Mythran's Master Of All

The caravan came to a stop a few minutes later, just as Teepo had said, and everyone piled out of the carriages to prepare to have lunch. Everyone was surprised when Ren's presence hadn't disappeared that morning, so when they saw him get out of the second carriage, they understood why.

He hadn't left.

Tatya came right over to him to investigate. “King Ren, what's going on?”

“I'm sticking around for today.” Ren said. “If that's okay?”

“Of course it is. You're my guest.”

“Thank you.” Ren beamed a smile at her. “Is there anything that you need my help with? I'm a pretty versatile worker.”

“Oh, um...” Tatya thought about it. “Could you help check over the carriages? They've been through a rough ride to come so far in so short a time.”

“I'd be happy to.” Ren said and turned to his Mistresses. “I'll be back in a little while and we can sit down to eat lunch.”

“We'll be here.” Yuwen said.

Ren quickly gave Artemis everything to set up the proper seating arrangements and he turned to Tatya. “Is there anyone I need to report to that's doing the maintenance, or should I check everything on my own?”

“I'll introduce you.” Tatya said, and Ren followed her over to one of the delegates who was talking to one of the attendants.

“Make sure you spend extra time on checking the wheels of my carriage.” The delegate said. “We hit something a couple of minutes before we stopped.”

“Your carriage will be the first I check, sir.”

The delegate nodded and walked off, and the attendant took a quick breath and let it out.

“First Attendant Gremkor, this is King Ren.” Tatya said. “He's offered to help repair and maintain the carriages.”

“King Ren.” Gremkor nodded slightly.

“First Attendant Gremkor.” Ren nodded slightly back.

“As you may have heard, we're checking Carriage 6 first.” Gremkor said and picked up his bag of tools.

“Lead the way.” Ren said, and followed the man over to the carriage in question. They examined it and found a stress crack in the right front wheel.

“It seems they did hit something.” Gremkor said and ran his fingers over the crack and followed it to an indent. “Either a sharp rock or something similar.”

“Do you want me to find what did it?” Ren asked.

“No, it doesn't really matter.” Gremkor said with a smile. “I just like to see if I can impress people with my deductive skills.”

Ren chuckled. “You mean something like... there's a bit of dirt in the indent, so the rock is partially buried and probably why it hasn't been cleared from the road.”

“Very good!” Gremkor chuckled. “Have you done this before?”

“No, but I can make some great educated guesses.” Ren grinned.

“Yes, since that's all it really is unless you have solid proof.” Gremkor said. “Now, I wonder if we can just reinforce this with iron braces or if we have to replace the whole wheel.”

“Just pop it off and give it to me, and I can restore it.” Ren said. “I assume as First Attendant, the carriages are under your direct supervision?”

“They are.”

“Then it should work.”

They quickly removed the wheel and Gremkor gave it to Ren, who used his Possession Restoration ability to restore it to perfect condition.

“That's handy.” Gremkor said and they reattached the wheel. “Could I have just given you the whole carriage and that would work?”

“I don't think so, since I doubt you own everything inside and can't really give me the whole thing.” Ren said, and he had to agree.

“Then we should check everything else over and make sure it's okay for the remainder of the trip.”

“I take it that you do this every time the caravan stops?” Ren asked as they checked the rest of the carriage and didn't find anything.

“It's usually not as extensive of a check, or as much damage, since we don't normally travel faster than the crow flies.” Gremkor said and walked over to the next carriage.

Ren chuckled. “Yeah, that's why I added the extra enchantments for both Durability and Protection to the carriages.” He said and checked the other side. “There's only so many runes that they can hold, though.”

“Completed items can only hold so much.” Gremkor slapped the side of the carriage when he didn't find anything wrong and moved on.

“You have experience with enchantments?” Ren asked as he followed.

“All the attendants do.” Gremkor said. “We learn the basics in everything, although not everyone has the ability to use what they learn.”

“Yeah, I was like that with magic when I started off.” Ren said. “I picked up enchanting easily; but, it took me a long time to gain a magic ability. Of course, it was nowhere near as powerful as a real magic user, even maxed out.”

