Monroe

Chapter One Hundred and Two. Straight outta Harbordeep.

Bob hurried down the boulevard, eager to be done with meeting the parents.

He was maybe forty-five minutes away from putting Harbordeep in his rearview.

The city was lovely, but the implacable hierarchy of tier was an oppressive weight that never lifted.

In Holmstead, he'd finally started to feel like he could just be. He didn't need to walk around with his head down or hunch his shoulders to make himself smaller or any of the other mannerisms he'd adopted as a child to keep himself safer.

Harbordeep brought all of that back.

No, Bob was happy to be leaving even if he had picked up over a dozen hitchhikers.

Nora's father was trailing behind him, and that was a situation he'd be just happy to stay out of, although he had a feeling that he would inevitably be pulled into it.

He was taking the man's teenage daughter on a two hundred-mile road trip to a frontier town.

Bob shook his head and reached up to give Monroe a chin rub.

Holmstead awaited him. Harv, Elli, Bailli, Kelli, Eddi, and even Thidwell.

He was going to sleep in his own bed at murmuring falls tonight.

"We'll be home soon, buddy," Bob whispered to Monroe, his words drowned out by the Maine-Coone's purr.

Turning down the street towards the harbor, Bob spotted a crowd of people seated at the cafe, his freshers prominent amongst them, as most wore armor and carried weapons.

As he walked up to the group, his freshers stood up and nodded to him, drawing their parents' attention to the target of their ire.

"Good morning," Bob said, "my name is Bob, and I've either been shepherding or," he glanced at four kids who weren't wearing armor or carrying weapons, "I've been asked to shepherd your children."

"Scheduling issues with my own personal progression have caused me to reevaluate my stay here in Harbordeep, so I've decided to return to my home," Bob raised his voice to carry over the mutters of the parents, "however, as I've committed to helping your children, I've offered to bring them with me, and return them once they have become fully capable Adventurers."

"I'm going to sit over there," Bob gestured towards an empty table away from the group, "and you can approach me, one at a time, to discuss whatever concerns you might have."

Bob sat down at the table and watched as Rogard approached a surprised-looking Nora.

One of the new freshers approached with his father in tow, and Bob slid Monroe onto the table, hoping that the floofer would put the parents at ease.

Nora was surprised to see her father.

She'd planned to see her family again after she'd become a proper Adventurer and proven that she was capable of taking care of herself.

"Nora," he exclaimed and moved to embrace her in a hug.

"Father," she replied, her voice muffled as she was pulled tightly against his chest.

"I've been worried about you," he said quietly, "you went rushing out and didn't come back, or even send a message letting us know you were alright."

"I'm fine," Nora replied, disengaging herself from her father's arms.

"Let me look at you," Rogard said, pulling back and holding her at arm's reach, inspecting her armor.

"You certainly do look the part of an Adventurer," he said with a sigh.

"That's because I am one," Nora said stiffly, "or I will be soon enough."

Rogard gestured towards a table, where they both sat.

"You could come home instead," Rogard said hopefully, "I know your grandfather can be a bit much, but I can tell you that there is a good reason for the Geas."

"My position on that hasn't changed," Nora responded, "I'm not going to accept it."

Her father grimaced and leaned forward, speaking quietly, "You do realize that with a common path, you'll have difficulty being accepted in our family's social circles?"

Nora shook her head.

"I'd rather live life as a commoner than perpetuate deceit and abuse of power," Nora growled before softening her expression and taking her father's hand.

"I love you, I do," she said earnestly, "but I can't be part of that."

"There has to be a middle ground," Rogard said, "you don't have to run off after him," he jerked his head towards Bob.

"I've made friends," Nora replied, "and we are going to be delving the Dungeon together once Bob feels confident that we can do so safely."

"Safe," her father scoffed, "there is no such thing as a safe delve into the Dungeon."

"True," Nora conceded, "but you can be as safe as possible if you follow the rules."

"What rules?" Rogard asked.

"So you promise you'll bring him back?"

Bob forced himself to keep his eyes open as he took a pair of slow, measured breaths, his hands buried in Monroe's ruff.

