Chapter 103 Conveniently Forgot

Lenna handed Isaac the brothel’s deed and he stood up without using his hands. His shadows moved behind and under him and he used his mana control to push himself up into a standing position. Lenna gave him a look he could feel more than see. “What? My arms are tired.”

Lenna shook her head. “I didn’t say anything.” She replied and took a step back towards the scrolls. “Should I grab these?”

Isaac shrugged. “How much do you think those are worth?” He asked.

Lenna sifted through them again. “A few of them are decent. Maybe how much he owes in total.”

“I’d rather get it in gold. We aren’t robbing him so take whatever looks useful and we’ll deduct that from what he owes.” Isaac offered and leaned against the doorway to wait for Lenna to find which ones she wanted.

A minute later Lenna handed Isaac three scrolls. One of stars of doom, one of cone of flame, and one of mark of the hunter. The last one was something Isaac hadn’t heard of but resolved to have Lenna explain it later. The pair left the brothel and the befuddled Madam behind and headed back towards where they had left the broken dwarf.

The dwarf was standing up and yelling at the healer with both of his arms in splints. “I told you five times already, Mr. Goldtooth, I do not have enough mana to finish healing you. You will need to either wait or find a healer not on your payroll to finish healing you.”

“Useless useless useless! I paid all of you good coin just fer a crock of failures!” The dwarf ranted on.

Isaac coated the deeds in shadows and stuffed them into his Inventory. He took a step and appeared right behind the dwarf. “You still owe me.” Isaac told him from two feet away. “Some of your ‘good coin’.”

The dwarf’s ears reddened even as he jumped from the start. He spun around and went to shake his fist at Isaac but he winced as the splint did its job. “Yer not gettin’ shite!” The dwarf yelled, spittle flying, his face losing all color save for red.

Isaac pulled the stack of deeds out of his Inventory in a cloud of shadows. He sifted through them in front of the dwarf. “Oh this one is just a house.” He said and crumbled it up in his free hand and tossed it to Lenna. Lenna caught it easily and tilted her head at him. “Torch it.”

“As you wish.” Lenna replied and summoned some flames in her hand with some of her dwindling mana reserves. The paper went up like a torch. A few seconds later there was nothing but ashes.

“What?!” The dwarf screamed and tried to use his solidified arms to grab for the stack of papers in Isaac’s hand.

“I can go through them cheapest to most expensive or top to bottom. Your choice.” Isaac told him evenly.

The kingpin, now reduced to a semi broken mess, was filled with so much fury that he couldn’t even speak. Isaac raised an eyebrow and pulled another sheet out of the stack. “Fine.” The dwarf replied through his teeth.

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“Good. Now that that’s settled. Let’s go to the bank.” Isaac told him and started walking in the direction of the bank. Lenna pushed the dwarf’s shoulder as she walked to join Isaac. The dwarf stumbled and cursed. He didn’t move to follow so Isaac handed Lenna another deed.

“Fine!” The dwarf yelled and hobbled after them. The trio walked in near total silence the entire way to the bank. Once inside Isaac pushed the dwarf towards the counter.

The clerk watched them come in with caution and curiosity. “Hello.” The clerk greeted them.

Isaac continued to push the dwarf towards the counter until they reached it. “Hi.” Isaac returned the greeting.

“Help me.” The dwarf told the clerk. “I’m being held against my will.”

“You still owe me money.” Isaac told him coolly.

“I’m being extorted!” The kingpin yelled.

“Yes. Yes you are.” Isaac replied. “Unless you want me to take you to Tim, the Captain of the Guard, and tell him that you had one of your men shoot me, a noble, in the middle of the street.” He threatened. The dwarf gulped hard. “Now for the total.” Isaac began. “Twelve hundred gold for the bet, three hundred for shooting me, three hundred for making me break into your vault to find the money you owe me, and another two hundred for making me deal with this.” He finished and gestured around them.

“The bet was only for twelve hundred. I can’t pay that!” The shorter man cried.

Isaac shrugged. “Not my problem. Pay up or I take you to the Guard Captain.”

A few minutes of shouting and Isaac getting a headache, fifteen hundred gold was transferred into Isaac’s account. The dwarf physically didn’t have the other five hundred and Isaac had had enough of dealing with him so he left him with a warning. “The next time I see you, you will either pay me the five hundred gold you still owe or I will take your arm as payment.” Isaac had conveniently forgotten to deduct the worth of the spell scrolls from the amount.

They left the bank with Isaac and Lenna going towards the Celestial Dawn for something to eat and the dwarf hobling back towards his little slice of Safeharbor.

—

The following day found Isaac and Lenna walking back into the Guild Hall to hand Alice back the bounties she had given them. The walk was pleasant and gave Isaac time to ask a few questions. “You did something new with your aura didn’t you?” He asked Lenna.

“Yes.” Lenna replied as they continued towards the Guild Hall.

“What exactly? It was weird. I couldn’t tell exactly what you were doing but I could tell something was off.” He explained.

“I’m surprised you could tell. Only paladins should have aura senses.” She eyed Isaac for a moment. “Unless you have an aura that is?”

Isaac shook his head. “Not that I know of.”

Lenna nodded. “I finally leveled up. I figured out how to infuse my aura into my attacks to make them stronger.”

Isaac put his hand on his chin in thought and nodded. “That makes sense.” He eyed her. “How did you level up?”

“That was the last thing I needed. I was struggling with the technique. I felt it activate on its own when I was thinking about that man.” She explained. “Anger was the key.”

“Huh.” Isaac replied. “Think it has something to do with the anger of your ancestors then?”

Lenna nodded. “Probably.”

“Alright.” Isaac said but after a moment more of contemplation he dove into the next question. “You didn’t actually think there was anything going on with Eleonora did you?”

Lenna only shrugged in response and decidedly did not elaborate.

“Because there wasn’t. It’s just not often I find someone with the same…” His voice trailed off as he attempted to find the words he needed to explain himself without putting his foot too far into his mouth. “attitude as me I guess.”

“I understand.” Lenna replied. “You don’t need to explain yourself to me my Lord.”

“Oh come on. Don’t give me that.” Isaac pleaded. “I just wanted you to know that there wasn’t anything there and that I’m not the type of person to get swayed that easily.”

Lenna nodded once. “Alright.”

—

When they arrived, what they got was an angry Edward. “You two can’t be left alone for two fucking minutes can you?!” He scolded. “You are grounded since you want to act like children and cause trouble as soon as there isn’t a noise maker in your hands. Do you have any idea the work you just piled on my desk?”

Isaac just shrugged. “For what exactly?”

“Murder of a bounty target, dueling in the street, harassment, burglary, and assault. The charges don’t mean anything because the man who submitted them is a known crime lord but that doesn’t change all the paperwork I have to deal with on top of everything else going on right now.” Edward finally calmed down a bit and took a deep breath.

“He deserved everything he got.” Isaac replied with another shrug.

Edward sighed. “Alice, give them access to the library and free food until they get in trouble again. Or until they take another bounty. And don’t think I’m done with you either young lady. You facilitated this.”

Alice replied like a scolded child, her eyes down; “Yes Guild Master.”