59 – Exhaustion

‘Monday’ greeted the manor with more rain. Not that it was called that here, usually referred to simply as First-day. If I remembered correctly, this marked the beginning of my eleventh day in this world. Well, the eleventh full day, not counting noon to evening of the day I actually woke up on.

Meaning tomorrow would be the two-week anniversary of my reincarnation. Kind of crazy how much has happened in that time, huh.

Confronting the demon hunters had been in only the first three days, with a more peaceful time since then. Time I was very thankful for. It gave me the chance to improve myself and my power base so the next crisis maybe didn’t leave me quite so helpless.

Though there was no way I’d be fully prepared for whatever came next. This world simply held too many potential dangers, some of them far out of my league. Maybe I could count myself in the upper echelons of power eventually, but that required I lived that long first.

For now, all I could do was my best. I was already pursuing different avenues to power, in physical prowess and magical might. My main lacking point was probably political, unfortunately.

Personal power, unless it was truly unreasonable, could only go so far. Even if I was as dangerous as someone of Anaster’s caliber, that didn’t help me if several people on that level worked together to take me down.

It was basically guaranteed I’d gather many enemies if knowledge of my true nature spread. Humans weren’t very fond of things that were different from or threatened them, which a blood-sucking creature definitely fell into. Once again, I had the mental image of the mighty, dreadful vampire lord taken down by a party of heroes.

Much as I disliked it, some amount of political influence was necessary to avoid being left alone against multiple enemies. At the very least having allies of my own would reduce the risks. And proper maneuvering could delay or maybe even prevent such enemy coalitions forming in the first place.

Realistically, it was only a matter of time until my nature became known. There was just too much varied magic in this world for me to believe I was immune to detection. That was leaving aside the possibility of me or someone else in the know slipping up.

Until then, stabilizing my position was my first priority.

Maybe, just maybe, the upcoming family visit could be helpful to me. More likely it would dump a whole new slew of problems into my lap. But a little bit of optimism helped me stay sane. ‘Hope for the best, prepare for the worst’ was a good saying, in my opinion.

The day went by without much of note happening. It was still raining, though the wind had mostly died down. People avoided going outside where possible all the same.

Even so, Mia had a message relayed to the town’s tailor by the shift-changing guards. Said person braved the inclement weather to pay the manor a visit within a few hours, in the early afternoon.

I had finished morning training alongside another crew of guards a while ago, with more than enough time to freshen up.

Greeting me where I sat in my slightly less comfortable plush chair in the meeting room was an older woman with a – somehow barely ruffled – bun of gray hair. Her clothes were plain, but clearly well made. Even with how her thick coat was completely soaked, she didn’t shiver visibly.

Said cloak was a pleasant, deep green. It reminded me in hue of the needles borne by the local trees. I’d always been a fan of green in my previous life, though its position as my favorite color had been clearly supplanted by red now.

A wheat-yellow top – I’d classify it as a mix between a long-sleeved shirt and a sweater – and pants the same shade as the cloak worked well together. The last piece tying her outfit together was a nice, red shawl. I might be a bit biased on that color.

“I humbly greet you, Lord Steelheart. I heard you requested my services, so I arrived with all possible haste.” The tailor bowed deeply, seemingly unbothered by her advanced age.

“Well met,” I replied with an acknowledging nod. “You may rise. Tell me, what is your name?”

“Miriam, your lordship.” Miriam gave another, shallower bow.

Over the following hour, I discussed what I needed – long, skin-covering clothes, ideally dark and good at blocking out light – and was measured with thin strips of cloth tied to various parts of my body.

Miriam was courteous and professional, though I hadn’t expected anything else. My reputation in the manor might be rising, but the town was mostly isolated from the goings-on.

She had brought a selection of fabric pieces in various colors to demonstrate. Different shades of green, ranging from the dark pine to lighter grassy hues. Yellows, beige and brown, though Kalin would never have worn the latter. A dark red was present too, to my slight surprise.

Wasn’t red a rare color in medieval times on Earth? Or was that purple? My recollection of historical fashion was admittedly limited.

When I asked, Miriam happily started explaining where each color came from. It turned out my assumption on the pine green was correct, it was indeed derived from the tree needles. These trees really are full of useful resources, huh? As could be expected, local hunters loved the color for how well it blended into the forest.

