Chapter 22

The hero returns to a hero's welcome

We made it back to the edge of the swamp as the sun was going down, stumbling out and taking in great quantities of fresh air. The dragons had a fire going, which was nice of them, and helped us over to it as best they could. They had found some dead tree trunks they had dragged over to make benches, so we didn't have to sit on the ground. There was something roasting over the fire which smelled great after the swamp. I was grateful to the dragons for going through the effort, they were decent sorts after all.

"You made it!" Kethrinax had exclaimed as we came into view. "Did you do it? Did you get the treasure? You don't have to go back do you?"

We all dropped heavily to the tree trunk and weakly held up the tokens for the dragons to see.

"Ah," Fredelistorn began.

"Yes," Tompkoner agreed. "That is a thing. That you brought out. Of the swamp. After risking your life."

"Er," Kethrinax wondered after a moment. "He does have a point. Isn't that a little underwhelming? Are four slightly enlarged gold coins considered a treasure in human society?"

"I bet it's all they could manage," Tompkoner decided. "Right? The rest is still back there, you just brought proof of it back and mapped out the route so you can go right to it tomorrow."

"Must be," Fredelistorn agreed. "Want us to head in tonight and grab the rest? We'll only take a small portion in payment."

"You'll hardly miss it! Very small portion."

"Just a token, merely a trifle."

"This is all of it," I assured them. "It's what the coin represents, that's all. Believe me, this is a treasure."

"If you say so," Tompkoner told us. "I hope it was worth the risk. You all look terrible, and I only know what humans look like from hanging around you all. So imagine what another human would say if they saw you!"

"We'll be fine in the morning," Clarissa told him. "If I don't sleep for three days."

"Now that would be the dragon thing to do," Fredelistorn said with a laugh. "I wouldn't be surprised in the least if you did."

"No, we have to start back in the morning," I announced. "We can sleep on the way if we have to. There's work to be done."

"Sleep on the way?" Rose squeaked. "In the basket? You're crazy!"

"Making more baskets?" he asked.

"If they hold up as well on the way back, there will be a demand for them," I replied, not exactly answering the question.

"It's such a shame," Clarissa said, looking out over the water.

"What is?" Alita asked her.

"That the world isn't round. If we went south from here land couldn't be more than a day away. Easy walk back to the castle from there."

"Even if it was we wouldn't know how much ocean was between here and there. It could be much more than a days worth, and then where would we be?"

"Oh, I guess you're right."

"Have some meat!" Kethrinax told us. "It's been cooking for some time now, it should be good for you, I think? I've been watching you at night so I hope we did it right. It's so hard to work at your scale."

"It smells great," Rose told her. "So I think you did just fine. Thank you for thinking of us."

"Oh, well," she stammered, "it was nothing."

"Insisted on it, she did," Fredelistorn told us, putting on what some might have called a posh accent.

"Yes," Tompkoner agreed, following his lead. "Made quite the fuss about making the campsite just so for your return. Was in quite a state all day, worry I would have called it, wouldn't you?"

"Oh yes," Fredelistorn said seriously. "Exactly what I would have called it. Quite worried, she was. Pacing. Straining to see you coming back, almost as if you were her own children."

"She's grown quite fond of you, if what we saw today is any indication."

"Very fond, yes."

"Quit it, you two. It wasn't that bad," she protested.

"It was," they both assured us, smiling broadly. Which is something to see, on a dragon, because of all the teeth and such. Had given me quite a fright the first time I saw them do it, didn't know they could smile, but they explained it to me so it was fine.

Kethrinax looked out of place, and I wondered if dragons got embarrassed like humans did. It seemed they did, the way she was not looking at us. "We're fond of her as well," I told them. "We would have worried if it was her doing something dangerous, wouldn't we?" I asked the others.

"Oh yes," Rose replied without hesitation. "She's a good friend to all of us."

"I'm glad the hero here found her," Alita told them, putting an arm around my shoulders. "And that she didn't just chomp him the moment they met."

"How did you two meet?" Fredelistorn asked her. "Why wasn't there chomping? Must be a story there, given relations up to this point."

"Later, later!" she told them. "Let them eat and get some rest."

"Humph, I know a dodge when I see one," Tompkoner complained.

"Too right," Fredelistorn agreed. "There's a story there and make no mistake."

The dragons agreed to keep watch all night so we could sleep, and after eating we dropped off pretty quickly. We all seemed fine the next morning, and were all looking forward to leaving the swamp behind. We had twenty or so days of travel before us, but at least this time we were returning triumphant. Our spirits rose as day by day we got closer and closer to the castle, retracing our steps along the coast. We talked about what to do with our tokens, and the others agreed with the money they were bringing back from all the monster killing they had been doing every night (and from the swamp) they were going to have their final armor made.

"We'll incorporate the token into the front," Alita told me. "That way there can be no doubt."

"But isn't that dangerous?" I asked. "I mean it won't be the same material as the armor, and something like a skeleton with a sword could easily stick right through it." Or the claws of a huge dragon?

"If it was gold, you would be right," she agreed. "It's not. It's something else."

"How do you know?"

