I Wanted A Typical Fantasy Isekai, Not This!-Chapter 76: A Couple Loose Ends…

After the commotion had died down, James sat in the dining room with what he considered the main crew.

His sisters, servants, Susan and even Jaida tried to iron out the details to his earlier announcement with the treasurer and a few scribes.

Madeline was downcast and rubbed her temples as they tried to calculate the cost.

There were too many factors to consider, just the amount of different combats skills one could learn was immense.

Of course, James knew some women would try to take advantage of that and try to learn a bunch of level one skills that didn’t pertain to their class. He didn’t really care about that though; he would’ve done the same in their position.

The only person who seemed to agree with James’s form of motivation was Susan.

She leaned back in her chair and caught James’s attention. freewёbnoνel.com

"I haven’t ever seen my girls that fired up before." Susan chuckled a little and continued, "If you wanted a stronger army James, you’re damn well gonna get one."

James nodded and grinned back.

"That’s all I want from them."

His sister Clara piped up then.

"But brother.. with all the duchies alerted to the threat of the witch cult.. isn’t it pointless to do this? It’s not like they are going to attack so brazenly like last time."

James shook his head and looked around the room, everyone had turned to him wanting to know why he had taken such a drastic step.

"We can’t assume that the cult will behave rationally. If they attacked one of the duchies now it would be stupid of course, but their attack on the palace was idiotic in itself. Auntie is so strong she could’ve killed all of the cultists by herself, yet they still attacked. They obviously have a goal and don’t care about sacrificing themselves for it, to me, that makes them way more dangerous."

The women all took in his words and nodded. His reasoning wasn’t perfect, but it made entirely too much sense to ignore.

Then Madeleine murmured, "But if they don’t attack.. we will have wasted so much gold...."

James shook his head at this.

"Not at all, dear sister. Eventually I’m going to take the army on an expedition to kill every single last one of them. It may not be next year or the year after, but I will destroy them."

The ice in his voice turned the mood serious. Emily and Veronica set their jaws, like James, they lost someone precious to the cult.

They worked into the dead of night trying to put a plan in place so that the Cromwell ducal soldiers had a set of written instructions.

While what James had declared during his speech was implemented in this ’incentive program’, there were quite a few stipulations that Madeline demanded be added.

Their mother must’ve given her PTSD about wasting gold because how adamantly she argued to be a penny pincher.

’Well.. in this world it would be a copper pincher...’

When James retired to bed that night, he felt a bit more certain about the future.

Ever since he lost Justine, then found out she was actually alive according to his character sheet and all the other crazy shit that had happened recently, it all piled up and was starting to take its toll.

He was excited about being a father, it was something he always dreamed of back on earth, but that wasn’t enough dispel his unease about the shakily peaceful life he managed keep so far.

But with the declaration he made today, he actually felt like he took gate into his own hands for once, not letting it pull and push him as it wished.

James wasn’t too concerned about the money that was going to be lost on this venture, he’d seen the ledgers. And he’d seen the zeros and zeros and zeros with multiple commas. Filthy rich was the understatement of the century when describing his family.

Madeline had actually started to use the family wealth to give back to the people.

In their family’s duchy, every city was booming in their economy too. The craftswomen his sister hired breathed life into an already bustling flow of coin.

Orphanages, adventure guild renovations and even new drama theaters were being built.

Public opinion of his family exploded in popularity recently thanks to his sister’s efforts.

The only real reason she was upset at spending so much was because she had just recently increased the salary of every civil servant in their territory.

After working so hard to stop the unnecessary money loss their mother had left them, she was reluctant to increase expenditures again.

The next morning came too fast, and James woke early. After breakfast, he found a wide-eyed Galea waiting for him in a newly built smithy.

In her hands was a contract that shook with trembling fingers.

"T-this is t-too much.."

James laughed and asked, "What do you think? I had them rush, but I think it turned out okay. It was originally a horse stable before I refurbished it."

Galea looked around the clean forge with eager eyes. She didn’t say anything in response and just walked around, fondling the new equipment. She rubbed her face on an anvil and looked at him with a happy expression.

"I take it you accept?"

Galea nodded and James pumped his fist.

One of the letters he had written was to Galea. He wanted her close just in case something happened so his family could protect her. His other reason was that she was just an excellent smith, and he wanted a rush order on a new weapon now that he had money to play with.

Well, his family’s money to play with.

He asked Galea to surprise him after telling her what kind of weapon he wanted. She asked what a few of his stats were and nodded before dashing off to the treasurer.

