Chapter 39 Thank Or Curse
Fernando Stine tore through his shadow and lunged at the man and woman sitting across from him. He had had enough. They were planning on executing him and he would do anything to ensure his survival. With his ability to speak taken away from him, he had no other choice than to use his muscles.
Fernando had loved Yallena, the duchess, since he had first laid eyes on her. He had seen it in the way she eyed him when no one was looking that she wanted him as well. They had both kept their interest in each other in check until one fateful day when fate seemed to align their paths and circumstances. It had been a mistake and they both knew it after the fact. Morning had come and the alcohol had worn off. Fernando hadn’t had the time to even get properly dressed by the time a maid had entered. She was gone again before they could stop the girl. It had taken less than a day for Arthur to find out. The verbal altercation that followed had finally ended when Arthur had bloodied his knuckles, across Fernando’s teeth, and left a red mark in the shape of his open hand, across Yallena’s face, before he ordered them both out. After that, the only ones that could comfort the pair were each other. Arthur had turned to alcohol and a month later Yallena found out she was pregnant. In all, it had turned into one horrible mess.
Topaz’s frequent visits to Arthur in the dead of night only stirred up more rumors and trouble as people got the wrong idea about them. It didn’t take long for Topaz, her charms and her free spirited ways, to get the better of Arthur while in his most vulnerable state. Eventually those rumors became fact. While all of that was going on, the Guild Master of the local Adventurers’ Guild was gambling away the guild’s coffers, the Magistrate was turning a blind eye, and the Court Mage was out of his depth and chose to hide in his tower. But all of those things were in the past. At the moment, Fernando was hurtling towards the man who was going to have the duke execute him under a false charge to save the duke’s image while dragging his own through the mud.
—
Isaac barely had enough time to pick up his feet as the sofa shot backwards three feet. Lenna had shot to her feet so quickly that the oak framed sofa had been forced out of the way of her straightening legs. She had moved entirely on instinct as she unconsciously brought her full natural strength enhanced by her aura and mana to bear. If the attack had been aimed at her, then her response would have been more measured, but the trajectory of the lunging slab of meat that was Fernando Stine had never been in question. Lenna’s hand shot out and grabbed the man, who was a few inches taller and a hundred pounds heavier, by the face. It was less of a grab and more of a palm strike to his nose.
Fernando’s nose was crushed completely as almost all of his momentum was halted by one of the softest parts of his body. Lenna stepped and threw with enough force that her boots tore up some of the rug under them. Fernando was sent hurtling towards the door but only made it halfway before his massive bulk impacted the ground in a heap. He hardly rolled from the hit but managed to slide another three feet on his face and shoulder. With an injury list of spinal injuries, at least one concussion, and an absolutely obliterated nose, he would not be getting up for a while.
The entire event, from lunge, to facepalm, to throw, to impact with the floor, and the final slide, only took less than a handful of seconds. Everyone except Isaac, Lenna, and obviously Fernando, were staring at Lenna in a mixture of surprise and horror. Lenna slowly turned to meet their gazes which caused Alejandro wilt like a winter flower in the desert sun. “Magistrate, he will need a healer, or he will drown.” Lenna told the obvious man out in the room.
The man in gleaming armor with pure black hair and eyes slowly rose to his feet with a slight bow. “As you say, Lady V’Nova, I will see to him.” He spoke calmly but with an extreme amount of respect for someone that wasn’t actually high nobility. He approached the crumpled and unconscious Fernando and knelt down next to him. “By the gods.” He swore in a whisper as he took in the damage Fernando had taken.
The sofa that Isaac was sitting on was slowly pushed back into place by Isaac’s shadows before Lenna sat back down in her seat as if nothing had happened. “Where were we?” Isaac asked with a thoughtful expression on his face. “Ah yes, the empathetic answer to the current set of problems.” Isaac sighed and put his fist up to his chin in thought. “This is much harder.” He confessed. “Especially after the stunt he just pulled.”
“I see.” Arthur spoke with a mixture of sadness, helplessness, and relief.
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“Not impossible though.” Isaac spoke after another moment of thought. “It might be a tough lie to sell considering the rumors.” He said more to himself than to the duke. “You could relieve the idiot of his command citing rumors about inappropriate behavior with the duchess, you would also need to state that the rumors were false but regardless of their truth he would need to be relieved of his position. You could throw a platinum bar at him and send him on his way afterwards to help sell it.” Isaac frowned in thought for another moment before continuing: “The boy, he would need to be brought up as an orphan that was adopted into your family after the duchess had a miscarriage. That would explain the duchess still treating him like her own son so much more than you would be able to, considering what actually happened. Her attachment, as far as everyone else would know, would come from your ploy to fill the void in your wife’s heart with another child that was born around the same time. That would also explain the midwife and the countless people that saw her with a baby bump.”