"I've been testing various things. You've been watching me haven't you?"

"You've been messing with it since we started back, yes, I had no idea what you were doing."

"Messing with it." She rolled her eyes. "Honestly, messing with it? It can't be scratched. I've tried with my weapon, with rocks, dropping it, crushing it, I even had Kethrinax try and put a hole in it with her claws. She couldn't. I think it's magical, and not normal metal at all. So putting it into an armor is actually safer. Sure it's a small area but it's better than nothing."

"Oh." I was a bit embarrassed. Obvious in retrospect. Who originally read Loto's journal? Who was told to question everything, to not accept the world as I saw it? Me. But I didn't experiment with the token, I just put it away. She actually learned more about it. "I guess that will be fine, then." Of course if what she's saying is true, and I don't doubt that it is, could whatever magic that made the token be applied to other things? Like armor, perhaps? Why not make a whole armor out of the stuff if it's so difficult to destroy? In fact why not have your armor there, and have it be the proof of who is your descendant instead of just a token? It's more useful, for one thing, and probably would have protected us on the way out of the swamp, if rumors about it are to be believed. Well, the one person that went in to find it, anyway. But I was supposed to be acting alone anyway so that would have been that taken care of. This whole token business is just so weird, but I guess it's not scouring the world for tinymedals, whatever they were. So I should be thankful for that.

And finally the day of our return was at hand. As we approached the town we saw something new- a floating basket that had a person in it! We looked at each other through our telescopes and waved frantically, the person in the basket doing something and it started lowering. Moments later it was back in the air again, and we both watched as our respective baskets got closer. The one over the town was rounder, clearly meant only for going up and down in, and as the dragons came to a halt outside town people streamed out, shouting and waving in excitement at our return. Clearly the person in the basket told them we were coming. So they haven't been idle, they made another bag after they saw ours worked and used it for a lookout post as I hoped it could be used for. Good. Hopefully it spreads from here and takes off. So to speak. It took some time to tell them how far we had been and that the bag had held up well, and some swarmed over it looking for wear or other signs it could be improved upon. Everyone wanted to shake our hands, slap our backs, tell them about the state of the world. (They were somewhat disappointed when we said we had seen so little of it, mainly just coastline, to try and move as quickly as possible) They threw a big feast in our honor that night, including the dragons, and of course the rest of the maid force came back from their day of 'leveling up' and were overjoyed to see their 'sisters' return. It felt good to be home. It was a strange feeling, this place being home, I mean I didn't have a house here or anything I still stayed at the inn every night but here were all the familiar faces I had come to know. Isn't that what home is?

Finally the party broke up and I caught the eye of the tool shop owner, who nodded. I told the others where I was going and I would see them the next day, and followed him to his shop. We went upstairs and he lit his pipe as he settled into his chair.

"Do you have it then?" he asked.

I smiled and handed him the token without a word.

"Yes, that must be it," he admitted. "Just looking at it I somehow know this is the real thing."

"I found that too," I told him. "Strange, isn't it? And it's made of something really hard, Alita did some tests and it was unscratched." Well, not on that one, specifically, but on hers. But they should be the same material so it's just as well.

"Erdrick's token. To think I would live to see it." He shook his head. "The armor is yours, of course. I won't go back on my word. I just hope it's enough."

"I do too."

He handed the token back to me. "I should tell you, we've not been idle while you were away."

"I saw the basket."

"Yes, yes, that's impressive enough I agree. Once they saw it actually worked they just had to build another for the town. Finished it a week or so ago, it's been a real point of pride for the whole village. The castle has commissioned one, of course. Out of curiosity, the king requested the same sort of shape but with cat ears, of all things. Any reason that might be? You've spoken to the man directly, yes?"

"On the bag? Cat ears?" I put my hands sticking up from my head to illustrate.

"Yes."

"Wow, he's taking his obsession a little too far. I don't know, the maids all had to wear them as well. Before we left he was talking about adding tails to the uniforms as well. They were quite relieved to be leaving before that was required, from how they were talking."

"Strange. Well, we've been working on it of course. Make some of our money back for the one we made for the town. Everyone pitched in what they could. But that's not what I'm talking about. I've been gathering up every old book I can find. Trading for the journal, mostly, but not in every case. Looking into old wizardry, things from Loto's time, trying to piece together what happened to everything he mentioned. Spells, magical items, the works. The former maids have been invaluable there, traveling to nearby towns to do the trading for me. Wonderful girls they are, just wonderful. So helpful and strong, and to think they were just maids before!? Astonishing what you can accomplish if you try, isn't it?"

Oh, you don't have to sell me on the idea, believe me. I already know. "Find anything interesting?"

"Far as I can tell, the world just changed one day, and nobody noticed. Just went on living their lives as if it hadn't happened. But the signs are there, if you look for them. It's troubling, make no mistake."

"But what could do that? Even magic worked on a huge scale… To cover the entire land? Make people forget things, erase magical items? How?"

"Perhaps the gods did it?"

"To what end? We're not being punished, life went on much as before, no? We still have magic, and monsters, dragons and warriors."

