Transmutation 3

Brutus and Julie were taken to the manor and told to wait outside while the man who introduced himself as lord of the manor and their savior, Arthur Pender, walked inside it. A few minutes he came back out with some more servants and a few people in elegant clothing.

"Holly, Beth, take this young woman to the infirmary and treat her. Everyone else, I would like to introduce the new servant, Brutus. Tonight at diner I will go over in full detail about what he will be doing here. Until then, please relax."

With that, Arthur Pender walked inside the manor and was followed by the people around him. Holly and Beth had elegant clothing and told some servants that were with them to carry Julie away. Some of the servants that weren't doing anything after that then went up to Brutus.

"So greenhorn, you probably needed a favor from the lord and he dragged you over here, right?"

"Yeah, he saved the woman that was with me."

"Oh man, I think I know what job you are going to have too."

"Hey, follow me and I will take you to where the servants stay."

"Alright."

Brutus disregarded the servants who were talking among themselves and followed the one that offered to show him where he would be staying. It was to the side of the manor and down a small hill.

"Thanks to the good graces of the lord, the servants were given this home to spend their time when they are not required to work, or when they have time to sleep. Though that will not be often."

"What do you mean?"

"The lord has over 20 servants, all of them having come to him in times of need and now stuck to work for him. The one before you was Ernest. He was the personal servant to Lady Charlotte."

"What happened to Ernest?"

"... He was found hung from the rafters. Nobody knows why he did it, but we have a few ideas."

"Oh, so it's going to be like that then..."

"My name is Micheal by the way, I live inside the manor so you can usually find me there if you need anything."

"Alright then, thanks Micheal."

"Take a rest and I will send someone to get you when diner is ready and that formal announcement of what you will be doing is said."

Micheal left the room and went back to the manor as Brutus fell down onto the bed. It was tough, but it would likely last a long time. Brutus tried to sleep but after laying down for about 20 minutes he started making a transmutation circle. Brutus placed his sword that he still had with him in the circle and sharpened it. He made sure some scratches remained, and otherwise it looked like a ruined blade, but it was sharp and straight.

** Transmutation Class Level Up, Currant Rank: 3**

A status update popped in front of Brutus, but before he could check what the new ability was someone walked into the room.

"Brutus, we are ready for you in the manor. Please follow me, you don't have to prepare anything"

"Alright, lead the way."

Brutus put his sword on the bed and followed the servant out of the servants house and into the manor. They entered the front door and took a right turn. In that room was a large dining table with many people in elegant clothes sitting down and over 20 servants standing to the sides of the room.

"Ah you are here, now that everyone is here I would like to introduce the latest servant, Brutus. Brutus has also brought a lovely lady with him, and I trust none of you will be taking advantage of your status as benefactor in order to befriend her, that means you Marcus."

"Yes father, like always I will keep my affairs limited to personnel outside of the estate."

"Then without further adieu, I would like to introduce Brutus to the fine young woman he will be attending, my own daughter Charlotte!"

Arthur started clapping his hands and the other people at the table did too. A woman with black hair and petite size stood up from her chair, but barely gained any height doing so.

"Thank you father, I will make sure to treat this one well."

"Well, if everything is ready, Brutus please take a seat at the end of the table and Samuel, bring out the food."

"Yes sir."

The man named Samuel took a few servants with him and brought out trays with food on silver plates. The food was distributed to the people at the table and they began the feast. Brutus ate with them but the other servants stood on the side and watched.

After the feast, the plates were taken out of the room and Arthur began speaking again.

"Ah, a wonderful meal. Micheal, take Brutus and Charlotte to the drawling room and distribute the communication rings."

"Yes sir, Lady Charlotte, Brutus, please follow me."

Micheal motioned towards the door and Brutus got up to follow him, but Charlotte stayed in her chair.

"Carry me."

She turned around and looked at Brutus as she said this with a deadpan expression. She was probably only 70 down or even less, but to what method Brutus should carry her with was a question he would rather not ask.

"Alright."

Brutus walked towards Charlotte and when he stood directly behind her he gabbed onto the chair and picked it up. Holding the chair in front of him, Brutus turned to the door and followed Micheal. Everyone else in the room was left silent.

"Well that is certainly one way of doing it."

