here... as a slave of that vile man, Klein." She pointed to her neck where there were scars from burn wounds. "THe never did break me... But having an elf was a prize, so he eventually stopped calling for me as often... Fearing he'd perhaps scar me too much."

Hanako listened to Amarille's tale. She did her best not to react when she said she was royalty, but did wince slightly at the scars on her neck. When the story was through, Hanako sat down and leaned forward with her elbows on her knees. "That's an intense story. I'm starting to notice a similar thread with everyone Ive spoken to, regarding entire landmasses being transposed and demon armies conquering everyone. I can assure you that I will do my best to make sure your letter reaches your father, but I can't promise when. We have a delicate situation with where we are currently that I'm trying to navigate our way out of."

She leaned back and rubbed the back of her head, embarrassed by what she was about to admit. "If it's not plainly obvious I'm not particularly gifted with martial prowess. My world was one at relative peace, prior to me coming here that is. However I can say that I have a particular set of skills that I can probably use to make sure things end up alright. Not to mention these strange gifts I seem to have been given."

The "particular set of skills" wasn't a total lie. She was a fan of kingdom management sims and had played a lot of games where you needed to make critical decisions in a short time. She wouldn't ever tell anyone this though....

"I have a plan, well, I'm working on one that might see us leaving this place in the near future and depending on where we end up we might be able to make a better life and you might even be able to return home. Please don't spread that around though since things haven't been finalized and there are quite a few details to work out."

"I understand Hanako... My lips are sealed. Is there anything I can do to help? Well... Not that there is much I can do without my people... But living for as long as I have, you pick up a trick or two with using weaponry and magic."

"And it's alright if you can't deliver the letter now... But among everyone here, I think you'll be the best person to be able to do it. I haven't heard much with what's been happening in Lassetaure. The last I heard they've lost most of the forest to the demons, but they've managed to stall them off for the time being. I'm not sure how the king and queen fair, and I can only hope they are still there, leading our people..."

QuoteLet me know if there are other things you want to do in the day. I believe you still have 4 hours left of free training. I'll also begin work on the calendar, since it's getting to be a chore keeping track!

"There could very well be a time in the near future where I'll need to rely on those skills" Hanako said, tucking the letter away safely. "I hope for that as well. If you'll excuse me, I need to track down Trudy again." she said with a nod.

Location: Herr Klein's Estate - Training Room with Trudy
Date: Day 4 - 6 PM

You find Trudy again, and after explaining you wanted to train, she grinned and took you up on the offer. This time around, instead of having it in your room, Trudy insisted on a more open-space, but still kept it indoors due to the fact that having soldiers training outside might have attracted unneeded attention. As the hours went on, you managed to make progress with your training. You were able to more easily pull the blade back and respond, though, still not as deftly and quick as Trudy was able to. But you were making solid progress.

QuoteTrainings
Hanako Longsword Proficiency: 2/8
Minette Japanese Proficiency: 2/8

---

Location: Herr Klein's Estate - Hanako's Room
Date: Day 4 - 10:30 PM

After training, Trudy had actually immediately asked to be excused to get herself bathed and cleaned up. She eventually came back wearing the sweater again, this time, she wore one of the skirts out of modesty as the two of you made your way back towards your room. Of course Trudy was blushing the entire time. Some of the soldiers glanced your way, but that made Trudy only clutch to your arm tighter and urge you on faster.

Finally arriving in the room itself though, opening the door, it seemed like Minette was already waiting. She was lying on your bed with a book in hand, wearing her too-revealing bed-wear that she seemed to favor. She happened to be on the far side of the bed, on her edge, as if expecting you and Trudy to arrive.

She peered up from her book slowly and lazily smiled.

"Oh? I was waiting..." Minette's eyes made her way to Trudy, falling on the uptight soldier's skirt.

"Sleeping is more... comfortable with that?" Minette asked confused.

"Y-yes... N-no... I mean.. w-well..." Trudy glanced towards you unsure, her face blushing. "Hanako? As y-your soldier and night guard... Whatever w-will m-make you more comfortable? Do you... umm... want them..." She looked down as her face became completely red.

"...Off?"

Off. Always off! she thought, then said "Whatever makes you most comfortable."

Hanako felt the flush rising up her neck into her cheeks, there was a strong chance she would never be used to this. Even as the the hot embarrassment started to rear its head, she worked to tamp it back down. There were important things that needed to be discussed before there was time for the endless awkward flirtation that seemed to spring up in the night.

She coughed. "Ahem. Uhh when you're both err... comfortable, there's some important stuff I want to run by you. I've been working on a little plan but I need to talk it through with the both of you to make sure it sounds like a good idea and see if you can find some problems with it from your perspective."

She climbed onto the bed, and waited for the other two to settle in.