"That we do. I can't explain it, or tell you what we should do about. Personally I don't like that theory, myself, I just wanted to know your reaction to it, and it was similar to mine. No, if it was the gods it was too sloppy. Why leave clues like the journal and other books to remind us what we had lost? And like you say, it couldn't be a punishment. If a dog does something wrong you have to catch them in the act and punish that. Finding it later and punishing them is useless, they won't associate the two things. If we know that about dogs they must know only something similar would work in our case, right? Makes no sense. There was no pronouncement by the gods that 'you have done wrong, here are the consequences' so we would have no idea what we did to attract their ire. Thus, how to avoid doing so in the future.

"But if it was a spell, where did the person go who did it? Why not brag about your skill and take credit? It's almost the opposite, that the land changed and whatever did it wanted that fact to stay hidden. And again, to what end? The world almost seems smaller, somehow. Loto went so many places, did so many things on his quest to defeat Baramos. But the Dragonlord? Right over there. You could swim there right now. I'm not recommending that, by the way. We have less towns, less ships, less everything. I don't know."

"The only thing I can do is take care of the problems that are before me," I decided. "I leave everything else to scholars such as yourself. The gods or magic or something else, the world is how I find it. I've maybe left it a little better because of the basket, maybe I'll defeat the Dragonlord after all and finally bring peace to the land. But then again, maybe not because I'll die at his talons. But at least I've made some contribution, and others may take up the fight in that case." The fighting maids, though are they maids anymore? They need a new name.

"About that..." He got up and took something off his mantle. He handed it to me and I looked it over curiously. It seemed to be a model ship with a wheel sticking out the side of it. The wheel was turning.

"What is it?"

"It's a scale model," he told me, sitting down again. "You know the ship that could propel itself Loto had the idea for?"

"This is what he was talking about?"

"Not sure about that, but I had a local woodworker build me this. Enchanted the wheel to never stop moving. It works, put it in water and the boat moves. He suggested maybe putting the paddle at the back, he's working on a new model to see how it performs. This one tends to move in a circle. One on both sides would probably fix that, or one in front and back and propping the boat up on hollowed out logs. He started noting down ideas one after another once we saw it worked, he seemed quite excited about the whole prospect."

"Really?" I was surprised, holding the boat up and looking at it from all angles. "Can it be made bigger?"

"I made the stone, didn't I? Possibly. Maybe putting the enchantment on some gears so they are always turning, and that way you could disengage the mechanism with a lever when you wanted the boat to stop. It seems a little magic in the right place can go a long way. We've just been too blind to see it. Or magic just seemed to be in the realm of scholars, not useful for everyday life. I'm starting to think that was shortsighted, possibly a little greedy on the part of those that have studied magic. Like me, I'm ashamed to admit."

"But attitudes are changing," I said, lowering the boat. "I think this," I shook it gently, "is just the beginning."

"I hope so. I've actually started teaching my apprentice magic. It will take years, just like it took me, but he was pestering me once he saw that basket float into the sky using the heat source I made. He's never really shown that much interest in anything before, so maybe he'll stick with it. Being motivated to learn about something is a far more potent teacher than me just demanding he learn it for the sake of learning it."

It's fairly odd, him studying magic for so long but then opening this shop. Shouldn't he have gone into the magic business? I suppose the herbs are magical, to heal so quickly, but still. I wonder what path his life has taken to lead him here. "I agree." When I discovered I could get stronger and get magic and get gold from killing the minions outside they went from a nuance to a revenue stream. Same as with the former maids, they rushed out to take their share of the action. I became very interested in destroying as many as I could, rather than just avoiding them.

"So it seems you've started more than just a floating basket making industry. Why Loto never followed through on all these ideas we may never know, but bringing that book to light may have truly changed the world." He chuckled and shook his head. "What would the world look like today if he had? If we had hundreds of years to refine the design of the basket, and these ships, and whatever else we come up with? Anyway, that's what we've been working on, thought you might like to know."

"I think it's great! Most of the gold we made on the trip has to go to the dragons, but I'll keep financing this in mind when I get some more." Maybe starting some kind of school or place ideas can flourish. Teaching one person about magic like this guy is doing would take years, like he said. But what if you could teach a dozen people at once? It's not that much harder, you still have to do the teaching right? May as well get the maximum return for the investment.

"Ah, a person who knows where the heart of the issue lies. Always liked that about you, I did. Like I said, plans for a larger version are being drawn up. That doesn't cost anything. Materials? Sadly there we might run into a snag. Just doing another basket is going to be a stretch with what we have around here. And even with the former maids being strong enough to go between towns and protect supply routes, what would we use to buy the materials?"

And there it is again, we need a place that has a lot of gold to give it to people, in exchange for getting more back later, so they can build things and make money with them. I should really be writing everything I think of down… maybe in a journal?

"Expect you want to collect the armor and get to bed?" the man asked, rising. "Don't want an old man talking your ear off all night. Come along, let's see if it fits you and make any adjustments needed."

I jumped up out the chair as well, setting the model boat back on the stand that was made for it so the wheel didn't scrape anything. It was finally time, the dragonscale armor was mine at last!