Chapter 35 Master
“Back for round three?” Fen asked before Isaac had even fully entered the room. Both of the guards that were standing on either side of the inside of the door tensed up and readied their weapons.
Isaac sighed as he walked the rest of the way into the room. Lenna followed close behind and closed the door behind them. “Without magic?” Isaac asked. “Because it looks like casting might be a little difficult for you right now.”
Anger flashed across Fen’s face before he quickly schooled it into a challenging smirk. “Sure.” He agreed. “And if I win you have to get rid of these chains.”
“Just the chains?” Isaac asked.
Fen obviously tried to fight back a snarl. “It has to be a reward you would agree too.”
Isaac grinned back at him. “Fine. And if I win then you can only call me Master until the day you die.” Isaac’s grin turned devilish at the fury that danced across Fen’s face.
“No.” Fen replied through gritted teeth. “You can take your bounty and go right to the bottom layer of hell along with it.”
“Afraid you’ll lose?” Isaac prodded.
“To you? Never.” Fen spat.
Isaac sighed. “Listen, I don’t know how many times I will have to teach you this lesson old man, but you, cannot, beat me.” He then flashed a grin that somehow made it clear that he was fully expecting to get hit for his next comment. “I even have the prettier V’Nova.”
Lenna looked at him with a scowl but didn’t otherwise say anything. Jala finally looked up from her book that she had been reading while lounging in the largest sofa chair in the room. “Don’t you technically have us both?” She asked and then returned to her book. She was seemingly completely uninterested in what kind of trouble Fen was about to get himself back into.
Isaac frowned. The reaction from Lenna was far less severe than he was expecting and Jala kind of had a point if you took away the obvious insinuation. ‘Well that was a let down.’ Isaac grumbled internally. “So Fen, if you lose you have to call me Master but if you win then the chains will come off but the cuffs will stay on.”
“The best you will get out of me is ‘My Lord’.” Fen replied.
Isaac shrugged. “It’s not worth it for me then. You calling me ‘My Lord’ is the same as calling me ‘Darkness’ or ‘Lord Wexler’. It happens enough that I won’t even notice it.” He shook his head. “It’s not worth the hassle.”
Fen ground his teeth. “The chains off and library access.” Fen bargained.
“Deal.” Isaac replied.
“Isaac.” Lenna said evenly. “If you make your concussion worse, I will tie you to your bed for the next six weeks.” Her tone made it clear that she was not joking nor exaggerating.
Isaac gulped hard. “I’ll make this quick.” He told her and then turned to Fen. “We can go right here and right now. No weapons, no magic, just a fist fight like men.”
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
Fen nodded and shoved off the wall that he had been leaning against. He cracked his neck and then his knuckles. “No crotch shots or biting.” He added.
Isaac smirked. “Damn, I was looking forward to making your voice go up an octave.” He jokingly complained and rolled his shoulders before taking two steps towards Fen. He stood there lazily with his left foot a little in front of his right and his arms only slightly bent but otherwise hanging lazily at his sides. “Read when you are, princeling.” Isaac told Fen with a twinkle in his eye.
Fen’s face turned hard as he focused in on the fight. His chains were loose enough that as long as he didn’t try to kick he could otherwise move completely fine with only the extra weight to deal with. He took a few steps towards Isaac before squaring off. “Jala, a countdown.” He told his wife.
Jala didn’t even look up from her book and lazily did as she was told. “Three, two, one, don’t die.” She counted off and then turned to the next page in her book. She had thoroughly had enough of the boys beating the shit out of each other.
Fen didn’t hesitate and launched straight into a right cross at Isaac’s face. Isaac parried it, on the inside of the swing, with his left forearm before slamming his knuckles into the side of Fen’s throat causing him to stagger slightly to the side. Isaac shuffled in and went to knee Fen in the gut. Fen got his left hand down in time to shove off of Isaac’s knee as he tried to back off and regroup himself. Isaac didn’t stop there as he spun on the ball of his left foot, as it was still firmly planted on the ground, into a spinning back kick into Fen’s gut. The impact hit Fen hard enough that he was forcefully doubled over and his feet had been sent a few inches backwards. Isaac retracted his foot and then extended his leg straight up before slamming his heel down onto the back of Fen’s head in an axe kick. Fen’s forehead hit the rug, that saved his head from the wooden floor, with a thud. Isaac took an easy step back and looked down at Fen. “Disappointing.” Isaac told him with the word clear in his tone.
Fen groaned. “How?” He asked through his now splitting headache.
“Did I beat you in four moves?” Isaac asked which got a nod from Fen. “Unlike you I actually know how to fist fight.”
“Why?” Fen questioned further.
“Because I know that my magic will heal instead of kill half of the life on the planet, so I need to be ready to punch the rest of them in the throat.” Isaac explained casually. “Your magic made you arrogant.” Isaac grinned from ear to ear, “And now you can only refer to me as ‘Master’.”
“I hate you.” Fen replied earnestly.
“Ah ah ah.” Isaac replied and waved his finger at Fen. “I said you can ‘only refer to me as ‘Master’.” He chuckled evilly. “That would make it, ‘I hate Master’.”
Fen ground his teeth from his place on the ground and then started to slowly get up. “No.” Fen replied simply. “I’d rather be mute.”
Isaac shrugged. “Your choice.” He looked at Jala. “Anyway, the real reason that we are here is to talk about your tower.”
Jala finally looked up from her book. “Oh?” She asked.
“I just got a bill for twenty thousand gold. Apparently they have started working on it.” Isaac explained.
Jala smiled. “That is far less than I was expecting.” She looked in thought for a moment. “Are they not going to ward it?”
Isaac shrugged. “Probably not. It will most likely just end up getting guarded for a while. If you start working on anything that the city deems classified then things might change.”
Jala nodded. “Understandable, start small to make sure that they are making a good investment.” She surmised.
Isaac shook his head. “No. If Izen is charging me full price for your inverted tower then I suspect that any expansions will come out of my pockets as well.” He walked over and took a seat across from her. “If that is the case, which I’m sure it is, then the only way that your tower is getting upgraded is if you give me something worth selling to the city, or at the very least to the duke.” He explained.
Jala nodded. “What could you sell to him?” She asked.
“Information would be an easy place to start.” He began. “Make a list of what types of things you know that they don’t and we can assign a price to that information. I’ll offer that catalog to Izen and he can decide what he wants to pay for.”
Jala nodded. “I can do that. I might need you to look over it as I am not sure what kind of information their scouts wouldn’t have already acquired.” She explained.
“I can do that.” Isaac replied. “Let’s say that ninety percent of all of the income from you will get put into your tower and I’ll pocket the rest. We can call the twenty thousand that I already spent an investment.”
Jala nodded again. “That sounds fair. What about new specimens?”
“You can buy them from adventurers. It is easy enough to put up a bounty for them. Take the money out of the cut that is for the tower.” He returned.
Jala wrinkled her nose slightly. “That probably won’t leave very much for the tower.” She warned.
Isaac shrugged. “Keep me updated with what kinds of things you are looking for and if I come across them then I’ll pick them up for free. That’s all I can offer.”
Jala nodded solemnly. “I understand.” She replied with clear dejection.
Jala, Isaac, and Lenna spent the next few hours making up a list and talking while Fen sulked in the corner. Dinner was brought up for them part way through and before they knew it the day was over. All in all it was a full and fruitful day even if Isaac was short forty thousand gold by the end of it.