Chapter 94 A Loss They Should Take

  “Well…” Queen Eris began with a sigh. She squared her shoulders and centered herself and prepared for what was to come.

  “No.” King Edwin stated in no uncertain terms. “Without adequate confirmation that you are a demigod, or a nation under your control, no one receives a direct gift from the crown on birthdays or holidays.”

  “Adequate confirmation?” Isaac asked the king. If Isaac didn’t know already that king Edwin was prone to making every singular word he spoke count, then he would have thought that the king was just being rude to him for no reason, well, no reason other than him making a request for one of the crown’s private magic items.

  “A cleric or demigod must confirm that you are, in fact, a divine being.” Queen Eris explained. “I am sor-”

  King Edwin cut her off: “The laws of this nation shall never change courtesy of one man.” Said the man who would one day change the laws specifically for one man and one woman.

  Isaac let out a defeated sigh. “It was worth a shot.” He conceded. “Though one day you will get your proof.”

  “And when that day comes, I will give you mine as an apo-.” Queen Eris told him only to get cut off by her husband once again.

  “A token of appreciation for your continued support.” King Edwin finished for her.

  ‘Right, royals can’t apologize.’ Isaac thought to himself. For a moment he had just thought that The King was bullying his queen but then he remembered the entry in The List of Kingly Conduct. It was a book that Isaac had read over once in an attempt to be better at acting the part as The Lord of All that is Dark. Most of it was full of things like table manners and the right balance of bored and attentive that his look should have based on who was talking and about what. Isaac ignored most of it but the passage about apologizing was something that he had remembered. “I see.” Isaac replied. “Then I shall look forward to that day.”

  The Queen nodded once, symbolizing the closing of the topic. “And when might the Lady’s yearly celebration be?” She asked Lenna.

  “The ninth day of Thiokeekalo.” Lenna stated with a nod. It took Isaac a moment to actually process what she had said. He knew that the months were all named something, it was just that so few people used their proper names that Isaac had forgotten that they had them. He knew that Lenna’s birthday was in the second month of summer, and that was good enough for him, but actually hearing the proper name of the month had surprised him.

  “That is an amazing time of year.” The Queen complimented her birthday. “The hottest day of the year, or at least it has the potential to be.”

  “Yes, Your Majesty.” Lenna confirmed with a nod.

  When Lenna did not elaborate, and thus their conversation had settled into a lul, The Queen made one more attempt at conversation. “Will you be staying long, or do you have another adventure to be about?” She asked both Isaac and Lenna.

  “We’ll be staying for another two weeks or so before returning to Safeharbor.” Isaac explained. “We have armor that needs to be repaired and an auction to go to but then we will have concluded our current business in Altesia. I doubt our armor will be repaired in time but that is why we pay couriers.”

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  “The Guild Auction?” The Queen requested clarification.

  “Yes.” Isaac confirmed. “We are specifically looking for a less cumbersome sword for Lenna and a protection item like what was mentioned. I am sure that there will be plenty of other interesting items there, and we may leave with a few of them, but those will be entirely impulse purchases.”

  “Is there an amount that you would like to spend at the auction, like say, ten million gold?” The Queen asked a very pointed question. Apparently she was aware that multiple nobles had paid in advance for the drider silk protection that the duo had given the royals, and she also apparently wanted that money back in circulation in Altia and not spent in some foreign kingdom.

  “Not particularly.” Isaac denied. “My budget is actually six million gold. I need to ensure that I have enough when the time comes to order an entire set of legendary armaments and not feel like my account is running low.”

  “Well, we wish you luck at the auction.” Queen Eris told them. They had finished their food already and it was time for the royals to get back to work and Isaac and Lenna to leave the royal castle. So, with that, The Queen dismissed them. After their bows and pleasantries, Isaac and Lenna were led outside to where a carriage was already waiting for them.

  “That could have gone better.” Isaac commented once he and Lenna were seated in the carriage and on their way back to the inn they were staying at.

