Benjamin returned with the young couple in tow. To call them young adults was a stretch, even for Arthur who grew up in Cridia and was considered a full-fledged adult at the age of fifteen. The boy was fifteen while the girl was fourteen. Considering that Benjamin himself was in his mid-thirties, it shouldn't be so surprising that his lost sweetheart was about his age. Still, Arthur wasn't sure what to expect of them. While the boy was quite tall for a Saftian, he was still shorter than Ben and much skinnier than the young warrior. His appearance was average. Not handsome, but also not particularly ugly. A face you could comfortably show in public with the benefit of not being remembered five minutes after the conversation ended. Calling him well-built would be an overstatement. He didn't look weak, but again, just average. The boy looked at Arthur with awe and well-hidden jealousy. It was the fairly healthy jealousy of someone who just found a goal to aspire to, so the Inquisitor could easily just ignore it.

  The girl, on the other hand, was really quite pretty, even by Arthur's elevated standards. She looked at Cate with a similar sense of awe as her boyfriend had looked at Arthur with. However, her gaze was different. She looked at Catherine not as someone she admired, but instead as if she were her competitor. That alone alarmed Arthur that something wasn't right. She was taller than the boy beside her and looked slightly healthier. She was growing into a fine woman and he could understand why the unsuccessful future groom was looking for her. He raised his brow with a smirk and looked at Benjamin who gave him a knowing look.

  "She’s as beautiful as her mother was." The merchant said with a sad voice.

  "Sir Alabaster..." She blushed in embarrassment and lowered her head.

  "All right." Arthur nodded. "I believe that Benjamin gave a glimpse of what I'm looking for and what kind of troubles you can have by staying with me?"

  "Yes, Lord Ives!" The boy answered as he straightened to attention.

  "Take a seat." He pointed towards the opposite side of the table and sat more comfortably, making Catherine slide into his arms with a giggle. "Tell me, what you can actually do."

  "I can fight, my Lord." He tried to say firmly, but Arthur heard the trembling of his voice. "I'm a warrior!"

  "Level five," Arthur pointed out factually.

  "Well, yes, but I can fight!" He clenched the fists resting on his legs, but looked at Arthur without flinching.

  Arthur sighed slightly and looked at the girl, who instantly stood up and curtsied with proper decorum. It wasn't the manners of a daughter of a slightly rich commoner, or even a wealthy merchant, but those of a noble. He couldn't be sure of it, of course, but judging by Catherine, Silfa, or Val'narii's behaviour, he was quite confident in his slowly forming theory.

  "My name is Jassmina, Lord Ives." She introduced herself as she straightened and looked at him with a gaze that was supposed to be confident, but came across as nothing but scared. Despite that, her voice was pure and firm. "I'm an Elemental Mage and I can attend to Lady Ives. I'm confident that I could be of use."

  "Can you cook?" He asked, slightly amused.

  "I..." She blushed. "I'm afraid not... But I can learn!"

  "Can you do other kinds of chores? Like cleaning or driving a carriage?" He continued, gradually convinced that she, in fact, was supposed to marry a noble after all.

  "No, my Lord..." She whispered with despair in her voice.

  "You can sit down." He said with a neutral voice and took a longer gaze at the two. Then he looked at Benjamin and sighed. "First of all, Ben, those two are not a couple."

  The shocked merchant looked at his friend's daughter in disbelief. The boy looked heartbroken, while the girl just paled.

  "What do you have to say to us, Jassmina?" Catherine asked the girl calmly.

  "It's not like that! I... I just..." The girl started crying, but the boy just smiled sourly.

  "Crying won't help you, you know?" Catherine said in the same calm voice and scratched Eira behind the ear. The curious Lynx poked her head near the Nekomi and observed the kids.

  "My father sold me to Baron Tvarek Tamal. I was supposed to marry his son, Garron. But, you have certainly heard the rumours." She said, wiping at her tears.

  Arthur ostensibly turned his head towards Cate, who cringed disgustedly.

  "Garron is eighteen and, if the rumours about him are even half true, he is a sadist. He has an entire harem made of slave girls that he abuses or kills on a whim." The Nekomi explained.

  "Mhm..." Arthur shrugged. "Frankly, you don't have to be bothered by Baron Tamal. He won't be a problem very soon . However, how to put it nicely... You are both way too young for the dangers you will face if I were to employ you. You are also woefully underleveled, so getting you into a proper shape would take too much of my time and might be quite dangerous for you. While I'm afraid that I can't employ you, I would ask Sion if he could. Or... Perhaps I'll ask him to train you in doing basic chores and employ you later? We will see."

  "Thank you, Sir." Benjamin smiled awkwardly.

  "Don't go too harsh on them." Arthur smiled softly. "The boy has the potential to become a fine warrior, and the girl's class speaks for itself. They just... Want to live a better life. They are young and afraid, Ben."

  "I'll consider this..." He nodded and tried to smile back, but looked slightly disappointed.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  They were again left alone in the room if you forgot about Eira. Catherine hummed as she cuddled tighter to his side.

  "She was cute, don't you think?"

  "Not as cute as you. I can already tell that she would cause us trouble, or at least she would foolishly try to compete with you." Arthur rubbed his eyes tiredly. "Don't know why, but she made the impression of a demanding wanna-be princess. I don't have the patience to play petty games with someone who essentially should be a camp helper. She is also too young to understand that the world doesn't revolve around her."

  "Hmmm... She seemed to know Noble etiquette. Maybe I could learn from her?"

