CHAPTER 102

ECLIPSE COVERING THE SUN

  The carriage ran and soon reached the county’s busiest place, the Market area. There were not many places outside the ForgeLands where one could see a dwarf. Concordia has them but the only dwarf Hans had seen till now was his fellow house member Garen, the young dwarf who was plain stupid in his eyes since he lived for the moment, totally opposite to him. He wanted to meet one since they used alchemy and technology for getting by, avoiding mana like plague.

  Delimira's suggestion for an outing made him happy mostly for this reason since Edenberg County was the only place in Grimgar where dwarves had their own territory. Eager to see their machinery, known to be so advanced that could stop and rival any mana attacks, he unconsciously showed his excitement for it while the other party, Aldrich and Delimira took it for something else.

As both became busy looking outside at the things that looked like fantasy to them, they passed through the baker’s street but before Hans could open his mouth Delimira said,

"We are not stopping at any food shops, Hans."

"Why?"

"Because you did not bring the money, I did"

"How much?"

" A LOT "

Hans just quieted down without any qualms after hearing her. Food was not his priority right now, he could get anything he wanted in the mansion, and the main attraction he wanted to see was dwarf places in the first place. He asked her,

"So where do you wanna go, first?"

"My store?"

"Do you have one here as well?"

"Yes, my mother expanded her business last year."

"Damn, how rich are you exactly?"

She remembered Hans bragging about his sword talent after beating Chris and replied to him in the exact tone of his,

"I have so much that I don’t even feel bad bragging about it."

"Tell me honestly, you can’t digest anything without dissing me, right?"

"Hmm…probably."

"Why store though? Mr Hodges bought so many clothes already."

"Hans, my poor friend, a girl can never have enough clothes and the ones butler bought were too plain for me"

"Then how much time it would take?"

"I will be done in a jiffy."

  Hans nodded without knowing what he had to face in that jiffy. The carriage stopped in front of a store called Velma’s Boutique. The most famous clothing store in Grimgar, run by well-known designer Velma in the capital city. This was just a branch but looked so extravagant, perfect for looting a whale like Delimira. Hans was thinking, one of these days, he will scam her out of money but his wicked thoughts were put to stop by the store staff that came running out to welcome their customer.

  He was still inside sitting beside Aldrich and Delimira, unaware of the fact how much riding in the county’s carriage would weigh in the commoner’s mind. Glancing at his surroundings, he found the commoners gazing at the door with expecting eyes, they did not know who from the count’s family was coming here without any guards. The carriage driver opened the door and Hans came out first.

He was standing for quite a while, looking at the people who were staring at him. He turned to look back, but Delimira was still seated inside,

"Do you need an invitation, Ms Wintersr?"

"No, offer me your hand first."

"You are enjoying this, aren't you?"

"Yeah, now hand"

  Hans let out a sigh and did as she asked. She stepped down the carriage like a princess, in her human disguise but anyone in a sane mind could not ignore how pretty she looked. Delimira didn't bother the stares and stepped inside the boutique without looking at others, like the nobles of the human side. Her act and the air around her alerted others that she was a significant person of high class. On the other hand, Hans thought her behaviour would earn her some scorn but he got to witness the popular belief of people, you are not wrong in anything as long as you look rich.

  Laughing at himself, he followed her inside, it was a store exclusively for young women, and Delimira being the age of thirteen considered their customer. Despite being the women's store there was an avid population of males inside the store. Some were fathers, some lovers and Hans did not feel comfortable as their stares fall on him. The people inside were waiting for the adult who bought them here to come but no one entered after them, not even an escort guard. The situation was perplexing, so the manager asked the two,

"What can I help you, young lord and lady?"

Delimira answered indifferently.

"Just some clothes"

The manager kept looking at the door, waiting for someone to come inside but no one came. She only heard Delimira’s scorn.

"Do you think I can’t pay for mere clothes?"

"No dear customer, why don’t you follow me to the VIP room?"

  As she showed the way, both followed her inside. The VIP room was for two kinds of people, one who really was from an extraordinary background and for the punk noble children who dress and dash in the name of their family, and later the store has to collect the sum from the noble’s mansion which was an awkward chore for them. She was leading them, eagerly awaiting someone to pay first and Delimira did, making the manager happy that these two were not from the latter category. She happily welcomed them inside. Seeing her actions, Hans asked her in confusion.

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"Didn't you say it was your store?"

"I did."

"Then, Why pay in your own store?"

"One must pay to buy things, that's an unwritten rule in mother’s company, no matter who or what she is."

"Yeah, Yeah, it's all good, but what the heck I'm suppose to do here?

"Wait for a while, it will not take much time."

"Fine"

  Hans sat on the couch with down shoulders while the staff kept showing one dress after another and the jiffy turned into minutes and into an hour already. That was all because the saleswoman had realised Delimira was walking money, and enthusiastically continued showing her dresses. Her compliments were raining like cats and dogs but not even a single one succeeded in affecting Delimira’s choices. But not far from them, Hans sat, grunting. It was turning into a bad day for him and it became worse when the branch owner came to visit the VIP customer.