Arthur drank from his glass and motioned for the servants to continue cleaning up.

Outside the dining hall and up the stairs, then down a hallway and inside another room, there was a desk with many papers on it and bookshelves filled tight. Micheal took from a drawer two silver rings. He gave one to Charlotte and then the other to Brutus.

"These are communication rings. While you already know what they do Charlotte, Brutus does not so I will explain it to him. These rings are tied to each other with magical properties and will allow whomever wears one of them to communicate with the wearer of the other. In this case, it will be you can lady Charlotte. Whenever you head lady Charlotte through the ring you are to immediately respond. Orders can be issued from the ring, so make sure to have it on you at all times, even when sleeping. To communicate with it, simply flow magical power into the ring and the communication channel will open for you to speak. That is the end of the introduction."

"You may leave Micheal."

"Yes lady Charlotte."

Micheal walked out of the room and left Brutus and Charlotte alone. Now that it was just the two of them, Brutus could feel a dark aura coming from her.

"That was quite the demonstration in the dining hall. I hope that your aren't just some muscle man who can only lift things up and put them down."

Brutus remembered the previous servant who had killed himself, and now he put it together. Things would only get worse.

"I am able to do much more than just that."

"I hope so. I will allow you one week where slip ups will be expected, but after that you will receive punishment."

"I understand."

"Good, then find my room and draw a bath. Make sure the water is sufficiently heated, but not too much."

"I will right away."

"Good, then go."

Brutus left the room and asked someone where Charlotte's room was, and was directed to yet another higher floor. Charlotte's room was the last one in the hallway and inside was clearly a little girl's room. Inside the room and inside another room to the left was the bathroom with the bath. Brutus filled it with hot water and used the communication ring to signal to Charlotte that it was ready.

"You can leave now, but do not go too far away."

"Yes."

Brutus waited on the outside of Charlotte's room for almost an hour before he was called back in with the communication ring.

"What can I do for you?"

Brutus asked while he bowed to Charlotte. Brutus had been in this same situation before, though not quite having the same preceding events.

"Tell me how you were sent to serve me for my father."

"Of course. It was earlier today actually..."

Brutus began to tell Charlotte about how the skeletons attack him and Julie and that her father killed the skeletons and saved Julie's life, so in exchanged he agreed to anything because he had no possessions.

"That seems fair, you may leave now."

"Alright-"

"Wait one more thing, come here."

Charlotte motioned for Brutus to come closer so he did, but she wanted him to come even closer until Brutus was less than a foot from her face. Charlotte leaned forward and gave Brutus a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Don't think about running away in the middle of the night you hear?"

"Yes Lady Charlotte."

"You may leave."

"Yes lady Charlotte."

Brutus left the room and wiped his cheek. He did not know quite what happened, just that it felt strange, and not that getting kissed by a 12 year old on the cheek strange either.

Later in the servants living quarters, Brutus was approached by some of the other servants.

"Did she touch you?"

"What do you mean touch me?"

"Like did she take your hand, or grab your shoulder at any point?"

"Yeah, something like that..."

"Oh man, she's already got you then."

"What does that mean?"

"Charlotte has a special power. Among the abilities of a dark mage, she can intercept your dreams and alter them however she likes. The only thing is, she has to make physical contact with you to do so. Once you are touched, any dream you have for the next 18 hours will be effected by whatever she wanted you to feel at that moment."

"That sounds kinda scary."

"Oh, there's more. If you think you can wake up, you are wrong. She can also force you to stay asleep for a specified amount of time."

"It's your first day though, so you are probably fine."

Another servant looked over at Brutus and the servant talking and interjected.

"Now try to get some sleep, we have a big day tomorrow breaking in the greenhorn."

"Alright."

As Brutus laid in bed, he wondered how Julie was doing. Her internal injuries were probably fixed by now, and tomorrow they would work something out. Brutus was obligated to stay and be a servant to Charlotte until Arthur let him go, and he would also have to find something for Julie to do. As he thought about this, Brutus remembered the notification he got earlier.

Brutus checked his abilities and saw a new transmutation. Duplication Transmutation. Brutus thought about it for a little bit and then went to sleep. He did not have any mass with him so he would not be able to make anything with a transmutation circle.

