173 Chapter One Hundred and Seventy-Three – Round up the Wagon! (1/2)
”It's time for us to go.”
The three girls looked at one another in astonishment. ”Go where?” Verd asked Hazé, caught off guard by this sudden statement.
”For starters, down to Zynozure. Veis' brother Errant is heading there, and the capital will be a very interesting place for you to ply your talents.”
Amber was definitely the most interested of the three, as the center of the Empire was also the center of fashion. She was the oldest of the four of them, and the fact she enjoyed some of the young men in town was no secret, and didn't really bother any of them. She was already picturing herself cutting a swathe through the pampered pretty-boy nobles of the capital. ”That sounds like great fun!” she announced. ”I wonder how many people from the wine party might be there...”
That party had certainly made them famous from a certain point of view. Certain young noblewomen were still stopping by to get custom dresses made for them, as well as riding outfits.
”What about Mama?” Veis spoke up quickly. She was still short, and always would be, but she was still a fair beauty with a complexion like milk and a waterfall of silken white hair, so beautifully cute when she wanted to be that it could drive men crazy to see her. She still wasn't quite yet ten years old, but she knew far more then she looked like, and she saw a great deal more than people expected.
”Mama needs to stay in Vyster for now. She still needs to train more of the young women, and keep the factory going for now.”
The morning Tai Chi exercises and knife competitions among the women who worked in their shops had spread throughout the little town. Training the women of the town as apprentice Rune Chemists meant that production of raw material for certain herbal remedies and minor alchemical goods was easy to keep up, and empowered the women with good pay for good work. Mixing healing effects into the local wines, pastries, and sausages had, along with other Potion effects as requested, had made them relatively popular for the military and nobility, as alternatives to merely drinking another Potion.
One of the prime requirements of working in the shops was being good with a knife. To get a promotion, the women had to display the ability to cut quickly and precisely, chopping and dicing, both plant and animal matter. They had to know the cuts of meat and how to assess them, as well as the plants. They had to be able to exchange knives between hands, juggle them, and be able to throw and catch them back and forth between themselves. This had also started up an actual knife-throwing competition between them, which, since their knives weren't made for throwing, took some actual skill.
Two other young women had also been found to be Powered, and were undertaking earnest lessons from Mama, eager to better themselves in the world. They already performed much of the duties as Mama's personal helpers, while the three Hagchild girls worked the stores and helped with mundane operations during the day.
During the night, they often went traveling with Hazé and Master Feist here and there.
”Why do we need to up and leave?” Verd asked calmly, always the most level-headed of the three. She also looked the most mature, with lush curves that had as many boys pursuing her as they did Amber. She was more discrete about such things, but her libido as a Hagchild was not something to fight against. Amber had gone over everything with all of them with the authority of an expert, and they knew all the risks and what to watch out for.
And really, the boys were rather fragile; they had to be careful not to hurt them.
”You've seen the kind of things we are running across within the Empire... and they are spreading. We won't be able to stay here very long. There are bad tides on the horizon, and we are going to get a bit of a head start on them. Mama and I have made some preparations for Vyster, but they need a little while longer to come to a head.”
Amber's crimson eyes glittered. ”Is that where all the money has been going?” she asked softly, glancing around. She was always very concerned about money, and had seen that the profits of their alchemical enterprises seemed to drop into a black hole. Having experienced herself just how much money it cost to upgrade her own Gear, it was obvious what was happening.
Hazé did not bother to hide it, leaning forward with the others. ”Yes. The Artificing is already done, I worked on it for years. We're just powering it up now, day by day. Needless to say, it is a lot of coin. Happily, we've made good money, and much of the foundation magic is done.”
”Can you tell us what it is?” Verd pressed eagerly, and Hazé shook her head.
”Only Mama and I know. Once it's revealed, naturally everyone will know. In the meantime, we're finally going to be taking The Wagon.”
Their eyes all lit up. That was the special project all of them had been working on for literally years, the main focus of their Artificer levels. The demands of craftsmanship required for it had required a lot of doing, redoing, and doing again to get it right, repeatedly beating them over the head with the high QL requirements of truly decent magical items. The woodworking and machining requirements of The Wagon had been high, and no small amount of their own gold had gone into its requirements.
It was their own little moving base of operations, meant to be able to go with them anywhere, and allow them to do their supporting downtime Crafting while giving them a place to put their stuff. While traveling via teleporting was very cool, it just didn't have the same allure as traveling overland themselves... and they also had to extend their lived-lines, such as it were. Visual Files didn't just fill themselves, after all.
”When are we going?” Amber asked forthrightly.
”Tomorrow,” Hazé stated, and the three girls all jumped in astonishment. ”So, busy, busy! Whatever needs to get done, get done. You know by now what to do and what not to. We leave after morning ritual tomorrow.”
The three all uttered flustered sounds and went scampering away in excitement, calling out to one another intermittently on all the stuff they had to pack and supplies to assemble and food to pack and so on and so forth.
Hazé smiled and went out to make her own arrangements. She had told Mama about this some time ago, so preparations on this side were already completed. Mama was already getting ready in case some bad crap went down, and wouldn't those be a big surprise to everyone...
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