Chapter 68 - Foreboding winds
Scarlett walked through the mansion, absentmindedly taking in the various expensive decors spread throughout the hallways as she passed by. A few days had gone by since her meeting with Gaven, but not much of note had happened since. She was still clearing the surrounding area’s low-level dungeons—collecting skill points and valuable items—so excitement wasn’t exactly on her itinerary at the moment, even after hiring Gaven’s services.
Those particular plans of hers would take a while to get moving.
Besides her dungeon farming, she had also communicated with Evelyne a lot these past few days, sending missives through a carrier service that made use of the Kilnstones.
There were magical items and artifacts that allowed direct communication over long distances in this world. The [Mirror of Communion] used by the Angler Man and the Hallowed Cabal was a prime example of this. But they were relatively rare—Scarlett wasn’t even sure if there were any that weren’t Zuverian—and from what she could tell, no one had set up a network with those to be used en masse. She knew for a fact that the Shields Guild had one for their own use, as did the Ustrum Assembly and some of the other influential groups across the empire, but the public had to make do, it appeared.
Not that it mattered much to her. The carrier services she’d been using to communicate with Evelyne were efficient enough for now. On occasion, she’d wondered if there wasn’t a promising business opportunity in trying to set up a communication network for the public somehow. But there probably was a reason something like that didn’t already exist. Most likely a mix between the rarity of the needed items and the complicated logistics such a venture required.
Eventually she’d no doubt try to get her hands on some artifacts like this for her private needs, but she would probably keep using the carrier services even then. They had the added benefit of transporting goods in addition to messages. A feature she had used to send over much of the loot she’d gathered to Evelyne in the capital, where the younger Hartford sister forwarded it to the auction houses and a few interested buyers.
Scarlett’s attention was caught as she passed by a window that gave a good view of the back part of the estate. Beyond the hedge garden hugging the mansion’s facade were the training grounds, where she saw Fynn running around between the target dummies like a madman.
The young man had been completely engrossed in training these past days, and Scarlett couldn’t quite understand why. At first, she had thought it had something to do with the run-in with Gaven and the somewhat unfair admonishment she’d given Fynn at the time. But that didn’t appear to be it. When she’d talked to him about the matter—also reminding him not to openly leak secrets and avoid destroying her property—she had gotten the impression it had to do with strength. For some reason, he was just intent on growing stronger as fast as possible right now.
To her, this came out of the left field. As had the fact that he was apparently already able to use [Claws of the Tempest]. In the game he didn’t learn that until level 50, which should theoretically—or as theoretical as one could be when trying to translate a game to the real world—be some time away from where he was currently.
She was still trying to figure out what had prompted this premature development in him. It didn’t feel like any of her actions up till now should have had much effect on his strength. The [Mark of the Gale] and dungeon-running were all things done in the game. But she wasn’t sure what else it could be.
One alternative was that there was some factor, unknown to her, that had changed. But it could just as well be another of those things where it simply differed from the game because of how things translated. Whatever it was, she was holding back her complaints for now. Getting a more powerful companion was a good thing.
She was just hoping he wouldn’t grow too fast.