During the night, Brutus was plagued by nightmares of monsters chasing after him and tearing his flesh from his bones, but not killing him. He would then walk to find help from someone while flailing his bone arms and exposed bone legs until he was finally killed by a group of benevolent church followers. Having his flesh torn and bones exposed was nothing new for Brutus though, so he was mostly unaffected by it.

In the morning, Brutus was woken up by Charlotte calling on the communication ring.

"Get my breakfast."

"Should I bring it to your room?"

"Yes."

"Then I will right away."

Brutus got on his servant clothes that were set aside for him and went to the manor. Brutus then went to the kitchen which was attached to the dining hall and got Charlotte's breakfast that was already made up to her room.

"I'm outside your room with your breakfast."

Brutus spoke with the communication ring as he held the breakfast tray and waited for a response.

"Come in and set it down on the table."

Brutus opened the door and walked to the table in the center of the room and set down the tray.

"What is this?"

"This is the food I was told to give you when I asked for your breakfast from the chef."

"If the chef gave you a plate of a dog poop would you bring that to me?"

"Only if you requested it."

Charlotte was angry with that response from Brutus and clenched her fist.

"Very good, however what I request is something different. I require 3 eyes of the demon wolf from the nearby forest, then 6 wind of black bat from the cave to the north. Once these are gotten I will need 3 grasshoppers from the yard. The first two can be found in the town to the south. Make sure to return before diner."

"Right away."

Brutus left Charlotte's room and then left the manor Brutus borrowed a horse from the stable and some coins and then took it to the town. He was able to buy the eyes and wings as potion ingredients, but the grasshoppers would have to be found in the field. It was only a few hours after lunch by the time Brutus made it back to the manor and called Charlotte on the communication ring.

"Meet me with the materials on the second floor."

"I'll be right there."

Brutus goes inside the manor and goes to the second floor. When he gets there, Charlotte is waiting for him and tells him to follow her. A few doors and then enter into a small and dark room. Charlotte takes a seat at a desk.

"Put the materials you gathered on the desk."

"Yes."

Brutus puts the 3 eyes, 6 wings, and 3 grasshoppers on the desk. Charlotte takes an eyeball and a wing and places the wing on the side of the eyeball and fuses some magical power into it. She then picks up the second wing of the pair and attaches it to the eye. Without speak to Brutus, Charlotte picks the legs of the grasshopper and attaches them to the bottom of the eye with wings.

"Watch this Brutus."

Charlotte says as she infuses magical energy into the abomination and it comes to life. The abomination makes no sound as it starts to flap it's wings and flies upwards a small amount before falling again.

"Bring me the paper in the bottom shelf."

Charlotte says to Brutus as she starts to make the second abomination.

"What exactly are you making lady Charlotte?"

Brutus could not hold back any longer. Was this some kind of scientific experiment?

"It is of no concern to you what I am making. Hurry and get me the paper."

"Yes lady Charlotte."

Brutus gave the paper to Charlotte and she drew a picture of the abomination on it and handed it to Brutus along with the pen.

"Now write the following for me. Subject is capable of low flight. Subject cannot speak. Subject can walk. Ingredients, bat wing, grasshopper leg, wolf eye."

"Alright."

"Good you can write, I was not sure at first. You can put that in the pile over there and take a few minutes to see how your woman is doing. She should be three does over on the other side of the hall."

"Thank you lady Charlotte."

Brutus left the room and went to find Julie. Brutus opened the wrong door once and came upon an alchemy laboratory but the next door had Julie in a white bed.

"Brutus!"

"Julie, are you doing well?"

"I am fine, but were are we? I woke up here yesterday and they wouldn't let me see you."

"Someone came by and helped us defeat the skeletons using special magic, they even used a really expensive potion on you, so to repay them I am working for them as a servant."

"So it's my fault you have to be a servant..."

"No, it's fine. Once I have paid the Pender's back for the potion and for helping restore you we will leave and find the others."

"But how long will that take?"

"I don't know, but from what the other servants have told me, this kind of thing happens often."

"Brutus, I need you back here."

"I have to go now, I will come back as soon as I can."

Charlotte called for Brutus with the communication ring and he started to leave the room.

"Don't get too wrapped up in this, we should leave as soon as possible."

"Alright, i understand."

Brutus walked down the hall and back into the room where he left Charlotte.

