A Knot

Perspective : Lucius Sinclair

That was the most idiotic conversation I had ever heard, I thought the guy was dumb then damn, the woman buds in and guess what? she has got nothing on him. She own herself was in a whole new level of stupid.

It's like they were caged birds, first time in the open, as if they didn't knew how the world worked.

Now, that I think about it, they never did tell me and neither did I bothered asking, but sure as heck they acted like that.

Witnessing that, Percival commented,

"She is ripping them off."

I responded,

"Well, I'd say they deserve it."

Percival observed their behavior and mentioned, drawing an assumption from it,

"Must be new around here."

I responded accordingly, confirming his assumption ,

"You bet, who says room with a view, every room has a view."

Then Percival slowly whispered in my ears, his voice filled with hesitation and concern,

"Should we intervene?"

I responded sternly, my words laced with indifference and detachment,

"None of our business."

Albeit rude and selfish I was correct though, I already had enough on my plate at that moment. Involving ourselves with them would have been nothing but wasted our time.

But Percival my man, he was way too generous.

After witnessing that disaster, I couldn't help but keep watching.

The receptionist, a bit surprised that it worked and noticing how gullible they were, responded, "Understood."

I bet she felt a bit guilty, so she added, her voice tinged with persuasion,

"It's raining outside, are you sure you won't have supper with us? It comes with the room."

She quickly added, trying to entice them further,

"I mean, it's on the house."

Without a second thought, he responded, his words revealing stubbornness,

"No... I told you we didn't want to."

That's when that girl beside him pinched him and said,

"Conrad! Be nice."

He responded, likely succumbing to her influence, "Sure... we will take it."

With that one pinch, he changed his colors. Talk about being a man, it made me wonder how much control that woman had over him.

And while I was at it, a realization dawned on me. I couldn't help but think,

"Were they running from someone?"

As I do recall, they were panting as they came in, and the way they spoke, it was as if they were in a hurry, in a hurry to get in their room.

No wonder their speech was a bit scattered. It explained why they were not thinking straight.

No, I was definitely sure there was more to it than they were letting on.

It was very stupid and yet stupid things are always entertaining.

The woman he called Regina quickly responded,

"If we need, we would order room service".

The receptionist calmly agreed,

"Fine then".

Then she offered them,

"Now please follow me, I would show you to your room".

As they left, Percival remarked,

"Quite an odd pair".

"Odd" was the perfect word to describe them, odd and a hella akward, even I felt awkward watching them, but nonetheless It was interesting though.

I agreed,

"Indeed".

As they left the atmosphere again became surrounded with this air of absolute silence, It was calming and soothing in a way, giving me pause to think.

"They said his name was 'Conrad' ".

"Now where had I heard that".

For some reason I felt as if I had heard that name before, but for the life of me I couldn't figure that out, so naturally I dismissed that thought.

But Percival noticed it, I guess I spaced out for a bit there,

"Master something the matter". He inquired,

I responded, at that point it was nothing that important I would hide from him, there was no harm in telling him that,

"No, it's nothing".

"It's just that she said Conrad".

"I know I have heard that name before".

"But where".

He responded,

"Forgive my rudeness, I believe it's not that crucial right now".

"However, I am sure you would recall it eventually".

Right on the money he was, thinking that was just a huge waste of my time.

And yet I couldn't quite shake that feeling, as if it's something I should remember,

I replied with a tinge of uncertainty,

"Here's hoping".

Letting him see that sight of me, must had sent him in a spiral of worry.

With a tinge of concern, he suggested,

"You must be quite tired after that journey?".

"Why don't you take it easy for the afternoon".

"Let your mind rest?".

No I was fine, I slept the whole night, the inn's bed was comfy enough, But I couldn't say that to him, for some reason, it felt uneasy, after all he wasn't my friend or anything, what am I talking about, friends are liabilities I don't need them, but you get my point.

It was uncomfortable, our relationship was strictly professional, I couldn't help but agree,

"Yes, excellent suggestion".

I hope, I had the guts to tell him, then again there was nothing else I could do in a rainy day other then rest in my room, I guess It wouldn't have mattered anyway.

I am stupid, and I knew that.

I said Percival understood everything about me, my intentions and everything, he did his best to please his master, but the thing is that, it wasn't all accurate, it was about 99.99 percent accurate, which mean it didn't happened often, but when it did happen, it felt terrible.

It's like the only person in this world who understood me, didn't understood me.

Very funny, I know.

After I finished my meal, Percival instructed me to go in my room,

He left to book my room again for the day,

"Now if you would excuse me, I have to talk to the receptionist".

And I jokingly remarked,

"Make sure she doesn't rip you off".

It was a terrible joke, I knew that and yet I had to open my dumb stupid mouth,

If it were anybody else, I would have heard that, he would have said to me in my face, but ofcourse it was Percival,

He generously responded,

"Yes, I will keep that in mind".

With that I was back to my lone self, in my room, waiting for the rain to pass.

The afternoon passed with me doing nothing but laying on my back and watching the ceiling.

It was stupid, but I am used to it, that's like 60 percent of my life.

After the rain passed in the afternoon, we had to leave our inn for a second, there was work that had to be done.

Meeting some old contacts, and specially doing the job I went there to do in the first place.

Wait, I didn't mention what I did for a living, my profession, did I?