Minette placed her book away on the nightstand beside her, then settled in more comfortably in bed, with her head propped up so she could look at you properly.

"Oh? Do tell..." Minette's prompted.

Trudy herself followed after you, still blushing. She still had her skirt on however, and once you hopped on the bed, Trudy moved to her side, and slipped her legs under the covers. You noticed that she started to squirm then, and it took you a second to realize that she was removing the skirt. She was blushing fiercely, and wouldn't look you in the eye.

"O-Okay.... this... is comfortable..." Trudy finally said. You noticed Minette smile softly at her, in the way an older sister would perhaps smile at a younger sibling.

Hanako tried very hard to remain on target, though it was going to be difficult considering the circumstances.

"Right, so... I think we should get out of the country." she announced, and then waited a moment for it to sink in.

"Naturally we would take everyone that wanted to go with us, including anyone still enslaved at the mine sites or other businesses that belonged to Klein. Ideally, I believe we would be able to get everything together and go to Isikawa. From what I am aware, they are both actively hostile to the demons, and I seem to resemble them ethnically. I can use my status as a 'hero' as well as any good will that looking Isikawan grants to hopefully ingratiate myself to a local noble or whatever kind of political leader they have to acquire land and create ourselves a new base of operations from which I would be able to more safely direct some kind of resistance to the demon occupation of this land. Barring good fortune or good will, I think we could also try buying land there."

She took a deep breath before continuing. "When we meet with Sofia Leiningen in the next few days I'm going to offer her a sizable stake in all of Klein's business assets in exchange for stewardship of them while we are out of the country. With luck this will provide us with a stream of income, and a cash windfall that we'll need to get out of this country and establish ourselves in Isikawa. I realize that this requires us to have an extraordinary amount of faith in her not to simply rat me out to the demons and have us all put to death. However I think she has no more love for them than we do, and based on her actions from before her sense of self preservation would see this as a safe move. I will recommend that any shipments of money or resources that are sent our way be disguised as trade for non hostile foreign countries even though they will be routed to us in Isikawa. Klein had plans to establish some kind of oversea trade routes anyway so it would be disguised nicely."

Hanako scratched the back of her head and looked at the ceiling. "Obviously this means that if you come, it will be a while before you see your homeland again. Probably a very long time. Anyway, I wanted to see what you thought about it. If it's a bad idea, we can come up with something else. Oh, and if we leave its probably going to be by sea. I don't think its safe or reasonable to march so many people on an overland route to get over the border."

She looked at Trudy and Minette, waiting for their replies.

Trudy was the first speak up.

"Anywhere you go, I'll go Hanako. I can... promise you that. My mother might still be alive... But if we're going to be finding a ship, then its the docks that our government had been trying to create would be our destination... My hometown is near there."

"I will follow... too..." Minette said quietly. "The biggest problem... Is being able to move that many slaves and soldiers all at once without the government or the demons taking notice... Having that large a fleet of caravans will draw their attention..."

"There is... the matter of the ship too... Taking every slave and soldier Klein owns from this city... The mining sites... and Flensberg... Around 1000 people... All of them... with collars..."

"Well, we don't have to remove all the collars either... I'm sure if you explain the situation, some will be fine without."

Minette nodded understanding Trudy's point.

"I think... it will draw too much attention if we move too many people all at once... Maybe... if we slowly move the people down to near the docks..."

They raised good points. Hanako had been unaware of the total amount of people Klein had in bondage, but even a thousand people was doable over time.

"The collars are the least of my worries honestly. It would take time but I could eventually remove them all. You're right that moving that many people would draw a lot of attention. I'm not sure that we would be able to fit a thousand people onto a single ship without sacrificing both safety and comfort. It's likely that we'll have to have one or two built if there aren't enough available to purchase, if that's the case we can probably be moving people in smaller groups while we wait on construction. There's also the possibility that fewer people will want to take the chance of fleeing. Death being the preference to slavery seems preferably right up until its time to do the dying for some people. The longer this takes though, the more precarious our position. You both know Klein kept a busy schedule of meetings, and it would raise a lot of suspicion to suddenly cancel them all. Perhaps Sofia can help with that but I'm not sure."

Hanako closed her eyes and folded her arms across her chest mulling over the situation. "At any rate, we won't know where we really stand until we meet with Sofia. In the mean time can you possibly draft up a plan for the relocation of everyone so I can at least come to her with more of a solid plan?"

"Of course... I can do that Ha~ na~ ko~" Minette said as she poked your nose with her finger and smiled. "It'll be the first thing I do tomorrow... We'll have another lesson right?" Minette asked hopefully her eyes aglow.

"Y-yeah, of course" Hanako stammered. "We can get some more in tomorrow afternoon if you want."

She reclined, laying her head on the pillows behind her. "If nothing major happens tomorrow I'll probably end up spending the day working on my swordplay, teaching you, and perhaps I'll see if I can get into those chests down in the basement that I was looking at the other day. Might be some useful stuff in there."