"I promise to shepherd him until he has reached level six, and I'm confident in his skills, at which point he may join the Adventurers Guild, or not, as he chooses," Bob said for what he hoped was the last time, "and I'll be opening a Portal back to Harbordeep every month until all of them have graduated, through which they can come home, or send mail."

Bob had been explaining himself for just over an hour, and he was tired of it. The kids were technically of age, as such things were calculated here, and he was an official Shepherd.

"Look," Bob said to the concerned father, "the only thing you have to worry about is the kid not wanting to have to pay his taxes again," Bob said with a smile, "he'll be fine."

With a nod, the man stood up and said, "Thank you for doing this for him," he went on in a rush, "we weren't going to be able to provide his crystals for another year, maybe two."

"We're the Adventurers Guild," Bob said, "happy to help."

Bob stood, bringing Monroe up from the table and onto his Makres.

"Alright," Bob said loudly, drawing the attention of the crowd, which had diminished over the past hour as parents had said tearful goodbyes, "I have a member of the Church coming with me, and I daresay he's likely getting impatient, so let's get moving!"

Bob had been pleased to see Rogard departing earlier, a thoughtful rather than angry look on his face. Hopefully, Nora accompanying him wasn't going to come back to bite Bob on the ass.

Bob started moving up the street towards the boulevard, where he turned to head down to the gates, taking the opportunity to check that his freshers were following him.

Fourteen freshers were trailing him, two groups of four and a group of six.

Bob continued towards the outer wall of the city, eager to make it to the teleport beacon before lunch, where he expected Erick to be waiting.

He was awfully tempted to open a portal outside of the gates and then another to the teleport beacon, but he was determined to leave Harbordeep in good order. He might want or need to come back someday.

Exiting the city wasn't as simple as entering it, as he had to show the guards on duty his Adventurers Guild tag, and his Shepherds pin, explaining that he was taking the freshers with him.

Still, Bob couldn't help but smile as he walked up the winding trail to the courtyard. He was officially outside of Harbordeep and headed home.

He'd plotted his route home over the past few days, portaling via line of sight over three hundred times to reach a rocky outcropping that overlooked Holmstead.

Bob hadn't gone down because he didn't want to have to leave again.

It was going to take a dozen ritual portals to reach Holmstead, but he had the route and the crystals. He expected it would take a couple of hours to make it there.

He had everything planned out - he'd get the kids settled into rooms, say hello to his friends, and then go home.

A nice hot bath, watch the sunset over the murmuring falls and leave the rest for the morning.

Bob let his mind drift as he walked until he rounded the corner and spotted Erick standing in the courtyard.

"Erick!" Bob called, waving his hand.

Erick looked up from the book he was reading, snapping it closed and stuffing it in his satchel as he strode over to meet Bob.

"You're running a bit late," Erick said.

"The meeting with the parents ran a little long," Bob replied with a shrug, "I'm guessing you're ready to go?"

Erick nodded, glancing behind Bob to inspect the freshers.

"Excellent," Bob said with a smile as he turned and stepped back so he could address both Erick and the freshers.

"Alright, I'm going to be opening a portal in a few minutes. It won't stay open for long, so follow me through it quickly if you don't want to be left behind," Bob said loudly.

Seeing nods all around, Bob turned and walked over to the far edge of the courtyard.

He quickly sketched a ritual circle on the ground before seating himself and pulling out a fistful of mana crystals.

Mentally projecting the pattern for a portal spell, Bob then wrapped the portal spell in the pattern for ritual magic, visualizing his destination and then letting the mana for the pattern flow through the mana crystals, draining them.

He watched as the Portal formed in front of him, twisting and unfolding into an archway made of shifting black-blue light.

He'd gone for the full effect, and the Gateway was twenty-two feet wide.

"Move," Bob barked as he rushed into the portal.

This was the key moment where his plan might fail. The portal would only stay open for just under three minutes, and while the kids were right behind him, he had four newbies that he hadn't even shepherded yet. They might hesitate.

He strode across the meadow he'd chosen for his first destination, making room for the kids who were following behind him.

