Warmth? Or fire?
"By the way..."
Xiao, who was in the middle of drinking his lavender tea, suddenly remembered something and turned to Isaac. "Regarding... The traveler... I—"
Isaac, whose ear caught Xiao's words, immediately interrupted him. He then smiled at Xiao with a cold smile. "Oops— please refer to our fellow members by their code names... Mister Devil."
"..." Xiao, upon hearing Isaac's ludicrous request, momentarily fell silent as he was lost for words.
"Are we speaking with our code names?" Yae Miko, who has caught on to their conversation, joined in. Holding a book she had brought, she approached them. "If so, then Miss High Priestess is here to join in."
"Miss Magician and Miss Hermit, come here if you will." Yae Miko then raised her voice and called upon two more code names.
"Eh? Did someone call us?" Klee, along with Nahida, walked over next to Yae Miko. With a curious expression, her face looked at Yae Miko. "Miss Magician! Present!"
"Miss Hermit... Also present." Nahida said beside Klee as they both looked up at Yae Miko in front of them.
Seeing Yae Miko summon all the members of Isaac's club, a small smile formed on his face. Placing his hands on the counter, he smirked at Xiao. "We all agreed to refer to each other by code names when other customers are around to hide your identities."
"When talking about our fellow members... It is best to stay in character." Isaac said as he cleaned the teacup in his hands with a clean cloth.
Upon hearing Isaac, Xiao's eyebrows twitched with confusion. He then decided to speak up his thoughts, "And your code name is...?"
Isaac, who was expecting the question, curled up a smirk and replied a moment after his question.
"Hanged Man."
After saying this, Isaac pulled up his fingers and started counting more members in his little club. "There's also Mister Chariot, Mister Tower, Miss Star, Miss Moon, and... Mister World."
"Right now, they aren't here with us as they're all busy with their personal matters."
Chariot referred to Luocha, Tower referred to Moriarty, and World referred to Gehrman. Putting all of them together with their code names and identities, Isaac had practically made a good baseline for his identities to the other members.
Caressing his temples, Xiao took a moment of silence with his eyes closed before looking back at Isaac. "Then... Regarding Miss Star and Miss Moon..."
"My original purpose for coming here is to tell you that I've recently met them." He explained as he recalled his experience. "They told me that... Rex Lapis... had passed on, and they're being blamed for it."
Hearing this, Isaac was glad that everything was going according to the original story. He then chimed in, "I'm guessing since we had our agreement...?"
Xiao nodded in understanding. "After hearing their story, I made my own decisions and decided that... I will side with them."
'Although that would still happen regardless, I'm glad.' Satisfied with Xiao's response, Isaac exhaled a sigh of relief. "That's good. Miss Star and Miss Moon are valuable staff to my cafe. It would be a shame if something happened to them."
"As such, it's nice that Mister Devil is looking out for them." Isaac gestured at Xiao while looking at Yae Miko and the others.
"...I'm still not used to this name." Xiao shook his head as he turned his head over to his almond tofu. "But I'll leave it at that."
"I quite like it. It's like we're in some kind of a secret society." Yae Miko conjured her signature amused smile as she found the whole code names interesting.
"I like mine too! It's because I'm also a Magician... Like my mum!" Klee, who was talking with Nahida, turned her head and agreed with Yae Miko.
Following Klee, Nahida also agreed with the matter. With her usual soft voice, she spoke, "Hermit... It suits me well. It perfectly encapsulates who I am currently."
Hearing all of the members express their satisfaction, Isaac nodded his head with satisfaction as well.
He had grown tired of referring to the invited people as is, as such, he decided to form this little club to add a bit of a twist to their gatherings. The result was far better than he expected.
"Well, I'm glad that you all liked your code names. Be sure to use them whenever someone else is with us to avoid confusion." Isaac placed down a teacup and smiled softly. His warm amber eyes then glanced at all of them as he spoke, "Carry these names with dignity for our club... Our..."
"Hah..." Smiling as if finding it amusing, Isaac scoffed for a moment before continuing his sentence.
"Tarot Club."
---
In the blink of an eye, a few days have already passed. Despite this, Isaac's peaceful life never changed.
Enjoying each moment of the day, Isaac managed his cafe diligently for the past few days. Be it new or old customers, he welcomed them with his signature amiable smile and reaped wealth from their pockets.
Occasionally, all the members of the club would gather and Isaac would host either a board game or something interesting.
However, most of the time, only a few members of the club actually visit, with the ever-so-energetic Klee being the most frequent.
Other than that, everything else was nothing but a regular day for the same old Isaac.
And today was no different.
"Hawn~" Staring outside the cafe, Isaac, who had just gotten up and cleaned himself, looked at the clean street outside with hazy eyes. He then mumbled to himself, "Another day... Another grind."
Placing his hand over his nape, he tilted his head slightly to relieve his neck of any stiffness.
