Chapter 48 Like A Dragon.
Isaac seemed to materialize on the other side of the table without breaking stride. “Shit he’s gonna do it.” One of the patrons that he had just teleported past whispered.
The man whose life was on the line grabbed a bottle and broke it as Isaac vanished again only to reappear two feet in front of him. “Fuck you.” The man told Isaac and swung at him. Isaac backhanded the man’s hand with enough death mana that the broken bottle simply dropped to the floor.
“Be.” Isaac began with nothing but rage in his eyes. He brought his other hand up and turned it so its palm was facing the other man but he kept it close to his chest. The man looked at his missing hand in shock, too stunned to even scream. “Undone.” Isaac finished and punched his palm into the man’s chest. With the impact Isaac delivered so much death mana to the man’s body that not even bones remained. In fact, the man’s body wasn’t enough to eat up the power and death flames continued on for three more feet before dying out.
Isaac took a deep breath and all he could smell was the scent of death that now clung to him. He turned to look at Celeste with a blank expression. “Sorry about the mess.” He told her and then was gone as if he had never even been there.
—
Lenna could only watch on as Isaac removed a man from existence for insulting her honor. She had a feeling that something would happen eventually. She had been holding him back for as long as people had known that she was a dark elf. Comments like that would probably never stop and she didn’t like him killing people because of her. Every single human that Isaac had killed directly had been because of her. The guards in the cells, the rapist downtown, the assassin that stabbed her in the back, and now this guy.
The whole room stared at the space where a man had just been in silence. Killing a man in one hit was normal, killing him so thoroughly that there was nothing left to bury and with enough power left over to give the man on the other side of the table the fright of his life was something else entirely. Even Celeste hadn’t seen a death so thorough before. There wasn’t even hair remaining. She swallowed hard. “I’ll… get someone to clean that up.” She said eventually and got one of the staff members to come out with a broom. There truly was nothing but dust left of the man and everyone in the tavern knew it.
Lenna turned and sat back down. She began picking at her food while looking at Isaac’s broken spoon. “Sorry Celeste. I tried.” She told the younger woman.
Celeste nodded absently. “I know dear.” She shook her head to clear it and threw away the broken spoon. “Here.” She said and pulled a bottle of wine out from under the bar. She grabbed two cups and poured one for each of them. “I just got this in a few days ago.” She explained.
Lenna took the glass and swirled it without drinking any for a long moment. Celeste slammed it like it was hard liquor and poured herself a second one to drink normally. After seeing Celeste do it Lenna did as well. “Elderberry and amaranth.” Lenna commented. It was two flavors that most adventurers’ knew only on their worst days. Both plants had healing properties and were often made into healing potions. Together the earthy taste of the elderberry was turned almost sweet by the citrusy amaranth flowers. Elderberries were known to help cure illnesses and amaranth flowers were supposedly one of the ingredients in an elixir of immortality, not that anyone actually knew the recipe.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
Celeste nodded. “Yeah. It’s weird tasting them together.” She replied. Lenna just nodded and took a sip from her second glass, Celeste had refilled it for her. Lenna continued in silence until Celeste decided to once again act like her mother. “What’s wrong dear?” She asked. They were both adventurers. Both of them had seen people die and had killed mortals as well. Celeste believed that the death itself wouldn’t hit Lenna very hard let alone cause her to be almost adrift at her bar.
Lenna took a deep breath and sighed. She set her chin on her hand and swirled her glass. “I wish he would stop killing people because of me.” She replied.
Celeste nodded. “This isn’t the first time?” She asked.
Lenna shook her head. “It’s the… fifth. I think.”
“Oh.” Celeste replied and took another sip. She thought for a long moment. “You mean a lot to him.”
Lenna nodded. It was awkward with her chin still resting on her hand. “It’s mutual.” She replied quietly.
Celeste smiled both sadly and warmly. “Your boyfriend is a dragon dear. Things like this will happen until everyone realizes that you are his hoard.” She explained.
Lenna looked up to meet Celeste’s eyes. “Dragon? Hoard?” She asked.
Celeste nodded. “Yes. He is stronger than any other mortal, probably in the world, and he doesn’t know what to do with all that power. Instead of finding someone to guide him he is figuring it out himself and causing trouble everywhere he goes. He is like a dragon trying to live with humans. Like a dragon there is one thing that is more important to him than the rest of the world.” Celeste pointed at Lenna with raised eyebrows. “You.” She said with finality. “You are his hoard. He won’t let a single coin get tarnished.”
“My honor is a coin?” Lenna asked skeptically.
Celeste nodded. “Yes dear.” She explained patiently . “You are going to have to keep that fact in mind.” She gestured towards where the dead man had once stood. “There might be other things that are important to him but I can guarantee that he would throw those away if you were in danger.” Celeste thought about it for a little longer. “Or die trying to save it all at once. He seems like that kind of guy.”
Lenna huffed a laugh. “The latter is more likely.” She raised her head off of her hand and shook her head in exasperation. “He lacks a flight response.” She confided in Celeste. “I don’t know how to handle that.” Lenna thought more about Celeste calling Isaac a dragon. “He really is like a dragon.” She commented.
Celeste smiled. “Yes dear. He is.”
—
Isaac teleported directly to their room. He hadn’t even thought about it. Teleporting through multiple walls to somewhere he couldn’t see didn’t make any sense to Isaac if he thought about it. He didn’t think about it. There was too much on his mind at that moment. He flopped back onto the bed and laid there for a long while. “She’s going to be mad at me.” He said to himself. “And Izen will too… he can shove it.”
Isaac sighed and got a nose full of decay and his own sweat. “I need a bath.” He got up and slowly found a change of clothes and a towel before filling the tub with hot water. He peeled off his armor and clothes, making sure to toss them away from anything that he didn’t want to spread the smells too, and sank down into the near scorching water. He usually had Lenna heat the water because the magic item wasn’t meant to be used by someone like Isaac but he would just reimburse Celeste when it broke. The warming stone had already started to crumble by the time Isaac was done with it but it did the job.
He simply sat there and soaked for a long while in thought. He wondered how Izen and Sera would react. He wondered how mad Celeste was. He wondered how people would act around them after the murder in broad daylight. Well, as close to broad daylight as one could get underground. But most importantly, he wondered how angry Lenna was. He figured that if he was lucky she would just be disappointed. In a way, that still hurt him. Isaac had no idea how long he sat in the hot water but by the time there was a knock on the door the water was only warm.
“Isaac.” Lenna said through the door. “I don’t have a key.”
‘Oh right.’ Isaac thought. ‘I teleported in.’ He pulled the key out of his Inventory and used shadows to take it over to the door. He set it on the ground and pushed it under the door. “I’m in the bath.” He replied while she bent down and got the key. A moment later she was inside and the door was locked behind her.
“Where do you want the key?” She asked.
“In your bag is fine for now.” He answered. He wasn’t sure how to act without seeing her face to know how she was actually feeling. It was not the most pleasant feeling.
Lenna did as he said and then said the words that no one in the history of ever has ever wanted to hear: “We need to talk.”