“There will still be rumors.” Lenna added. “The hit to your reputation will never go away entirely. You didn’t do a good job at silencing your staff early enough.”
“Yes.” Isaac agreed. “That is still probably the option with the least bloodshed, which I am sure that most involved would prefer. If I were in your shoes, she wouldn’t have come to term.” He told the duke evenly. “In your place, I would have executed them both and named one of your lower nobles as your temporary successor.”
Arthur paled at Isaac’s utter ruthlessness and total disregard for life. It was at that moment that Arthur truly understood what kind of a person Isaac was when pressured or truly angered. To Isaac, all life had worth, but all life could also lose its worth. Arthur also knew, by the way Isaac looked at Lenna, that some people had a current worth that far exceeded the rest of the world. He took a deep calming breath and looked over at Fernando before he returned his gaze to Isaac. “I see.” He spoke with a lowered head. “I will need some time to think about it before I make my final decision.”
“You have until we leave.” Isaac replied simply. “Speaking of, we will not be leaving until this place has been cleaned up a bit.
“What’s next on the list?” Lenna wondered.
“Sleeping with the enemy.” Isaac replied. “The rumors about your affair with the woman running the criminal underworld of your city.” Isaac said to Arthur. “True or false?”
Arthur sighed. “True.” He spoke dejectedly. “But only after everything with Yallena and Fernando was confirmed.”
“Why? She’s actively working to undermine you.” Isaac questioned.
“She wasn’t, at the start.” He told Isaac. “Originally she was working as a double agent. Under my orders she used her connections with the Guard to let some lower end criminals off the hook from time to time to buy her goodwill. She slowly worked her way up the chain until she arrived on top. Once there, she was supposed to bring the base of operations of a few larger organizations here so we could crush them in one fell swoop. The power and money got the best of her. I don’t know when but at some point she decided to start playing both sides. She would give me just enough to keep up the facade of still being loyal but she was just playing me.” Arthur confessed. “She came to me after, everything, with a bottle and an offer to talk about it. She knew what she was doing. The next morning, when I woke up, my signet ring that lets those with Sasston blood into the family vault was missing. I don’t think she realized the restriction until it was too late.”
“What about the rest of the times when she was seen coming and going from your office and bedroom?” Isaac questioned him.
“Purely work related, I swear.” Arthur replied directly.
Isaac nodded in understanding. “Good, then you won’t have a problem with helping me crush the slave trade going on in the region.”
Arthur shook his head. “No problems at all, well, except for the fact that we do not have any of the necessary information to launch such a large operation.” He replied.
“Like I said, I have Topaz. She can either talk or scream out the information we need.” Isaac told him. “Get your forces ready to move at a moment’s notice and I’ll contact you once we have the information.” Isaac instructed him before consulting the list again. “The homelessness is out of hand… how do you plan on dealing with that? The charities aren’t getting their necessary funding because of the rampant corruption you let Topaz infuse into your command structure. Speaking of, Magistrate!” Isaac called out and locked eyes with the now startled larger man who was about finished making sure that Fernando wasn’t going to die from being too weak.
“Yes, Lord Wexler?” The Magistrate questioned with a nod.
“What happened to magistrates being a beacon of righteousness and authority?” Isaac questioned him. “If all of the corrupt guards have not been tried and convicted by the time we leave, I will inform his Majesty of your incredible lack of competence when we arrive in the capital.”
The magistrate, who Isaac had never bothered to learn the name of, swallowed hard. “As you say, Lord Wexler, I will complete the task posthaste.” He assured Isaac.
Isaac nodded once. “Good.” He spoke and then turned back to Arthur. “That is all, for now. Once we are done with Topaz, we will contact you. I expect you and your men to be ready to move.” Isaac told the duke. “It would be best if all of the corruption was gone by then.” He said while rising to his feet. “We will show ourselves out.”
Arthur nodded slowly at them. “I will do my best.” He said and rose to his feet. “I will be honest, I do not know yet whether I should thank or curse you.”
“Probably both.” Lenna replied with a shrug.
“Thank us.” Isaac stated. “If it were up to me, we would have just told Sera about this and gone on with our honeymoon instead of stopping to fix your problems.”