Her name was Madison, a young lady in her mid-twenties. She saw Delimira in her trial dresses and proposed an offer of giving her every dress she tried on for free with one condition. However, before she states her condition, Hans sprung from his seat and stopped her,

"Hey, Deli, you already ate an hour, we need to go."

"Wait, Hans," She turned to the branch owner and asked,

"What is the condition?"

"Give me your portrait rights."

Hans got agitated,

"Ah, darn it, we have enough money, Deli we should go."

Ignoring his rant, Delimira nodded, accepting the offer. Contradicting her past action, she justified, “Whoever said rich splurge money on a whim was an idiot”.

  Hans might be not interested in seeing her in different dresses but others were having their fill. The manager utilised this situation more efficiently by capturing her portraits in open. Attracting others to see the event. The result of this activity lead Hans to stay there for more hours but oddly he was not as grumpy as he thought. He was not believing that he allowed his precious time to be wasted in this charade. This already happened several times in the past year, he had enough words to shut her up but he just couldn't say it out loud, as something stopped him from saying it to her.

But this was enough, his patience ran out and he decided to look for Aldrich, who was ordered to stay inside the carriage. And as if the dominion knight had heard his intentions, he presented himself.

"You are looking for me, young lord."

"Yeah,"

"Just make sure she finishes this soon and take her home, I am going somewhere."

"That I can’t do."

"Why?"

Aldrich made a confused face and responded,

"For someone so smart, you ask dumb questions, young Lord."

"Stay away from Mr Hodges, his influence is bad" Hans retorted,

"Haah...I can’t leave you alone young Lord"

"Nothing will happen to me."

"I am concerned about others, young Lord. what if you start restructuring mugs of every other that piss you off."

"See, Hodges is bad news but that felt like a compliment."

Scratching his head, Aldrich added,

"I am more concerned about you now, what is my daughter teaching you? At this rate, you will end up in something worse - "

"Jeez, fine already," He said, and after giving some thought he continued, "Leaving her here alone would be bad, right?"

Seeing Hans talking some sense, Aldrich hastily answered,

"yes, very bad, she is your first guest and you are ditching her already."

"I was just asking, head knight."

Aldrich calmed down after hearing it, and asked just to satiate his curiosity,

"Where were you planning to go?"

"The dwarven settlement."

"It's better to stay here then."

"Why?"

"Even Lord Count is rarely allowed in that place."

"What? But they are in our lands."

"Yes, however, the one who forged the ThunderClap lives there and his only condition was not to be disturbed, so you won’t be allowed there."

"That s a bummer, but there will be loopholes..." He looked at the never-ending event in front and sighed as he relaxed his back on the couch. The whole day was wasted but somehow looking at her, chewing someone else for a change felt that it was not so bad after all.

ECLIPSE HIDEOUT, THE SLEEPING GIANT MOUNTAIN

  A dimly lit room and in it, a big table, surrounded by a handful of powerful people, the view was something else. As Xandor had assembled his mightiest force once again, all twelve captains of Eclipse were present and with the arrival of brains of operation the conversation began. He put an image stone and a projection of Genas’s map hovered above the table. Alternatingly pointing at two locations, he continued

"All captains, sort our forces into two. Our time has come. We are hitting Clandor and Utar Royal treasury with full force at the same time."

The first captain, a warlord of unknown grade, Bryan said in affirmation,

"I am leading the Force to Clandor. With the courtesy of Concordia, we now have enough sunstones to breach the Clandorian defences."

Xandor chimed in with a heavy voice,

"As much as I want to, it's not time for revenge, this is a mission of heist, stealth is of paramount, I will tolerate no nonsense, Captain Bryan?"

The second captain Adrian, the toughest warlord in Eclipse said in a grim voice,

"Then I will lead the mission to Utar, what is our target?"

Bryan interrupted,

"I thought you would fight with me for Clandor, second captain."

"It's bland if I can’t kill the elves."

"Just say, you can't do it because of 'your loud noise'"

  Adrian remained silent, he was third in Eclipse Hierarchy and the only dominion Knight among the captains. But he belonged to the rarest community born in Parv. His unique bloodline allowed him to up his grade to 99 in no time, even without any backlashes. So saying he was the strongest force in Eclipse was not some understatement and the only reason he was the second captain was that the first one has to strategies the whole force and has to be in the rear, not in the front which he liked to be. He ignored the first captain and asked Xandor again,

"What are our targets, Commander?"

Xandor emphasised again,

"We are not there to kill but take the greater gemstones. I'll be in Clandor with the first captain, snatching the Wind gem or any other thing useful in Clandor. Meanwhile, the rest of the captains will follow Second Captain to Utar and take the Thunder gem. "

Adrian nodded in affirmation and asked again,

"How many corpses are you gonna take, commander?"

Xanodr showed a cruel smile,

"All OF THEM."

***