Chapter 22: Alora II

Chapter 22: Alora II

They sat around just looking at Alora, waiting for her to add something to the question.

"... Husband?"

The two royals just looked at her for two seconds with deadpan expressions until Jessup turned back to his grandfather, "I see this as an absolute win."

The king looked back at his grandson for a brief second before speaking to Alora, "I'll talk to your mother later about this, I do not agree to these terms."

"What the hell, you old shit." Jessup looked back at his grandfather slightly annoyed, but even he had to admit that this wasn't a good idea at all. Jessup had known Alora for years, but it didn't change the fact that the ship was sailing way too quickly.

"Alora, do you even want to marry Jess? Do you know what that means?"

Alora kept tapping her legs against the floorboard, Jessup stared at her at the corner of his eye trying not to embarrass himself. When she spoke it was a bit underwhelming for him, "Never thought about."

"Try." The king spoke up, clearly fed up with her slow wittedness.

"Don't worry about it, Alora. If I'm being honest I would like to see something come out of this but I understand feelings aren't always mutual. Besides what the old fart says is law, we'll just call it off later." 

The king looked at Jessup slightly confused, "I have nothing against your marriage, I just don't like the fact that her father wanted to be such a cheap ass."

Alora looked back at Jessup without saying anything, she just looked at him with a blank expression before speaking up, "I wouldn't be against it."

Jessup pursed his lips, slightly happy but understanding things like this shouldn't be rushed, so he moved onto something he could control, "So, old man. What's the plan for our guest? What do you really want from them?"

Noticing the change in direction the king just brushed it off and continued where they left off, "I want to rob them blind, and toss them aside when I'm done."

This time Alora and Jessup were both confused, why was he so passionate about this? This is at the level of a personal grudge.

"King Del and I go way back, he blames me for killing his sister and I blame him for killing his sister."

What does he mean? What happened between the two that could make him rustle his feathers like this?

"His sister and I knew each other well… she was… she was something."

"What happened? If you don't mind me asking? You're majesty."

Alora was deeply invested in this conversation but knew she still had to be respectful to her king. She didn't want to dive too deep if it meant offending him.

"It's fine, I'll tell you if it helps motivate you… Basically, his sister was quite the adventurer, and she hated her fathers country. Mind you Del was just a child at this point. Her father was as evil and malicious as you can imagine, not to mention perverse. She wanted to help me destroy Gobo but I thought it was best to slowly choke them. To let them kill themselves, she did not. She was unwilling to believe that her father was the issue. That was probably her downfall."

Jessup and Alora listened carefully to what he had to say. It was clear that he had accepted past events but still holds a grudge. 

"She believed the empire was to blame for her fathers personality, she just said, 'the empire made him this way, they pushed him over the edge.' Maybe that was true, but when he died she decided to stop her adventure and take care of Del. When she went home she was captured by her brother and imprisoned. It turns out the empire found out about her affiliation to me and demanded Del to hand her over. He did. I only found out about it a few months later." 

We listened to his story and it sounded like a mess, "How old was he?"

"He was 16. Why, you want to make excuses for him? Dont. Him blaming me is just a facade, it's called 'The Moral High Ground.' I taught you this in your lessons, remember?"

Jessup remembered quite well, it was in the king's very own book he wrote, describing the in's and out's of politics and political warfare. Basically it described that in civilized information based countries it's harder to start wars 'just because,' so they need reasons to make them. In this case King Del's country blames our country for her death. 

"Wait, is this the reason why you're being so harsh on your friends' countrymen?" In his book he describes that emotions are the most illogical part of being a human but it's also only logical to have them, and emotions can drive people to do some pretty crazy things, especially if the people unite.

"That's why you killed those corrupt officials, it wasn't to steal from them, it was to help them. By stretching out your assistance you take the higher ground and when you destroy Gobo and kill the colossus they'll have no right to start a war with you, and you profit off of them."

King looked at Jessup, surprised that he figured all that out with the little information he had. 

'Maybe I talk way too much?' 

"That's incredible your majesty! You are truly gracious and compassionate. Not to mention wise."

Alora announced her opinion and even King had to feel bad for his grandson, "It took me a couple hours to come up with that conclusion, but it took Jess minutes to figure out despite having limited information Alora. I'm sure he would've come to the same conclusion as I had if he were in my shoes. Have more faith in him."

"Oh right, good job Jess."

"Thanks Lora."

"You know I hate being called that." Alora isn't very good with nicknames, it always confuses her.

