A fulfilling trip

As Jay reached the upper floor following Thalia, the two started to collect each and every valuable there was.

They would leave the farm at sunrise after they got some sleep.

Thalia had willingly told him everything she knew about the Defiers and her guess to where the enslaved people go to.

The strong or exotic individuals and beautiful women went apparently to the east and from there to either the slave trader or out of the kingdom.

Most of the men had been sent to the west. Thalias guess was them doing labor for the bandits as their direct orders always came from Westfield.

Morris was the one who went around and collected the slaves, while he also held contact to the cultists they fused their forces with just recently.

Their goal was not clear to her, as they only took some of the weaker people and had no further demands.

Erlan had been in charge of this region and got his orders from one of the Defiers couriers every now and then.

Jay was a little surprised at her not even flinching as he had told about the bandits death.

Seeing him reacting this way she explained that she had once taken the opportunity to leave Arathor, but regretted her choice not long after.

Both of the men had a nice bounty on their heads that would not only gain him some coin but also raise his rank in the Adventurers Guild.

For that he had taken their heads as proof before they went upwards to check the rooms.

Morris had a big ring with a intriguing motive engraved, so he took it as he searched the corpse. Other than some coins he held nothing of worth.

As for Erlan, he wasn't even properly wearing his pants so he had nothing on him. Not even a head, after Jay had taken it and pulled him out to through the door, leaving a bloody track from the puddle under the the bandit.

The thought of having Thalia clean up the blood crossed his mind, but considering her state to that point, he refrained from it.

He had left the woman in the room she had been using with Erlan before.

Just to be sure, Jay had tied her up on her bed after she was asked to wear some clothes.

A pant and shirt was what he had her wear, before he let her lay down to sleep.

With the door locked and her bound she wouldn't be able to flee.

Taking rest in Morris' old room, Jay sat on the bed and checked what he looted from the hideout before.

Some pouches with silver, copper and a few gold were stored in the main bedroom, as well as Erlans old armor. As it was better than his own, Jay decided to wear the dark leather armor starting the next day.

Other than that only a couple of magic scrolls and some papers seemed noteworthy.

The scrolls were slave scrolls the bandits used to enslave the abducted people. It was a forbidden magic, so those scrolls were extremely rare and also illegal.

Thinking back he thought it was probably this what Aidra the bandit had tried to use on him, all this time back in the woods.

As for the papers, there was a deed for a farm in Westfield County in between others sheets. The rest were lists of bandits and contacts in Arathor, as well as a mandate for a bank locker in the capital.

The weapons stored in the living room as well those held by the now dead bandits seemed worthless, but he would check them the next morning.

While he was intrigued to check the Royal Satchel, Jay was way to tired after rummaging through the rooms and all that happened before that.

So he started the forced unbind of the last item on his list, the amulet 'Arathor's Hope'. Like he had guessed the countdown was again just one hour.

Satisfied with the day he leaned back and closed his eyes, drifting into a deep slumber.

Waking up the next morning Jay donned his "new" leather armor and went towards Thalia's room.

The woman was still sleeping soundly, though she was tied up and should have been hindered in some other ways. Poking her butt with his boot he woke her up.

"Hey! Time to leave this place. Anything else we need to take with us?" J.

"Good morning to you as well... Give me a minute please.

And no, other than maybe a meal, we don't need anything else. Don't forget to check the corpses for their wea...pons..." T.

She couldn't even end her sentence before Jay had turned around and left the room.

Taking some dried meat and fruits from the pantry next to the kitchen he went to the yard. As he had expected the weapons and armors were mostly of poor quality.

Only a pair of gloves and a set of wristbands were of use him.

It took some time to check on the corpses and Thalia had been waiting in the door the whole time.

Walking to her side he looked at her. She had cleaned herself a little and held a small bag in her hands which were still bound to her back.

"Umm... could you free my arms? I still need to get rid of those two items you gifted me with..." T.

"Who said you may take them out?" J.

It took her a moment to comprehend what he just meant. Flushing beet red she looked at him wide eyed.

"Y-You want me to walk like that?!?" T.

To his urging nod she staggered forward.

Each step looked awkward as he followed her lead.

They left the farm on the small road to the north. It took them over forty minutes to even leave the fields and enter the forest.

As Thalia had stated they encountered not a single bandit on their way and had reached the main road an hour and half later.

By then her steps had stabilized and the swing to her hips got even more alluring.

Jay had to keep himself back to not prolong their small break and eat not only his meal.

Not even two hours after they reached the main road, the tower was near.

Reaching it, Jay greeted Nozzle and went in followed by Thalia. The Gnome was dumbfounded as to where Jay found this beauty but guided them in without asking.

Kitta Theocritus had already been waiting for Jay to come back to the tower.