Gremkor nodded slightly. “Yes, if you're not suited to it, it can still be used, just not as effectively.”

They quickly checked over the rest of the carriages and ended with the one with the wolves in it.

“Hey, guys!” Ren said into the cage and the wolves crowded against the cage door and started to yip at him. “Ha ha! All right.” He said and took out 6 pieces of Dretch meat and tossed one to each of them. They started to eat and Ren still had one piece left. “Hey, Gremkor! There's only 5 wolves!”

“Of course there's only 5 of them. Jirqym took one yesterday morning to go to the capital.” Gremkor said.

“He did?” Ren asked and stored the meat. “I wonder why?”

“I only know that it was Kenkoth that ordered it and he had Tatya's permission.” Gremkor said. “I only know that much because I was sitting behind the driver of his carriage at the time and we had to deploy the tethers.”

“The what?”

“They're rope lines we connect between the carriages so that people can get back and forth without having to stop the caravan.”

“Isn't that really dangerous?” Ren asked.

“We don't do it all the time for just that reason. It's usually for emergencies only.” Gremkor said. “Well, we've finished in record time and only had one major repair to do.” He smiled. “Thanks for your help.”

This story has been stolen from NovelFire. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

“You're welcome.” Ren said. “See you later.”

Gremkor waved to him and Ren ran over to where Artemis had set up the table.

“That was fast.” Artemis said. “No major problems?”

Ren shook his head and looked at the table and chairs. It had two chairs on one side and three on the other. “What's with this setup?”

“After consulting with your Mistresses, this is the proper seating arrangement for eating.” Artemis said and Tiyaphi, Yuwen and Dilseffa nodded slightly.

“I assume with us on one side and them on the other.” Ren guessed correctly.

“It's the best way to stop any favoritism or rivalry.” Yuwen said. “Not that there is any.”

“I hope not.” Ren said. “I don't want any resentment or animosity to develop between you.”

“It won't.” They promised.

“So, where is our attendant?” Ren asked, and Artemis pointed to the closest cooking fire. He was gathering up some choice cuts of cooked meat and arranging them on plates before the cooks could do it themselves, then he picked up the large tray and easily made his way over to Ren and their table.

Ren helped Artemis sit down, then the attendant started putting their plates of food at the proper place settings while Ren went around the table to sit Yuwen, Dilseffa, and Tiyaphi in turn. Ren went back over to his seat and sat down himself, and the attendant stood off to the side and waited.

“That's an odd human eating ritual.” Tiyaphi said as they all started eating. “Do you always sit the women first?”

“If you're a gentleman.” Ren said and smiled. “Also, if you arrive at the table and they haven't already done so.”

Yuwen chuckled. “As your Mistresses, we're supposed to wait for you to sit first.”

“Oh.” Ren said. “Well, let's dispense with that right now.” He said and used his Command Aura. “As your Inamorato, you do not have to wait for me to sit before sitting yourselves.” He smiled. “You can if you want to; but, if you're still standing, I'll seat you before sitting down myself.”

Yuwen chuckled and Tiyaphi shook her head; but, Dilseffa's emotions swirled.

“What is it?” Ren asked.

“You can't just... why would you...”

“It's simple, really.” Ren said. “Do you really want me to treat you like traditional concubines, or do you want to have a say in what you do and don't do for me?”

Dilseffa's emotions didn't calm down after she heard those words. “R-Ren...”

“Yes, I know it's odd to give you a choice like that.” Ren said. “Mainly because my Etiquette skill is telling me to shut up about it.”

Yuwen snorted a laugh and Teepo chittered in laughter.

“Then why...”

“If I find something that seems too restrictive or is unfair for someone, and I have the ability to change it...”

“You're a Crusader.” The attendant for Ren's carriage said in reverence. “I knew there was something about you that was different!”

“Oh, my god.” Dilseffa whispered. “He's right. After all the stories you've told us, you really are a Crusader.”