Other greens were mostly various herbs. Yellow was generally derived from flowers that bloomed in spring, with different shades achieved by how much dye was used. The patch of cloth she showed me for reference was a deep, daisy-like yellow.

Red was won from a type of root vegetable. The description reminded me a lot of beets, now that I thought about it. This same color was also used to create a kind of pink by barely dyeing the cloth. Apparently, the association of pink with girls common on Earth wasn’t a thing here.

A proper, bright scarlet was expensive though, since the roots had a darker color. Miriam assured me she could get access to some if I wanted it, but it would take time since she would have to arrange a delivery by a traveling merchant. Same thing for purple, which was even more expensive.

There was a form of blue available locally, made from crushed berries, but it was so dark it was closer to black. Thinning it made it a bit more obviously blue, but it wasn’t very strong then.

According to my memories, the Steelheart family preferred something really expensive for their colors. Instead of dyes, they often had metal thread woven into their clothes. Usually silver, of course. Pretty obvious favorite color there.

I had no need for anything so fancy. In the end, I ordered multiple sets of clothes. Everything from normal pants and shirts to warmer, more sweater-like garments and several cloaks. The colors I wanted were varied. Some brighter, flashier, fancy pieces for when I had to socialize, but lots of dark variants too.

Predictably, I ordered quite a few red clothes. The darker shade on the patch Miriam showed me as an example reminded me of blood. What a surprise, but that color feels good to look at. Who could have guessed? The rest of what I was designating my ‘outdoor clothes’ was dark greens and a few browns.

Camouflage colors, basically. Not that I expected to blend in particularly well in the forest, but better then standing out even more. And if I met people while out and about, these hues were much less conspicuous. My face would undermine any disguise I might attempt, but a passing glance with my hood drawn would at least not immediately scream ‘noble’.

Due to the size of my order, it would take a while to complete. Miriam assured me she would work with several seamstresses in town to hurry the fulfillment, but it might still take several weeks for everything.

Since I didn’t want to wait that long, we agreed the tailor would deliver the clothes in batches when they were ready. No need to wait for everything to be done at once, after all.

All together, this new wardrobe was decently expensive. For a commoner that is. I hadn’t asked for any of the really pricey colors, nor materials like fine silk. It added up to quite a bit of silver, but… that was still just silver.

I was, comparatively, extremely rich. My family stipend was more than enough to pay all my manor expenses, with some left over to buy luxuries like Kalin had done over the years. Adding in the ‘small’ bit of gold Anaster tossed into my lap, it would take a while to exhaust my finances.

Not that I wanted to waste any. While it might appear like a lot of money, if the family cut me off for any reason, my income would tank hard. Tax income from the town wasn’t nothing, but also less than the ‘meager’ stipend.

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Most importantly, if I wanted to build up my power, I would need a lot of money.

Weapons and armor were expensive here, owed to the lack of any nearby metal deposits. So expanding my armed forces would cost a pretty penny. Not to mention salaries adding up.

Anything magical was inordinately expensive. Again partially due to my remote location, but even in the capital my wallet would strain real quick if I tried to buy any decent resources.

Anaster was right, the mana well is amazing for my progress. Without it, everything would be so much worse.

I could somewhat avoid the issue of refilling my mana by drinking blood, but that was also a limited – if renewable – resource. Needless to say, without the mana well, my progress at learning magic would almost grind to a halt.

Paying Lars’ salary would get expensive quickly too. Luckily, he was still officially employed by the duke, so that wasn’t my problem. It created some other issues, like uncertainty about the knight’s loyalty to me, but at least I didn’t have to pay him.

More problematic would be if I ever wanted to hire more knights – or worse, create my own. Again, the mana well and accompanying mana-rich fruit were useful, but from what little I knew, knights tended to need more investment than a bit of mana. Speeding up their progression beyond a snail’s crawl needed various elixirs, beast parts and who knew what else.

Sort of like my own future as a mage, now that I think about it. That’s a sobering thought.

All these considerations went through my head as I instructed Mia to pay Miriam several silver as an advance, with the rest on delivery.

When the woman had left, I relaxed my posture, melting into the upholstery. I’m tired.

I paused. That was unusual. Sure, I’d been mentally wrung out after the whole demon hunter thing, but this was different. If I remembered correctly, I closed my eyes a bit back then and meditated. Right now, I was actually considering going to sleep.