Chapter 201: Coming Clean

Chapter 201: Coming Clean

“If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.”

Mark Twain

Life was going well; trade was continuing to grow between the three islands of Wester. Pearls, salt and purple were still our chief exports to the wider world through Mercurio, Kashif and the Church. But within our local islands, we were now producing enough staples and fruit that fish was no longer the sole meal everyone ate. We continued diversifying by developing our lines of wine and now spirits. As well as building up a stock of sugar and sea silk. The sugar was an internal product for now, lest we draw too much attention. Still, the easy energy it offered, along with a healthy and varied diet, had allowed the formerly enslaved to rebound from their captivity well and have the energy to work hard building their new lives and our town.

The town continued to grow from the influx of the formerly enslaved. They expanded the town’s walls and primarily worked for the Silversea family and our expanded clan, but nearly every house had taken on one or more workers. They were producing a surge in productivity across all the island’s industries. Not all of them were men, but with our recent acquisition of the slaver's ship, the numbers had certainly shifted in that direction. A few more Neriad had entered the lagoon, and they were predominantly female, seeking the safety of an internal sea. Hopefully, things would sort themselves out over time. But the disparity to Mercurio on his next visit would be worth mentioning. We might need to be more discerning in who we accept. Any freed person was a life saved from slavery, but still, we had not self-selected till now, only avoiding those enslaved for cardinal sins.

The few that had arrived with past transgressions either had been honest about their crimes or had been caught out by Arawn’s interrogations of every new visitor to the island. Depending on the severity of their crimes and their skills, they were funnelled into mining, logging or delving into the depths of the Lodestone. It was the least elegant of solutions to their arrival on our island but the most practical if we were to avoid executing people; we had no proper way of offering a fair trial. They might lie to themselves when they declared their innocence of the crimes they had been enslaved for, but if they believed it strongly enough or were outright delusional, it was possible to fool Arawn’s skill. The system was not infallible, or at least our human perception made it so.

At least the delves into the Lodestone were well organised and supported by our indentured adventurers, keen to buy out their forgiveness for their past transgressions. They were actively exploring, mining and farming the resources available there. Every day they delved a little deeper, charting and mapping the route ever downwards to the core of the world. It was not entirely without incident, injury, and the occasional death, but having a Bishop who could heal helped to prevent too many. The monster cores and parts they hauled upwards were creating a burgeoning industry that Mercurio and Kashif were only too eager to haggle over who could sell them on. They had even procured a few more species of fruit, vegetables and grains alongside the odd animal when they visited to expand the small genetic pool of the herds we were attempting to build.

. . .

All in all, life was going well. But if I were going to make my way around the world any time soon, I would need some help. Not to mention simply disappearing would completely freak out my entire family and clan. I liked to think that even our advisors would be sad to see me go. Furthermore, how would they react and respond?

I could see them searching the local area for me as far as the Wester Isles. But with the support of the Bishop and the Lodestar Church, they wouldn’t be limited to only the Ponentian Archipelago. My trip would hardly go any smoother if I had to spend my time avoiding being hunted as a wayward runaway lord and being returned to my family through the church or, worse, being held as a captive to blackmail my family into supporting whichever side of the House of Lords that found me first.

No, if I was going to do this right. I couldn’t just leave a note explaining my disappearance. And why they didn't need to come running after me. I would have to convince them of my sanity, rationality and reasoning for embarking on such a long and arduous journey. Sure, it would be less hazardous for me than for most due to my magic and skills, but it was not as if I could hop on a plane and go from airport to airport. No matter how you looked at it, I was also a little younger than your usual young adventurer.

This would take some significant planning in a medieval world, even one with magic.

Probably my first and best supporter in this endeavour were the clergymen of the Lodestar church. Bishop Bailie had already nearly completed his circumnavigation. I understood that he only had a quarter left to complete. He could certainly explain the risks and dangers of each place they had visited after their years travelling around the world. He would also probably be the best to support a god-given pilgrimage of the world, even if a goddess rather than a god gave it to me. Maybe he could even accompany me for some of it. After all, he had never completed his, and his presence on our isle was only at our family's request.

