Melpomene

After having been set straight the old lady became an entirely different person, becoming a little more lively while trying to talk to Lana about handling her personal affairs before starting life in the city. I explained that we had already handled that by securing her a small but steady income to help herself with for now. When Lana pointed out it was my idea the old lady became impressed.

When Auntie Mara moved on to the reminiscence of grieving not long afterward, I had to try to excuse myself once again only for the old lady to ignore me and start talking about contacting her old heads of the household. She had no problem giving me this task while shamelessly talking about how she had dismissed them when she was finally ready to die but just could not seem to pass on.

Not only this but the old lady tried to make me some form of retainer to her niece, giving me my own room and such in the south wing opposite where she and Lana would be staying. I told her I would prefer to live in the forest where I could continue making money. She simply ignored me while indirectly specifying how my 'residences' shall be kept in my absence.

When I was finally able to leave it was with written directions that took me the rest of the way through the residential district in the opposite direction of where I wanted to go. While traveling I reorganized my party and informed my personal group of how my mission was going and how I felt like it would continue going. They all agreed.

Not just from the way the mission had started with me taking things upon myself but also the story behind the old lady losing her family and the condition of their estate. The simple mission that would lead me out of the tutorial was turning into my first quest series. A quest series in which I would probably have to restore a fallen noble family.

Everyone said the benefits of something like this would be incredible if I were to actually succeed by helping them rise to power. There were currently only a handful of players on every continent who had ties to nobility of any kind, let alone a player with a noble family indebted to them. Despite the fact that I felt like it would be a long-term commitment and distraction, the others all demanded that I complete this quest series at all costs.

So I followed the directions I was given until I found myself at a simple and pleasant hardwood two-story townhouse with a half-acre yard near the edge of the residential district. The house had a simple plank fence like a 50s suburban home but the yard was nice with several sitting areas of bushes and trees with a large pavilion in the back. A very stark contrast to the manor I had left.

The wooden gate to the yard had a large bronze bell on it so I rang it two hard times before opening the gate to start inside. The directions I came with said this was the home of Lady Mara's head butler's nephew who the old butler had moved in with after finally allowing himself to be dismissed. The place looked like upper middle class and the family was obviously connected with the upper echelon so I wondered how they would react to me in goblin armor walking up.

The large front door of the house opened up before I finished walking up the paving stone path to the house. A middle aged man with a short but round body appeared in the doorway looking somewhat dissatisfied. "Young man," he says loudly, "Please state your business for coming here unannounced or be prepared to be met with force."

Nodding my head, I simply stop walking up and hold up my mostly empty hands but for a paper of directions and said, "I rang the bell, but I get what you mean. Lady Mara asked me to come here and see a Mr. Harlow, tragedy has once again struck the family and she hopes to rehire the services of her heads of household."

Another, taller and older but similarly built bald man, appears behind the first in the doorway and asks, "Who might you be, then?"

Feeling like this was the man I was sent here to see, I bow my head in a similar way to how I greeted Lady Mara and say, "Lana Delai's family met with goblins on the road, only Ms. Lana is left. I'm the person who saved her after it happened and… I think… Lady Mara is trying to make me her retainer. I think she intends to adopt Lana and rekindle the family name. My name is Life Hack, my people call me Hack so feel free to call me that from now on, sir."

"Is Little Lana alright?" The older man asks, placing a hand on his nephew's shoulder so he steps outside and out of the way to let the old butler through. "Lady Mara still has some coin set aside for inheritances, if there's any scars or the like we can have them taken care of easily."

He said 'we'. The first step of my mission was already complete. "She was saved from the goblins by being trapped under the wagon and its cargo when the horses scared and flipped the wagon. She was there for some time before I happened along, though, but she is well. There seems to be much to do and Lady Mara was urgent in her request to see you."

"Absolutely right," the man says, turning around hurriedly to fetch a coat and hat from somewhere inside the doorway. "Young Mr. Hack, do you require any guidance or assistance?"

"No, sir, Lady Mara had Lana write directions to both yours and the head maid's residences," I assure him quickly, turning to leave as he walks passed me. "I'll simply head there next and then report back to the Lady."

"Don't bother, she was still young and pretty so she was rehired in the baron's estate," the old butler says dismissively. "Come with me, young man, there's much we'll need to discuss. If Lady Mara intends to make you a part of this household and you agree, I will have to educate you on your role in the household."

"Aren't I basically Lana's bodyguard or something?" I ask, knowing that escorting Lana places was one of the main tasks I would be given from what the old lady talked about. I still had so much stuff I needed to do today!

"That is only one small part of it!" Mr. Harlow states loudly with a very serious expression. "You are not just her bodyguard, you are her everything. While I understand you may not be able to be around at all times because you are not originally from this kind of life but when you are there you will serve her needs as she needs them. Whether in sickness or in health, you will be there as everything but her husband until or unless a time should come when the madame or Ms. Lana should decide to change that."

This was going to be a problem. I wanted to spend the rest of my current gaming session and then all night asleep working on side skills, stats, and goblin challenges. Now, I would have THIS to deal with for probably all day!