As he was about to enter her office she eyed Thalia top down and turned to Jay.

"Welcome back. Who is your companion if I may ask? I think we should discuss our topic in private..." K.

Nodding to her after returning her greeting, Jay ordered Thalia to wait outside.

With Nozzle there, she would be unable to flee anyways, but the discussion to come was top secret.

"So you where successful as I expected from a master like yourself?" J.

"You can stop the flattering young man... But yes, I was." K.

She narrated to him how she had used the time he was out hunting bandits to the fullest. The enchantments theory she explained to him was like he heard a different language.

Glad Kitta had stated she wrote everything she found in a report, Jay tried to listen to her and asked a question every now and then when he had comprehended a piece of information, showing he was listening attentive.

"I wish I had a mindful student like yourself. A pity you don't seem too interested in magic. If you ever change your mind I'll happily welcome you to teach a thing or two about enchantments.

Now, would you like to use a portal to Gold Creek?" K.

"A portal?" J.

"Oh, you don't know? Then get the small crate on the sideboard and follow me out. The Totem and report are inside, as well as a testimony of your help with the wolves.

Thank you for that..." K.

With small steps she walked past him and left through the door. Taking up the crate he followed after her, just to see her again eyeing Thalia.

With a quick glance towards him she moved to the stairs and went down.

Jay and the other two followed her until they stood in the entrance room.

When they reached the end of the stairs, Kitta had already begun casting a spell as runic circles appeared on the ground and shifted to her melodic incantation.

Just moments later the space above the runes ripped open and with the typical light blue shine of mana a circle formed.

As the rip grew bigger, he could see the small plaza in Gold Creek and Mia's Inn in the background.

"Here you go. Again, thanks for all you are doing for this Kingdom in the name of the Magic Guild.

Simply go through the portal as if it was a door and you will be back to Gold Creek in a step. Good Bye." K.

After waving good bye with the crate under his right arm, Jay pushed Thalia into the portal. Taking a deep breath after he saw her picture appear on the other side, Jay stepped forward.

It felt like he passed through a water surface, but followed by no feeling at all.

No wind, no temperature, nothing.

Then the feeling of a water surface reappeared and he was back to normal.

Just now he was standing on the small marketplace in Gold Creek next to Thalia. Turning around he saw Kitta and Nozzle waving good bye when the portal shrunk down, closing in no time at all.

***

Skill integrated:

[Space Magic LVL 1]

***

Standing there looking at the position a portal was moments ago, Jay's vision shifted to the notification he just received.

With a simple step he had integrated space magic. Not waiting even a moment he concentrated and learned the single ability that came with the skill: (Portal: Gold Creek).

Urging Thalia to move on they went towards the garrison.

Jay had to report to Haggard about the bandits main base getting cleaned and the information about the totem.

He was also still unsure what to do with her the female bandit he caught.

Normally he would have simply discarded of her as she lost her worth to him, but during their break this morning he received the notification that she got inflicted by the same [?ia???las Blessing] as Alexis.

He decided to ask the Commander about his options and postpone the final decision to a later date.

Entering the garrison, Jay had left her to the guard at the main building who took her over. As the guard grinned wide, Jay asked him to keep her in the hall as she was not the same as the last one.

Shivering at his statement, Thalia sat on a bench, well aware that her fate was either better than another captive or worse.

Walking on as he was informed about Haggard's whereabouts, Jay entered the strategy meeting room her first encountered the Commander in.

The crate was still under his arm, as he didn't even need to store it for such a short time. Putting it on the table he stepped back after opening the lid.

"Welcome back, lad. Hope you got some information for us." H.

"Good day, sir..." J.

"Stop it with the formalities already, at least when we're alone... You've helped us so much and proven your worth after all. Tharynn is the same; just keep to it in the open, ok?" H.

"Sure thing... Kitta explained to me what she did to research the totem and said she wrote it all down in a complete report. Well, if you want a short summary, it was a enchantment cast by a Undead. She said the necrotic energy mixed in reduced it to only a few races, but if we wanted to learn more we would need someone who's more specialized in that. Her recommendation was a man called Mazen Mac'Nadir in the Capital..." J.

"What the... Thanks again for that. Would've been a torture to read through all of this... I also got new information to the totems.

A report from Alexis had reached me while you were away.

She had someone find out about the material used for their construction. It's a wood called silver pine and grows only far north on this continent as far as we know.

That combined with your information gives us quite the lead to a specific race... But that would get us one hell of political problems.

So we have to be careful! Don't tell anyone about this!

We'll pay you a little extra for that service." H.

"Then add a little more to the count, as I got rid of your little bandit problem as well..." J.

The Commander was staring at Jay baffled to his last statement. Not believing he had heard right he had asked him to clarify what Jay just said.

"What was that?" H.