Location: Herr Klein's Estate - Hanako's Room/Minette's Study
Date: Day 5 - 6 AM - 6 PM

That night, familiar dreams came to you. Again it was about Erato, though, like before you couldn't quite recall the memories. When you woke up, both Minette and Trudy were snuggled up with you. Both sleeping peacefully.

It didn't take long for everyone to wake up, and after dressing up in their uniforms, (with Minette forgetting her pants or skirt like usual), you proceed to first train with Trudy. You made progress. After a quick lunch, you started teaching Minette Japanese again. You feel as if you didn't quite help her much this time around as Minette seemed to be speeding through the material, but Minette was still able to learn. Finally, you went for another round of training with Trudy. This time around you managed to start parrying Trudy's sword strikes, though there were still a lot of openings in your form.

QuoteTrainings
Hanako Longsword Proficiency: 4/8
Minette Japanese Proficiency: 3/8

---

Location: Herr Klein's Estate - Front Lobby
Date: Day 5 - 6 PM

The slave from the foundry office had arrived as well. Yesterday she had received the summons from the estate, and she had come in sometime during the evening, when you finished with the swordsmanship training. Trudy had been the one to answer the door, along with Minette standing beside her. The girl was flanked by two of soldiers, though, onces that you didn't recognize. All three of them had collars as well.

One of the soldiers saluted at Trudy.

"Ma'am! Inform master Klein, the slave Wendy has arrived as per his orders!"

The slave that was brought forth wasn't dressed up the same way as the slaves in Klein's estate in the dungeon below. In fact, this one was well-dressed. She kept her eyes low.

---

Location: Herr Klein's Estate - Cellars
Date: Day 5 - 6 PM

After examining the chests and determining there wasn't any way to open them without the key, short of smashing them, Hanako came back up the ground floor to find Trudy.

"Hey Trudy, where do you think Klein kept the keys to those chests down in the ba-" she stopped short seeing that the appraisal girl was here. She's surprisingly well dressed.

Hanako meandered over to where Trudy was talking to the new arrivals.

Trudy saluted back at the soldier.

"At ease. Klein's no more, so there's no more need to be formal." Trudy replied back looking carefully at the soldier. The solider on the other hand was confused. You had come up then, and Trudy noticed your approach.

"Oh... Hanako! It looks like the person Minette wanted from the foundry offices is here..."

"Hello... Wendy. It's nice to see you... again." Minette said slowly and calmly.

"To you as well..." In a lower voice she continued. "What do you guys mean by Klein's no more?" She whispered as she stepped inside the lobby. She immediately saw you. Wearing your track suit you looked out of place compared with the soldiers who were about. Not only that, Wendy also noticed the other slaves who were either lounging around, or minding their own business.

Her eyes widened, and when she turned back to Minette her eyes moved immediately to the soldier's neck.

"Your collars!" Wendy shouted. Alarmed, she quickly covered her mouth. There was fear in her eyes. "What's happening? Why does..." She looked around as she whispered. "Why does no one have collars?"

Mmmm... I should have guessed that reaction. Hanako mused. The sight of everyone in the mansion simply doing whatever they want relatively carefree must have been a shock. She stuffed her hands in her pockets and replied with what she hoped was a reassuring smile.

"Hmm? Oh I took care of those. You want me to get rid of yours too? They're sort of uncomfortable aren't they?"

She withdrew a hand from her pocket and offered it to the girl. "I think I overheard your name is Wendy? I'm Hanako, its nice to meet you."

"You can... take care of them?" Wendy asked as she took your pro-offered hand. "How? I've looked and studied into these collars when I could... but... even I can't unravel it. Tampering with it causes it to go off..." Wendy continued to whisper. "Are you sure it's okay? Klein is gone? Is he really?" There was disbelief in her voice.

"Yeah I can just sort of turn them off. Seems to be some kind of power, I guess?" Hanako shrugged, she didn't completely understand the process herself. She was pretty sure it was some kind of magic, now that she was somewhat familiar with the concept but it wasn't like the kind that Trudy used.

"Anyway, yeah hes been... uhhh... taken care of for the last few days. If you catch my meaning. Lemme take a look at that collar of yours real quick."

QuoteChanged Training rules. Retroactively applied them and rolled Trudy's mentor checks, these are the current active trainings

Trainings
Hanako Longsword Proficiency: 6/8
Minette Japanese Proficiency: 3/8

You were able to deactivate the collars well. They all clicked opened and loosened. For a moment, Wendy, or the other two soldiers had no idea what had just happened, and they stared in shock.

Wendy's own hands started to shake as they reached for the collar around her neck. It easily came off, and Wendy continued to stare at the deactivated collar. Her eyes started to get teary then.

