Chapter 35: Isekai Life & Princely Embezzlement

I awoke to the sounds of someone shuffling around in our room. I squinted, eyes hazy with sleep, to see a figure standing over by the couch.

“Excuse me, your grace, I did not mean to wake you.”

“Oh, Bekker,” I said, sitting up and rubbing the sleep from my eyes. At some point someone pulled the blanket up over me, which I was grateful for.

“Yes, your grace. I assumed you’re not adventuring today, so I picked out the blue robe for you, your grace.”

I blinked. Your grace... ? Oh. The man was in the room the whole time for all that talk of princes and thrones and knighting. I haven’t even considered that, he was just so good at fading into the background.

“Where is everyone?”

It finally occurred to me that I was alone in bed, and not safely ensconced in a triple-woman cuddle pile.

“Lady Calliope is below, in the reading room, your grace,” Bekker answered, “However, Sir Voss and Lady Enna departed some time ago to see about liquidating your captured treasures, and Acolyte Ashryn and Princess Katriana had an appointment to keep concerning some armour they had ordered.”

I noticed a problem right away.

“Bekker, please don’t refer to me as ‘your grace’ and everyone else like that...”

“Of course, your grace, I fully understand the need for secrecy while within mixed company. However, please, I insist on adhering to proper etiquette when in private.”

“You know, I didn’t actually ask you to be my butler,” I said flatly.

“Of course not, your grace. But if you must know, I am sixty-one years of age. Since we were both young men, I had served Lord Evander Gauthi, helping him create a legacy, to build a home and a family. Now that great lord I once proudly served is likely naught but ashes, having been murdered by his own legacy, who received in time his just desserts. But despite that great example of a knight, when time came for me to stand alone, I failed both the young Lady Gauthi, and many of the servants who looked up to me. And now, they, too, are ash.

“So I beg that you forgive my presumption, your grace, but I am near the end of my life. If I am truly lucky, I will have but a dozen or a score more years ahead of me. I cannot go beyond the Shadow and face my Lord again in death with such a tarnished record. However, it seems that the man responsible for earning some measure of justice for Lord and young Lady Gauthi has a cause of his own, a cause that seems, in my mind, to be worthy.

“While I disagree with how you have chosen to fund this quest, your grace, you have saved my life and avenged my lord, and are in need of great assistance to conduct your own campaign. I happen to have a great deal of experience is providing assistance to travelling adventurers. So, if it it pleases your grace, allow me to attend to the small details of your life so you can attend to your larger goal. That way, if you are successful and prove a fair ruler, as I suspect you may, I make go to my grave satisfied that my old friend and master will not find me wanting.”

That was quite the filibuster. I didn’t know how to respond to that. It was quite a heavy topic for first thing since getting up, after all.

Eventually, it was Bekker who broke the silence. Offering a small bow, he simply said, “By your leave, your grace,” and left.

Still hazy with sleepiness, I got up and got dressed in the robes provided, then sat down with my spellbook. Sleep, of course, was high on my list, and it was hard to beat the utility of Reduce. Finally having a third spell slot to my name, I decided to take Burning Hands as my third. It was a handy little attack spell, and, well, after the previous day’s battles with those knights, I found myself wishing that I was a little more dangerous, myself. I could have saved my friends a lot of grief if I was able to deliver a lot of damage more reliably.

While I was studying my spellbook, Bekker returned with a some bread, honey, butter and porridge. I hadn’t even thought of asking for honey to flavour the bland-but-filling breakfast I’ve have almost every day since becoming Theodore. Maybe having Bekker around would be so bad.

After enjoying my meal, I checked on the treasures we had gathered. All the stuff earmarked for selling was gone, leaving only the two unknown potions, the quiver of magical arrows, and the three magical swords- the alchemical steel broadsword I had given Katriana earlier, the alchemical steel bastard sword, and the runed greatsword. Also with it were the sack of coins. I guess, once we have the strongbox, I’ll need to keep a ledger...

I counted out some coins from the sack, and passed about 100 gold pieces worth of platinum on to Bekker. “Please, could you get me a small ledger, some ink for writing, a pen, and also about forty or so darts?”

Bekker gave me a small bow and accepted the coin. “Of course, your grace. I’ll return before supper.”

Once he was gone, I noticed what was missing I cursed. Voss and Enna had taken Ashryn’s painting! I had no idea where they were, either, to stop them. I groaned and shook my head. I hope she wouldn’t be too mad...

I noticed, then, the two promissory notes sticking out of a pocket on my backpack. I took them, slipped on my shoes and headed out into the world, alone, for once.

I don’t know why I went like that, in retrospect. I guess I just felt like a bad ass, ready to set on fire anyone who dared give me trouble.

First off, I found a banker, and had my promissory notes changed into coin. This proved to be a little bit more challenging than I though, not because the banker gave me any sort of trouble at all, but rather that sixty-four pounds of gold is a lot to carry.

Knowing that leaving a bank with a big sack of money was an invitation for trouble, I kept an eye out, but managed to get to my next destination unmolested, and with no unfortunate holes in my pack.

The jeweler who we had been selling gems to so frequently greeted me warmly when I entered his shop. “Ah, good morning sir. You just missed your companion and his lady friend. They asked for a recommendation of a pawnbroker who might be interested in some treasure they acquired.”

For a second I considered asking after them and running, but I probably wouldn’t be able to keep up. “Hello, good morning,” I greeted him in return, “That’s good to hear, but I’m actually here as a customer today.”

“Excellent, of course, sir. What can I do for you?”

I explained to him what I wanted and what I expected to spend, and he showed me what I wanted to see. In the end, I ended up spending quite a bit of the cash I had, almost all of it, in fact. But I ended up with what I wanted. I secreted my little prizes on my person, and headed back to the Lazy Ox.