"Brutus, dispose of these behind the manor where nobody will see them."

"Yes lady Charlotte."

Brutus took the three abominations that were still moving in his hands and took them to the back of the manor and threw them as far out as possible on the other side of the wall. This was the only side of the manor covered in overgrowth, and Brutus could guess the reason.

Brutus assisted with diner for Charlotte and then make the bath for her at night. Once again, Brutus was given a kiss on the cheek and subsequently nightmares of his flesh being torn from the bones by horrible monsters, but this time it was huge bats with eyes for their bodies that clawed him with their 6 legs.

Brutus woke up anticipating Charlotte wanting her breakfast and was at her door with it when she called him on the communication ring. Brutus was then sent to town to fetch more monster parts and take them to Charlotte who combined them into some abomination and then had Brutus take it out back and throw it into the overgrowth. The same evening routine occurred and the same nightly one too.

Brutus had not gotten the chance to use his new Duplication Transmutation but that was not a high priority for him. Currently, Brutus was fighting the nightmares every night and consulting with the other servants on how to stop them. Their only advice was to act as if nothing was happening at night and try to live with it.

Julie was released from the infirmary and given a job as a seamstress in the manor. Julie was very talented and was even paid money by the Penders. She was living on the first floor of the manor on the opposite side from the dining hall. Apparently, the manor did have maids, they just kept to the shadows very well. That or they were attending to the second son.

8 days past with Brutus making trips to town to get parts for a new monster every day and having a corresponding nightmare when he slept.

"Brutus, prepare a carriage, we are going to travel."

"Where are we going?"

"To town."

"Then I will prepare immediately."

This day was something special. 10 since coming to the manor and now Charlotte was going to be traveling with Brutus to the town.

"I need a carriage prepared for myself and lady Charlotte to be taken to the town. I'll drive."

"Alright, it won't take much to get to the town, so just take a basic one."

"Okay thanks Roscoe."

Brutus took the carriage to the front of the manor and called for Charlotte to come out. She came out a few minutes later in a black dress and holding a black and white parasol. Brutus helped Charlotte get into the passenger seat and then set off away from the manor.

"Did you bring a sword with you?"

Charlotte asked Brutus after they could no longer see the manor.

"I did not. The road to the town has always been safe, so I did not think we would need it."

"Next time bring a sword. We will go to town today."

"You mean we were not originally planned to go to town today?"

"Why would I go if you were just going to be doing the same thing as always."

"Right, lady Charlotte."

Brutus continued driving the carriage to the town and stopped in the market with Charlotte.

"I want two of those, two of those, two of those..."

Charlotte was pointing at everything she wanted and got one from each side of the monster or beast it came from. It was mostly arms and legs, but she also selected a single bear head, minus the brain.

"Lady Charlotte, can I ask what you plan to make with all these?"

"I'm glad you asked Brutus. This will be my ultimate land traveling monster. Using the legs from over 8 different beast, there wont be a single condition where it won't be able to proceed."

"But if you have it bigger wings then you wound't need to worry about that at all."

"Don't you know how expensive large wings are? Don't be silly suggesting things like that."

"I apologize, hopefully we can return to the manor with enough time to conduct the experiment."

"No, we will be performing it on the way back."

Brutus and Charlotte went out of the town and when they had gotten about half way back to the manor, Charlotte made Brutus stop the carriage.

"Hold the bead head and this leg here."

Charlotte pointed to a leg and to a spot on the bottom of the bear head. Brutus placed them together and Charlotte sent magical energy into the pieces. The pieces joined and then Brutus picked up another leg and put it on. Finally 8 pairs of legs had been attached for a total of 17 pieces and Charlotte sent magical energy into the entire thing.

The monster started to move and stood up on all 16 legs. The bear head moved around as if looking at it's surroundings. The legs all moved like a wave even for small turns of the head because there was no neck.

"I want to try something even bigger next time."

"I don't think we will be able to get bigger parts than these."

"That's why you are going to bring a sword tomorrow."

"But what if something goes wrong? One extra guard should be brought just in case."

"Brutus, come here."

Charlotte called Brutus forward and he did. Brutus kept coming closer as Charlotte kept waving for him to, and then she placed her hand on his forehead.

"Help me get into the carriage."