If I were going to do this, I would start with him.

Or maybe not . . .

How do I explain the goddess of luck interfering or rescuing me from my untimely demise? Was the goddess Fortuna part of the church but just hidden from weekly worship? No, it would probably be safer to start closer to home. I would start with my family and get their opinion on involving him before I attempted to involve anyone else.

But how to tell them and what to say to them? I had been through this before when I had crippled myself due to excessive self-improvement to the point of crippling myself through my clarity. It had gone well enough last time, meaning they hadn’t abandoned me but accepted my unusual stats. I had practised doing this before I could do it again. But I had only done so through necessity and a little force. This time I would choose to do so without an immediate reason or compulsion. Did this mean I might be growing up a little? They were used to the unexpected with me by now. This would be no different. The only difference being my secrets were not being pulled from me but freely given. I had to admit that I perversely enjoyed knowing something others did not. But it was time to let that go. They loved me, they accepted me it would be okay.

. . .

That evening, I wondered whether I could go through with this. But I had called everyone together. It was time. I sat down for the family meeting; I called to facilitate the discussion. I wondered once more whether the fact that I had decided to talk this through with them before being forced meant I was developing my character. Was I finally becoming more trusting of the ones who loved me, faults and all?

Stop fretting and get on with it, I told myself once more.

“Thank you for joining me,” I anxiously nodded at Father, Mother, Aleera and Arawn. I had decided to talk this through with them first. We were meeting in our luncheon room rather than the large hall. No servants save ourselves. “We have some things to discuss.”

“What is it now?” Aleera asked. “Business is going well, production is increasing, and products are diversifying; the formerly enslaved people are settling in, there have been no breakouts from the depths of the Lodestone, the town continues to expand, our citadel continues to be carved from the mountain, the Silversea fleet is continuing to grow, we have our neutrality with the House of lords, and the Neriad are settling in nicely, and their former city continues to be uncovered. We have our Silversea court and our lessons. You have your personal magic projects you are working on with Lady Acacia, your clerical studies with Bishop Bailie, and your martial training with Arawn, Namir and Sir Jacques. Isn’t that enough plates to keep spinning in the air? Can you afford to add any more?” She asked, exasperated.

Most times, I had gathered us all it was to add another project to our to-do list, and when she listed it out like that, it did seem a lot. Luckily Nyx took that moment to pounce on her portion of the snacks I had provided for our family meeting. The little comedic moment broke the escalating tension. Father and Mother said nothing, only waiting for me to let them know what I wanted to tell them. They had always been incredibly patient with me. Something I suddenly appreciated all the more when I had the epiphany of realising it. “Mother, Father?” I asked to see if they had anything to add.

“When you are ready.” They gave me the space to frame my words properly rather than attempt to rush through them to defend or deflect my sibling's accusations. At the same time, Arawn knew more than most. His silence seemed to support my decision to come clean.

“To escape the mercenary slaver, Sinbad, there was a cost.” I started. I decided to start with the most recent evasion of the truth and work my way backwards.This chapter was first shared on the Ñøv€lß1n platform.

“A cost?” Mother asked, concerned.

“As we fled for our lives from the slaver’s ship. I prayed.” Father nodded as he remembered the final moments of our flight from the mercenary merchants before I slipped into the sea. “To put it simply, my prayers were answered.”

There was a shocked gasp as I gave them space to understand what I was saying. “By the gods?” Aleera whispered, worried. Our little island had its struggles, but they were all relatively small compared to the wheeling and dealing of the countries, noble races, gods and their champions on the compass continent defending it from the base races of the Lodestone. Lady Acacia informed us of the continent's history and, when the merchants arrived, the most recent calamities and crises. But much like the news in my former world, it was all so far away as to have little impact on how we lived our lives.

While rather than asking the obvious mother focused on how this might affect me now.