  "Don't be silly." He hugged her slightly tighter and kissed the top of her head. "If you really want to do that, you can always ask Elene Howthorns. She will be more than glad to teach you everything you need without risk of intentionally teaching you wrong. However, your etiquette and manners would be acceptable in the Imperial court as they are now, so you don't have to force yourself, my Beautiful."

  "All right." She smiled.

  "That leaves us with the problem of additional help. Or lack thereof." He sighed. "Any ideas?"

  "One..." The Nekomi sighed heavily. "But neither you nor I would like it. We could buy slaves."

  "I was thinking about it already, to be honest." He said with an unhappy grimace. "But I tried to avoid that if possible."

  "I really hate to say it, but if you promise them freedom, they would do everything they could to prove their loyalty to you." She said, with a big dose of self-disgust. "I hate it..."

  "We can't change that system, but we can most certainly abuse it." He sighed. "Is there even a slave market in Howthorns? Or something like that?"

  "There is. As you can guess, the selling of slaves is a very lucrative business, and that means it generates a lot of taxes. So naturally, the Kingdom made special regulations for this." She said bitterly.

  "Why am I not surprised?" He snorted.

  "You want to go there now?"

  "I can go later. You don't have to force yourself, Cate." He said softly, feeling how she trembled.

  For a moment, she looked at him with gratitude, but her smile slowly faded. The Nekomi slowly shook her head.

  "I want to go with you. It was horrible while I was a slave, but I need to defeat that fear." She said with a heavy heart. "I need to go..."

  "All right." He nodded without conviction.

  Just a few moments later, Benjamin returned and bowed deeply .

  "I'm so sorry, my Lord! I allowed my feelings to take over my reason. I should have investigated them more thoroughly."

  "It's not your fault. You had good intentions, and if they were older, I would have considered taking them despite everything. But they are still kids, Ben. Please, remember that wherever I go, the danger will follow." Arthur waved his hand while Cate reluctantly straightened.

  "It's true..." The Merchant finally smiled and looked at the Nekomi with a slight hesitation. "Can I ask you something, my Lady?"

  "Of course, Sir Benjamin!" She nodded with a little smile.

  "I was informed that you are thinking about selling your property in the city. The old Clark's Store, yes?" He asked carefully as he watched her smile vanish, being replaced with a sadder expression. "Is that correct?"

  "Indeed." She confirmed sadly. "That place was once my home, but after being defiled by Griss Vul and his gang, I can't stay there anymore. I took all the precious memorabilia with me, but we are going to put the store on sale soon."

  "Would you consider selling it to me, Lady Catherine?" He asked quickly with hope in his voice, which he quickly masked with a pretended cough. "I planned to expand my assets in the city, but it is nigh impossible to buy any proper estate."

  Arthur looked at her, worried, but watched with amusement as she seemed to enter Merchant's Daughter mode. She smiled lightly and put her hands together.

  "How much do you offer, Sir Benjamin?" She asked with a dangerous sweetness in her voice.

  "Your property is worth anywhere between ten and fifteen thousand gold, my Lady. However, I'm fully aware that putting it on auction would allow you to sell it for at least twenty thousand."

  "Probably even more." Catherine agreed with a nod as she crossed her legs demurely under her skirt.

  Arthur leaned back and decided not to interfere. Normally, a gold coin was a gold coin, but its purity reflected the might and wealth of the country it came from. The gold coin of Saftia wasn't as pure as the very rarely used gold coins of Arcadia. One Arcadian coin was worth roughly four Saftian. Of course, Arthur wasn't naive and had not used Arcadian gold to pay for anything so far in Saftia. Thanks to the fair market regulations in Arcadia, they used basically all the money that was in use in Aderon since most of the Arcadian gold was used simply as a metal. That was why he used Ibrevellian money that was more or less similar in value to Saftian currency. Perhaps it was slightly purer, but that would only mean that it was more readily accepted. That reminded him that he should exchange his Arcadian gold coins for the local ones. He already received an absurd amount of money from home in the second shipment. Namely fifty thousand Arcadian gold coins. With that amount of money, his options were wide and fairly interesting.

  "The problem is that I don't have that much money. I could only pay you five thousand right now." Benjamin sighed heavily. "I could pay you in instalments-"

  "I asked how much you are willing to pay, not how you will do it, Sir Benjamin." She interrupted him with a sweet smile and a soft voice.

  "I really need that shop. But I can pay only twelve and a half thousand gold, my Lady." He said calmly, but his forehead was covered in sweat.

  "I'm willing to agree." She said as she put her hands on her knees. "However, I'm doing that only because you helped us so much. I will also need your help and services in future."

  He deflated slightly and leaned back in his chair.

  "Of course." He nodded with a solemn expression which left Arthur puzzled. Benjamin started to stand up. "I shall prepare the contract and-"

  "One more thing, Ben." Arthur took out an Arcadian golden coin and tossed it at the merchant who caught it instinctively. "I want you to exchange it for the local currency."

  The merchant briefly examined the coin, but then he looked at it more carefully and weighed it in his hand.

  "Where do you get something like this, my Lord?" He asked in shock. "It's a golden coin of the Arcadian Empire?"

  "Indeed. I guess that you won't be able to use that as money, but don't be shy to just melt it down and use it for the metal." Arthur said pragmatically, making Benjamin cringe.

  "Gods damn it..." Benjamin closed his fist around the coin and grinned. "I'm already insolvent after I made a deal with Lady Catherine, my Lord, but I'll be damned if I miss this literally golden opportunity!"

  Thank you all for reading.

  I wish you all a great day and as always I wait for your comments.

  A big thanks to and who edited the chapter!