Brutus left the abomination in the grass and helped Charlotte onto the carriage. Brutus could not control his body and was forced to wait for Charlotte to speak.

"Take the carriage back to the manor."

Brutus got into the driver's seat of the carriage and drove it back to the manor. Brutus was unable to resist obeying, and could not even speak. It was another one of Charlotte's dark mage powers, mind control.

Brutus and Charlotte road back in silence, though Brutus was unable to talk because of Charlotte's magic. Charlotte had no reason to stay quite, and hopefully would explain why she put him under mind control. But she did not.

The rest of the day Brutus could not move himself and was following Charlotte around lost of his own free will. The only thankful thing for that day was his dream only consisted of darkness. As he went back to the servants building the others tried to talk to him but he was unable to, and they seemed to understand what was happening.

The next morning, Brutus was able to control himself and got started on some transmutation circles. It was about 7 AM when he started, and took till 9 AM to make a sword and sheath for it that looked nice to be worn while guarding Charlotte outside of the manor. At 9 AM Brutus brought breakfast to Charlotte's room.

"You can come in now."

"Yes lady Charlotte."

Brutus opens the door and walks in with the tray just like every other morning.

"Oh, I see you are prepared for today's excursion."

"Will we be traveling outside of the manor?"

"Yes, our destination is a small ruin a bit off the road. I will explain more when we get there."

"Alright, should I fetch the carriage now?"

"Yes, that would be best."

Brutus left the room and got a carriage from Roscoe with the destination as the town. Like yesterday, Brutus took the carriage around front and waited for Charlotte to get in and then drove off. They went a few miles down the road and stopped when Charlotte said to.

"Stop here, and turn into the field."

"Yes."

Brutus turned the carriage into the field and ignored the slowed movements from the high grass.

"When you see the watchtower, stop."

"Yes."

Brutus continued going for a few minutes and stopped once he saw a watchtower in ruins. It was probably looking over the forest, but now the upper half was crumbled and useless.

"We are here lady Charlotte."

"Good, now carry me to the watchtower entrance."

Brutus let Charlotte get onto his shoulders as he carried her to the watchtower and stopped just outside it. There was a strangely wary feeling coming from it.

"Go inside."

"Yes"

"Let me down."

Brutus let Charlotte down and she straightened he dress and put the parasol in the ground by the entrance. She looked around for a few seconds and then settled on one spot.

"Move the rocks over there."

Brutus moved forward and moved the stone that had fallen from the collapsed second floor and slowly revealed a hidden door. It was an old door made of iron, and had 3 large locks on it. Charlotte looked at Brutus as she asked him something.

"Can you break the locks?"

"I don't think so."

"Damn we will have to come back. We will return to the manor immediately. No experiment will be done today."

"Do I need to carry you back to the carriage?"

"Yes."

Charlotte got back onto Brutus' shoulders and was taken to the carriage.

"Would you mind if I took some of the rubble from the watchtower?

"What would you want the rubble for?"

"I like to make figurines in my spare time."

"Are you saying that you have spare time?"

"Every few days."

"... That is acceptable. Bring back as much as you want."

"Thank you lady Charlotte."

Brutus went back to the watchtower and brought as much rubble that he could over multiple trips to the carriage. In the end, he had about 500 down on rubble brought back.

"I hope to see an example of your work tomorrow morning."

"Yes, I will make something for you."

Brutus and Charlotte returned to the manor and separated. Brutus took the rubble to the side of the servants building and returned the carriage. For the rest of the day he used transmutation circles to make a figurine of a wolf with it's mouth open, and then several of the parts for a gun. Before having to leave to assist with dinner Brutus was able to make half the parts or the gun and use Duplication Transmutation to make copies.

One thing that was unexpected though, was that Charlotte did not touch him. Besides when he carried her to the watchtower, Charlotte did not touch him the rest of the day, maybe she forgot or maybe she wanted the figuring to be made uninterruptedly. Brutus' dream that night was instead of a place far away that he knew he would never return to.

In the morning, Brutus took the wolf figurine and made a few more gun parts before the had to get Charlotte's breakfast. Along with the tray of her food, he also brought the figurine to her room.

"What is this Brutus?"

Charlotte held the wolf in her hand and moved it round in her fingers examining it.

"That is a wolf that lives in the forest near here. I thought you might like it."