Hanako made a soothing motion with her hands, it was almost comical. She had never been very good at dealing with other peoples emotions. Yeah, more or less. You should probably still keep it a secret if you're going around in public though."

She put her hands back in her pockets. "I'd like to do this for everyone else that was enslaved by Klein but it's gonna take some time. There are some other things in the works as well but I'm not really ready to discuss them openly. You're kind of a part of that too, if youd like to be."

"Thank you... Thank you so much." Wendy said, as she began to wipe her tears. "I'm not normally the type to put on a public display of waterworks, ya know? But... I never thought this day would come." She was smiling as she grinned.

The girl proceeded to fly towards you into a tackle, planning to wrap her arms around you as she did so.

QuoteFeel free to dodge, using DEX, or STR to stay on your foot without falling over.

"If there's anything I can do to help, please let me." Wendy said.

Hanako made no attempt to move out of the flying tackle, but did try to brace herself against the impact.

"Just doing what I can, I guess. When you're settled in though, could you go around with Minette and help try to figure out how much money we have here tied up in stuff like art and whatnot?"

With luck, the value of Klein's collection would be a considerable sum. Paying for ships, or the construction of them, would be pricey and Hanako hoped to offset the cost with some of the valuables in the mansion.

"Yes... Yes, of course." Wendy said. She let go shortly after, still grinning. "How did you unlock these collars...?"  Wendy asked confused.

After you answer, Wendy turned towards Minette.

"Well, ya here what she just said... It's time to find out everything that greedy bastard had in his house." She turned back towards you. "Hanako? Thank you. We'll be finding out how much everything here is worth." She gave you a wink.

QuoteWill take them 4 hours, along with the rest of the soldiers to get a good inventory of everything.

---

Location: Herr Klein's Estate - Cellars
Date: Day 5 - 6 PM

Wendy, who had been going through the items in the house had stared at the chests. It was then that you noticed something particular. Wendy's eyes glowed, but if Trudy and Minette had noticed, they didn't seem to react.

"Believe it or not, those chests are actually worth a lot... If I can guess... the wood used from there is the famed Lassetaure wood. The boxes absolutely exudes elven craftmanship."

Hanako shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine really. It's some kind of magic, probably? I sort of think about locking or unlocking them and they just kind of do it. If it helps, I can see a sort of like... status sheet and one of the things listed is 'Slavemancer' which I assume is related to me being a summoned hero. Consequently I can also talk to inanimate objects."

---

Hanako looked at the box, the details of its craftsmanship eluded her. Hearing that it was elven in origin, and Lassetaure to boot reminded her that they had as close to an expert on the subject on hand as they could.

"Is that so? You know there's actually a woman here that's from around there that could tell us more about it maybe. If you'd like to ask her that is."

She didn't want to directly mention that Amarille was royalty, in case she wanted to keep that a secret. However she might be able to give a better estimate on the value of the chest. There was also the possibility that she may not want it sold. Hanako was familiar with the concept of wanting things that had been taken as war booty returned to their nation of origin.

"Wait... You're the hero? There was some talk that Klein was going to summon one..." Wendy paused. "Let me guess... he did, and that was his last mistake. Serves the bastard right."

"But you could talk to items?" Wendy piqued up her curiosity from this. "Any item? Like... what do they tell you? What do they say? That's... an unbelievable power, I'm a bit envious..."

---

"The chests specifically? The three chests themselves would fetch about 200 gold pieces each... But its curious seeing Klein had these. Ya know, that elven kingdom has been shrinking and shrinking since before our small part of our country made it here."

"So... Ya able to open it? Or should we get this lady first?"

"Well, that's what people keep calling me at least." Hanako shrugged and continued "All I did was unlock all the collars of the people that were there when I was summoned and things sort of took a natural course from there. As far as talking to items goes, I haven't really done a lot of that. I spoke to a lock down in the basement and it told me a bit about how to get it open without causing it to explode, but I haven't really had the chance to see what anything else has to say yet."

---

"Lets have her take a look first, if its something important I don't know if we should sell it or try to pry it open. It might be better, or a more dignified choice I guess, to get it back to where it belongs. I suppose I can also take a crack at talking to it as well."

"No, no, no, that's amazing! Don't you see? Back in the foundry offices, its a lot more lax there than it is in the estate... And being one of the slaves that run the shop, it's easier to get more free time... I've been tinkering with... various things, and sometimes its hard to figure out exactly why they aren't working? If I could talk to them, they'd just tell me anything I need to know, right?"

"But wow, to think you're the hero... If only you were summoned before the demons took over... We might have had a chance. I heard there are other heroes in this world, but they've all been busy with the war, that no one has yet bothered to attempt to liberate our little country here."

---

Finding Amarille, she was sipping some tea with a few other slaves and soldiers, and had been telling them stories about her homeland. When you appeared, the soldiers saluted and stood up.