Knowing my friends would murder me if I said anything but, 'yes, master', I simply nod and say, "I never intended to simply dump Lana on somebody's doorstep. While I am not at a place in my life where relationships are worthwhile or beneficial, Lana is a good person that I quite like- as a person, not as a lady. Taking care of her became my responsibility when my dog dragged her out from under a wagon. However, like you said, I won't always be there."

Moving on with little more than a nod at my words, reminding me of Lady Mara, Ms. Harlow says, "When you are around there really will not be much for you to do unless the madame and or Ms. Lana should decide to go shopping or to check on businesses. However… all of those things have already changed ownership, I oversaw much of it myself."

"I am worth several thousand gold, so be honest with me," I say just as honestly as I hoped the butler would be with me. "You mentioned that Lady Mara already divided up the inheritances and prepared to move on, so now that things are changing there will be changes made to this. How much money do they have access to without touching the inheritances, or at last anyone else' besides Lana's, and how many problems will this cause?"

Giving me a measuring look from the side, the old man harrumphs quietly before saying, "I'm not certain, honestly. The last thing the lady did was make a sizable donation to the city's orphanage but this was after I finally left. She may have nothing and she may have enough to get by for a few months with a small household."

Glad that I had managed to change the subject, I say, "I will be gone for the next few days and while Lana has some money from the renting of her family's properties I don't mind leaving more money with her. Yes I know I am her retainer but I also have prior engagements. If you require assistance or even more retainers, I have several friends in the area who might be of service."

"What friends might you have?" Mr. Harlow asks curiously with subtle hints of disbelief.

"Agar and Canley, for starters," I reply with a shrug. "Agar is the night foreman for the municipal smithy where I spend about three hours every night so far forging weapons for sale and Canley is the apprentice I use to help me. He is also responsible for crafting the new suits of armor I will be selling since his skills are higher than mine. Then there is Ferithar, the Grand Alchemist down at the Golden Ferry Chamber of Commerce who is teaching me magic and alchemy. He even performed an experimental awakening process on me that increased the size of my mana pool."

Nodding with a slight frown as if he was trying not to show his actual expression, Mr. Harlow says, "Some of those are actually very good friends to have. I do not know this Ferithar fellow but a Grand Alchemist is one of the most useful friends one can have. Agar, however, served with my nephew in the Legion and both of them received several decorations."

"Canley will be joining the Legion as a blacksmith in a few months," I point out for my younger friend's benefit. "He's a good kid, too. Strong like an ox with his priorities in line. I don't know much about him but I think he helps take care of his family even though he's even younger than me- and that they rely on it. It's part of why I'm paying him to work for me."

"He sounds like a good lad, I'm sure Agar will put in a good word for him, even though he was an active soldier," Mr. Harlow acknowledges mildly, showing his disinterest in Canley. "I'll be introducing you to a few of the family's friends when you return, so be ready to stick around for a few days once you have gotten your affairs in order. How long have you been in the city?"

Doing some quick math in my head as I try not to wonder how long I will be stuck in the city for, I say, "A couple of nights, our coach arrived during the night and the next day I was out until evening because I fell asleep in the forestry and Lana thought it was too late to trouble her aunt so we waited until today. Those are just my friends in the city, Sir Beryl who is stuck guarding the Elder Oak Passage for a couple months is probably my best friend in the area. We're both classless and he likes watching me kill dozens of goblins at once because he says it reminds him of his youth."

"You know Sir Beryl?" Mr. Harlow asks suddenly with an unreadable voice and a serious expression on his face, stopping in his tracks to look at me.

Suddenly worried that I had tripped the wrong kind of flag, I say, "Yeah, while I was out hunting my first night I met him when I found the Elder Oak and when I asked for directions we got to talking and when I asked if I could fight goblins in the passage he just laughed and said to wait outside while he walked away. Once he was gone, goblins started coming out in bigger and bigger groups until suddenly this one hobgoblin warrior appeared. Sir Beryl showed up and killed it but then we got to talking about how I managed to kill fifty-five goblins with like five different weapons and now I train there. That was where I was going after I finished my business with you guys."

"Why are you still here?" Mr. Harlow asks suddenly without missing a beat. "Sir Beryl, the previous head of the Sierran Shield and still the bearer of that title, is expecting you. There's no other heads of the household and I will see to it that nobody need leave the household while our protection is away, excuse me while I return home for a moment."

With that said the old man who looked to be nearing his sixties with a mostly white beard turned around and walked back toward his home with surprising speed. Then I received a message window I had expected to see a few times beforehand.

[Congratulations, Life Hack, for completing another phase of your quest. You have accumulated the rewards from three mission completions, would you like to accept?]

[YES/NO]

"Can I ask why you've been withholding the rewards?" I ask curiously, wondering if there was some kind of special reason.

[This is an impromptu quest guided by a different part of the system. It does not come with proper phases and rewards unless a combat sequence or mission is triggered. This facet of the AI has also been busy in other areas of the world. Would you like to receive your rewards?]

[YES/NO]

Simply blinking at the message window from the game's AI, I am suddenly filled with questions about how all of this and the AI itself was designed to work. Then, a thought occurred to me and I opened the Social page of my menus.

*