As James’s personal smith, she had access to his family’s money as well in order to buy any material James approved of.

He had less than a week until the academy started and so many more things to do.

James squared his shoulders and trudged on.

His walk ended at the barracks, in front of him he knocked on the door to the vice-commander’s room.

Hard thumping came from inside and James looked around a little, not wanting anyone to think he was a pervert. The thumping reminded him very much of a headboard rocking off a wall when two people did the bed sheet battle.

Eventually, the noise stopped, and the door opened to reveal a very sweaty black-haired woman.

James realized he had misunderstood immediately when he a giant wolf in the corner of her room. That same thumping noise came back as the grey wolf wagged its tail.

It had a bone in its mouth and watched him with curious eyes.

Vice-captain Smith broke his train of thought with a question.

"Good morning Prince James, to what do I owe the pleasure of your company today?"

Her face reddened as he looked her up and down. Ever since he came to this world, his normal behavior turned delinquent, and he openly ogled every woman he saw.

He smiled and looked at her warmly.

"Just call me James, Vice-Captain Smith. I actually had a question about a skill called [Animal Companion]."

She didn’t seem to expect this and froze for a moment before nodding happily.

"Oh okay! I’m just the person to ask if you want to know about it. Also, just call me Vanessa."

James nodded and she welcomed him inside.

"So, James, what do you want to know about the skill in particular? Are you looking to learn it eventually?"

James smiled a little and mentally sent her the description to [Skill Thief].

Vanessa blushed bright red then.

"Oh.. so, you must’ve already learned it then... when we.. you know..."

James saved her from the embarrassment and broke in.

"Yeah, that’s the skill I received randomly. I’ve read the description, but it doesn’t really tell me much on how to bond with an animal or even which ones are able to be bonded with."

James brought up his character sheet and looked at the skill while he talked.

[Skill: Animal Companion (Not Bonded)]

Description: Allows you to form a pact with an animal and bond with it.

The simple description pissed him off every time he looked at it.

Vanessa nodded at his words and explained.

"I suppose it might be a little difficult to understand for those that aren’t a [Beast Master] like me. I have other skills that complement [Animal Companion] and helped me to figure out that Sili over there was right for me."

The wolf after hearing its name, walked over and nuzzled into Vanessa.

James contemplated and responded, "So how would I know what would be right for me? And what am I limited too? I don’t think I could bond a goblin, could I? But I feel like I could probably bond a bear. What’s the limitation, hypothetically, if I managed to get close to a dragon, could I bond it?"

She seemed surprised at how much thought he had put into this already.

"Well, let me start off by saying no, you cannot bond a goblin. A good rule of thumb would be that anything humanoid wouldn’t be able to be bonded. The name of the skill might be a little misleading, while goblins are considered animals by most, the proper classification is monster. There is a whole separate skill for monster bonding, but that’s another topic I’d rather not get into. People debate whether it’s ethical to bond with sentient creatures like that."

James nodded a little and tried to work through his understanding out loud, tapping his chin with his forefinger as he did so.

"Okay, so the animal has to be actually classified as an animal in a bestiary or something and I assume I need some sort of compatibility with that animal. Though, that monster skill just sounds like an oathbinding with extra steps."

Vanessa nodded and clapped a little.

"Correct! On both accounts actually, as a [Beast Master] I have certain skills that make it easier to bond with Sili because she’s a wolf. Other people with my class are all randomly given a couple starting skills that determine the path they walk as a [Beast Master]. For you James, you don’t have any supplementary skills to help one way or the other."

James frowned a little and raised his eyebrow.

"So, you’re basically telling me that whatever I choose is going to be a pain in ass? Just great... anyway, how do I go about bonding an animal?"

Vanessa explained to him the details about initiating a bonding ritual and James left somewhat more competent than he arrived.

He had spent a lot of time with Venessa, going over many intricacies pertaining to the skill.

James set his shoulders once more and headed back to the castle.

The sun was starting to drift behind the walls of the estate by the time James knocked on another door.

A mature woman with blue hair answered promptly and invited him in.

James felt only a little guilt in his heart as he stared at the backside walking towards a chair.

Jaida asked the magic question when she sat down.

"What brings you here so late, James? I can gather the maids if you want to talk again.."

She had a faint blush as she remembered how the last talk ended.

James shook his head and walked up to her.

"I’d like to fulfill the quota with you right now, if that’s okay."

Her expression reminded him so much of Justine that it made his heart clench.

"Well... if you’re alright with an old woman like me... then who am I to say no."

Like daughter, like mother.

Jaida started stripping without another word and James did the same.