You had explained the chests in the cellars to her, and Amarille nodded.

"If it chests... They could have been taken from the elven royal treasury when our capital fell. Though, they could have been any number of chests from anyone's home as well. Our kingdom has lost half of its lands to the invaders. It would make sense how Klein, an open supporter of the demons, would be able to get his hands on at least some of them. We don't actually know enough about the demons, on whether or not they keep things like treasures to themselves... But they've carved a path of destruction through my home. The fact that they're deciding to 'govern' this country, Refedoria, is the strange thing in all honesty."

"Show me the chests. There's a mark of the royal family if it did once come from the treasury..."

---

Once back in the cellars, Amarille strode up to the chest, then bent down and examined it closely. Finally, she pointed at a small inscription near the lock. The inscription itself seemed to mesh well with the overall style and design of the chest, so it was hard to notice unless you were specifically look for it.

"That's the mark of the Lassetaure royal family..." Amarille looked at wonderingly. But she frowned at the lock on it. "That lock isn't the original though."

"One would assume, from my limited experience an item can be as temperamental as any person. Did you know locks have genders? I didn't before a few days ago."

Hanako shrugged again, people seemed to have a much larger impression of what she was able to do than she did herself. I guess when you hear the word 'hero' it sort of carries a certain weight with it...

"Honestly I don't know how much of a difference I could have made. I'm not exactly a fighter, though I'm working on that. Anyway, lets go see what this house has to offer shall we?"

---

Hanako frowned slightly at the mention of altered locks. "Well, I guess lets mark this one down as not for sale then. It's not really ours to get rid of is it? Though we might want to see whats inside at least. I'm not sure where the key is, but I can uhh... talk to it I guess and see if it's the kind of lock that doesn't like to be tampered with, unless any of you have a better idea?"

Wendy perked up when you mentioned your ability.

"That was what you were doing the first time I met you, wasn't it? When you were silent staring at the lock..."

"So none of the others can hear it then, yah? So.. just in your head? Well, if Klein's dead... have we checked his room for keys?"

"There were some who went up to Klein's room and looked around... but it was mainly to grab the clothing in there. I'm not sure if anyone has actually gone through it meticulously."

"Ah yeah, and no it doesn't seem like anyone else hears it. Lemme have a little chat with the lock, and then I can run upstairs and search his room. I know most of you are uncomfortable with going in there."

Hanako crouched down next to the chest and directed her thoughts at the lock. "Err, hello can you hear me?"

"Oh... I can hear you... How are you...?" The lock's voice in your head sounded sleepy.

"Oh I'm good, I guess? Say, you wouldn't happen to know what the key that opens you looks like would you?"

Hanako was acutely aware of everyone in the room watching her stare at a lock having a conversation that they couldn't hear. It was an uncomfortable feeling.

"Oh... Yes... One giant key on a keyring. It opens up the other locks too. But it's not the master key.... No, no, no. Those locks are used more often... Locks like me are the ones that are only opened rarely..."

Is that so? You say this key opens up other locks, like the ones on the other chests around here? Also, while I've got you here, do you know whats inside the box that you keep locked?"

"Yes... for me, and the other two locks on the chests. The key that opens me opens up three others too, but I'm not sure where those other locks are..."

"A whole bunch of coins is what I remember seeing...." The lock seemed to yawn "Mithril ones... The owner took some out sometime ago though... But there's still a lot..."

Hanako raised an eyebrow, "That sounds expensive. Thank you for taking the time to speak with me."

After waiting for the lock's reply she turned to everyone else in the room and pointed to the lock in a sort of nonchalant manner. "The lock says we're looking for a single large key on a key-ring, it will open up the other two chests down here too. Also this chest is filled with mithril coins."

"Mithril? That's a bit rare... but its the currency this world uses at least. That would line up with the story that this was old-world... or... Original New World coins."

Amarille nodded.

"We kept a lot of mithril coins in our treasury." Amarille said confirming.

"It's strange really... Just for you to know Hanako, our currency goes from copper coins, to silver coins, to gold coins, then finally to platinum coins. Though, in perhaps the last... maybe 100 years, we've started relying more on bank notes for transactions. Trudy might not know this as well, but Minette should... But since I've been working at the front shops where we talk with customers, there's been some effort in trying to consolidate the our currency that we use, to the currency the rest of the world uses. This stash of mithril coins Klein has was probably for in preparation for when he opened up his international trading, provided he can get the rights from our corrupt government..."

"There's been a lockdown on the ports, with many times foreign ships being fired upon. But from what I know, Klein's been a loyal dog though, so it may take a large amount of bribing, but I suspect he would have been one of the first in the country to have government-sanctioned trades after the demons took over."

