Chapter 44 Win Some,

“You want me to train one of your spies on dual sword combat?” Edward questioned Isaac incredulously. The duo had decided to have dinner at the Guild Hall so they could discuss the prospect with Edward. The pair had just come from ordering the rest of the drider silk treatment and were now on to less urgent matters. The sooner the treatment arrived the sooner the finished drider silk products could be sold after all.

“There are only three people I would trust to train him.” Isaac insisted.

“I would be the worst option.” Lenna added.

“Who is the other one?” Edward asked. He really didn’t want to add anything else to his mountain of work. Granted, half of his work could be pushed onto one of the twins in the event of an emergency requiring his direct attention but this was definitely not an emergency.

Isaac took a sip of his drink to hide his mouth from anyone who might happen to be watching them. “Marie.” He whispered and then moved on to taking another bite of his food. He spoke just loud enough for Edward to hear but there was always a risk of someone with exceptional hearing listening. They were in the downstairs of the Guild Hall after all.

Edward’s look of surprise was noticeable from across the room before he schooled his expression. “I see.” He replied. Edward remained quiet in thought for a few long moments as his interlocutors continued eating. He sighed. “I’ll meet him.” Edward conceded. “I won’t promise anything until I’ve actually met the boy.”

Isaac nodded. “Fair enough.” He replied. “Thanks.”

“Don’t thank me yet.” Edward said in return. “Even if I can train him it would be an hour a day at the absolute maximum. Most of the time he’d be lucky to get a few hours a week out of me.”

Isaac nodded in understanding. “You’re a busy guy, I know. Any help would be nice. If he has potential I wouldn’t mind bringing him along on some of our missions so he could get some hands-on experience.” Isaac explained. “It’ll all depend on how talented he ends up being and how much work he is willing to put in.”

“Oh?” Edward began. “You like him that much?”

Isaac shrugged. “He’s easy enough to get along with, smart, and can follow orders well enough. The only thing I’m concerned about is him being dead weight in a fight.”

“Which he is.” Lenna added.

“For now.” Isaac added onto her addition. “Hopefully.”

Edward sighed. “Have him meet me on the roof at noon tomorrow. If he’s a spy then you don’t want anyone seeing him waltz in here or meet up with me in the arena.” He conceded.

Isaac grinned and Lenna smiled appreciatively. “Thanks again, Edward.” Isaac told the older man.

“Yes, thank you.” Lenna added.

“There is no way that I am not going to regret this.” Edward grumbled before downing the rest of his drink. “Of that I am sure.”

—

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“He seemed happy.” Lenna commented as the duo walked towards Westly’s Westside Bar after informing Lenny of his lunch date with the Guild Master.

Isaac chuckled. “I don’t think I’ve seen a grown man act that giddy before.” He replied.

“I’d hardly call him a grown man.” Lenna said with an amused smirk.

“We are the same age.” Isaac replied with a straight face.

Lenna wasn’t sure how to respond for a long moment. “No.” She eventually told him.

“No?” Isaac questioned.

“You’re lying to me.” Lenna replied.

“How?” Isaac questioned further. “You know how old both of us are.”

“You could be two hundred and the Identify missed a zero.” Lenna countered.

“You can’t apply elven ages to humans and expect it to make sense.” Isaac corrected with a chuckle. “Ten times the lifespan, remember.”

“He doesn’t act two hundred. You do.” Lenna explained. “He acts forty.”

Isaac threw up his hands in exasperation. “I don’t even know what that means.”

“We are here.” Lenna told him in order to distract him from their argument. She had long accepted the fact that Isaac had been right from the beginning and that people could have drastically different maturity levels even if they were the same age. That hadn’t stopped her for more than a second from doubling down just to mess with Isaac however. ‘Someone has too because Lua knows everyone else is too afraid to.’ She thought to herself. She was right.

Isaac sighed in defeat as he noticed the rundown bar half a block away. He smirked and huffed a chuckle. “Did you have fun?” He asked her.

Lenna smiled back. “Yes.” She told him. “Someone has to keep you from getting all broody. You get like that if I let you think for too long.”

Isaac nodded. “Introspection is a bitch.” He agreed.

Lenna laughed. “Those are not the words I would have used.” The pair stopped in front of the closed door. There was a sign on it that read ‘closed for remodeling’ and a slip of folded paper barely visible wedged between the door and its frame.

Isaac grabbed the folded paper and opened it up. “Actual contact information.” He commented. “This is the inn across from the Adventurers’ Guild isn’t it?” He asked and showed the note to Lenna.

Lenna read over it. “Yes. It is.” She agreed. “This’ll be our third trip to the Guild Hall.”

“I distinctly remember you saying something about exercise earlier.” Isaac commented.

“I guess this counts.” Lenna conceded.

“It’d better.” Isaac countered. “We’ve walked like ten miles today already.”

“That hardly counts as exercise.” Lenna retorted. “I can show you exercise later though.” She added with a smirk.

“I’ll look forward to it.” Isaac replied with a smirk of his own.

Lenna’s quick glance made Isaac want to return to the Celestial Dawn instead of meeting up with Thomas. “You’d better.”

—

“Thanks for the daggers.” Thomas told the duo after being handed three pairs of ornate elven magical daggers. The reason they were ornate was due to the five layers of enchantments on them. They passed through the air silently while having two layers of hardening and sharpening enchantments. The daggers could cut through non-magical steel as if it were paper. The blades on two of the daggers hooked back like skinning knives. If Thomas ever needed to fight off an entire bar of gangsters again he would be properly equipped. If he ever found himself strapped for coins he could fix that very quickly as well.

“Figured we could equip our spies with drow assassin gear so we don’t get a repeat of last time.” Isaac explained. “You and James really got the shit beaten out of you.”

Thomas winced. “Don’t remind me. It was embarrassing.” He replied. “As for the bar, I like the idea but finding someone I trust to run it is proving difficult. I really don’t think it’s a good idea for me to be working out in the open like that.”

“We meet out in the open plenty.” Isaac countered. “I don’t see the difference.”

“The difference is that ambushing me is a lot more difficult when I am following you two around instead of camping out in a run down bar at the edge of town.” Thomas explained. “Your schedules are regular but not identical day to day. Those minor differences are my safety net.”

Isaac could only nod in resignation. He understood where Thomas was coming from. If someone knew that he would be at one location every day at the same time without fail then setting up an ambush would be child’s play. Isaac and Lenna were prone to abruptly changing their schedules and taking missions or getting into trouble seemingly at random. It made spying on them a fulltime job but it also made the spy’s job a bit safer. “Fair enough.” Isaac conceded. “So how long do you think the bar will be closed for?”

Thomas shrugged. “Who knows. I hope it’s not closed for too long but I won’t know until I’ve found someone to run it.” He explained.

“I have someone who I would like to run it.” Isaac informed the spy. “But I have no idea if she’ll actually move to Safeharbor. Her eldest son is a natural at spy and detective work.”

“Someone I don’t know about?” Thomas questioned.

Isaac nodded. “For now. Do you want to hear about Lenna and my grand adventure over the past few days?”

Thomas settled back into his chair. “Of course. Let me know what parts you don’t want me to tell my boss.”

“It’d be a lot easier to know what parts to cut out if I knew who your boss was.” Isaac complained.

Thomas shrugged. “You win some, you lose some.”