In hindsight… Maybelle showing up might've been a blessing.
Not in the "fated encounter that changes the hero's path" kind of way, but in a much simpler way.
Why?
Because the girls and I lived in what could generously be called a shack.
A rickety wooden box in the woods that hadn't collapsed yet.
It was good, in a DIY, made-by-children sort of way, but I wanted it to be structurally sound and safe.
And now that everything was stuffed with ingredients, the house was… unusable.
Maybelle Sweet was a craftswoman. A handywoman. Mason, carpenter, and builder. Exactly what I needed.
And she owed the girls her life.
Which meant I could ask her to build a storage shed next to the house. Or, better yet, an actual house. A real one. With thick walls and a roof that didn't leak.
But then came the catch.
I had no money.
Zero. Not a coin. I was just a boy after all. When would I have had the time to make myself rich?
I couldn't ask my father, and anyway, I didn't even know how rich the Lightbanes actually were. Even though we were lower nobles, we still were nobles, so we had to have a chunk of change.
But in any case, I couldn't access it.
Maybe Shadowboon could help?
Surely the lord of all things dark could cough up a little money.
Or…
I looked around at the mountains of ingredients piled to the ceiling.
I had enough alchemical materials to stock a dozen shops.
Maybe Maybelle would take some as payment.
But I had no idea what any of this stuff was worth. I wasn't an alchemist. I hadn't looked into it at all.
Then I heard voices drifting down the path.
The girls.
The forest rustled as they stepped into view, and the moment I saw what they were carrying, I sighed.
Each girl held armfuls - satchels, crates, and even barrels - of even more ingredients. Bundles of herbs.
Oh, why not? We already had this much, so why not more?
Elizabeth spotted me first and brightened. "Father! We found more! We got twice what we planned!"
Catherine, ever calm, added, "Juliet insisted we bring all the rest."
"We should be sure that Father has everything he needs," Juliet said.
Maybelle, still sitting by the faintly burning campfire, stared as the three girls marched up the path.
The girls froze when they saw her.
"…Miss Sweet?" Elizabeth blinked.
The woman stood, smiling warmly. "Hello."
Elizabeth's eyes sparkled. "Did you come all the way here!? At night!?"
"Yes," Maybelle said. "I wanted to see you."
Maybelle opened her crate. "I brought a few things all young girls need. Nothing fancy. And some food, too."
The girls peeked inside.
Catherine bowed gracefully. "Thank you. You didn't have to do this."
"I wanted to," Maybelle replied simply. "Besides, I owed you."
Elizabeth smiled - wide and genuine - and before I could stop her, she stepped forward and hugged Maybelle around the waist.
"Thank you," she said fiercely.
"Anytime," Maybelle said.
Maybelle froze for half a heartbeat, then rested a hand on Elizabeth's head.
I stepped forward, clearing my throat, trying to look composed in my massive paladin armor.
The effect was immediate.
All three girls stiffened.
They thought they were in trouble. They were, in a way.
I looked at the mountain of supplies they'd brought. Then at the house. Then at Maybelle.
"Girls, we'll talk later," I said. "For now, we'll put all of this inside."
The girls moved at once, as if grateful for a task. They began sorting, stacking, and whispering to each other as they carried their haul past us and into the already-full house.
I watched them go, then turned back to Maybelle.
"Walk with me," I said.
She followed without question, and we moved a short distance away from the fire, far enough that the girls' voices faded into background noise.
I cast a soft light spell to guide us while we walked.
I took a closer look at her. She had tough skin, a tan, and calloused hands.
In my old world, she'd have been a construction worker. Here, she was a gender-bent version of the stereotype.
I could imagine her - a middle-aged, kind of chubby, already balding man working as a construction worker.
That kind of sounded mean.
Not to say that she was ugly or that those construction workers were.
Maybelle had a charm to her, one that many pleasant middle-aged men had - one that, even though their lives weren't exactly at the point they expected, they still lived a good life.