"Hanako, if you're with us, I think we can help you search the room... It brings up bad memories for most of us, except for perhaps Wendy since she didn't visit the estate often. But... I think I've been letting this eat me up inside."

Minette looked impassive, though, she seemed to look more paler than usual, she seemed to have shivered, but you can tell she kept that on the down low. Amarille on the other hand put a comforting hand on Trudy's shoulder.

"I'll come with you to search through it."

Hanako scratched her chin pensively, "Interesting..."

She gave a concerned look to Trudy and Minette, not wanting to cause them undue stress but their help in looking for the key would be to everyone's benefit. "If you think you'll be okay I would appreciate the help, but don't push yourselves too hard."

Location: Herr Klein's Estate - Klein's Room
Date: Day 5 - 6:10 PM

Among the four of them, Wendy was the most driven. She seemed to have the most curiosity about the box. Next was Trudy, who set herself to be there for you. After that it was Amarille, who didn't seem to be as bothered as Trudy, but chose to follow through. Surprisingly, it was Minette who seemed to hesitate the most. Given the fact she went around missing her pants, and the fact she was a lot more 'affectionate' than Trudy, it seemed surprising.

"I'm... sorry Hanako. I'll... wait here." Minette said , her eyes a bit downcast.

---

Location: Herr Klein's Estate - Klein's Room
Date: Day 5 - 6:40 PM

It took about half an hour, but you eventually searched the room fully. At the end of it you managed to find the following a bit suspicious:

Hanako gave Minette a reassuring pat on the back and smiled. "Don't worry about it, I know it must be hard. This won't take long."

---

After the search proved fruitful Hanako wiped her brow and let out a long sigh. "Whew. Well, we found what we were looking for, but I wonder whats in these other two boxes... Let's take a look shall we?"

Trying the small key on both boxes did not work. You noticed however, that the locks looked similar to the ones in the cellar.

There were 5 gold bars. Each one was worth 400 gold pieces. At least, that was your guess. Wendy had looked at them too, and again you noticed her eyes glow slightly, but she nodded her head and agreed with your assessment.

"Huh. I wonder what this goes to then..." Hanako said, stuffing the small key into her pocket and pulling out the large one to try on the boxes.

While she was eyeballing the gold bars, Wendy's look of gold-lust didn't escape her notice. She's got a real thing for money that one...

"If it's in his room it's probably important..." Amarille said commenting on the small key. Trying the large key on the locks worked. You managed to open both the locked chest under the floorboard, along with the locked metallic box.

Hanako thumbed through the books, making a mental note to read through some of the ones about heroes and especially give a close look at the significantly older book.

As she rifled though the contents of the smaller box she hunched over the letter and read it silently to herself. Uh oh. Well... I guess there's something to be said for character development huh. Let's just keep this to ourselves... When she was done, she carefully folded the letter back up and stuffed it into her track suit.

At last she stood up and dusted off her pants. "Well! Some interesting stuff, but I guess we've got another little mystery for this key don't we? Let's go open up the chests in the basement first though."

Location: Herr Klein's Estate - Cellar
Date: Day 5 - 7 PM

Once you were done placing the books into your own room. You headed back down into the cellar. Everyone was already there waiting for you, each of them were probably curious about what was in the chests.

You began to open each of the locks, and they all clicked open. In the end all three chests were full of mithril coins. Wendy's eyes lighted up at the sight. Given the worth of the gold bars, having three chests seemed to be a fortune.

"I really doubt... that anything else you can find in his estate is worth as much as those three beautiful mounds..." Wendy said absentmindedly, still entranced at the coins sparkling in the lantern's light.

Hanako had to admit, she was genuinely impressed. She had probably never seen the relative value of all this wealth in her entire life.

"Wew! That's uhh, certainly a lot of money right there." she said, very nearly forgetting the thought she had earlier. When she collected herself a moment later she turned to look at Amarille. "Though, to be fair it doesn't really belong to us... This was probably all plundered from the elven kingdom and to put it ethically... It belongs to them."

It was painful to take the moral high ground, the value of the metal bits glistening in the lantern light was easily enough to make the upcoming flight to Isikawa much more smooth. However, her conscience wouldn't let her spend the money. At least not without permission...

Amarille shook her head.

"This was lost when our capital fell. Among many other things too. Treasures that we've held for thousands of years. Even if you were to return this to the king and queen, I'm sure they would have given it back to you." Amarille said as she smiled gently.

"But since they're not here. The Princess of the Lassetaure kingdom shall gift this upon you as thanks for my release." She stood up straight, while the other three, Wendy, Trudy, and Minette furrowed their eyebrows.

"You're... a... princess?"

"Wait... what?"

"U-umm.. A-ah..."

Hanako, having known Amarille was a princess watched the others with some amusement. She then gave a proper Japanese bow, back straight, hands on the front of her legs, forty-five degree tilt, the whole nine yards. "Thank you very much, I am humbled by your gift and will see it put to good use."