So here It is, I am an Information broker, or an Information merchant if you are comfortable saying that. Information is the key to everything, you can bend rules, persuade people even if they didn't want to, dig up every dirt on a person I bet they didn't even knew existed, reveal people's true nature afterall every person is a two faced jerk. Through information and a little bit of logic, you can predict anything, from a person's behaviour to his reaction to certain things. What he will do next, If I do that, creating a chain of reactions that you know are sure to happen, and causing things to happen your way, Information is everything in war and in life.

Beside that I also did a bit of Contract working, like real estate, tipping people off about potential deals on houses through my Information gathering skills and a healthy dosage of speculation and observation, connecting businesses with their prospect customers, helping people get jobs, all of that, in nothing, with nothing but a fee of 9 percent on their profits.

Easy enough. And also I did odd jobs.

Odd jobs like the one I went there to do.

"It's not always about the money" "Need to build connections", as my mother used to say that, I didn't respected her for jack shit, but I guess her words kinda stuck with me.

The only memory of her I didn't hate.

It was the evening, the odd job I mentioned, as It turned out, it was a huge pain in the ass.

We talked to our client for 3 hours straight, didn't even noticed when it started getting dark.

I was hungry, I was exhausted and I was just sitting and chatting all day.

It was Percival who stood the whole time, as we walked back to the inn, I spared a glance at him,

I guess he noticed me, He spoke,

"The land they showed us".

"Belonged to count Burlock .... Didn't it?".

I wanted to vent, that was the perfect chance,

"Yes, That is the noble man with a bone to pick with the prime minister".

Percival calmly responded,

"Ahh yes, it appeared so".

I thought out loud,

"How can we use that?".

"To our advantage".

I continued, presenting a question,

"What of the Girl?".

I always was curious when he stands there, as I speak to my clients, does he like spaces out, ignores our boring prattles, or did he actually listens.

He responded,

"Her aunt and Uncle they have taken custody of her".

He said, as typical as ever, I never manage to find that out, it was like he always alludes me.

To keep our Conversation going, I pressed further,

"Can we trust them".

He replied, all according to the facts I told him earlier on our way to the client's house,

without adding a single hint of his own,

"So far their affection seemed genuine, but it could be just a facade".

"Maybe they are after the inheritance".

Repeating word to word like a parrot, why does he need to be so secretive and professional, like losen up man.

I continued as if I didn't knew what he was doing,

"But they don't know that the land belongs to the count .... do they?".

He responded vaguely,

"Ahh yes, It appears so".

He answered as vague as he had always been, glad he listened though. I needed that bit of letting my frustrations out, just the fact that all these things link up so miraculously, causing a pain in my ass, was estounding.

I was called there for 3 jobs separately, one related to a murder that had happened, as a favour to my police chief friend, and another for a girl name Shasha, for some reason her Aunt and Uncle who aren't blood related had taken illegal custody of her, her Uncle who is an old contact of mine and had helped me previously asked me to get him out of that situation with the custody of that girl intact, and I couldn't say no.

Lastly I had accepted a job for a land whose owner had gone missing, I was contacted by the "The Golden Lions Merchant association", as words gets around I heard, "I have a way with my words", I like the free publicity and all that but seriously, why did I had to pick those jobs.

As I would eventually regret, I had my doubts that they were some what related, I didn't knew those jobs, like threads would turned out to be entangled with eachother, creating this mess, this huge Knot.

And

Now, I was playing with both sides.

I had to vent that out, So I expressed myself to Percival, his job was to listen,

"This is quite a situation we are having".

"In one hand there is that girl who lost her parents and has no where to go, but one good thing is that her aunt and uncle is happily offering to take her in".

"But we are not sure what they are after?, they could very well be after the girl's wealth left by her parents, that huge mansion".

"I could help them with that, but no, That land is the same land 'The Golden Lions Merchant association' is after, they said that the land had no owners, those sneaky rats didn't mention anything about that girl".

"Wait it doesn't end there, the thing is that the girl parents were not as wealthy as they appeared to be, they seemingly took a loan from the infamous count Burlock to buy that mansion. But now that they are dead the count will surely step forward to claim that mansion, as behalf of the loan re payment".

"That man is so powerful, does the Merchant association want us to go against them, it's nuts".

"And that takes us back to the girl, what will happen to the girl once her aunt and uncle find out, that the land is no longer hers".

Percival responded presenting a silver lining to the situation,

"But we can't be too sure that the kid's aunt and uncle are after that inheritance".

"They say, they didn't had a child of their own, so they always saw dear shasha as their own kid".

I replied accordingly,

"Yes exactly, that is what? makes it so damn complicated".

As we got lost in our chatter, a sense of unease settled upon us. Time seemed to slip away unnoticed, the lively streets melting into the background. Suddenly, the familiar sounds of the city were replaced by an eerie symphony of clashing blades. The metallic noise reverberated through the air, creating an atmosphere of tension and mystery. The once lively streets now felt unnaturally quiet, as if they were holding their breath.

Caught off guard, I couldn't help but exclaim,

"Huh! Did you hear that?"

Percival, his eyes widening, pointed towards the empty dark alleyway,

"I believed it came from there, that alleyway."

An inexplicable urge took hold of us, driving us to venture into the depths of that deserted alleyway. We followed the echoes of those clashing blades, our steps hesitant yet filled with a curious odd determination.