Feeling satisfied, he exhaled a soft sigh. "Alright... Let's do this."
Rejuvenated for another day, Isaac cleaned up the cafe and made sure everything was prepared.
After making sure everything was tidy and clean, he flipped the signboard outside, thus opening the cafe for another day.
Afterwards, Isaac, behind the counter, took a bag of beans and placed it in the cabinet beneath the counter, directly under the coffee machine for easy access.
Ding~
'So early?' Hearing the bell of the door chime, Isaac took his head out of the cabinet beneath the counter and poked his head out to greet the new customer.
"Good morning... Oh?" Isaac greeted the customer with the same amiable smile but then recognized who it was. "Your grace? You're quite early today, aren't you?"
Yes, it was none other than the Warden of the Fortress of Meropide, Wriothesley.
With the same sharp yet languid eyes, Wriothesley looked at Isaac before forming a soft smile. "Ever heard the saying? The early bird gets the worm."
Wriothesley then looked around the cafe before smirking. He then walked over in front of the counter and crossed his arms. "Well, since I'm your first customer for the day, I believe I deserve a good brew, yeah?"
"You must be joking?" Finding Wriothesley's words interesting, Isaac smirked. He then picked up a teacup. "I always make the best brew for my customers."
"What would you like today?" Isaac had already dropped Wriothesley's title as the Warden and comfortably spoke to him.
"Chamomile." Wriothesley answered as he went and sat down on one of the stools in front of the counter.
"Something sweet in the morning... No offense, but that's an odd choice." Isaac voiced his opinion as he went and prepared Wriothesley's tea.
"Just treat it as the Warden's oddity," Wriothesley replied with a wry smile. He then continued, "But it's more for the sugar rush. You get it, surely."
"That makes more sense." Isaac shared the same wry smile upon realizing Wriothesley's reason.
'Well, I ain't complaining.' Isaac then shrugged his shoulders and went to the kitchen to boil some water for the tea.
Inside the kitchen, Isaac patiently waited for the water to boil. As he did so, his thoughts started to wander off.
'I wonder how Furina is doing...' He wondered as his gaze drifted to the corner of the room. In his mind, the face of his Archon emerged. 'That movie we made... Should be released in a few days. I trust that her team did a good job editing it.'
'Regardless, as soon as they're done editing and publishes the movie, my side quest would be completed and I'd have a major boost in fighting prowess.'
'As for Lyney, Lynette, and Freminet, as well as the Hearth...' Remembering his current main quest, a quiet sigh escaped Isaac's mouth. 'Hah... Well, at least there's progress there.'
'Lastly... The plan.' Isaac wanted to avoid this thought the most, but it still rose in his mind. 'I need two important people for it to work... And they just happen to be the hardest people to approach.'
Remembering the details of his plan, Isaac habitually grasped his chin. 'Well, at least my bargaining chip is already done. Spending the nights reinforcing my Gehrman persona in the shadows... Paid off well.'
Isaac had been busy the last few nights— going around the shadows of Fontaine and hunting down thugs and making them obey him.
Traitors who used to serve Marcel were immediately subdued by Isaac and brought back under his control. Not only that, but the major crime rings connected to the Sinthe trade were also brought under his rule.
Now, most of the major crime organizations are under Marcel's, or rather, Isaac's control.
Unbeknownst to them, however, is that they are all nothing but a chip in Isaac's grand gamble.
- Whirr
Hearing the water boil, Isaac snapped out of his contemplation and returned his attention to the tea.
Shortly after the water boiled, Isaac brewed the tea and, after a few minutes, left the kitchen to serve it to Wriothesley.
"Here's your Chamomile. Still piping hot." Isaac stepped out of the kitchen door with the same amiable smile and spoke to Wriothesley. "Have a..."
"Good... Morning... Huh?"
However, his sentence was soon cut off when he noticed another person sitting beside the Warden of Meropide.
"Oh! Isaac! Just in time!" Upon noticing Isaac, Wriothesley turned his head and looked at Isaac with a look of anticipation. With a languid smile, he spoke. "A new customer just arrived— she and I have been chatting, and I'm surprised to discover another tea connoisseur here in Fontaine."
"Why don't you introduce yourself?" Wriothesley then looked at the person next to him. "I don't believe Isaac knows of you yet."
"Yes." The person next to Wriothesley replied with a relaxed yet intimidating tone. However, strangely, a sense of gentleness was present.
Isaac, whose eyes never left the person, almost felt like something was stuck in his throat. For a moment, he couldn't utter a word.
The person who Wriothesley was talking to turned her head, revealing her full face, and looked at Isaac. "Greetings. I am the current head of the House of the Hearth, and I believe you're already acquainted with my children. You may refer to me as..."
"Arlecchino."
That familiar pristine silver hair, coupled with those iconic crossed red eyes— Isaac couldn't mistake it for anyone else even if he wanted to.
'Number 4 of the Fatui Harbingers... Arlecchino.'