NOVEL NEXT Chapter 223: Victory Spoils.
My grama picked up the hammer and I decided it would be best not to look at what was left of the idiot that tried to fight her. “Take notes, Siya. It’s all about power projection. What’s the point in working so hard to become strong if you don’t show it off? That’s how you work your way up.”
‘That’s how I became queen…’ I sighed looking down at my clothes. I had rolled up my sleeves and tucked in my shirt, but my feet and pants were covered in blood and dirt. ‘You, know, this is still less gross than waking up having realized I was sweating some kind of gross nitroglycerin…’ “So what do we do with the bodies?”
“The monster will probably clean up the mess after the sun sets, but if you see anything shiny it’s fair game.”
‘So… Looting corpses isn’t frowned upon? Still, it’s not like any of them had anything good…’ I searched through a corpse, taking a moment to realize just how desensitized I had become to that sort of thing after my trip through the dungeon. ‘Although it makes sense they would have these.’ I grabbed a small pouch and inside were several coins. The enemies I singled out as most dangerous all had similar pouches. ‘What else would be valuable, their gear is junk…’
I bit the bullet and walked up to the leader, trying not to pay attention to the gore. ‘If there was anything good he would have it right?’ I looked closely at the body. The armor was metal, but shabby… And now flattened… He had some money, and his scimitar was unique, but certainly not better than my sword. He also wore a necklace though, one that was enchanted. I hesitantly pulled it off, able to lift it straight up through the mush.
[Undead Bandit Leader’s Keepsake: Enchanted:]
‘Ok… Enchanted with what… Will it tell me this time?’ I flipped it around and looked at the back. It was just a simple wooden talisman inlaid into a circular patch of leather, reminding me of something Celtic or Norwegian.
[Enchantment: Blunt damage resistance 2%]
‘Well, that’s ironic…’
I pocketed the charm and went around grabbing a few more coin pouches, getting my grandma to help me before we headed back together. She of course had a victory drink, or two… Or three. After that though she helped me count our “Spoils of war,”
We dumped them all out onto a large table and piled them into groups. The coins were all slightly different as if they were crafted by hand, each one fitting into one of two groups.
“Ok, so how does money work?”
She stared at me blankly. “Well… You give it to someone, and then they give you what you want.”
I sighed. ‘I probably could have phrased that better…’ “I meant like, what coin is worth how much?”
“No idea…”
“What…”
“We only really use it for foreign trade and that’s your grampas jurisdiction. We mostly just trade services or goods, so why would we need coins? I don’t even get why people think they are valuable… I mean, look, what is this, gold? You can’t even melt it down into a good weapon, it’s too soft.”
“We don’t… Happen to have any gold mines In Skorveyati do we?”
She leaned back, “No, I don’t think so.”
‘Course not… That would be too easy...’ I gathered all of the coins in one pouch and tied them up with the leather string attached to the talisman. “So these are all foreign coins then? From the nation to the south.”
She looked at it closer. “Yeah, that’s right. The empire’s coins are a lot more… Fancy… I remember seeing some during the last war.”
‘Does this mean we have bandits crossing the border from there too? What idiot is in charge down there… More importantly… Was this on purpose? It can’t be that easy to rise from the dead can it?’ I sighed. ‘I can’t do anything about it yet anyway, I need to get in power first.’
“Oh, that talisman though… That’s Orcish…”
“Huh?” I lifted it up from my belt and placed it on the table. “What does that mean…”
She stood up and put her shirt back on. “Means an orc probably made it.”
“I’m not connecting the dots here…” ‘Does that mean they originated from the east?’
She sighed. “Sometimes there aren't dots to connect. You did alright in the fight, it was fun.”
‘I’d rather there were… I hate loose ends…’
She put a hand on my shoulder to steady herself as she walked past. “I think it’s time to go to bed.”
“The sun hasn’t even set yet?”
“I’m not tired, I'm drunk.”
“Did you seriously drink so much you’re going to black out?”
She paused, turning her head for a moment to look at me. “Blackout… Right… That’s what I’m going to do. After a few other things. Where are the others?”
I let out another sigh, covering my face with exasperation. “Grampa’s in the stables…”
She smiled brightly, her cheeks still flushed… From the alcohol… “Good girl. Thanks. You go get yourself cleaned up again… Oh and…” She squinted, looking back and forth.
“The stables are to your left… You know what, I'll just take you there…”
“That’s not it. I’m trying to remember where I hid the ice cream. I keep a secret stash. I’m not that drunk.”
“Right…”
I followed her to the kitchen where she showed me an actual secret wall that opened up and led to an area that was kept cold with what I was sure was more “not-magic.” Giant tubs divided into six or more flavors spread out before me and made me start to drool.
“You have a secret room… Filled with ice cream…”
“Oh, and don’t tell your grandpa about this either, he’s worried if I eat too much I might get fat, but that’s stupid.”
“Maybe… Sometimes being weird isn’t a bad thing…” I muttered, slowly walking in just to enjoy the cool air surrounding me.
“It’s not weird… Just pick a flavor. The cold is making my skin all tingly.”
I looked back and she appeared even more flushed. ‘There's nothing normal about you… But a secret ice cream room… Not bad Grama.’ I filled a bowl with various flavors, deciding to try all of them and then we walked out, Grandpa came into the room just seconds after the secret door closed.
“Ah, there you two are.”
My grama suddenly stiffened up just like Lu did whenever Mara caught her doing something she wasn’t supposed to. “Yup! We're here…” She chuckled nervously.
‘I should probably leave before things get awkward…’
“Siya.” He said, turning to me after overcoming the confusion from his wife's strange behavior. “I’ve been meaning to find you. You’re brother said you were pretty good with a bow. I’d love to shoot with you if you don’t mind.”
After overcoming her original shock, Grama slowly relaxed and eventually walked over to him and hugged his arm between her breasts. “You can do that tomorrow, let the girl rest.”
He awkwardly looked between us. “Wouldn’t it be more of a bother to do it just before she leaves?”
She let out a small groan, arching her back and going up onto her toes, kissing his cheek as she grazed her fingers up and down his arm. He quickly started to look as uncomfortable as I felt as neither one of us broke eye contact…
“I-I’m… Going to… Go now I think…“ I slowly snuck out the door, letting out a sigh of relief as I finally managed to get away, only for my hearing to instinctively sharpen at a sudden crashing sound.
“Have you been drinking?”
“It was a victory drink. I fought some undead bandits and helped my granddaughter. You should be praising me.” She pouted.
I let out a deep breath, at least feeling less awkward. ‘He’s so soft-spoken, will he get mad at her for drinking so much?’
“Ana… Ananiyah… Kissing me doesn’t make me expect an answer any less you know.”
‘Wh-what is she doing to him?’
I heard something else clang as it hit the floor and felt my face turn bright red, caught between some unfathomable force holding me still, and the sudden urge to run.
“If you’re being this aggressive then I probably don’t need an answer…”
I covered my ears, and quickly left to go find my siblings.