“Your prayers were answered.” Mother questioned. “ How?”

“Father saw my escape from the ship. Through a hole in its side, still, mana bound and blindfolded, I was able to dance through the sky.” I stated without arrogance, just honesty. They all nodded as they had heard all of this before. Though I had always glossed over the success of my escape before saying I had gotten lucky, now I would be going into more detail.

“Aleera, stop interrupting. What happened next?” Arawn attempted to redirect the conversation back to the tale I had started.

“The gods challenged her claim, but when they inspected me, they found it true. Also, their inspection levelled my block status skill until it hit 100. Then I received another called enigma.” I smiled, proud of my progress, even if it had been divinely inspired. It had not been easy holding my skill up against them, even if it did ultimately do little to stop their inspection.

“Hah, the child with a locked system has somehow achieved an evolved skill,” Arawn smirked, finally giving up upon restraining questions and comments for the end of the story.

“An evolved skill?” Aleera chimed in, and this time Arawn answered instead of me.

“An evolved skill happens when you manage to level a skill to 100. Not something that normally happens until you are decades older, and one of the benefits of keeping your skills separate rather than consolidating them up to a higher tier.”

I winced internally, but with the hundreds of skills I had, merging and consolidating them was a far quicker and more practical method to reach higher-tiered skills for me.

“Then what happened?” Father took over the role of keeping us going on track.

“Well, the other gods left, and then we danced.” I winced, realising how ridiculous this story sounded, fully anticipating Aleera’s criticism.

“Danced?” she sounded somewhat sceptical.

“Yes, we danced together with my eyes closed following a golden thread and levelled my dancing skill up to 100.” No more dance lessons were needed for me.

“Two evolved skills?” Arawn focused on skill progression.

“I gained Air stepping,” I confirmed, although I didn’t remember the system stating it was evolving.

“Well, Lady Acacia should be happy about that, at least.” Mother added, seeing as we were all adding our opinions now.

“And then?” Father continued.

“Then I was returned to the ship’s hold,” I answered.

“Did you ever leave, though?” Arawn asked. “If a god could take you and return you anywhere, why not return you safely aboard your father’s boat.”

“Real or not, I returned to my body, just as my chains were broken by my mana cores forming along with the side of the boat I was chained to. I followed the golden thread out of the hall in the wall and danced blindfolded to my father across the backs of sea monsters.” I explained what had happened next.

“When you described this,” Mother looked pointedly at Father, “It didn’t sound nearly so dangerous.” Before turning her ire on me, “And the cost? What is the favour you need to repay?”

“Well, the second time we met when I gained my new metier mage. . .” I started.

“We didn’t see anything.” Aleera objected. “And we were there.”

“That proves it, then. His human form remains in the mortal world while his spirit ascends to the hall of gods.” Arawn seemed happy to have his point proven.

“I didn’t go back to the Hall of the Gods, though I did get a new view of my soul and status,” I replied, remembering my external view of myself.

“That is when she asked for the favour to be returned?” Mother questioned. “What is it?” she asked, worried.

“For me to go on a pilgrimage, to circumnavigate the compass kingdoms,” I answered anxiously. How would my family take the news? It hadn’t seemed too bad a favour to ask for my freedom from enslavement.

“Do you have to leave now?” Aleera asked while my parents sat in silence, digesting the news.

“Not straight away, but when I turn ten,” I answered, facing my parents and waiting for a response to my announcement.

“Ten? But that is only three years away. You would be barely out of childhood.” Mother seemed shocked and saddened that it would be so soon.

“It’s the day my childhood ends, and honestly, with my a hundred skills and stats already above 150, can you still consider me a child even now?” I asked.

“No, I suppose not.” She smiled sadly. “I’m delighted that you survived and that you escaped. But why you? Why did she choose you to be a champion? Couldn’t she have just saved your life without asking for a favour? It seems like a rather large request for someone so young.”

“Maybe, who knows? But I think I was chosen because I remember another life . . . a life on a different planet . . . a planet called Earth.”