It would have to be counted, Wendy could probably see to that. For now, it was getting on in the evening and she was starting to think about dinner. She stood up again and announced as much. "Well, It's been a pretty full day I think. Let's see about some dinner and then I might take a look at some of those books we found. How about the rest of you?"

"Well darling, I plan to go with Minette to find out the worth of the rest of the goods... And I really want to see how much all those coins are... The exchange rate for our currency to the New World is a bit in-flux, but I'll go with the assumption one of their gold pieces is equivalent to one of our Refedoria gold coins. The countries of this world are a bit backwards in their banking, so I'm not even sure if an exchange rate really matters to them, or if they just care about it's weight in gold." Wendy shrugged.

"Darling?" Minette's eyes flickered over to Wendy, noticing her pet name that she used for you. It didn't seem to bother the accountant-soldier though, Minette smiled softly, her sharp eyes seeming to be in agreement.

"Oh... I'll... be helping Wendy... I'll get the other soldiers... to bring everything in order, and we'll go room by room... I'll write down Wendy's estimates, but she is usually very on point on their worth..."

"I was planning to help some of the others with sewing later... We need to have enough clothes that we all don't look like slaves in rags when we and if we do go out."

---

After saying quick goodbyes, it was just Trudy and you left.

"W-well Hanako..." Trudy said, realizing the two of you were alone. It was at this moment that you felt Trudy reach for your hand and hold on to it.

"S-Since the others are gone... how about we have dinner together, and take a look at those books?"

Hanako gave Trudy a smile, and tried not to let the fact that she was holding her hand get her heart rate up. Despite this it was beating like a drum.

"R-right, lets go then."

With that, they headed off to collect the books that were found earlier and went to find themselves a meal.

Heading into the kitchen, you realized that many of the other ex-slaves and soldiers who weren't helping Minette and Wendy go through the inventory of items to sell in Klein's estate had already started to prepare food an hour earlier, and the food was already being served out.

Trudy was surprised. The previous days, they stuck with routine, eating and preparing only what they needed.

"Frau hero! We decided to throw a feast... I hope you didn't mind. It's to celebrate our freedom. Your summoning. And our potentially brighter future... Klein used to hold parties for business guests, so there's a lot of food stocks in reserve both in the kitchens, the cellars, and cold storage."

All sorts of food had been prepared, and with the number of people, many of the other slaves had brought in extra chairs and tables to fit mostly everyone. Another soldier noticed you.

"The hero is here!" He said as he poured a bottle of something into a cup, he handed it to Trudy, and then before you could react, had started to hand you one as well. With the loud announcement, the crowd started to quiet. Trudy stayed close to you. All eyes turned towards you, as if expecting something.

QuoteYou're at the edge of the crowd.

Guess I'm not getting any reading done tonight... Hanako thought as she looked at the crowd and the feast. She really didn't like public speaking, and it was a miracle she had managed to get through the last time she spoke to the crowd, but it looked like they wanted a speech or something. She took the cup, found a nearby chair and stood up on top of it.

"Ahem" she cleared her throat. "I'm not really one for giving speeches, but in light of this feast you've prepared I feel like now is a good time to express my gratitude to all of you. It's not the act of a single person that brings a brighter future, but the collective pull of a group of determined people with a goal, a desire for something better. Together, with hard work we will seek that shining horizon where your people can be free. Each new day we lay the foundation for a better tomorrow! I thank you, for all your hard work and hope for our continued success! Let's eat!"

With that she took a deep drink, doing her best to drain the cup in one go. She hoped the little speech sounded good, or inspiring. She was going for one of those third act rallies they always seem to have in fantasy anime.

A new title appeared then.

The rest of the crowd cheered along with you at the end, and when you took a deep drink, the rest did as well. Whatever was poured into your drink was pretty strong. But you managed to down it well. The speech you gave kicked off the rest of the feast they were having, and soon enough they had begun to start chowing down on their food. There was two long tables setup filled with all sorts of food, and the others continued to either say their thanks to you, or encourage you to grab something to eat. A particular soldier seemed fascinated with food and kept on making suggestions.

You socialized a bit with the others, though with bottles of alcohol being opened straight from Klein's stashes, they overall mood was light and merry.

---

Location: Herr Klein's Estate - Hanako's Room
Date: Day 5 - 8 PM

After you had your fill, you left, along with Trudy in tow. She was slightly intoxicated, but it only appeared as a slight blush on her features. She seemed to have giggled and talked more at the very least. Eventually heading back to your own room, you took out the various books. There were 3 separate books about heroes, you noticed that each book was written in a different language, they all seemed to have come from different places. There was a book about the 'Shifting' by Eloise Renaud. And lastly there was a much older book about an older civilization.