Erick was the first through the portal, a mere second after Bob, and the kids poured through after him, looking around in wonder at the mountain meadow they'd arrived in.

Bob confirmed they were all there and shouted, "Good, you all made it through the portal in time - just keep doing exactly what you just did, and I'll have us at our destination in another eleven jumps!"

He began to cast another ritual.

Nora's head was spinning as she ran through another portal, supposedly the last.

She'd seen snow-covered meadows, windswept mountain ledges, quiet evergreen woods, and now she was looking down onto a huge valley.

It was a patchwork of fields, farms, and houses, a river snaking its way through the valley, running through the walled town that stood slightly back from the center of the valley.

"Here we are," she heard Bob say, "Holmstead."

"We'll be walking from here," Bob said, "it's just a couple of hours to town, and then we'll get you squared away into lodging at the Guild."

Nora had to watch her footing as she followed their shepherd down the ridge and through the woods.

There wasn't really a path, and she'd nearly tripped on roots and stones concealed under the snow.

"Isn't this exciting?" Wayna said, "I've never been outside of Harbordeep before."

"Bob sure picked some nice places to portal to," Orson agreed, "those views, especially from the mountains..."

"I'm just trying to come to terms with the twelve hundred mana crystals he just spent to get us here," Nora said.

"He probably could have just done a bunch of little jumps to get here by himself with using ritual magic," Charn agreed.

"That's exactly how he scouted out the destinations to portal to," Erick said from behind them, causing Nora to jump and nearly trip.

"He told me it took him about three hundred portals and the better part of half a day to map it," he continued, "and honestly, it was only possible because he can fly, so he could just portal around at a high enough altitude to keep his bearings."

"Is that common?" Nora asked.

"For dimensionalists? I believe so," Erick said, "opening portals for groups of people to bring goods to and from Harbordeep is a profitable occupation, so the dimensionalists keep their routes up to date."

"I didn't know he could fly," Wayna said.

"Neither did I," Erick admitted, "but to be fair, I don't actually know Bob very well."

"Aren't you from Holmstead, though?" Nora pressed.

"Born and raised here," Erick said with a note of pride, "and while I never knew Bob, apparently my fiance is good friends with him."

"Bob seems to really miss it," she said quietly.

They emerged from the woods and onto a road, that while still covered with snow, at least didn't hold a plethora of hidden rocks and roots.

Bob called for a stop as he looked down the road as it gently descended a series of hills.

He turned to face them, and Nora was surprised at the merry smile on his face.

He cast a spell, likely summoning, she thought, and a long flat platform appeared on the ground.

It was ten feet long, three feet wide, and the front end curled up.

"This," Bob said, as he summoned a second one next to the first, "is a toboggan."

Bob grinned as Monroe nuzzled his cheek, the big cat uncharacteristically pleased by this activity.

Then again, Bob reflected, Monroe liked snow.

Bob was riding the last of the three toboggans he had summoned, locking them down with persistent effect.

He was using a control water spell cast as an area of effect to keep the snow under the sleds smooth as they raced down the hills towards Holmstead.

There had been some initial trepidation from the freshers, but soon they were laughing and yelling like the kids they were.

He'd played around and managed to keep the snow smooth while making it either more or less granular, which allowed him to control the speed of their descent.

The kids were having a blast, and Bob was certain he'd heard Erick's laughter as well.

As the hills started to ease, Bob started using his control water spell to keep them moving at speed until finally, the land flattened out completely about a quarter of a mile from town, and he brought the toboggan convoy to a halt and released his persistent effects.

"That was amazing," Wayna yelled as she stood up from where the toboggan had disappeared.

Numerous affirmations and assertions of agreement followed, and Bob gave them a minute before walking to the front of the group.

"I'm glad everyone enjoyed the ride," he called loudly, "and I can assure you that a hot and tasty meal and a warm bath is only ten minutes down the road!"

Bob started walking towards the town, a smile playing across his face, as he considered everything that had happened between now and when he'd first staggered into sight of Holmstead.

He didn't know exactly when it had happened, but at some point, Holmstead had become his home.

And he was glad to be back.