"Yes... I like it very much... you can go now."

"Aren't we going back to the watchtower?"

"Ah yes, we are. Fetch the carriage and a strong axe to break the locks with."

"I will get them ready immediately."

As Brutus left the room Charlotte still had the figurine of the wolf in her hand and was ignoring the breakfast. The carriage was gotten with no problem and with only a few questions for getting the axe. Brutus waited out front for Charlotte to arrive like the two days prior and then they both left.

Once again they moved into the grassy field and towards the watchtower. It was strangely more crumbled than the day before, as if it was being shaken at night. Charlotte ordered Brutus to carry her to the watchtower again and then to move the rocks that had gotten over the door. Then, Brutus swung the axe on the locks and broke them.

"Ready your sword and go down the stairs."

"Lady Charlotte, is there something I should be expecting?"

"This watchtower was make not only to keep watch over the forest, but to house a dangerous beast. You are going to kill the beast."

"Can you tell me what kind of beast it is?"

"It should be a large spider."

"Maybe you should wait here lady Charlotte."

"No, I am going to use my abilities to combat it alongside you."

"Then at least stay a few feet behind me."

"By alongside, I did mean in the rear."

Brutus and Charlotte descended stairs that appeared under the hidden door and went down about 30 feet. At the end of the path was a large wooden door with many holes in it reveling the inside of the next room. The next room was large and circular with many egg like pouches on the sides.

"Enter."

Charlotte told Brutus to go inside and he did with his sword drawn ready to attack, though he did not see any obvious enemies. From the ceiling, dust started to fall.

"It's over there!"

From a hole in the far wall three legs came out and shook the surrounding cave.

"Sleep! Paralyze! Fatigue! Slow!"

Charlotte was casting spells that inflicted negative status effects as Brutus ran up to the spider. More legs were slowly coming from the hole and they were each enormous. A single leg was bigger than Brutus.

"Don't injure the legs, that is all we want from this."

"Right!"

Brutus stepped back and waited for the body of the spider to come out from the hole. The body that did come out was a true abomination like those Charlotte made in her free time, but worse. The spider had 8 eyes that moved freely along it's abdomen and a large circular mouth on the bottom of it.

The spider attacked Brutus with it's legs, and did not seem to be slowed at all from Charlotte's spells. Brutus dodged the legs and tried to get close to the center, but every time he was able to get within arms reach 4 legs would come at him at the same time and push him away.

"Small pox, sailor's debut..."

Charlotte had run out of status effects and was now inflicting the monster spider with diseases. The spider slowed a little bit, and Brutus could see it's eyes start to fog over. The status effect from Blind cast earlier was starting to take effect.

The monster spider's movements became slower and Brutus was able to get a hit on it's body before being thrown out of the way. The spider continued to get slower while the diseases increased the effects from the debuffs and eventually stopped moving. Brutus walked over to it and cut it straight down the center with his sword.

"Okay... so now... take the.... legs up... the stairs and.... outside."

Charlotte was panting as she gave a command to Brutus. It took about 20 minutes to take the legs up the stairs and lay them outside. It was already afternoon by the time they had gotten them all up.

"Alright.. now we need a wolf from the forest. Bring back the whole body if you can."

"Alright, but will you be safe here?"

"I will be fine. I just need to brink a mana potion."

"Okay, I will be back as soon as I get one."

Brutus went into the forest that was nearby and a few minutes later came upon a wolf. Brutus hit the wolf with his fist and hurt it so that it could not move anymore, then strangled it to death. It took a few minutes to get back to the watchtower.

"I have your wolf."

"Good, now take out the brain without damaging the body too much."

Brutus stuck his sword into the back of the head of the wolf and made a hole where the brain should be, then stuck his hand in and pulled it out.

"Now lay the body down and remove the legs from it."

Brutus laid the wolf down and cut off the legs with his sword. The ground became stained red from the hole in the head and now the legs.

"Now we are going to attach the legs from the spider to the body of the wolf."

Brutus held the parts together while Charlotte used her dark magic on them to connect them. With 8 legs attached, Charlotte used her magic one more time and the beast came to life. It was a little taller than Brutus and walked around the tower easily.

"Lady Charlotte, what is the point to making these creatures?"

"I want to make an army, an army of demonic beast."