My thoughts were going far off the point, so I refocused on the matter at hand.
"Alright," she said. "You didn't bring me out here for small talk."
"No," I admitted. "I didn't."
She folded her arms, waiting. She wasn't here for any nonsense.
"I need help," I said. "With this place."
Her gaze drifted toward the house. One look told her everything.
"…That's not much of a house," she tried to say politely.
I didn't try to sugarcoat it either. "Never was to begin with."
She hummed. "You want repairs?"
"More than that," I paused. "I want something new. Storage, at the very least. Preferably a proper house. Thick walls. Space. Somewhere safe."
Her eyebrows lifted - not in disbelief, but interest. "That's a big job."
"I know."
She studied me for a long moment, eyes sharp but not unkind. Then she glanced back toward the girls.
"…They did save my life," Maybelle said, putting a hand on her chin.
I waited. I prayed for the good graces of a stranger.
She exhaled. "Alright. Here's how I see it. I won't work for free," she said. "But I'll work cheap. And I'll take part of the payment in materials, if you're willing. Some of what they're gathering? I can trade that in Endil."
"You'd do that?"
She snorted. "I'm not stupid. I can see that the girls think all this is worth something because you do, and if a man like you does, then it must be worth something. Seeing how much there was, you must be sitting on a fortune."
"That solves one problem," I said slowly.
"And creates another," she replied. "Because once you build something real out here, people will notice."
"I know," I said again.
She searched my face - or rather, my helmet. "You're hiding," she said. Not accusing. Just stating a fact.
"Yes. Until the world is ready."
She nodded.
"Thank you," I said.
She shrugged.
We walked back to the house.
The girls were still working.
Juliet had taken charge of organizing the organizing. Telling the others where to put things.
It looked… good.
When they noticed me, all three stiffened again.
They were waiting for a scolding.
"Relax, girls," I said, lifting a hand. "If I were angry, you'd know."
That reassured them.
Maybelle stepped past me, hands on her hips as she took in the interior properly this time. She whistled low.
"I've seen storehouses with less in them," she said. "And barns."
"We were thorough!" Elizabeth said.
"I can tell," Maybelle said dryly, then smiled at her. "You girls don't do things halfway, do you?"
I cleared my throat. "Speaking of not doing things halfway, there's something I want to discuss."
That got their full attention.
"You're going to help Maybelle," I continued. "In the near future, we're going to build something better than this. A real house and proper storage."
Catherine clasped her hands. "Can we design it?"
"No. I'd hoped that Maybelle would take that into her own hands. As a professional, I trust her. I would, but I am very busy."
Catherine looked to Maybelle. "You would build it?"
Maybelle nodded. "With your help. It should be easy. You're as strong as ten women."
Then I raised a finger. "But before that, I have an errand for you. An urgent one."
They quieted instantly.
"Maybelle, do you know of the plague that has roamed Astar these past few weeks?"
"I've heard."
"Well, you may not know the full truth of it, but I've been working on a cure," I continued. "And I have it now."
That got everyone's attention.
"You… you're done?" the girls asked.
"Yes," I said. "But still, time matters."
I didn't wait for questions.
I turned sharply and strode into the house, armor clanking far more dramatically than necessary. I grabbed a handful of ingredients at random, poured them together in a vial, and shook the contents.
It was pure theater.
Then I went back outside.
"You three," I said. "Run. As fast as the wind. Get this into the waters of Astar and let it spread wide and free. Don't fail."
Elizabeth swallowed. "We won't."
Juliet nodded, eyes sharp. "Understood."
Catherine closed her fingers around the bottle. "We'll be back before you know it."
"I'm counting on you," I said.
They didn't waste another second.
The three of them took off faster than I had ever seen them before.
Maybelle watched them go, then slowly looked at me.
"…Wow," she said.
"I know," I replied.