Inside your own chest, were the other items you removed from Klein's locked boxes: The pictures of his wife and family, the large map with a red 'X' on it, and the 5 gold bars. You had kept the letter from Klein with you, along with the letter from Amarille to the elven King and Queen.

Hanako had the slight tilt of someone who'd been into their cups, but fortunately common sense had kept her from going overboard while she was socializing. She did feel the hot flush of whatever it was they were drinking radiating from her face however. After spreading out the books they'd acquired she decided to leave the one in Refedorian to Trudy, since for whatever reason the language barrier no longer existed for herself.

After a moment's deliberation she settled on the oldest tome, since the promise of learning about some kind of ancient civilization piqued her interest the most.

"Let's see what we've got here..." she mumbled.

When you first opened the book, a note with scribbles had fallen out. It looked similar to the same handwriting in the letter you had found in the box. It was Klein's writing. It seemed to be a list of random notes, written at various times.

Book about heroes? Ancient civilization!
Need to find translator.
Hierdsvainian
Felothian
Old Felothian ?
Old Felothian scholar currently attempting to translate for me
Page 315, picture map

Quickly flipping to page 315, which was marked by another loose piece of paper, looked to be a map. It had striking similarities to the map you had seen in Minette's room, but there was some noticeable differences as well. The note Klein had written had various question marks on the markings on the map which were marked as "Hideouts?", but you were able to translate it.

To your best guess, this was what the map looked like long ago. The particular points in places that Klein had thought were hideouts were actually cities of the ancient civilization.

Although the tome was old, you realized a couple of things about it as you were reading it. It seemed like this particular book was written in the early days of a 'Felothian Kingdom'. This particular kingdom seemed to have been part of the original New World's inhabitants. You remember seeing a 'Felothian Bay' in the map in Minette's study, but as you recall the countries around that were the Antwarch Dragon Knight Kingdom, the United Felencorp Alliance, and the Baolong Dynasty. During your reading, you realized this book seemed to be an attempted analysis of the older kingdom that you found out was called the 'Velethen Empire'.

At around 10 PM, Minette had arrived in your room, she brought with her some notes. She immediately realized the two of you were sitting together reading a book, and at this, Minette's eyes grew wide.

"Oh? I want... to join." Minette said. She immediately started to climb in on her side of the bed next to you. She seemed to be getting more comfortable with this, where Trudy was still at times hesitant.

"Can I... choose a book? Also... we found out how much everything is worth... And Wendy is still celebrating with the others in an 'after party'. She is... a bit drunk."

Handing you the slip, it seemed the rest of the sellable items in the estate totaled up to about 12,000 gold pieces. Not including the mithril coins.

However, with the mithril coins, it went up to over a 800,000 gold pieces.

Quote3 BP

Hanako took a look at the slip and her eyebrows nearly shot off the top of her head. "Holy shit." she breathed quietly.

She tucked the paper into the book she was reading to mark her page. "That's a lot of money. We can probably get a pretty nice settlement going somewhere outside the country with all that cash." It was an extraordinary sum, she couldn't even begin to imagine the amount it would have totaled to in yen. We might be better off than I thought we would...

"I was about to turn in for the night, but I plan on finishing up tomorrow some time. But before I do, take a look at this." she said to both Trudy and Minette, pointing to the map on page 315. "This map here shows a bunch of ancient cities that were part of a 'Velethen Empire' that predates the actual author of this book who was a citizen of a 'Felothian Kingdom'. Does any of this geography look familiar to you?"

While she spoke, she grabbed the map they had found earlier in Klein's room and laid it out next to the book to see if there was any overlap.

There was indeed an overlap, it seems like one of the dots that was in the book seemed to match up with the red 'X' on Klein's map. It was Minette who spoke up next.

"That's... one of our mining sites?" Minette said pointing to the red 'X'.

Hanako ran her fingers through her hair and breathed out a long slow sigh. "That complicates things a bit, but I'm glad we found this out before moving forward with our plans. Originally I was planning on giving stewardship of these sites to Sofia, but clearly Klein was looking for something here and I want to know what. Can you figure out who's operating in this mine for me tomorrow? It's gonna be dangerous, but I think that we should go take a look while the other preparations are being made for our departure. It will probably have to be after our meeting with Sofia, so I can try to pawn some of Klein's future meetings off on her."

She rubbed her eyes, she was starting to get sleepy after such a long day. "Whatever it is he was looking for, it was related to this Velethen Empire and I have a hunch it might be important."

Minette nodded.

"Oh? I can tell you right now... This mining site... is primarily run by the Busch Metall company. The Klein company... owns the land... the mine... and we have 350 of Klein's slaves at the site... both soldiers and slaves. But part of the contract has it... so... that the Busch Metall company handles the oversight. The other mining site we have is operated by Blueland Processing."