"How many of these can you control at a time?"

"Well, right now I think the most I can do is 6, but just last year that number was 5."

"What will we do with this when we have to go back to the manor? We can't just leave it here, and we can't take it back."

"That is right. It will live inside the watchtower. Go ahead and take some rocks from the watchtower and put them in the carriage like the other day, when we get to the manor I want you to make a figurine of my latest creation."

"That might take me a while."

"You have one week to make it."

Brutus took as much stone as he could from the watchtower and the wolf-spider moved inside the watchtower. The wolf-spider was visible from the outside, so it was not the best hiding spot, but would work if nobody came to investigate.

"Let's return to the manor now."

It was getting late now and they were finally returning to the manor. Brutus went to work on his gun parts and turned the stone he collected into heavy cubes. Because of his increased skill with transmutation, and Catalog Memory, the gun was finished that night. The bullets still needed to be made, and a holster, but that could wait till later.

After the nightly routine with Charlotte, Brutus dreamed of the wolf-spider standing next to him and doing nothing. It just stood there and Brutus could only look at it. This must be Charlotte trying to make him not forget what it looked like.

The gun was now finished and Brutus was able to get a holster made by Julie. A few days later, Brutus finished the wolf-spider figurine and gave it to Charlotte. Brutus also made some extra cartridges for the break action and had them all on his belt. Duplication Transmutation worked with making entire guns in a few seconds and bullets too. Brutus made an extra gun and bullet filled cartridge and placed it under the bed.

"What is that on your hip?"

"This thing? It is for cleaning my sword with."

"Oh, looks weird."

That was how most interactions with people went when questioned about the gun. From this, Brutus guessed he could have probably taken the gun with him from when he and Julie were first taken from the field.

During the next two weeks, Brutus and Charlotte returned to the watchtower and tried to teach the wolf-spider how to do things, but it never got past acting on Charlotte's command word for word. The wolf-spider showed signs of decomposition after a few days and by 5 days later was thoroughly decomposed.

6 days after making the wolf-spider demonic beast it was destroyed and Charlotte was looking at a map looking for dungeons.

"I could make a quest at the adventurer's guild for unique monster locations."

"I think it would be better to just request the whole monster be brought to the manor."

"We cannot do that. The demonic beast must be created away from the manor."

"How about we collect the monster parts at the guild and take them to the watchtower?"

"That would work, but we would have to go to the big city."

"How far away is the big city?"

"It's about 6 days ride."

"Lady Charlotte, would it be alright if Julie came with us?"

"The woman you brought with you? It would be alright if mother agrees to it."

"Then I will ask her. Thank you."

"You may leave then."

Brutus went to find Julie first before asking Arthur's wife Catherine Pender if it would be alright for Julie to come.

"Julie, I have good news."

"What is it Brutus?"

"How would you like to go to the big city?"

"The city? That would be great!"

"It's a 6 day trip one way, and it will be myself and Charlotte also going. I'm going to ask Catherine if you can come too, but I already have Charlotte's approval."

"Okay, go do that."

Brutus left the seamstress room and went to find Catherine. Brutus had to ask a maid where she was and was directed to the library. Brutus did not go in the library often and suspected that Charlotte did not know how to read. The library was on the second floor and inside of the dark hallways was Catherine looking for a book.

"Lady Catherine, I have already gotten approval from lady Charlotte, but would it be alright with you if Julie came with us to the city for a few days?"

"That would be fine."

"Thank you lady Catherine. I will begin preparing for the journey immediately."

Brutus left the library and went back to Julie's room.

"Catherine approved so pack your things, we are going to the city."

Julie got up from what she was doing and hugged Brutus.

"This is great, we might find some of our classmates."

"Julie, I made a second gun so I want you to carry it with you in case anything happens while we are away."

"Alright I will."

"Okay I have to leave now. I will get you when we leave which will probably be tomorrow or the next day."

Brutus left Julie and called Charlotte on the communication ring to tell her Julie was going to come to. Things were prepared that night for taking the carriage in the morning. Brutus took his second gun and made a duplicate, then gave it and 6 cartridges to Julie. Brutus wore his sword on his waist, his gun on his hip, and 20 cartridges for a total of 120 bullets on his belt. Then, the three prepared to leave for the city.