Chapter 43: Isekai Life & Lord’s Rewards

I pulled on my robe, thoughtfully left out by Bekker while we were sleeping, and headed out into the courtyard, where I was greeted with applause.

Enna was seated on one of the couches under the pavilion, grinning at me and clapping her hands. “Y’know, if I hear another performance like that, I’m going to be gettin’ in line, m’lord!”

I flushed, embarrassed. Everyone else was already up, Calliope giving me a cool look as she studied her spellbook under the pavilion, Katriana giving me a knowing smile from where she was shadowfighting in the garden with her longsword. There was a platter of fruit and bread on the table under the pavilion, and my stomach rumbled, reminding me how long it had been since dinner last night. Bekker came up to me, and gave me a slight bow.

“Uh, good morning,” I said to no one in particular, then, to Bekker, “Uh, Lady Ashryn is going to need a bath first thing this morning.”

“Of course, your grace,” Bekker said, “The Lord Paramount asks that you and your entourage attend him at a private audience this afternoon.”

“Of course, tell him we’d be honoured,” I said, “Was there anything else? Princess Katriana wanted to do some shopping, as you may recall.”

“I did recall, your grace,” Bekker said, sounding a little affronted that I would imply he forgot something, “The Lord Paramount has bid that we are welcome to come and go as we please, and to forgive his inattention, but there are many issues concerning yesterday’s incident to attend to, not to mention matters concerning his succession. He does ask that we not speak to anyone about what’s occurred, especially people in the city who may be of noble blood.”

I paused at that last bit, but Katriana was on her way over. “Yes, you heard that right,” she said, longsword resting on one shoulder, “Lord Paramount Harlemaine wants all the credit for being the god-killing dragonslayer, probably because nobody wants to overthrow a hero, or at least nobody wants to be the one who overthrows a hero.”

My gut instinct was to be angry for having our part of the credit taken away, but I tamped that down. “Smart,” I said, “But that actually helps us. I want him to have a firm grasp on the city, so he can help us more. I’m also guessing that this audience is about offering us rewards, both for our heroism and to buy our peace,” I looked at Bekker, “Any word yet on when Voss is coming back.”

The butler went quiet, and looked nervous for the first time I’ve seen since we fished him out of that crazy old mansion. “No, your grace,” he said finally, “And, if rumour is to be believed ... there are people from the incident who can’t be raised. Anyone who died from dragonfire, and others. The servants seem to think that their souls were devoured by ... that dragon, your grace.”

I frowned. Did Voss die from dragonfire? I looked to Katriana, but she just put a hand on my shoulder. “I’m sure Voss will be fine, or at least as fine as someone recovering from death can be,” she said, “It probably takes time.”

I nodded, and looked back to Bekker. “Please, Lady Ashryn will need that bath, and a clean robe to get her there.”

“At once, your grace,” he said, heading off.

I plopped myself before the feast left behind on the table and helped myself. The fruit was juicy and ripe, the bread fresh. It was good, and I had my fill.

While I was munching away, I nodded to Calliope. “You want another study session today?” I asked, between mouthfuls.

“Sure,” she said, “You have a couple others things I might find handy.”

So we spent most of the morning putting our heads together and teaching each other spells. This time, Detect Magic came to me easily, as did Wall of Fog- if Calliope was going to be whiny about taking spells with tactical use rather than spells that merely blasted folks with damage, I didn’t mind taking up the slack. Besides, maybe she was right, and having her as a pure battle mage would come in handy. From her end, surprisingly, she wanted mainly handy little spells rather than anything else. Featherfall and Enlarge were the order of the day ... perhaps she was beginning to see the use of handy little spells like that. Or maybe, like myself, she didn’t think I was using them right.

Well, not that I’d used Featherfall at all. It was a pretty handy spell.

So that was how most of our first day passed. We spent time in our little courtyard, talking, enjoying being pampered, studying, and, well, waiting. Ashryn joined us after her bath, but after the noon bell rang, the rest of us took our own baths and we all got dressed in our finest.

Ashryn and Calliope, both were wearing their chokers. Calliope was acting cool about it, but as usual Ashryn wasn’t having any of that. She immediately bounced over to hug Calliope’s arm, exclaiming, “Oh, Calli, you look so lovely in yours! Oh, and the shade perfectly matches your eyes! I guess because Theodore and you spent so much time looking at each other over tomes and textbooks, right? Ooh, I’m jealous of your school romance!”

The attention made Calliope blush, and immediately broke any bad feelings between them. Not for the first time, I was beginning to expect that, even though I was at the center of our little family, Ashryn would end up holding us all together.

Thus, we awaited the audience of the Lord Paramount.

When a servant finally came for us, we were lead to a large audience chamber in the main building of the estate. Large tapestries lined the hall, with scene of battle and tourney depicted in them, but I only had eyes for the men sitting in the small lines of chairs set up before the high seat.

“Voss!”

I went to greet my friend, who got up out of his chair on shaky legs to receive my hand with a hearty shake. He had hugs, also, for the women, but after that sat down heavily back in his chair. “Dying is hard work,” he huffed, “And coming back is harder. The priests said I should feel better in a day or so, though.”

In one of the other chairs was Ricard, his servant fussing over him, but he still got up to shake my hand. “Glad to see you all are still among the living,” he said, a little bitterly, “It’s been a hard few days, but I’ll be glad to get back to my wife and my vineyard. I’m done with adventuring for a certainty.”

The other two men were the silver fox knight and the grey hammer knight, Sir Mateo and Sir Sylvan respectively. I guess not everyone who died from fire was consumed, if Sir Sylvan was still around. Still, they were jovial, young and vibrant and glad to be alive.

Soon, though, our reunion was interrupted by the arrival of the Lord Paramount himself. The former Captain Hawkins came into the room, in the silver armour and circlet of his station. He sat calmly in the high seat, and sighed. “Well, at least this should be simple,” he announced to us, “I swear the high lords of this city can be more slippery than eels and more venomous than snakes. But, that is a matter for another day, now.” He gestured. “Enna of Shafttown, step forward.”