  “You were hoping for that item and a promise that they were going to pull out of Ben’s End?” Lenna requested clarification.

  “Yes.” Isaac confirmed. “As it stands, it looks like they will be pulling out of Outpost Charles, though I’m not sure what that timetable will look like.” He confessed. “I doubt it will be as quickly as I am hoping.”

  “What if the raids stop?” Lenna wondered. “Do you think they will try to reclaim Outpost Charles?”

  “Definitely.” Isaac said with a frown. “Probably just in time for the raids to start again.” He grumbled. “If they are smart, then they will just take the loss of the outpost that was always a liability anyway.”

  “They might see the risk as worth it for political reasons.” Lenna countered. “It will look bad if they just take a loss without it really mattering. If the raids keep up then at least it will look like they just made the call that would save the most lives, but if they stop, then they will just look like they lost to the Empire.”

  “It is a loss they should take regardless.” Isaac countered. “We won for them already, no less than twice in fact, they can take a loss if it means that less people are dying from each other. Isn’t that what monsters are for?”

  “We have fought a lot of people, Isaac, or at least those who were once people.” Lenna reminded him. “Is that weighing on you?”

  Isaac sighed and ran his hand down his face. “I don’t know. Maybe.” He confided in her. “Listen, Lenna, I’m not one to give the death of someone who deserves it much thought, nor am I in any way opposed to dealing out said death, but I am not supposed to be here.”

  “What do you mean?” Lenna questioned her husband.

  “My soul is not from here. Just my existence is sending waves that are bringing with them change and the souls of the departed. How many of those souls were or are good people who just happened to be in the path of change? How many other Aria’s died because of my existence?” Isaac shook his head to clear it. “I don’t know why it is bothering me now. I’ve never been one to care about people I don’t know, but I’ve been thinking about it ever since last night.”

  Lenna reached out and grabbed his hand. “Isaac, the weight of the world is for Gia and Mannen to deal with, the weight of souls is for the Reaper to carry, and the weight of decisions is for Fate and Luck to handle. We are but people living in a world that those far more ancient and qualified to worry about such things have made. The least we can do is live properly in it. And for you, that means not worrying about pointless things.”

  Isaac gave Lenna a loving smile to match the one that she had given him. “Yes, you’re right, as always.” He told her. “I’ll try to put it from my mind.”

  Once Isaac and Lenna were back in their room at the inn, they both changed into more comfortable clothes and left to visit the tailor and dressmaker that they had gotten their clothes from. At The Threaded Arsenal, Isaac paid them to clean the clothes that he had worn and enchant it. Usually he would have just kept the clothes as they were until they got home or taken them to a cleaner, but he did not trust some random cleaner with his clothes and the enchanter would definitely want the clothes to be clean before they worked on them. The enchantments that they were going to put on Isaac’s clothes were the common ones for noble attire: Cleaning and Self-repair.

  Lenna’s dress would have a bit more work done to it. The duo also paid the dressmakers to clean it and they were going to touch up the floating ribbon a bit before the enchanter would handle the rest. Apparently the enchantments that the dressmaker wanted were far more than Isaac was ready to pay for. The Cleaning and Self-repair were fine, not that expensive either even though they had to be done on the ribbon separately, but the Glowing, Liquid Repellent, Gia’s Blessing, and illusions were just too much. Lenna did not want to be walking on air and glowing with a pair of wings or trails of fire following behind her. She already drew more attention to herself than she wanted simply by being in the dress, she didn’t need any enchantments making it worse. The Liquid Repellent also sounded nice, up until one realized that drinking while wearing the clothes would be almost impossible as anything that wasn’t within her, and was liquid, would be pushed away. She would have to crush a waterskin just to be able to drink the water within otherwise it would all be sent to the opposite end of the container. In the end, only the basic enchantments were to be put on the dress but that was for the best anyway. Money was not an issue for the duo, but they also had no idea how much their future legendary item endeavors were going to cost so it was better to keep enough money to buy up all of the land in a city on hand, just in case Blade wanted to be paid in tons of gold or something.