King looked back at Alora and said, "So how many children do you want someday?"

If Jessup were drinking something he would most likely be spitting it out right now. He wanted to say something before a soldier came knocking on the door.

Alora got up to see who was outside while Jessup glared at his grandfather menacingly until he ultimately gave him a thumbs up after realizing he was also slightly curious.

When Alora came back she had a seirios expression on her face, "They're here."

Jessup got up and started walking toward Alora, he looked behind him to ask his grandfather a question only to see a portal in the middle of the room. 

"Let me know how things turn out, I have no reason to lower myself to trash."

Jessup wanted to say something, but he just left off with, "See you gramps."

Jessup and Alora walked through the village the slow way, without portaling. That's when Jessup came up with an idea, "Let's go shopping."

Alora looked at Jessup confused, "We have a meeting to go to?"

"He can wait."

Alora didn't understand until she realized something, "That's right. We have to make them understand that we're in control. Good thinking Jess."

That is true, it's basically equivalent to being fashionably late. You need to make your opponent realize that they aren't important and you have what they want, but of course that's not the real reason he came up with the idea.

'I'm finally alone with her! Seriously, she should've been named 'Alloring' rather than Alora. I've known her since I was 14 and she was 18 and she's only gotten more gorgeous.'

"What kind of things do you like? We might have them." 

'This is totally a date.'

"Do you have a weapons shop here?"

'This might not be a date.'

"Uhh yeah, are you sure you want to go there? The city might have better options." What are we even talking about? I didn't know she was a battle junkie… Although I guess it makes sense, she is Master Makoto's daughter.

"It's fine, we're just killing time right?"

"Right." This is not a date, "Let's go then. To the weapons shop."

We walked all the way to a place called, 'Toss the book, pick the sword.' It was a decent looking place but the name was questionable.

"Isn't this just making fun of the whole, 'knowledge is power' trope? Who would pick a sword over knowledge? Wait…" I looked over to my side and forgot who was next to me.

"A book would just rip after using it once though. You have a lot to learn jess."

"If only I had the knowledge to not make that mistake. I wonder how I could get such a thing?"

I looked at her, hoping to see her figure out what I meant, but it clearly went over her head.

'She's way worse than I thought.'

After contemplating how I could help her, I came to the concussion that you can't fix stupid, so I eventually gave up and walked inside with her. We saw a bunch of weapons placed on the wall, and weirdly enough, they weren't all swords.

Some had maces, steel whips, hammers, and a few other items. I looked at the shopkeeper and asked if he had any cold weapons but he didn't really like that, "Guns? No, we have weapons meant for warriors not cowards. Guns don't kill C rank super."

His argument made absolutely no sense at all, "But a steel sword can? Also, what about energy weapons?"

"Ah we have those." I was genuinely surprised until he showed me more swords and said, "Here, this beauty can emit flames. Pretty neat right?"

"You're a pugilist aren't you?"

"How did you know?" Figures. Grandfather once told me they were all meat heads.

"Oh hey, so am I." I looked at Alora for a second, almost shocked. I know I shouldn't have been but technically her being a demonoid is the main contributor to her… cute side. 

The fact that she is inherently from a dumb race and she's a pugilist is actually remarkable. She should be dumb as a rock… is she secretly a genius among her people?

"You're so smart Alora."

"Huh? Uh, thank you." Alora actually blushed a little at my comment, I guess she isn't used to being called that. Nice, score one for me.

I browsed through the shop until I stumbled upon something, it was an enchanted short sword decorated with calligraphy. It almost looked like a gladiolus but slightly arabic in design. I could tell from the glow that it had some strong magic imbued into it. 

"Shopkeep, what kind of enchantment does this thing have?"

"That one? A slight agility boost, nothing much. It looks pretty but it's a white grade weapon. Not very durable, and made by an apprentice enchanter and blacksmith. I'll sell it for 20 papers."

Isn't that cheap? He's basically selling a toy you would see at a flea market. Something like this should be at least 120 papers, but he doesn't need to know that.

"Why 20?" 

"You think I could do more? Well, truth be told it's cursed."

"Cursed? I'll do 3 papers."

"Huh?! That's what I get for opening my fat mouth. Fine I'll do 3, now get out."

Well, it seems I'm learning something from the king. Like robbing my own people blind. 

"Let's go Alora, we have a meeting to attend."

The next adventure awaits! I'm on my path to robbing the world blind.

"Your smile is creepy." 

"Tch, negative one point."